Mightier than the Sword - Part 4

Chapter 15

As they had no idea where the fourth murder was going to take place, Julia, Tony and Sabine went around to Luke’s house for another chat about the case that evening. They used the same room as last time and all sat in the same chairs.

‘So now you’re saying you think there might be three of them?’ Luke asked Sabine after the three police had shared their latest thoughts on the case. ‘The two guys and this mystery woman?’

‘Honestly, I haven’t got a clue what to think anymore,’ Sabine confessed. ‘I’m just thinking that all that trouble they went through to make it look like a feminine murder, might be a double bluff rather than merely a bluff.’

‘I can’t come up with anything to dismiss that theory,’ Luke admitted. ‘But I think the chances of three serial killers being able to work together would be highly unlikely.’

‘A lot of egos there,’ Julia added.

‘I totally agree with you,’ Sabine said. ‘Ordinarily I’d class the possibility as one so remote that it wouldn’t be worth considering. But I’ve got a strong feeling that there’s going to be nothing ordinary about this case.’

‘I totally understand that,’ Luke conceded. ‘So far the type of victim has corresponded with the murders in Los Angeles?’

‘Yeah,’ Julia replied. ‘A cop, a ex-con and a serial womaniser.’

‘So high powered business types have a reason to be scared tonight?’ Luke wondered.

‘Maybe,’ Sabine said. ‘Although I’m not at all sure we know the reason for that victim.’

‘None of the last three murders had clear motives,’ Tony added.

‘Which takes away our main advantage this time around,’ Julia said.

‘We never really had an advantage,’ Sabine said. ‘We’ve been chasing shadows the whole time.’

‘Killing this quickly in a foreign land has got to make mistakes more likely,’ Luke directed his words at Sabine in particular.

‘I keep telling myself that,’ Sabine replied.

‘Plus with there being at least two of them, then there’s always a chance that cracks will start to show in the relationship between the killers,’ Julia added.

‘We can’t just sit around waiting for mistakes though,’ Tony countered.

‘Absolutely,’ Julia agreed. ‘But I’m only saying that there are reasons to be optimistic. Another thing is we have members of the public aware of the threat.’

‘Somehow catching them in the act might be our best hope,’ Sabine said. ‘That along with my theory of at least one of them wanting to be caught eventually.’

They chatted for another hour or so, going over the case one murder at a time again, desperate to find something they had previously missed. Nothing was forthcoming though, instead it was another incredibly frustrating night, going round in horribly familiar circles.

As they were leaving Luke’s house, around midnight, Julia got a phone call. She continued to walk to her car with Tony and Sabine as she talked on the phone.

‘No prizes for guessing what that was about,’ Julia said after hanging up, as they three of them were getting into her car.

‘Let’s go and check out English victim number four,’ Sabine said quietly.

By the time they got to the pub, there was already a six police officers there along with the crime scene investigators. The three of them stayed outside the confines of the area that was surrounded by the police crime scene tape.

‘Don’t think we need to get any closer to know he died from strangulation and has signs of being on the losing end of a fight,’ Julia suggested.

‘This close to what I’m guessing is a busy pub, they are taking more and more risks,’ Sabine said.

‘That should be good for us,’ Tony said.

‘Anybody know who found the body?’ Julia asked loud enough for all the officers and anyone else nearby to hear.

‘That was me,’ a man in his early twenties responded and put his hand up, then made the short walk over to Julia, Sabine and Tony.

‘Did you leave the body exactly as you found it?’ Julia asked.

‘Yeah, I didn’t touch it at all, I was fairly certain he was dead just from looking at him.’

‘Do you work here?’ Julia asked.

‘Yeah, I was taking the rubbish out to the bins when I found him.’

‘Is he a regular?’ Julia continued.

‘Yeah, I’ve definitely seen him around plenty of times, I don’t know his name though, but I’m sure some of the staff will.’

‘He ever cause any trouble?’

‘Not that I know of, but the funny thing is a bunch of you lot had only just left here when I found him.’

‘You mean police?’ Julia checked.

‘Yeah, there had been a bit of a brawl you see, plenty of people got involved, several of them got taken away in one of your vans.’

‘Okay thank you,’ Julia said and got her phone out straight away. ‘Here’s hoping in the local lock up there are two tall, slim Americans wearing all black,’ she said to Sabine and Tony as she waited for an answer on her phone.

‘That would be a crazy way to catch them,’ Sabine replied. ‘But it’s always better to be lucky than good.’

Julia found out where the people from the pub brawl had been taken and drove Sabine and Tony round there.

Four people had been arrested and put in a cell for the night. Julia, Tony and Sabine were shown into each cell one by one, by the on duty officer. The person in the first cell looked to be close to fifty, not an inch over five foot eight and could never be described as slim. He was lying face up on the bed.

‘We’ve heard you were involved in a pub brawl earlier this evening sir,’ Tony said as he lead the way into the cell.

‘Yeah, that’s why I’m here,’ he said as he sat up and turned so that his feet were on the floor.

‘You from Yorkshire?’ Julia guessed from his accent.

‘Originally yeah, been on the wrong side of the Pennines for about ten years now.’

‘Did you start this brawl?’ Tony asked.

‘No not at all, the ones who started it are probably long gone, you lot are always arresting the wrong people.’

‘I’m sure you’re perfectly innocent,’ Julia said. ‘Did you see who did start the whole thing?’

‘No, I think it was going for a minute or so at least before I got dragged into it.’

‘Of course, you must have been forced into joining in,’ Julia replied. ‘Was there any men in the brawl that looked just over six foot, slim, with short dark hair, that looked to be around their mid twenties?’

‘Not that I noticed, although to be far my time was taken up with just the one guy.’

‘This was the gentleman who forced you into the fight?’ Julia checked.

‘Oh I like you love, since when did police officers start having a sense of humour?’ He said with a little chuckle.

‘I was sick the day of police training when they have it removed,’ Julia maintained a dead pan expression.

‘Oh I see.’

‘Come on, I think this one has told us all he knows,’ Sabine suggested.

‘I think you’re right,’ Julia replied.

‘Don’t go now, not when we’re starting to get along so well.’

‘Sometimes I find it best to keep relationships short, don’t end up hating each other that way,’ Sabine said.

‘Now you’re just ganging up on me.’

‘Tell me about it, I have to work with it,’ Tony said as the three of them headed out of the cell.

In the next cell was a young man in his late teens, pacing around the room, he was tall and very slim, with virtually no hair.

