The Shadow Maker (8 page)

‘Exactly. It’s his private fortress, and we can’t get into it with listening or tracking devices or phone taps. But you’ve managed to get close, and in his face at the same time. I think we can take it further.’

‘If you’re thinking of entrapment,’ Nash warned Proctor, ‘I refuse to sanction it.’

‘I’m thinking more of encouragement - spur him into action to give himself away. And for all we know, Van Hassel is right about Kavella’s involvement in the mutilation; he’s capable of it. Our separate investigations may have reached common ground.’

‘What sort of encouragement?’ asked Nash.

‘The Delos Club. She could drop the name in front of him, sometime in the near future, when their paths cross again.’

‘But we don’t know where or what the Delos Club is,’ pointed out Nash.

‘We know it’s pivotal,’ argued Proctor. ‘A secret meeting place, perhaps. We’ve got it on tape three times in conversations between Kavella and other gangland figures. If it’s a genuine club, it’s not listed as such. The word “Delos” pulls up about a million results on a web search, but other than learning the island of Delos was Apollo’s birthplace, we’re none the wiser. What about you, Van Hassel? Can you shed any light? You know how Kavella’s mind works better than most.’

‘He’s a psychopath,’ she answered. ‘He likes toying with people, including their heads. Symbols and emblems are what he’s into, and don’t forget he studied classics for a while - look at the name of his nightclub.’

‘I don’t want a profile,’ said Proctor. ‘I’m asking for ideas.’

She paused, before continuing. ‘The island of Delos was the headquarters of the Delian League in the fifth century bc when the Greek city-states united against the Persians. It became the basis of the Athenian Empire. I’d say the Delos Club is the code for the association he’s forming.’

‘My God, it fits,’ Proctor breathed. ‘He’s empire building.’ He faced both Nash and Loftus squarely. ‘And I think Van Hassel’s just proven her value to my op.’

‘That remains to be seen,’ said Nash, as he turned his cold gaze on her again. ‘And don’t forget, young woman, I’ve got you in my sights.’

‘Calm down, Van Hassel,’ said Loftus. He had asked Rita to accompany him back to his office. ‘They’re just following procedure.’

She paced up and down, swearing - a delayed reaction to the ticking off she’d received from Nash.

‘Procedure, my arse!’ she said. ‘You know as well as I do it’s only an excuse.’ She stopped pacing and stood at his window, looking at the city skyline. ‘What it’s really about is resentment. They won’t accept what I do.’

‘Give them time.’

‘Time for what?’

‘To get used to the idea of profiling.’

Rita shook her head in exasperation. ‘It’s like waiting for a new primate to evolve. I haven’t got the patience.’ She pulled a frond off his potted fern and began to shred it.

‘They’ll come around,’ Loftus said wearily. ‘But in the meantime patience is something you’re going to have to learn. For the sake of your career.’

‘Maybe it’s just the wrong career.’

‘There’s nothing wrong about it at all,’ he said, ‘if you’ll just leave the politics of the job to me. And perhaps you’ll listen to me the next time I warn you not to do something. That move on Kavella

- you did clear it beforehand with Strickland, didn’t you?’

‘He was under pressure at the time. He was just about to go into a press conference.’

‘So you let him off the hook instead of yourself ?’

‘What’s it matter? It’s an attitude I’m up against.’

Loftus sighed. ‘I admire you, but your sense of honour might be misplaced.’

She turned and looked at him sharply. ‘I always do what I think is right.’

‘That’s fine up to a point, but don’t add to the obstacles in your way. And you bloody well keep me informed if Proctor decides to enlist your services.’

She turned back to the window, plucked another frond from the plant. ‘Are you lecturing me, Jack?’

‘No, just giving you good advice,’ he said irritably. ‘And leave my fern alone.’

She huffed and folded her arms. ‘So what am I supposed to do?’

‘First of all, I want you to go and cool off.’ He looked at his watch. ‘You’ve got half an hour. Then I’m holding a fresh briefing in the squad room. Thanks to you and Strickland, this case has turned into a can of worms that’s now my personal responsibility.

Apart from anything else, I don’t want it going off the rails.’

As detectives gathered for the briefing, Rita pulled over a chair to sit next to Erin.

