life, with a new identity, away from it all. Away from what I’d done.’
His words were calm, but there was a crazed look in his eyes now.
‘I could have killed myself, that would have been one solution, of course,’ he said. ‘And I did consider that, briefly. But then I thought, what a waste. I have so much to give, Gemma. I thought, maybe I could go and work with victims of domestic violence somewhere, give something back, redeem myself … but I thought about you too, you know? I put money aside for you, lots of money, you would have been OK, for a while at least … I did think about you, you know that, don’t you? You know I loved you right? So, anyway, we moved to Bristol, and the plan was all coming together beautifully. My plan, to get away, as I already told you. Except then …’
I was starting to feel sick, my stomach lurching.
He sighed.
‘Well, then there were a couple of little blips. And I’m assuming you’ve guessed what those blips were, by now, haven’t you?’
The tone of his voice had changed suddenly, a manic edge creeping into it, and a shiver ran down my spine. He seemed to be waiting for me to reply, looking at me quizzically, as if he’d just asked me to solve a riddle. His dark eyes looked almost black, and his lips twitched as if he was about to laugh. I nodded, my hands gripping the edge of the worktop behind me, my head beginning to swim. I felt faint. Yes, I’d guessed. Of course I’d guessed.
‘The two Bristol murders. The two men who died on The Downs. You killed them, as well,’ I said, my voice barely audible. ‘You’re the serial killer.’
He did laugh then, throwing his head back, then stopped abruptly.
‘I suppose I am,’ he said. ‘Well, that’s what they’ll call me, isn’t it?’
He looked at me questioningly, then carried on talking.
‘That fucking app … it was too easy, finding people who fitted, who had the right look, and when the urge struck again in Bristol … well, you know. Used the fake female profile, met them early evening, when it was dark. The first one was a keen runner, so I said I was too and suggested we meet up on The Downs for a run and then go on for a drink. Told the second one I lived round the corner and suggested we meet in that side alley. Only took a few minutes each time. Made sure the weapons I used were dumped where they’d never find them. Easy, easy, easy. Somehow, I was able to come home to you and just carry on as normal. It was too easy to stop the police finding me too. I wiped the emails and texts from the guys’ phones, and I was able to crash the app site, EHU, remotely too, wipe all their search data, just in case anyone somehow linked the murders to the app. Look, I saw the news, I know that the police suspected you of those too, of all of those murders in fact, and I am sorry about that, Gem, honestly. It wasn’t fair to put you through that. I wanted them to think maybe you’d hurt me, but I didn’t think … I’m so sorry. Still, all’s well that ends well, isn’t it? You’re in the clear, and the cops want to charge me but they won’t find me. Gemma. I’m way ahead of them. I’m going to get away and start afresh, and I won’t have to hurt anyone ever again. I’m done now. You probably don’t believe that, not after what I’ve just told you, but I am. I’ve finally got my bastard of a father out of my system, and it’s all over, and …’
He smiled, then his brow crinkled.
‘There’s just one little thing, which I hope won’t be a problem. Had a bit of a cock-up, last week. Was having a bad day, the day Quinn met up with you. I was nervous, wondering why you’d called him and what you and he were chatting about, wondering if the cops were getting close to finding me. I’d seen the press, I knew they were linking the London and Bristol murders, and I needed to do something, to calm the nerves and, bad idea in retrospect, I decided to have one more go on the app. Found this guy, yet another Daddy lookalike – there