‘I ain’t done nothing wrong!’ He shouted as soon as Tony, Julia and Sabine came into the office.

‘I totally agree,’ Julia said calmly.

‘What?’ He shouted back, looking confused.

‘If you ain’t done nothing wrong, you must have done something wrong. In this case it’s getting involved in a pub brawl.’

‘That twat hit me first,’ he screamed.

‘I’m guessing from your accent that you’re either trying to do an impression of a Gallagher brother for some reason, or you’re actually from Manchester,’ Tony said.

‘Yeah I’m a Manc, so what?’ His volume was gradually decreasing.

‘And you’re probably still in your teens,’ Julia suggested.

‘Yeah I’m nineteen, so fucking what?’

‘Don’t suppose you can tell us anything about the people who started the brawl?’ Julia asked.

‘Don’t know anything about the brawl, I was minding my own business, when some fat bastard bumps into me and starts getting all aggressive. So I defend myself and the next thing I know some coppers are dragging both of us into the back of a fucking van.’

Tony, Julia and Sabine looked at him, shook their heads and left the cell. In the next cell was the man the angry teen had been fighting with, he was a lot calmer but had no more useful information for them. The fourth man’s appearance was close to that of the description of the Hitman.

‘Where are you from?’ Julia asked this man, as she walked into the cell ahead of Tony and Sabine.

‘Grew up on Stockport, been around a little bit, but spent most of my time in and around Manchester,’ he replied calmly with a half smile.

‘Ever spent any time in America?’ Julia continued.

‘No, always wanted to though, but haven’t got around to it yet,’ he remained relaxed.

‘How old are you? Late twenties?’

‘Earlyish thirties actually, but thanks for saying I look younger.’

‘Yeah I’d say you look more like late twenties,’ Julia replied, keeping her dead pan tone.

‘Sorry can I clarify something,’ he said keeping his calmness, and slightly raising one hand. ‘Are you interrogating me or hitting on me? Because somehow the line between the two has got blurry.’

‘I’ll put you at ease and break your heart all at the same time then and tell you I’m doing neither,’ Julia replied with the merest hint of a smile. ‘You got any ID on you?’

‘Sure,’ he said then got his driving licence out of his wallet.

‘Did you see anyone else matching your description involved in that pub brawl?’ Julia asked as she handed him back his driving licence after quickly looking at it.

‘No, there was nobody else there that good looking,’ he said with more than a half smile.

‘Over six foot, slim, short dark hair, American and looking in their mid to late twenties,’ Julia replied giving no reaction to his quip.

‘You play any poker?’ He asked.

‘No.’

‘You should. And there were three guys matching that description, but none of them were wearing a stars and stripes jacket or singing the star spangled banner so I’ve no idea whether they were American or not.’

‘We’re going to need you to verify your whereabouts over the last few nights,’ Julia told him.

‘That’ll be easy enough, I work a couple of evenings a week.’

‘That’s good for you,’ Julia said. ‘Before you’re released we will need you to prove that.’

‘Not a problem. Nice talking to you,’ he said as the three police headed out of the cell.

‘I know,’ Julia replied as she walked out, without turning back to face him.

After having told the officers in charge at the station about wanting to see some evidence of the fourth man’s whereabouts for the previous evenings, Julia, Tony and Sabine headed back to Julia’s car.

‘Knew it was too good to be true,’ Sabine said as they walked to the car.

‘Does seem like another wasted journey,’ Julia conceded. ‘I’ll take you back to your hotel now, I reckon we all need some sleep before we do any more.’

‘Sleep would be good,’ Sabine replied.

The next morning Sabine joined Tony and Julia in the Investigation room around half past nine.

‘Hey Sabine, come on in, we’re just about to listen to the tape,’ Julia said.

‘Oh good I’ve been looking forward to that all morning,’ Sabine’s sarcasm was far from subtle.

‘Here we go again then,’ Tony said as he played the tape.

‘I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I am. Now you might be thinking that the victim in this case isn’t like the victim back in Los Angeles on the corresponding murder. However I assure you there has been no mistake made and you must always keep in mind that everybody dies for a reason. This leaves me just two short of my Los Angeles total and to be quite frank you really don’t seem to be anywhere near catching me. Although it appears that you now realise there are two of us, so you are making some progress. Keep your spirits up and you never now, if you get a bit of good luck it might be able to counteract the obvious edge I have in intelligence over you. Bye for now.’

‘How can he know that we know there’s two of them?’ Julia wondered.

‘Probably just from the public announcements we’ve made,’ Tony said.

‘Yeah of course,’ Julia replied. ‘This case is making me see weirdness even when it isn’t there.’

‘Any news on this victim yet?’ Sabine asked.

‘We’ve been given a preliminary report on him just a minute or so before you came in,’ Julia said and held up a file, before putting it back down on the desk and opening it. ‘He works as a bricklayer.’

‘That’s definitely different,’ Sabine replied.

‘He’s not got a criminal record as such, but a couple of complaints on file, one for mild domestic violence and another for sexual harassment,’ Julia continued to read from the file.

‘That could easily add up to a reason to die in Hitman world,’ Tony said.

‘But how would they know about that?’ Sabine wondered.

‘Does seem like an unlikely amount of research,’ Tony replied.

‘Maybe they just got talking to other people in the pub,’ Julia suggested. ‘People in pubs are often not shy in talking about other people’s issues.’

‘Possibly, or maybe they picked out this victim at random and his record is a coincidence,’ Tony said.

‘How did they get him to go down the alley?’ Sabine wondered. ‘Any witness accounts of him leaving the pub?’

‘From the witness statements taken last night, none of them were with him,’ Julia said.

‘That would make sense that he was on his own, if nobody noticed him missing. I suppose they could’ve just waited for him to go outside and then dragged him down the alley,’ Sabine said.

‘Our they could’ve pretended to have something to sell him,’ Tony offered.

‘Maybe,’ Sabine said with a furrowing of the brow and narrowing of the eyes.

‘What are you thinking?’ Tony asked Sabine.

‘I’m thinking it would be a lot easier for Julia to have convinced that guy to go down a dark alley, than it would have been for you.’

‘You’re really starting to think there’s a woman with them aren’t you?’ Julia said to Sabine.

‘Like you said earlier, this case make you see weirdness when it isn’t there, but yeah I wouldn’t be totally surprised if there is a woman with them.’

‘We definitely can’t rule anything out,’ Julia replied.

