SIXTY-SEVEN

7.20 A.M.

‘Is there any way this could have gone worse, Stone?’ her boss asked once she was sitting down.

It was one of those kinds of debriefings.

‘Worse than the man we were trying to save being splattered across the train lines? No, sir, I don’t think so,’ Kim said, gritting her teeth.

‘Don’t be facetious. You know what I mean,’ he snapped.

She did. She knew he had empathy for the victim. It was just one of the things she respected about him. She also knew that in his position, his feelings about victims could not be his only priority. He was still a police officer at heart, but he also had to broker peace between the teams on the ground and the force politicians.

‘What are we dealing with here?’ he prompted.

‘We’re dealing with an individual governed by rules. He takes them seriously and expects us to as well. We know it isn’t over from his first communication. Someone else will be taken, but the next will be missed. It’s clear that he wants fame and notoriety and that he’s not averse to brutality and cruelty to achieve it.’

‘What do you think would happen if you just stopped playing the game?’ Woody asked.

Kim had considered this a few times over the last twenty-four hours and she could see why Woody was asking. There was no game if one of the two opponents dropped out.

‘I don’t think it’s an option, sir,’ she said honestly. ‘Our guy has shown the lengths he’s prepared to go to, to keep us engaged. He’s sent us body parts to ensure we can’t walk away. He was willing to let a man die horrifically for the sake of the chase, and we know there’s more to come. Us walking away isn’t going to change that. The clues we followed took us to the victim. Two minutes earlier and he would have been saved. If he takes someone else and we don’t follow the trail, we’ll never even have a chance.’

Her own frustration was mirrored in Woody’s expression.

‘What’s the plan to catch him? Just follow the clues and hope one leads to him?’

‘No, sir, we’re going to do what we’ve always done. We’re going to narrow down timelines, look for vehicles, analyse paperwork, check CCTV, talk to people, follow our gut instinct.’

He nodded his agreement. ‘Any leads at all?’

‘At last count, about seventy-five, not including everyone that uses the Seekers website. That gives us a good fifty thousand more.’

‘Stone, are you deliberately?—’

‘No, sir. I’m just giving you an idea of what we’re dealing with. He sets rules and changes them, he doesn’t leave anything behind and he’s damn clever. Not to mention that he pre-empts every action we take.’

‘You know this is going to be all over the national press today?’

‘Of course,’ she answered, choosing not to mention that she’d been harassed by a Sunrise News reporter in the middle of the night.

‘Sir, there might be the odd complaint landing on your desk today.’

‘For what?’ he asked, narrowing his gaze.

‘Nothing too serious,’ she said, waving her hands. She wasn’t going to list all the people she’d pissed off in the last twenty-four hours. If the complaints came, she’d deal with them then. If they didn’t, she was giving him a shopping list of her own bad behaviour for no reason.

‘You know we’ve got to minimise this to the press, so I’ll be giving a prepared statement to a media conference at 8 a.m.’

‘Why you, sir?’ she asked.

‘We need to keep you out of this. Your credibility as a senior detective is being severely damaged. It’s the right thing to do.’

‘It is absolutely the wrong thing to do,’ she protested. ‘First of all, my credibility to anyone outside this building counts for nothing with me. And it’s too late anyway. I’m already the face of this thing, so the ship has sailed on that one. You stepping in does me more harm to be honest. Looks like I can’t handle the case. And do you really want to give him the attention of a detective chief inspector?’ she asked. ‘That’s really going to feed his ego.’

She saw that every one of her points hit home.

He hesitated for what felt like minutes. Part of his job was balancing what the politicians wanted him to do and what the correct operational move was, so she didn’t feel bad for putting him in this position.

What he was suggesting was wrong, and she hoped he had the sense to realise it.

He tapped his fingers on the desk. Normally a good sign. He was at least giving her argument serious consideration.

‘The contact with the press has to be by the book. Only read the approved statement.’

The statement from the press liaison would be banal, vanilla, one that could be used in a hundred different situations. It had been written by someone focussing on damage limitation, clever wording and other tricks to preserve their image. It certainly hadn’t come from the pen of someone anywhere near this case.

She waited for him to continue.

‘If I let you do this, can I count on you to stick to the script?’

‘Of course, sir. You know that I always follow your instructions.’