‘You look pissed off,’ said Erin. ‘Want to tell me about it?’

‘No,’ answered Rita. ‘I want you to deliver on your promise.’

‘What promise?’

‘Wine. Lots of it.’

‘When?’

‘Tonight. Jimmy Watson’s Bar. I’ll ask Lola to come as well.’ Lola was Rita’s best friend. ‘We’re overdue for a blow-out.’

‘I can do threesomes,’ agreed Erin. ‘I’ll have to check if the couch commander can look after Tristan, but it shouldn’t be a problem.’

The chatter in the room tapered off when Loftus entered and started adding items to the whiteboard. Rita could tell he was psyching himself up to deliver the briefing.

He cleared his throat and turned to face his detectives. He had a printout of Strickland’s crime report in one hand, a pen in the other. Behind him was a wall map of the city and a noticeboard with duty lists alongside a display of crime scene photos. ‘I’ve pulled some of you off other investigations for obvious reasons,’ he said.

‘The attack on the prostitute’s not only vicious, but thanks to the media it’s a high-profile case. However,’ he took a deep breath, ‘I don’t want that to distract you. There’s more likely to be a stuff-up if we go charging off in search of a quick bust. If you’ve got the impression people are breathing down your neck, ignore it. Any pressure for a result will be dealt with by me - personally - from now on. I’m talking internal
and
external pressure.’ He shot a look at Strickland. ‘Including the press.’

There were nods of appreciation. Loftus was generally admired by his squad members.

‘You may have got wind of another problem over one particular line of inquiry.’ The expression on his face was stern. ‘As far as I’m concerned it was a glitch that’s been resolved, and I want this investigation back on track.’

The officers shuffled and exchanged looks, wondering exactly what the glitch was. Rita shifted uncomfortably, then glanced around, trying to gauge if any of her colleagues knew what Loftus was referring to. If so, did they represent a pipeline to Kavella? Just the thought of more corrupt detectives in the building was depressing.

But as at any briefing, everyone was being careful and observant, trying to second-guess allusions. Some sat on chairs, arms folded, their faces wearing customary frowns. Others sat back casually on desktops, legs outstretched. Two or three sipped coffee from plastic cups, notebooks at the ready. Apart from an air of heaviness in the room, it could have been any other meeting in any other office.

Loftus dumped the crime report on top of the desk in front of him and waved his pen at them.

‘Now, although I’m overseeing the case, it will be run by Detective Senior Sergeant Strickland,’ he said, beckoning Strickland over.

‘He’ll bring you up to speed on the details and tell you what your assignments are.’

Strickland peeled himself away from the ranks of detectives and stood in front of them with a hard stare. As always, his presence commanded respect, at least among the men. The women were more ambivalent. As their senior officer they had to defer to his judgement - as the alpha male of the squad they had to tolerate him.

‘Even though the man we’re after is an anonymous client of the victim,’ he began, ‘and there’s only a rough description of his age and appearance, we’ve got a few other things to go on. First there’s his DNA. If we’re lucky and he’s on file, we’ll know once we get the results back from the lab. We’ve also got his prints, but no match so far.’ He straightened his shoulders. ‘Next is his car. We haven’t got a number, or even a partial number, but we’ve got the make and model - a black Mazda MX-5. It’ll be slow and methodical work because there are so many of them and we’ve got no descriptive details to narrow the field. But we’ve been this way before, thanks to the Scalper case, so some of the groundwork’s already been done.

Even so, we’re going to have to continue tracking each one of them down, and if nothing else pans out it might end up as our best lead.

Senior Detective Matt Bradby’s team is checking with car dealerships and going through the list of owners.’

He paused and let his eyes move over their faces. ‘Other leads we’re chasing are the Ned Kelly T-shirt and the German bondage gear. Senior Detective O’Keefe’s out pounding the streets at the moment, trying to find out where they were bought. And we’re still trying to trace a key witness - a woman who was apparently this maniac’s first target, but managed to fight him off. If any of you hear of a likely candidate let me or DS Van Hassel know. And although we’ve drawn a blank so far, we’ll continue with an appeal for witnesses around the casino. It’s just possible some punter saw something. There’s enough of them around late at night. We’ll also keep pulling in known offenders who fit the description, even if it’s just to eliminate them. DS Erin Webster’s in charge of that happy task. Finally, DS Higgs and his crew are out questioning street prostitutes. He’s made it clear we’re not interested in vice, we just want to nail this offender. They’re scared after the news reports, so they’re cooperating. The obvious problem is they have a large client base and therefore a large suspect pool.’