Chapter 16

Don

Sitting on the bench for his high school basketball team, Don was desperate to get into the action. Playing against their fiercest local rivals, Don’s team was just three points behind going into the last four minutes of their game, when their coach called a timeout. All the players dutifully circled round their coach, waiting for his latest words.

‘These guys aren’t as good at basketball as you, they can’t pass as well as you, dribble as well as you or shoot as well as you. So can anybody tell me why they are winning?’ The coach made no effort to hide his anger or disappointment, staring at each of them in turn as he screamed. None of the players were willing to offer and answer. ‘We’re losing this game because they are more aggressive than you, you guys look like you’d quite like to win this game, they look desperate to win this game. Ben you’re out, Don, you’re in. And Don I don’t want to see number seventeen score another point.’

‘Yes sir,’ Don beamed.

Within thirty seconds of Don being on the court, the opposition’s number seventeen got the ball and started dribbling. Don race over to him, made no attempt to take the ball off him, instead just smashed into him, knocking the stunned player to the ground. Number seventeen jumped up immediately and squared up to Don, who reacted by punching his opponent in the face, knocking him back down to the floor. Don had to be dragged away by his own team mates as he went to land more punches whilst the player was on the floor. Don’s coach came running over and dragged Don off the court.

‘What the hell was that Don?’ The coach screamed in his face as soon as Don sat back down on the bench. ‘Have you even heard of the word composure?’

‘You wanted more aggression coach,’ Don pleaded his case.

‘Aggression and thuggish violence are far from the same thing, if you want to play any sport, you’ll have to learn that sooner or later.’

Ronny

One evening during his first semester at college, Ronny was studying alone in the library. On the other side of a bookcase four students, two male and two female, on Ronny’s course were sat round a table and although Ronny was out of their sight he couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.

‘I’m definitely thinking of trying out as a walk on for the football team next year,’ one of the males said.

‘Are you kidding?’ The other male scoffed.

‘Yeah come on Dan, you’re kind of small,’ one of the female’s added.

‘Fiona honey I keep offering to show you how big I am,’ Dan said with a smile.

‘Keep it in your pants champ,’ Fiona replied with a little smile and shake of her head.

‘Besides football isn’t all about size,’ Dan continued. ‘It’s about speed and skill.’

‘You don’t have either of them,’ the other male said.

‘It’s all about heart, and I have plenty of that,’ Dan continued undeterred.

‘You certainly don’t quit easy,’ Fiona said. ‘Lisa and I can attest to that.’

‘Certainly can,’ Lisa agreed. ‘Come on Dan, don’t pretend this is about anything else other than you thinking being on the football team in any way, will increase the frequency of sex during your college days.’

‘Brutally truthful,’ Ben said as he patted Dan on the shoulder.

‘Maybe that’s a tiny consideration that has been taken into my decision making process,’ Dan acknowledged with another little smile.

‘Trust me Dan,’ Fiona said. ‘You’ll be better sticking to hanging around at parties waiting to hit on the girls that the football players have rejected.’

‘To be fair that tactic has worked pretty well so far,’ Dan acknowledged with a bigger grin.

‘Seriously,’ Ben said. ‘You for the football team, that is a ridiculously plan. That would be like that Ronny guy in our class trying out for the debate team,’ Ben added and produced a big laugh from the other three.

‘Actually that might work,’ Lisa said still laughing. ‘His opening argument would take so long that the opposition may get bored and quit.’

‘I was behind him in the lunch queue in the other day and I thought I was going to starve whilst he was getting his order out,’ Fiona said. ‘How can anybody be that nervous talking to a lunch lady?’

‘How can anybody be that socially inept at that age,’ Dan said.

‘You should take him to those parties,’ Ben suggested. ‘Next to him you’ll look like the star Quarterback, let alone a minor walk on player.’

Ronny listened to every word, his breathing getting deeper. After Ben’s comment about the party Ronny snapped his pencil and threw both pieces into the bookcase. None of the four of them could hear the snapping pencil or it slamming into the books, over their laughter.

-----------------------------------------------

Anna and Natasha were sat on their beds in their room, waiting to be told when it was time to go out for Don’s murder. Both of them were already dressed in their black outfits for the night, sat facing each other.

‘So what songs would you have chosen for Don?’ Natasha wondered.

‘Maybe the theme tune from “Psycho”,’ Anna replied, followed by a little grin.

‘I can’t believe I’ve found myself in the same group of people as him,’ Natasha said.

‘Don’t ever be thinking that you’re the same as him sweetie,’ Anna replied.

‘I know he’s just a horrible monster of a person, but I’ve killed people too.’

‘You’ve killed people for a reason, an extreme reason. Churchill, Roosevelt and Truman were responsible for probably nearly as many deaths as Hitler, but nobody has a bad word to say about them.’

‘I’d love to live inside your head for a day,’ Natasha said, with a little shake of her own head.

‘Never a dull moment in there and everything in there makes sense to me.’

‘I’ll definitely take being compared to Roosevelt and Churchill over being compared to Don.’

At this moment they heard Don briskly marching down the stairs, making several excited noises.

‘I guess it’s time to hit the road,’ Anna said.

‘And to watch somebody innocent die,’ Natasha said with a frown.

‘He’s chosen to go after the guy he fought with last night, so hopefully he’ll lose and the only person that’ll die will be Don.’

‘In that case the victim will be far from innocent.’

All six of them went in the van, Justin driving them round to the pub where Anna had found her victim the night before. Justin parked about two hundred yards away from the pub, then Don and Ronny got out of the van and walked to the pub.

To Don’s delight, the man he’d fought with the previous night was standing at the bar when Don walked in. Don walked up to him from behind and tapped him on the shoulder.

‘Oh not you again,’ the man said as he turned around after the tap. ‘Didn’t you get enough of a beating last night?’

‘I loved last night, in fact I want more. But not here, somewhere it’ll be just the two of us.’

‘Are you actually asking me to step outside?’ The man asked with a hint of incredulity.

‘I guess I am, but I was trying to avoid the cliché,’ Don said as he glared into the man’s eyes.

‘I guess I can take five minutes out of my night to kick your arse again,’ he replied without a flicker of fear.

‘Let’s go outside then,’ Don said and gestured towards the door.

‘I know just the place, follow me you fucking prick,’ he said then walked briskly out of the pub.

Scott received a text message from Ronny whilst he was waiting in the van with Justin, Anna and Natasha.

‘Ronny says that Don’s been taken down an alley about halfway between here and the pub,’ Scott told the others. ‘He says there’s no sign of any police, we should get down there to check how Don’s doing.’

