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.He has been planning this for some time, doing the background research on the individuals involved in this miscarriage of justice, planning how each of them should be punished for their transgression according to the writings of Dante in the Inferno  choosing his exact locations, scouting them out, getting his supplies.’ He looked around the room at the other four.‘That’s one of the things that makes him so dangerous, so effective.Because he’s not in a rush, he’s had time to do things gradually.For example, you might consider checking around with roofing suppliers, find out if someone has bought a large quantity of pitch lately—’‘We’ve already got someone checking that,’ Chris interjected.Reuben nodded.‘Yet I’d wager there’s no point.He would have bought the pitch a long time ago, probably even had a job he could use some of it on.That way he could experiment with it in his own time, make sure he had the ability to heat it properly, know how to work with it, to pour it, et cetera.’ He let the thought settle for a moment.‘Then, when the time came, when he had his victim, he would know exactlywhat to do, how long it would take to reach the right temperature.’O’Brien nodded.‘So he’s a meticulous bastard.He’s been planning this for a while.What else?’‘The art angle is interesting,’ Knight admitted.‘From what we know of this person, he wouldn’t be drawing these scenes unless he’s good – he certainly wouldn’t settle for something amateurish.That means he’s either a professional artist or a very gifted hobbyist.’‘So why is he drawing them?’ Reilly wondered.‘If he’s already videoing them, he’s got a record.Why the drawings?’‘A very shrewd question from the Fairy Princess.’ He turned to her.‘My guess is it’s how he relates to people, how he sees the world.If he draws them, he’s captured the soul, the essence, the spirit of the moment.He owns it.’‘Like the Egyptians and their carvings?’‘Precisely.It’s his way of seeing the world.I would imagine that the videos are without doubt for public consumption, but the drawings – well, the drawings are for himself.’O’Brien still looked irritated.‘All of this sounds fan-fecking-tastic, Knight, but are we any nearer to catching this cute hoor?’ he spat.‘We don’t know who he is, where his home, barn or.bloody spaceship is, or where and when he’ll strike next.’Reuben gave him a searching look.‘You are asking for certainty where there is only mist and fog, a real animal when all we have is a chimera.’ Then he sighed.‘All right, here’s what I think.’ He waggled a finger at them all.‘Notice I said think, yes?’Chris rolled his eyes.‘Get on with it, man.’Reuben stood up, carefully rebuttoned his jacket, and gazed at his reflection in Reilly’s window.He patted a stray hair back in place, then spun back suddenly to face them all.‘He will strike again soon.And I think it won’t be long until he reaches his last victim, the true perpetrator.’‘True perpetrator?’ O’Brien repeated.Reuben explained carefully.‘There’s been a great injustice, a crime committed, yet the ultimate transgressor wasn’t effectively punished.The journalist wrote about it, the policeman covered it up, lost evidence, took a bribe, whatever.The doctor is connected in some way, how I’m not yet sure.The politician presumably pulled some strings.But someone, somewhere, committed this original crime.The true perpetrator.’Reilly nodded in understanding.‘He wants us to know what it’s all about,’ Reuben continued, ‘so I would imagine that the video – or videos – will appear soon.They will be cryptic, but they will give us some degree of understanding all this.’ He fidgeted with his hands.‘He lives alone.He is a professional, meticulous person - calm, collected, studious even.In fact, he is probably the very last person you would suspect of such brutal crimes.’O’Brien had his eyes fixed on Reuben.‘Will we catch him?’‘The million-dollar question.’ The profiler sighed.‘Sadly, I suspect not until he’s ready.’Chapter 25Lucy edged her car out of the parking space, deep in the bowels of the GFU building.The quiet thrum of the engine vibrated through the seat – the car seemed as eager as she was to escape the lab for a few hours.She emerged from the gloom into a bright winter’s day.She was planning to earn her stripes on this case, spending several days working overtime to try to isolate the soil samples, and had finally come up with a match from a small village near Kildare town.But before saying anything to Reilly, she was going to grasp the nettle and investigate the area herself.She could imagine it was what her boss would have done when she was learning the ropes at the FBI Academy.Lucy never tired of hearing Reilly’s stories about her time at Quantico, which always sounded so brilliantly exciting, almost glamorous.So much better than studying for a Forensic Science degree at boring old UCD.The N8 was one of the better roads in the area, and Lucy felt herself unwinding as she drove, Today FM chirping happily from her radio, the gear changes crisp and sharp as she pushed her little Mini along at speed.Some thirty minutes later, she reached the village of Clane and pulled into the car park of the pub.It was a large white painted building with a brown tiled roof.A bare cherry tree stood by the pub’s wooden fence, its branches still tinged with dew.Lucy climbed out of the car, stretched and took a deep breath of the cold, clean air.She was dressed casually, jeans tucked into brown leather boots under a heavy winter jacket, and her curly hair pulled back.She zipped her jacket up and hurried into the pub [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]