He gave Loftus a reluctant sideways look, then went on. ‘I agree with what Jack says about not rushing to get a result. Having said that, we all know the first seventy-two hours of any investigation are crucial, and if there’s no breakthrough within the first five days we’re looking at a long haul. So I just want to remind you, the clock is ticking. Be thorough, but be efficient.’ He turned back to Loftus again. ‘Jack?’

‘That’s a good point,’ said Loftus. ‘And it reminds me we’ve got someone on our team who can help with that very thing. Most of you have worked with Detective Sergeant Van Hassel on different cases over the years and know she’s a damned good investigator. But you’re less familiar with the role she’s currently developing.’

All heads in the room turned to look at Rita, who swallowed thickly and straightened up, wondering what the hell Jack was about to say.

‘I know there’s a lot of scepticism about criminal profiling, but I’m convinced it’s a valuable asset to certain types of investigation. This could be one of them. Now, despite some popular misconceptions, the profiler’s role is not to perform the magic act of identifying the offender. It’s far more pragmatic than that. When a case is in danger of getting bogged down, a profiler can conserve our resources and energy, telling us where
not
to look, for a start, and where not to waste our time. A profiler can also give us a fresh focus if his or her analysis finds a connection that isn’t obvious. DSS Strickland has asked DS Van Hassel to put together a profile on our mutilator-rapist. Although she’s only at the preliminary stage she’s already come up with some insights into his background. But I’m going to let her tell you about that,’ he said, indicating for Rita to come up to the front. ‘She can also give us a few broad impressions of who we’re looking for.’

Rita pulled herself up from the chair, with an encouraging pat on the back from Erin, and moved over to stand in front of the whiteboard. As she faced her fellow detectives their collective doubt was plain to see. Yet there was also an attentive curiosity among them. Jack had given her the floor because it offered her a captive audience. It was time to make her pitch.

‘My role isn’t to tell you how to investigate this case,’ she began.

‘I’m not here as another supervisor or monitor or - God forbid -

some sort of psychic. So for a start I want to set aside all that bullshit.

I know the methods we use as detectives to work a case. They’re the right methods. That’s how we solve crimes. And in most investigations there’s no need for profiling at all. It only comes in to play when the odds are stacked against us - when we’re hunting an elusive type of criminal, a predator who has no apparent link to his victim. That’s what we’re dealing with here, and with any luck we’ll catch the bastard by following up straightforward leads or evidence. But like Detective Inspector Loftus said …’ and she paused to highlight the point, ‘when there’s no clear lead, that’s when profiling comes in. It can be used to
prioritise.
‘

One of the detectives cleared his throat. It was Strickland’s protege, Bradby, who said, ‘I think we understand the principle. But isn’t there a danger we can get blinkered and miss out on other things?’

Rita had dealt with this objection before and was ready for it.

‘That would only happen if we treat a profile as the main piece of evidence. We mustn’t - because it isn’t. It’s an extra element, that’s all. And, sadly, profiling only gets sharper the longer a case drags on and the more attacks an offender commits.’

‘And in this case?’ asked Bradby. ‘You think that’s what we’re looking at?’

Everyone knew what he was referring to - her ex-boyfriend’s TV

news report and the front page stories that followed.

‘Today’s headlines about a serial attacker were based on no information whatsoever,’ she said firmly. ‘It was sheer tabloid fiction.

As far as we know, this was his first such offence, although it was his second attempted sex assault of the night. But going on past patterns, and data on this type of crime, this offender won’t be content with a one-off rape and mutilation.’

This was greeted with some low groans.

‘I’d say he’ll attack again soon unless we stop him,’ she continued.

‘What else can you tell us?’ asked Strickland dourly.

‘The man we’re looking for would seem much like one of us.

He’s in the same age group as many of us here - mid twenties to early thirties. He’s articulate, respectable-looking, drives a sports car.