The four of them set off in the direction of the pub and soon enough they saw Ronny at the end of an alley. By the time they got there Don was clearly losing his fight.

‘Let’s help him out,’ Scott suggested.

‘Always happy to fight,’ Justin said and jogged towards the fight.

Scott jogged after him, then stopped, turned and said to Anna; ‘You not helping?’

‘Help Don? Are you fucking kidding me? I’m cheering for the other guy,’ Anna replied, staying firmly where she was stood.

Scott continued on after Justin and proceeded to help Justin to attack Don’s opponent. This brutal two on one assault continued for a couple of minutes whilst Don was recovering and getting himself back to his feet.

‘Thanks guys, I can take it from here,’ Don said then started punching to the head as the man lay face up on the concrete. Long after his skull had been crushed Don continued to land punches.

Anna and Natasha turned away and walked a little back in the direction of the van, neither wanting to witness Don’s triumph. At this point a man walked up to Ronny.

‘Excuse me pal, do you know where there nearest nightclub is?’ He asked Ronny.

‘N-n-n-no, s-s-s-sorry I’m n-n-not from r-r-r-round here.’

‘Wow, that’s one hell of a stutter mate, are you one of those American rap artists?’ He asked rhetorically then started to laugh.

Ronny pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and shot the man in the head.

‘Ronny!’ Natasha said as she turned around upon hearing the gunshot. ‘What the fuck?’ She added as she and Anna jogged over to see what he’d done.

‘I’m s-s-s-sorry,’ Ronny offered. ‘I j-j-just.’

‘Snapped,’ Anna finished his sentence for him. ‘Most of us grow out of that when we’re about four.’

Scott, Justin and Don came running up the alley to investigate the shot.

‘Everybody back to the van quick,’ Scott said and they all ran back to the van.

‘What the fuck happened?’ Scott said as Justin wheel span his way away from his parking place.

‘From what we can tell,’ Anna said. ‘That guy laughed at Ronny’s stutter, so of course Ronny had to shoot him.’

‘Jesus Christ Ronny,’ Scott said. ‘Remember the control we talked about, you need to show that.’

‘I know,’ Ronny said quietly with his head bowed.

‘You don’t get to kill anyone tomorrow now,’ Scott told him.

‘Can I take his turn?’ Don asked, wide eyed with a big smile.

‘No it’s back to being my turn again tomorrow,’ Scott said. ‘Then things can start getting a little bit different.’

Don

Don stood on duty outside the nightclub. It was towards the end of the night and not too many people were hanging around outside. One group of friends did approach the entrance that Don was guarding. At the front of this group was a young woman staggering on high heels and wearing a short dress.

‘Don’t think you should be going in there honey,’ Don said, holding both hands out.

‘I can do what the fuck I like,’ she said as she staggered to a stop.

‘Looks like you’ve had more than enough already,’ Don continued.

‘I can take a lot more, you can when you’re young, you probably can’t remember that far back.’

‘You should be home in bed with a guy like me,’ Don said as he put his hands on her bare shoulders and smiled at her.

‘Get the fuck off me you creep, I’d rather be in bed with syphilis,’ her line caused all her friends to laugh.

Don forcefully pushed the woman over onto her back.

‘What the fuck man?’ One of her male friends said to Don, whilst holding his hands out.

Don stepped over to this man and punched him on the nose.

‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ Another male in the group said, then Don grabbed hold of the collar of this man’s shirt and pushed him back up against a wall. At this point two more Bouncers came over and pulled Don away.

The man who Don had grabbed straightened his collar and said: ‘When other Bouncers think you’re too violent, then you need to be asking yourself serious questions.’

Ronny

Ronny was at his desk at work, the desk was covered in open books and his computer had several documents open. He was scribbling notes down from one book in particular, when a young lady walked past as she wrapped a scarf around herself and through a handbag over her shoulder.

‘Come on Ronny, an hour unpaid overtime is more than enough on a Friday night, get yourself home,’ she said without breaking stride.

‘I’m nearly d-done,’ Ronny said.

‘Don’t believe you,’ she said as she continued on through the door.

It was another half an hour or so before Ronny left the building. As he got outside and got to the bottom of the steps outside the building he turned to walk past a married couple going in the other direction.

‘Ronny?’ The woman of the couple said just as he got level with them, stopping Ronny in his tracks and making him turn to face her. ‘It is you. Do you remember me?’

‘Miss Morgan, of c-course.’

‘Ronny was one of my best science students ever at high school,’ Miss Morgan said to her husband.

‘Oh okay,’ her husband said and looked at his watch.

‘Are you working here now?’ Miss Morgan asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Wow, I’m so proud. What do you do for them?’

‘I’m a r-r-re-researcher.’

‘Oh that’s fantastic,’ Miss Morgan said with a beaming smile. ‘How long have you been working here?’

‘About three y-y-years, ever sin-sin-since I grad-grad-graduated coll-coll-coll-college.’

‘Christ no wonder you have a job where you don’t have to talk to people,’ Miss Morgan’s husband said.

‘Bob!’ Miss Morgan shouted as if at a naughty student. ‘Don’t be so cruel.’

‘Oh come on, I’m sure the kids has had a lot worse.’

‘Exactly, he had enough of that at high school, he should expect more from adults.’

‘If he does expect more from adults, he’s in for a disappointment.’

‘Ignore him Ronny, great to see you again, and to see you doing so well, look after yourself.’

‘You too,’ Ronny replied and set off walking for home.

Chapter 17

Sabine, Julia and Tony were looking around the latest crime scene. It was just before midnight and the area had just finished being taped off.

‘Definitely different,’ Julia said.

‘I really don’t think this was planned,’ Sabine replied as she looked at the body of the second victim. ‘Although the sixth victim in LA was shot.’

‘Surely they’re not getting so impatient that one murder every night isn’t enough for them,’ Tony commented.

‘My guess is that this guy witnessed the planned murder and they decided he couldn’t be allowed to live,’ Sabine said.

‘Does seem the most likely,’ Julia agreed. ‘The fifth victim in LA was a female, clearly not this time.’

‘Yeah I think for the fifth and sixth murders they are running out of motives,’ Sabine replied.

‘Wait a minute,’ Sabine added. ‘Aren’t we close by to the pub where we found the fourth victim?’

‘Yeah, it’s a couple of hundred yards or so away I reckon,’ Tony replied.

‘For fuck’s sake,’ Sabine screamed and kicked an empty beer can that was on the pavement, sending it halfway across the road.

