DI Sean Corrigan Crime Series: 5-Book Collection: Cold Killing, Redemption of the Dead, The Keeper, The Network and The Toy Taker

‘Why’s he not bothered about leaving his footprints,’ Brown asked, ‘if he’s so damn careful where everything else is concerned?’

‘No.’ Sean spoke softly. ‘He’s extremely concerned about footprints. He’s probably experimented with dozens of methods, maybe even hundreds, but each time he comes up with the same conclusion. No matter what he tries, no matter what shoes he wears, what surface he walks on, he nearly always leaves some type of print. Even if it’s the slightest impression in a carpet, like in Daniel Graydon’s flat.

‘He knows he’ll almost certainly leave prints at his scenes, so he gives up trying not to. Instead he masks them as best he can. He wears bland shoes, probably brand-new. He changes the size of the shoes he wears. He can’t change it too much, but he tries.’

‘Why doesn’t he just commit his crimes on solid surfaces?’ Brown asked. ‘That way he wouldn’t leave an impression.’

Sean fired the answer back: ‘Too restrictive. He would have considered it, but discounted it. He needs to spend time with them. In their own homes or somewhere like this. Spending time with them is more important to him than leaving a shoeprint. For him, the risk is worth it. And what’s he leaving us? Virtually unidentifiable, totally un-unique shoe marks. He’ll take that chance.

‘He knows how we link murder scenes,’ Sean continued. ‘We look for exact matches. Unique items. Same weapon. Same method. Same type of victim. Not “almosts”. So he picks victims of different genders. Kills them in different ways and in different types of locations. Your victim he abducts, ours he already knew. He keeps it mixed up.’

Sean kept talking. ‘Most repeat killers work to a pattern. To leave their calling card. When they settle on a method that works for them, they stick with it. Many only kill in their own neighbourhood, where everything is familiar, where they feel safe. When they attempt to disguise their work, then you know you’re dealing with a killer whose primary instinct is not to get caught.’

‘And your suspect fits this profile?’ Brown asked.

‘He paid for violent sex – been doing so for years, no doubt. That probably kept his urges, his impulses suppressed for a while, but ultimately it wasn’t enough. He would have seen your victim. Fantasized about her. It’s more than he can bear. He plans it thoroughly. He’s extremely careful. He finds the planning thrilling, so he takes his time. Finally he grabs her. He uses a big car, or better still a van. He probably steals one or maybe rents one.

‘He brings her out here. He’d have been here, no more than a day or so previously. He wants his intelligence to be up to date. He brings her inside …’ Sean broke off and turned to Brown. ‘How much did she weigh?’

Brown stuttered, taken aback at the unexpected question. ‘I don’t know,’ he said with a shrug.

‘Was she big? Small?’ Sean pressed him.

‘She was small,’ Brown answered. ‘I went to the autopsy. She was tiny.’

‘Then he carried her in,’ Sean said. ‘It was quicker and quieter than dragging her.’ He snapped another question at Brown: ‘Was she tied or taped in any way?’

‘We believe she was taped,’ Brown replied. ‘There were traces of adhesive across her mouth, ankles, wrists and around her knees. The adhesive matches a common brand of masking tape. Nothing rare.’

‘Once inside, he dumps her on the ground,’ Sean continued. ‘He wants her untied, but he’s worried she’ll fight or scream. So how does he stop that happening?’ He looked at Brown.

‘He would have threatened her,’ Brown answered.

‘Absolutely. He would have threatened her,’ Sean repeated. ‘He would have almost certainly shown her the knife that he eventually used to kill her. Any defensive marks on the girl?’

‘No.’

‘Then he told her he wasn’t going to hurt her and she believed him. She did as she was told. If she’d thought he intended to kill her, she would have fought him or tried to run. She agrees to do what he tells her, so he removes the tape from her mouth and limbs … But why is that important to him? She wasn’t raped, so he could have left the tape around her ankles and knees. Why risk taking the tape away?’

Sean’s vivid narration stalled, as if someone had drawn a curtain across the window he’d been looking through. He moved around the room, staring at the floor. He moved like an animal locked in a cage. It was minutes before he spoke again.

