Page 37 of Watching You
‘It’s as clean as a professional hit, although there would have been ways of killing Mrs Singh that might have looked more like suicide. Brodie, how much was the insurance policy worth?’ Connie asked.
‘Only a hundred and fifty thousand, which isn’t nothing but it’s not a lot compared to others I’ve dealt with.’
‘Most hits cost in the region of thirty thousand depending on how high-profile the target is, so the profit is relatively low given the risks. Still, it’s an area to look at,’ Connie noted.
‘So you have three separate cases: one dead incel, a homeless man and a person of colour,’ Midnight said. ‘If they were linked, I’d say this was looking like a far-right evangelical murderer who thinks they have a divine right to rid the world of anyone not in their chosen societal group.’
Connie played along. ‘If it were a far-right evangelist psychopath, Dale Abnay’s death could even be because he agreed to a kidney transplant. Presumably that goes against the will of God.’
Baarda sat forward.
‘It’s not impossible,’ he said.
‘Brodie, I was kidding. There’s nothing linking these deaths,’ Connie said.
‘Not all links are positive in nature. Sometimes similarities are found in the things that are missing. There’s a lack of ritual, no torture, every crime scene is left immediately, it’s forensically clean, no weapons have been found, out of reach of CCTV.’
‘Archie Bass didn’t die immediately though,’ Midnight noted.
‘Not for want of trying, and he was only saved by excessive layering of clothing,’ Baarda said. ‘Maybe they couldn’t risk opening the clothing to check the wounds or find a pulse because of trace DNA. Rather than carelessness, it might actually be more evidence of good practice.’
‘Serial killers choose one method and stick with it, almost exclusively, not to mention the fact that you can usually find a link between the victim types,’ Connie said. ‘What’s the motivation? The gratification element of these deaths would have to be something like a god-delusion or a power play. But surely then they’d want some recognition of their work. I’d expect the killer to have at least kept a trophy.’
‘A photo, maybe,’ Baarda suggested. ‘Something easy to erase, without risking any transfer of DNA material onto the body.’
‘But a photo would be a definite link to the murders if the mobile phone was found, and this killer has done only one thing the same at every crime scene – they’ve made themselves untraceable. A photo would be too risky. Deleting it fully isn’t the same as hitting a button. Even teenagers know that,’ Connie said.
‘I feel like I’ve started something that I can’t justify,’ Midnight said, starting to type. ‘I have some statistics here. Scotland’s homicide rate is at an all-time low. Last year there was only one homicide in the whole of Scotland where a single perpetrator killed more than one victim. As for Divya Singh, women being killed by strangers account for an incredibly low proportion of deaths in Scotland. And in the last year, sixty-seven per cent of all homicides up there happened inside residential premises. All of which means that the chances of this being the work of a single killer is statistically almost impossible.’
‘Goddammit,’ Connie said. ‘You know that as soon as we declare something almost impossible, it becomes the most likely scenario, right?’
Midnight and Baarda thought about it, and neither commented.
‘So in terms of a profile, we have someone purposeful, careful, capable of learning, someone who is aware of what not to do. Intelligent, but driven and single-minded,’ Midnight said.
‘And flexible. Able to adapt to kill however best suits the moment or the victim. It would, at least, explain the sudden rise in Edinburgh’s homicide rate.’ She sighed. ‘All right. Do we agree, then, that in the absence of any leads indicating individual killers, we should proceed to consider the possibility that a single person has committed all these deaths?’ Connie asked.
Baarda and Midnight nodded.
‘Then we need to brief the rest of the squad,’ Connie said. ‘We should do that sooner rather than later. Brodie, gather the troops. I’ll deal with them, you go and break the news to the superintendent.’
‘I feel rather as if I’ve drawn the short straw,’ Brodie said. ‘Any particular reason why that’s falling to me?’
‘It’s that Old Etonian charm.’ Connie winked at him. ‘You’rehard to resist when you decide to switch it on. Also, for some reason, I feel as if she’s less likely to be sarcastic to you.’
‘Because I don’t provoke her.’
‘And that is why you’re my perfect secret weapon. And I’ll buy you dinner if you do it.’
‘Not worth it,’ Baarda said, already knowing he’d do it anyway. It was impossible to say no to Connie Woolwine.
Chapter 28
10 June
Connie ran faster.
Jogging at 4.30 a.m. was always fraught with unspoken risks, but she figured the majority of society’s detritus had to be asleep at that time. She loved the empty streets and the sense that the world was neatly tucked away, giving her brain the space to expand on all the theories she had bubbling away.