‘I know this question isn’t going to get a great reaction,’ Julia said as she and Tony looked on, taken aback by Sabine’s outburst. ‘But what’s wrong?’

‘The serial killers we’re tracking down kill one victim in a pub where there is a pub brawl the same night, and I don’t even contemplate the possibility that they might have been involved in the brawl and chosen their next victim from that brawl,’ Sabine said as she paced around in a small circle and making passionate hand gestures.

‘We didn’t think of it either,’ Julia said with a sigh.

‘Plus even if we had taken precautions, they probably would’ve got round it somehow or gone off and killed someone else,’ Tony said.

‘Yeah like we said, the fifth murder doesn’t seem to have much of if any motive, so someone would’ve died tonight,’ Julia added.

‘The fact that you two are both morons as well, and that even if we hadn’t been, then somebody would probably have still died, doesn’t make me feel at all better right now,’ Sabine stopped still to reply, whilst alternating her glare between Julia and Tony. ‘I’m out of here, I’ll see you in the morning for the usual pointless listening to the tape and desperate attempt to come up with something new,’ she added then turned quickly and started walking away from them.

‘Sabine let me take you to your hotel,’ Tony said.

Sabine turned back to face Tony and Julia. ‘I may be a moron Tony but I’m a big girl and I’m sure I can manage to get myself back to a hotel,’ she replied as she walked slowly backwards, away from Tony and Julia, then turned her back on them once again and continued to walk away.

‘Let her go Tony,’ Julia said quietly. ‘Storming off is just what you need sometimes.’

The next morning Sabine walked into the investigation room, where Julia and Tony were already. As soon as Sabine came through the door, Julia gently tossed her a small teddy bear.

‘What’s this?’ Sabine said after catching the bear and looking suitably confused.

‘It’s for you,’ Julia said. ‘It’s one of the toys you threw out of your pram last night,’ she added in a dead pan tone that was becoming familiar to Sabine.

Sabine looked at the bear, then looked a Julia for a few seconds with a blank stare, then she burst into a little bout of laughter. ‘That was a brave move,’ Sabine said to Julia. ‘If I’d been in the same mood as last night then this bear would be halfway down your throat by now!’ she added with a smile.

‘I think that if you do it right, humour can be the best option at any time,’ Julia said.

‘I reckon you’re right, you could be being marched to the electric chair and still the right joke would make you laugh,’ Sabine agreed. ‘I’m keeping this bear by the way,’ she added as she held it up in one hand as she sat down next to Julia and across the table from Tony.

‘It was probably only 20p from a charity shop anyway,’ Tony said.

‘50p actually, and I gave them a pound and told them to keep the change,’ Julia protested.

‘Anyway back to the case,’ Tony suggested. ‘We’ve listened to the tape and there’s no mention of a sixth murder on there.’

‘So it definitely wasn’t planned,’ Sabine replied. ‘And we have no way of knowing whether they are planning on starting all over again or what.’

‘Exactly,’ Julia replied. ‘We’ve sent out warnings to all local police stations anyway, just in case it is the turn of another cop to be targeted.’

‘Good idea,’ Sabine said. ‘As usual there’s little else we can do,’ she added after a disconsolate sigh, then started to look at the bear for comfort.

Chapter 18

The next evening Scott had gathered the five members of his gang into the living room of the house they were living in.

‘There’s another Cop that deserves to die,’ he announced once the other five were all seated, Anna a Natasha next to each other on a couch, Justin on the arm of that couch and Don and Ronny in an armchair each. ‘That’s going to happen tonight.’

‘Are we just going to go round taking turns killing people forever?’ Anna asked.

‘No, after tonight the plan will change.’

‘We still get to kill people right?’ Don checked as he leaned forward in the chair.

‘Remember Don, it’s not all about the killing,’ Scott replied.

‘It is to me,’ Don replied.

‘Yeah we all get that Don,’ Anna snapped back. ‘We got it a long time ago. So what is it all about Scott?’

‘You know what it’s all about Anna,’ Scott replied.

‘I know Ronny has gotten fed up of people laughing at his stutter, I know Justin wants some sort of revenge for his parent’s death, I know Natasha wants to kill some guys who are like the disgusting creep that killed her daughter, I know Don likes killing people and I know I’m here because a bully fucked me up a while ago. I’m not completely clear anymore on what your grand plan is, I know you don’t like cops and at first I thought you just wanted to kill a few. Lately I’ve been starting to think that killing them to you is secondary to outsmarting. Then that got me to thinking that if I desperately wanted to outsmart someone, then when I did it I’d want them to know about it. Is your grand plan to get caught Scott?’

‘I do love the outsmarting,’ Scott replied whilst nodding his head slowly. ‘But I really don’t see us being caught any time soon, let alone planning to get caught.’

Anna looked Scott in the eye. ‘Once more, with conviction.’

Scott laughed. ‘Come on Anna, I’ve got us this far.’

‘That is true,’ Anna conceded. ‘Let’s take it one step at a time, let’s go out so you can add to your dead cop collection.’

‘It is time to roll out,’ Scott said and headed for the front door. One by one the rest of the gang slowly followed him.

Scott marched slowly down the driveway, knife in hand, and knocked on the front door. A man in his mid-fifties opened the door.

‘You won’t have to think too long before you realise why you deserve to die,’ Scott said whilst hiding the knife behind his back, then quickly slashed the man’s throat. The victim grabbed his own throat in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding, looked at Scott with wide eyed shock and dismay, then slowly collapsed to the floor.

Chapter 19

After visiting the latest, sickeningly familiar, crime scene, Sabine, Julia and Tony were back in the investigation room by ten o’clock the next morning, about to listen to the tape. Each of them sat in a chair around the table, Tony played the tape.

‘Just in case you were thinking that we were about to go round in the circle one more time, let me tell you to stop worrying about the boredom factor because I’ve decided to do things a little differently from now on. Obviously in the original format this contest was way too one sided, as it turned out that I am so superior in the intelligence department, so I’ve decided to make that a little bit easier in the interest of an even contest. Tomorrow night we’re going to kidnap two people completely at random and take them back to where we are staying. I’m going to kill one the night after and the other one the night after that. I will repeat the process until you catch me. My first clue is that I think you’ve been looking for me in the wrong place, in fact we are staying somewhere that has been alternatively famous for descending on the big jump for the human race. That will do for now, it will keep you thinking for quite a while I’m sure. Goodbye.’

