Page 58 of M for Murder

‘I wonder why he does it,’ she had pondered aloud.

Jennifer hadn’t answered. Although she knew immediately who Miranda was talking about, the question had taken her by surprise. She also wasn’t quite sure how to answer.

‘I guess it must be some kind of sex thing,’ Miranda continued. ‘I bet he gets off on the killing.’

Jennifer joined her friend by the window.

‘I don’t care why he does it,’ she said, trying hard to swallow down the ball of tension that had formed in her throat. ‘I just think he’s sick, and I hope the cops catch him soon.’

‘You bet we do,’ Miranda agreed, turning to look at her. Jennifer wasn’t sure what she was getting at.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, a little unnerved by the slightly twisted smile on her roommate’s face.

Miranda stubbed her cigarette out on the window ledge.

‘Come on, Jen, don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.’

‘Thought about what?’

‘Danielle Adams, Pat Bell, Lydia Chapman, Jonah Devlin, Erika Estes, Willard Frey, Pam Gilcrest.’ Miranda counted on her fingers as she spoke.

‘What are you getting at?’ Jennifer asked, not at all sure what point Miranda was trying to make.

‘Adams, Bell, Chapman, Devlin, Estes, Frey, Gilcrest. A, B, C, D, E, F, G.’

‘So?’

‘So think about it. Think about the alphabet. A, B, C, D, E, F, G. The next letter is H, and what comes after H, Jen?’

‘I.’ Jennifer swallowed hard.

Miranda nodded at her friend, raising her eyebrows questioningly.

‘So who do you reckon it’s going to be? Who do you reckon he will go for?’ she asked. ‘Will it be Miranda Ingram or Jennifer Isaac?’

22

JUNIPER, OREGON. FRIDAY 2ND MAY 1997

I t was Joel’s idea to go public. Although he had initially been against any kind of publicity that might attract the press, knowing that any news stories would only result in widespread panic, the whole thing was now too big to contain.

Although the latest victims had yet to be positively identified, it was very likely that the female victim would turn out to be Catherine Maloney and suspicions were running high that the male victim would eventually be identified as Kevin North, another student who hadn’t been seen over the past couple of days.

The killer had now claimed five victims, and it was assumed that he was already thinking of striking again.

Messages were put out over the college mike system throughout Friday morning and at twelve thirty, one hundred and fourteen students gathered in one of the larger committee halls on campus, most of them talking or whispering, a few of them laughing and cracking jokes. All of them were curious to know what was going on, and several already had their suspicions.

All of them had a surname that began with the letter O.

Once he was sure that all the relevant students were present, Max stood up and asked for quiet. Then he addressed them.

‘Thank you for all making the effort to come here in your own time. I’ll try to keep things as brief as possible. My name is Special Agent Max Sutton and I work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is my colleague, Special Agent Hickok.’ He waved a hand in Joel’s direction. ‘We came to Juniper a couple of weeks ago to investigate the death of a student named Scott Jagger. I’m sure that some of you probably knew him and may have even shared classes with him.’ He paused, letting the name sink in. ‘There has been a lot of gossip passed around following Mr Jagger’s death. I guess you’re all aware of the eight students who were killed in Juniper eight summers ago and most of you have probably heard at least one of several stories concerning Mr Jagger, some of which are true and some of which are false.

‘The one thing I can confirm to you now is that Scott Jagger was murdered.’ Max paused and glanced at the crowd. A few murmurs rose before they waited for him to go on.

He coughed, clearing his throat before he continued.

‘Since we have been in Juniper, four more students have been found dead. I can confirm that two of them are Rufus Lind and Emma Keeley. The identity of the other two victims, however, will have to remain confidential until their families have been notified. I’m afraid, people, that we appear to have another serial killer on our hands, and the reason you have been gathered here today is because you all fit the profile of the killer’s next victim.’