Page 42 of The Unforgiven

“I’d rather he’d stuck at one and we’d got him then.” I sipped my water. It was slightly fizzier than I was expecting. “This third one’s different.”

“How? Murderers do evolve. You know this so I won’t teach you to suck eggs, psychological feedback loops and all that. But a sudden change can indicate something else.” He was gripped now, clearly hoping I was going to feed him some titbits that could be used in a future book.

That was Daniel Fletcher’s thing. What fed his ego. His driver for spending so much time researching, talking to cops and criminals and victims. He’d written best sellers on psychological profiling, sociological and psychological takes on why people committed crimes against other humans. People gravitated to his talks like he was leading a cult; he was quoted in the media, referred to by others who tried to emulate him but never quite rose that high, and pulled students to the university just because he was there.

He was a god amongst psychology students and fellows, and he knew it. When he’d taken an interest in me during my firstyear as an undergrad, I’d felt as if I’d had an honour bestowed on me. I felt special.

Just like I had when I’d won my first trophy in gymnastics.

“I’m not sure it’s a sudden change.” I wasn’t sure about a lot of things with this case. I was now certain that the three bodies were connected in some way, and while we hadn’t ruled Neil Hunt out of the equation, I wasn’t convinced that he had the intelligence to leave almost no forensic trace. “The body we found today had stones wrapped with it, round pebbles. The were all clean and polished that we’ve found so far.”

“Enough to weigh the body down?”

“Not quite, from what we’ve found. The river’s not been helpful. It’s overfull and moving more that it would usually, so sediment and other slimy things aren’t helping.” I wasn’t a fan of things that lived in water, even growing up next to the sea hadn’t eroded a childhood fear of slippery things touching my skin. I had no doubt that there was some suppressed memory at work, but there was utterly no desire to unearth the thing. I’d just avoid any wild swimming and stick to swimming pools.

“So you think these rocks were put there on purpose?”

I nodded. “Certain of it. But why this body and not the others? Unless we’ve missed something crucial, nothing was left with them.” Which was gnawing at me.

“Unless it was washed away before body was retrieved,” Daniel sipped at his tea and stretched out. “What are your theories? You may have more than one killer, have you considered that?”

“We have. That’s one of the lines of enquiry. Two men working together, maybe as part of something bigger.”

I didn’t need to wait for him to put it together. “Hence why you were asking about involuntary celibates.”

“It was. Three women. All found in water, but killed by a knife that severed something major, so a precise injury. Two arefound naked, one of the wrapped in builders’ tarp. One is fully clothed. Different builds, looks, with nothing to connect them. The killer’s dodged CCTV and hasn’t left a trace that’s usable. The weapon is likely to be the same but not confirmed yet. Nate’s looking more into that.” I gazed out of the window, distracted. I’d heard more rumours back at the office that Nate was here because of Jenna Osei.

I liked Jenna. She was good people, kind, organised, good fun. Warm and friendly, which was very different to Nate.

“Nate? You haven’t mentioned him for a while.” Daniel’s eyebrows raised. “How is he?”

“Fine, it seems, and now based in Manchester. He’s doing the PM on the body we found today.” I was beginning to feel that when I’d woken up this morning, thinking I heard Cavan say Lucy’s name instead of my own, I was caught by a tsunami and swept along as it took a turn on a rollercoaster.

“Did you know he was working in Manchester?”

“Not until today.”

“That must’ve been something of a surprise. Why’s he come to the place he swore he’d never live?” Daniel’s surprise was exaggerated, as if he was upended on my behalf.

“I’m not sure yet, but I think it might be that he’s fallen in love. I’ll find out more tonight.” I didn’t meet Daniel’s eyes because I knew he’d be looking to see into mine.

“So he’s moved here for some woman but not for his own sister?” he was indignant, as if he was still protecting me.

“Which I have no issue with. I never expected us to be close, Daniel. We’ve both been scarred by a man who’s wielded too much power over us, because we gave him that power. Nate’s a good pathologist – I know that for certain, and it’ll be nice to get to know him better, but I didn’t meet with you for a therapy session. What do you think about these stones?” During myundergrad, Daniel had been my sounding board, my confidante when it came to issues with my birth family.

I should never have come to Manchester for university; it put me too close to my father’s grasp, but it was where Daniel Fletcher was, and I wanted to take his courses, that wish winning out.

He smiled, amused at me. “Always focused, Mia. You’ll never change and I hope you don’t. What do you think about the stones? You have more insight than I have, and I know you’ll have your own theories.”

“I think it was personal, about the victim. Something that directly connects her to the killer.”

“Which means you don’t think there was a connection between the killer and the other two women – Chelsea and Brooke?” He gestured to the waitress for a top up for his tea.

“Is this about the women, or him – or them? Is this different with the stones because it’s a different killer? And what are the chances that this is some sort of team, maybe one who hates women – incels, like we’ve said.” I needed to sit in the office when no one was around and let my jumbled idea come out onto a board, then I could make sense of them, apply logic.

“Or maybe the stones are what’s symbolic and the stones are there because in his head, he’s stoned her to death. She’s committed a crime for which she needed to be punished – adultery, maybe, or just because she’s not who they wish her to be. “Deuteronomy twenty-two,” he didn’t even flinch as he recalled it. “‘Then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing...’”

A pause. He looked at me, just as he used to stare at the usually packed lecture theatre. “Not for murder. Not for theft. For the suggestion that she wasn’t what they thought she shouldbe. Justice by consensus. Symbolic violence. The body becomes a message, not a person. Quite beautiful in its simplicity, really.”