‘That clue will certainly help with the insanity plea,’ Sabine said.

‘They can’t be staying at a hotel if they’re taking kidnap victims back to where they are staying,’ Tony said.

‘That’s true,’ Sabine said and nodded.

‘I suppose the change in routine is something we should be happy about,’ Julia said.

‘Going away from the plan has to be a good thing for us,’ Tony agreed. ‘But now we have no clue at all where they might strike next and who their next victim will be.’

‘I already sense another incredibly frustrating day spent in this completely uninspiring room,’ Sabine said. ‘I for one am not in the mood for that. I’m going to take myself into town for the day, I often find a change of scenery helps my thought process, plus no offence but sometimes I think better on my own.’

‘No offence at all,’ Julia replied. ‘I totally agree with changing our routine too, I think I’ll go for a wander myself.’

‘Fair enough,’ Tony said. ‘I’ll hang around the station and go over all the case files one more time, whilst you two go off for some quality alone time.’

‘Shall we say meet back here around four, unless there are any unexpected breakthroughs?’ Sabine suggested.

‘Sounds good to me,’ Julia replied and Tony nodded his agreement.

Sabine was sitting in the Arnedale Centre in Manchester City centre. She was in the process of devouring some cookies, that she had bought as her unorthodox dinner, when she overheard part of a conversation between the two young men, who were sitting to Sabine’s right, she heard enough to understand what they were talking about. One of the two men had been for a job interview recently, it was clear that he had failed to get the job and this was when the conversation began to interest Sabine. He was telling his friend how annoying it was for some guy in a suit to tell him that has wasn’t good enough for the job, especially as he had worked so hard to get the job and he knew he would have enjoyed it and been good at it. Sabine stood up and started to pace around slowly in circles as she dialled Murray, one of her junior officers in the LAPD. She knew it was five o’clock in the morning back in Los Angeles, so she rang Murray’s phone rather than the Police Station.

‘Hello?’ Murray answered the phone with a mixture of grogginess at being woken up and bemusement at somebody ringing him at that time in the morning.

‘Hi Murray it’s Sabine, I’m really sorry for ringing you so early in the morning but I’ve just had a major thought on the case.’

‘A major thought?’ Murray mental state meant that he was best using other people’s words and that everything he said would sound like a question.

‘I’ve just thought that what if the guy is doing this because he wanted to become a police officer and he failed at the interview stage?’

‘Wanted to be a cop?’ Murray mumbled.

‘He obviously singled out our department, because he killed John and he knows my name, so if my theory is right then he probably would have been turned down from our station. They should still have records of all the people they gave an interview to recently, so I need you to check them all out looking for anybody who fits the description. Also try and speak to the people who did the interviewing and ask them if they can remember anybody being particularly annoyed at being turned down and whether they fit the description of the Hitman,’ Sabine’s excitement was in stark contrast to Murray’s zombie like state.

‘Okay Sabine I’ll get on to it, I’ll be in the office in half an hour and I can check the files straight away. But I’ll probably have to wait a couple of hours or so before the people who did the interviewing come in.’

‘Once you’ve checked the files, just get hold of the people who did the interviewing right away. Wake them up at home if you have to, you can blame me if you want. Then as soon as you find out anything or you’ve finished checking everything give me a ring back.’

Julia had finished the unfortunate job of telling the close relatives of the latest victim about what had happened to their loved one. She had done it many times and she was as good at it as anybody could be, but still it made her feel depressed every time she did it. Walking down Oxford Street in the centre of Manchester, doing some window shopping as she munched away on a cheese and salad baguette, she bumped into one of her old friends.

‘Hey Chip how are you doing?’ Julia said to him as she noticed him before he noticed her, her mood was immediately lifted upon seeing Chip.

‘Hey Jules how’s my favourite Police Woman doing?’ Chip greeted her in his usual friendly and slightly boisterous manner.

‘All the better for seeing you of course,’ Julia replied.

‘Oh stop,’ Chip replied with a theatrically over the top wave of his hand.

‘Actually I’m working on a stinker of a case at the moment.’

‘You can’t fool me Jules, I know the harder the case the more you like it. I’m just surprised you haven’t solved that whole JFK business yet.’

‘Maybe when I’m retired. Anyway how are things with you?’

‘Not too bad thanks, I’m feeling pretty good and reasonably injury free. Plus United continue to be the dominant force in English football.’

‘All is right with the world! What about your own footy career?’

‘We’re not exactly setting the world or even the league a light, but we’re not near relegation which makes a change. It does help when you’ve actually got a couple of people who can actually defend in front of you.’

‘Yeah I was reading you’ve bought in a couple of, shall we say more experienced, defenders.’

‘Yeah, they’re not exactly in the best of shape anymore, but they know how to play the game so they still look good at our level. I’m leaning more and more to the coaching side though, I keep thinking that my wrist is finally going to snap one day so I need to start thinking about doing something else to get the money in.’

‘What about your sports psychology degree? When are your finals for that?’

‘May next year, I’m pretty sure I’ll pass it’s just a matter of what sort of grade. Actually; change of subject here, I got in a bit of trouble with your lot the other day.’

Julia couldn’t stop herself from letting out a small burst of laughter, she knew that Chip wouldn’t have got into any serious trouble. ‘I’ve got to hear about this.’

‘I kind of got involved in a pub brawl. It was a good decent brawl mind, nothing too sinister, no knives or broken glasses, just a lot of honest pounding. Anyway the police turned up and took a few of them off to the cells, I managed to get out of the pub just in time to avoid that fate.’

Julia let out another giggle, then quickly covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to show some sympathy to Chip.

‘How did this brawl start and how did you get involved?’

‘That’s the most annoying part about the whole thing, it was a bunch of yanks that started the whole thing and they’d all cleared off by the time your lot turned up.’

‘Americans?’ Julia checked for confirmation and put her right hand just below Chip’s left shoulder, the giggles had gone.

‘Yeah,’ Chip replied, slightly bemused by Julia’s sudden more professional take on the conversation.

‘This was the pub where a murder was committed outside on the same night as the brawl?’ Julia checked.

‘Yeah that’s the one, I read about that murder. It’s weird to think that I was probably in the pub when it happened.’

‘Come over here and tell me everything about that night,’ Julia told Chip and gently dragged him over to a nearby bench, which they both sat down on as Chip told Julia everything he could remember from the night of the pub brawl.

‘So there were six Americans in all?’ Julia checked once Chip had finished his version of events, she put a big emphasis on the word six.

‘Yeah four men, two women.’

