AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘The social-media posts. With our last victim, he didn’t incite any confusion or disruption. Almost like he knows you’re miles away, or he’s cocky enough to know you’re not going to get anything forensically. But the post he’s put up this morning is a bit odd.’
Alison grabbed her phone and read aloud. ‘“Don’t waste your tears on poor little Nathan Yates. He’s been a very bad boy and he needed to be punished. He’ll cause no more harm 3/6.”’
Yes, Kim had seen it when she’d been walking Barney.
She held up her hand to Alison and turned again to Penn. ‘Get onto Lloyd House. If they’ve had no luck in tracing this guy through the IP address, get round to Don Beattie’s house and switch off his router. Tell him his daughter sent you.’
‘Boss, I’m not sure—’
‘Close him down, Penn,’ she said, turning back to Alison.
‘You’re making a mistake,’ Alison offered, folding her arms and sitting back.
‘He’s causing chaos. He’s running the show,’ Kim protested.
‘He’s not doing either of those things. The crime scenes are already ruined. His plea to generate false leads went nowhere. By tweeting, he’s satisfying some kind of need, but with each tweet, we learn something else.’
‘Like what?’
‘I think he feels as though he’s entitled.’
Kim waited.
‘It’s like he feels he has the absolute right to be taking the action he is.’
‘Doesn’t every vengeful person feel that way?’ Bryant asked.
‘Absolutely…but it’s some of the terminology, likewaste your tears, poor little Nathan,very bad boy.’
‘You’re thinking someone older?’ Kim asked.
‘It’s strange language to use for contemporaries.’
‘Unless it’s a deliberate misdirection,’ Bryant suggested.
‘Okay, I want everyone on the board: names, photos, connecting lines. I want more background on the vigilantes, and I want the current locations of Leyton Parks, Dean Newton and Ian Perkins. The last one might be harder, but that’s no excuse not to try.’
‘Okay, boss,’ Penn and Stacey said together.
‘Ha, you wish that was it,’ Kim said, rubbing her hands. ‘Penn, I need you to go see the paramedics that responded to the call for Nathan Yates. I know there won’t be photos, but we do need to know his positioning and anything else useful they can offer.’
‘Boss, I might be able to help with that,’ Stacey offered.
Kim waited.
‘If we’re right about the letters he’s been forming with the victims, I’m guessing Nathan Yates might have been shaped as a P. He was convicted of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl when he was fifteen.’
‘Jesus,’ Kim said as the nausea rose in her stomach.
Just hours ago, she’d been holding his hand, offering comfort to a convicted paedophile.
The sickness didn’t abate when her phone rang and she saw the name of the caller.
She stepped into the Bowl. ‘What?’
‘Err…you asked me for a favour, but I could always spend my time doing my own bloody job.’
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got some names for me?’