‘He had to remove the tape because it was spoiling it for him. It was necessary when she was first abducted, but now it was spoiling his imagery. He’d imagined her a certain way for so long, imagined her dying a certain way, that he couldn’t settle for less. He needed to make life imitate his fantasy. So he makes her take her clothes off. All of them. He doesn’t even let her keep her underwear or a T-shirt on. He’s totally without mercy. Totally without compassion for her – but this is all for our benefit. He wants us to think there’s a sexual motivation for the killing, but there isn’t. He enjoyed the power he held over her, of course – and making her undress was a strong show of his power. But it was purely for us. To stop us linking him to other murders.’ He paused for a few seconds, allowing his imagination to again become the killer’s memory. ‘He makes her kneel down and tells her to perform oral sex on him, but he was never going to allow that to happen, never going to let her get that near to him. He was never going to risk leaving forensic evidence. So he grabs her by the scruff of the neck and cuts her once across the throat. He’s strong and fast. The knife is very sharp; again, probably brand-new. One hit is all it takes. What time was she killed?’

‘Between eleven p.m. and three a.m. is the best we can say.’

‘It would have been dark then,’ Sean pointed out. He looked around the building for lighting. There was none. The room would have been pitch black. ‘He had to have light to see.’

‘Maybe he used a torch?’ Brown said.

‘No,’ Sean replied. ‘He needed both hands free, and the light from a torch wouldn’t be right for what he wanted.’

‘What did he want?’ Brown asked.

‘He wanted to see her. He needed to see her die.’ Sean looked out of the window and saw his own car pointing towards the building. The headlight mountings glinted in the low evening sunlight.

‘He used his car headlights,’ Sean said. ‘He would have checked that ahead of time too. He went there on the night of the murder already knowing car headlights would give him all the light he needed.

‘And when she was dead, he stayed with her. He’d been dreaming about this for too long to just walk away from her now she was dead. He stood here and watched her bleed to death. Watched until her blood stopped running.

‘You didn’t find any signs the body was moved or mutilated after she’d died, did you?’ Sean told rather than asked Brown.

‘No,’ he answered. ‘She died where she fell and wasn’t touched.’

‘He didn’t want to spoil the perfect picture he’d created. All he wanted was to stand and watch her.’ Sean was silent for a while, troubled by the question forming in his mind. ‘Did you search this wasteland for used condoms?’

‘Not specifically for condoms, as far as I know, and I don’t recall seeing any listed on the lab submissions form. Why d’you ask?’

‘Because I think he would have masturbated while he watched her die, but he wouldn’t risk leaving his DNA, so he would have used a condom. Maybe he threw it away beyond where he thought we would search.’ Sean looked Brown square in the eyes.

‘Jesus! Where did you get that from?’ Brown asked.

Sean moved on without answering. ‘Then he left her. He didn’t cover her, not even partially. It would have been a sign of guilt. Remorse. He has no psychological need to try and make amends for his crimes. He felt nothing. He walked away feeling nothing more than a sense of relief, maybe even what for him amounts to happiness.’

‘But what’s his motivation?’ Brown asked. ‘Is it sexual? Is this the only way he can get a hard-on?’

‘Not sexual,’ Sean answered. ‘Power. With this one, motivation is all about power.’

‘But there’s so many sexual overtones to his crimes. Making her strip, making her go on her knees in front of him. You said it yourself: he probably masturbated at the scene.’

‘Because the power excites him, makes him feel alive. The sexual acts are merely symptoms, a way he can release the power he feels building up inside him.’

Brown seemed both impressed and unnerved by Sean’s analysis. ‘Done a few of these types before?’ he asked.

‘Some,’ Sean replied, managing a slight smile. ‘I do a lot of research.’

‘If I can make an observation of my own …’ Brown asked.

‘Go on.’

‘If my killer, our killer, is as clever as you say, as good at disguising his methods as you believe he is, then how do we know he hasn’t killed other people? How will we ever know?’

‘Truth is,’ Sean admitted, ‘unless he decides to tell us about them, we probably never will.’

They were back. Hellier could feel them before he saw them. Only these were clumsier than the last. Why would Corrigan put amateurs on him? Was the DI so arrogant that he thought these second-raters would be good enough to follow him?

My enemy’s mistakes are my greatest gains.

Hellier wasn’t in his own office. He had been earlier, long enough to let the surveillance see him, but now, unseen, he used the office of another junior partner. He’d let it be known he would be working late, to make up for his earlier absence. Truth was, he needed to access certain bank accounts held across the globe. He didn’t want to use the computer in his own office. The police had been in there. They could have somehow buggedhis computer. They could be monitoring his online activities. He doubted they were smart enough, but why take the risk?