‘That could explain a few things. Can you remember what any of them looked like?’

Chip looked at Julia somewhat perplexed. ‘Something tells me you’ve not just launched a campaign to crack down on all people who start pub brawls.’

‘Very perceptive, it seems almost certain that these people you and the other locals got stuck into, are actually the people responsible for a total of thirteen murders. Which just happens to be that difficult case I’m working on.’

‘Oh okay, I think I can remember what most of them looked like. The guy who started the whole thing looked to be in his mid thirties, average sort of height but stocky build. The guy I spent most of my time fighting with was only in his mid or even early twenties. He was built pretty much like me, tall and lean without looking skinny and he had dark hair. Another one of them didn’t look too dissimilar to him either. The guy who spilled my drink was more of a light weight. Again he was reasonable tall but he was very scrawny. Now then the woman was gorgeous.’

‘You going to stop drooling or do you want me to get you a bib?’

‘Don’t go getting jealous Jules, you wanted a description so I’m giving you a description.’ Chip said with a smile.

‘Something tells me you’re about to go into great detail, please just get on with it,’ Julia said with a small shake of her head and the merest hint of a smile.

‘Okay she was pretty tall, at least five nine, I’d say. She had long, slightly wavy, jet black hair with some red streaks. Her face was one with natural good looks, with a hint of a naughty vixen about her. She was wearing an all black outfit and her top was tight enough to show off her slim but still curvy body. Then we move on to her legs, oh my god her legs!’

‘Yes okay I get the picture. I just want a brief description, not all her measurements.’

‘It’s okay Jules you’re still my favourite lady.’

‘It doesn’t sound like you were thinking of me when you saw this woman,’ Julia continued the role-play of her being jealous.

‘Have to be honest and say, no I wasn’t,’ Chip smiled.

‘Anyway!’ Julia exclaimed, not believing that she was still managing to get involved in playful banter with Chip despite the seriousness of what he was telling her. ‘What did this other girl look like?’

‘To be honest I didn’t get that good a look at her, I was fairly dazed by this stage. But she did have silver dye in her hair that was predominantly black, that much I definitely remember. You do tend to notice when somebody has silver hair. She was also wearing black, come to think of it I think each of them were pretty much wearing all black. The woman who attacked me had a pair of black sunglasses perched on her head, you know like the cricket players do. Anyway this other woman was smaller, more average sort of height for a woman maybe five four or five five. She wasn’t exactly ugly herself by any means, she had a petite type of figure if you know what I mean.’

‘Again, I’m pretty sure I get the picture.’

About an hour after she rang him, Murray called Sabine back.

‘Hello.’

‘Hey Sabine it’s Murray.’

‘Please tell me you’ve got something.’

‘Oh yes.’

‘Great, I’m all ears.’

‘I’ve been looking through the files of the people who were interviewed, one of them is about the right age to be the Hitman and there are some notes on his file that say that he didn’t handle the rejection at all well, becoming angry with the officers when they suggested he look into being a security guard.’

‘That’s brilliant now you’ve definitely got something to work on.’

‘You haven’t heard the biggest part yet.’

‘Go on.’

‘His name is Scott Thatcher, I’m sure that rings a bell.’

Sabine’s mouth and eyes widened at the same time. ‘He was the witness in the last case in L.A.’ Sabine spoke as if she needed to say it out loud to believe it.

‘That’s the guy.’

‘That certainly could explain a few things. You should still have the reports from each of the witnesses. We need to check if any of the others are involved.’

‘I’ve got Aaron in already and we’re just about to go out and re-acquaint ourselves with these witnesses. If we catch up with any of them should we arrest them straight away on suspicion of being part of this Hitman gang?’

Sabine knew Murray could be a little absent minded at times but she still didn’t believe he asked the question he just had. ‘Just think about that for a second or two Murray,’ she told him like a disgruntled teacher to a frustrating student.

After a couple of seconds pause for silent thought Murray sheepishly replied, ‘Oh yeah of course if they were in the gang they’d be over there with you.’

‘Sharp as a pin,’ Sabine responded with a sarcastic tone that Murray was more than used to. ‘First of all you check out where this Scott Thatcher lives and see if you can make sure that he is involved.’

‘Yeah I’m on my way there as soon as I’ve finished talking to you.’

‘You best hang up then, bye.’

Chip had agreed to go down to the station with Julia to make an official statement on what he had seen on the night of the pub brawl. As she was driving to the station with Chip in the passenger seat, Julia got a phone call.

‘Hello.’

‘Hi Julia, its Sabine.’

‘Hi Sabine I was just about to ring you.’

‘Really? Anyway I’ve got some new information that throws a heck of a lot of light on the case,’ Sabine said.

‘That’s kind of spooky because I made some major developments myself, I’m heading back to the station now, you want to meet up there?’

‘Yeah sounds good, I’ll jump in a cab now, see you soon,’ Sabine responded.

‘Excellent, bye.’

After Julia hung up her phone, Chip started to shake his head in a theatrical manner.

‘Dearie me, using a mobile phone whilst driving,’ he said then leaned over towards Julia. ‘Also speeding, where’s a policeman when you need one,’ he added with a cheeky grin.

‘Be quiet, or I’ll make you ride in the back like you usually do in a police vehicle,’ Julia responded with a smile of her own.

As Sabine was getting out of a taxi at the police station, she received another phone call from Murray.

‘Hello.’

‘Hey Sabine it’s Murray again. I think we can eliminate any doubt we might have had about this Scott Thatcher guy being the Hitman.’

‘What have you found?’

‘We’re at his place now and every room is painted black, the whole place is a mess apart from where his computer is in his bedroom. Plus he’s obviously out on a trip somewhere, because there are no clothes here and the junk mail is piled up behind his door.’

‘Okay good job. Try and get in touch with members of his family and see if we can get inside this guy’s head a little.’

‘Sure, we’ll do that along with checking out the other witnesses.’

‘Okay, ring me any time you get a new development, bye.’

By the time Sabine had finished her conversation with Murray she had got to the investigation room where Julia was waiting for her.

‘Hi Sabine this is Chip, he’s a friend of mine I’ve known since we went to high school together. By a strange twist of fate he could turn out to be somebody who helps us finally solve this case,’ Julia announced as soon as Sabine entered the room then Chip and Sabine exchanged greetings. ‘Tell Sabine your story, the brief version okay you don’t have to go through all the graphically detailed descriptions.’

‘Yes Ma’am,’ Chip said theatrically.

‘Really not the time,’ Julia said then gave Chip a look that didn’t need any further words.

‘Okay. You know about that pub brawl that happened near where one of these murders took place,’ Chip began.

‘Yeah,’ Sabine remarked.

‘Greatly against my character of course, I was actually involved in that particular fracas. However the big news flash is that there was also a bunch of Americans, four men and two women.’

‘Were these women both young and attractive, with black hair?’ Sabine asked Chip.

‘They had black hair, neither of them could have been much more than twenty-five, although I’m hopeless with ages,’ he replied. ‘What was the other feature you mentioned?’

‘She said they were attractive,’ Julia told him in a way that acknowledged his attempt at humour, but also let him know she wasn’t impressed by it.

‘That’s it attractive, now let me see, erm; yes. Quite definitely yes.’

‘Was one tall, sort of powerfully lean, with long, black hair?’ Sabine asked Chip.

‘Yeah that describes the one I had a little alteration with almost perfectly, although she did have streaks of red hair dye that night.’

‘Was the other quite a bit shorter with a very slim build and shoulder length wavyish hair?’ Sabine checked with Chip.

‘I believe the word I used was petite, I didn’t get to see her face much but she had also put a little dye in her hair, she’d gone for silver.’

‘Where are you getting these descriptions from?’ Julia, who was totally bemused, asked Sabine.

‘That’s all part of my breakthrough news.’

‘Please tell all,’ Julia invited Sabine.

At this point Tony came into the room.

‘Hi Sabine how are you doing? Have you heard about what Julia’s found out?’

‘Yes I have and I’m just about to reveal my findings of this afternoon. It all started when I had a brain wave.’

‘I had one of them,’ Chip interrupted. ‘It was in 1991.’

‘This particular brave wave will be one I’ll remember the date of forever probably,’ Sabine continued whilst acknowledging Chips quip with a pleasant smile.

‘I overheard a couple of guys talking, one of them had obviously recently been to a job interview and he was telling his friend how disappointed he was that he didn’t get the job. Then I suddenly thought that could be a reason for having something against cops that we hadn’t considered yet. What if the main Hitman guy really wanted to become a cop himself but he failed the interview? I remembered that my department back in LA had recruited some new cops not too long before this whole thing started. I phoned Murray, who was one of the guys who helped me with the case back home, I told him to check out the files of the people who were interviewed. He found one guy who failed the interview who fitted the Hitman’s description. Murray has gone round to this guy’s house and it’s painted all black, is completely trashed and he’s obviously gone away for some time so it’s pretty certain that he’s our man.’

‘But from what Chip saw there’s obviously a gang of them, so knowing who one of them is isn’t actually that big a help,’ Julia commented.

‘It looks like that I suppose, until that is I tell you that the guy I’ve been talking about is called Scott Thatcher,’ Sabine added then looked at Tony and Julia with raised eyebrows and the merest hint of a satisfied smile.

It took a few seconds for the significance of the name to sink in, then Julia and Tony both spoke at exactly the same time ‘That’s the name of the guy who was the witness in the last murder in LA.’

‘Yes indeed. So now I can check with Chip if the people he saw match up with the other witnesses in the five cases that did have witnesses.’

‘This is definitely a break through day, I just wish I had something to add, but for me this day has just been another of dead ends and blank looks,’ Tony commented.

‘Never mind, two out of three isn’t bad,’ Julia responded.

‘So Chip you saw only the two women?’ Sabine checked.

‘Yeah two ladies and four guys.’

‘That suggests that the first witness was a genuine one. Perhaps he only got the idea of fake witnesses when he realised somebody had witnessed his first murder. So we’ve done the two women and we know all about Scott Thatcher, so there’s only one other witness left. He was a guy who looked to be in his mid thirties, average height, chunky build with a loud, brash persona,’ Sabine continued.

‘Yeah that sounds like one of the guys I was telling you about, he was pretty loud, in fact he was the one who started the whole fight.’

‘We did actually briefly consider the possibility of fake witnesses in our discussion round at Luke’s house,’ Tony pointed out.

‘Yeah but there was never anything to back up that theory until now,’ Julia replied.

‘He’s obviously treating this even more like a game than I thought,’ Sabine added.

‘If everything we are saying is right we know the name of four of the gang members as well as knowing there are six of them in the gang,’ Julia remarked. ‘The only ones we don’t know the names of are the one who looks like Scott Thatcher and the scrawny guy.’

‘It still doesn’t help us much to catch them,’ Tony said.

‘We’ve got three completely knew descriptions to circulate plus a much more accurate one of the general description that we have been giving out,’ Julia pointed out.

‘Yes there is that,’ Tony conceded.

‘Also we can be fairly sure that the taller of the two women committed the fourth murder.’ Julia added.

Julia’s latest statement caused a few seconds of confused silence amongst the others.

‘Because she was wearing the sunglasses?’ Tony checked with Julia.

‘Yes,’ Julia replied.

‘Excellent,’ Sabine remarked. ‘Were none of the others wearing sunglasses Chip?’

‘No, she was the only one.’

‘I can’t remember her name, what the hell is it?’ Sabine wondered. ‘It’s a short, fairly common first name I’m sure.’

‘Anna Snyder,’ Julia announced.

‘That’s it,’ Sabine responded with the customary relief of that situation.

‘You don’t know her phone number as well do you?’ Chip asked Julia.

‘She’s a mad murderer, does that not put you off at all?’ Julia asked Chip in amazement.

‘What kind of person would that make me, to just write her off because of something like that without ever getting to know her?’ Chip responded, with a look and tone that made it obvious he was completely joking.

‘We best get on with circulating our new descriptions, between the two of you we should be able to come up with some fairly accurate images,’ Julia said to Sabine and Chip. ‘Plus we can alert all ports to the four names we have.’

‘Murray is going to check all the addresses that the witness gave as their own, if by any chance they gave their real addresses then we should be able to track down actual pictures of them. Chances are though they have given us false locations, so your police sketch artist might be the best we can do,’ Sabine said.

They went to the resident police artist and they conjured up descriptions of all six members of the gang, some more accurate than others but none of them were too far from the mark. Once they were happy with the pictures, they sent the descriptions to everybody they could think of that might be able to help them. Although in themselves the new findings didn’t actually make it that much easier to catch the killers, this day had without doubt turned out to be the most fruitful since Sabine started on the case. Julia, Tony and Sabine all felt a boost of energy and enthusiasm from a case that had until then only handed out emotions like frustration and depression.