The Infirmary (DCI Ryan Mysteries prequel)(28)

Ryan considered the habits of the creature they hunted.

“Not necessarily on the same day,” he said. “But he may have followed her on other days, learning her routine, finding out where she lived and—most importantly for him—whether she lived alone. He might not have needed to follow her home from work on the day he finally took her if he knew her movements well enough. He could go directly to Jarrow and wait for her there.”

MacKenzie shivered as she imagined the kind of cunning involved.

“He has to have a certain level of freedom,” she said. “What if his own work allows him to come and go at set times? Unless he doesn’t work.”

“That’s something we’ll find out,” Ryan said, watching the faces of those who passed by on the escalator heading up to the ticket hall level.

“Here we go,” MacKenzie murmured, stepping off to follow a line of people towards the southbound platform. “Another camera right there, working fine,” she told him.

They entered the platform and found themselves looking at a draughty tunnel with enormous billboards showing out-of-date Christmas albums and photographs of gap-toothed kids wielding microscopes to advertise local schools. The electronic sign on the wall told them they had another six minutes to wait until the next train bound for South Shields and they walked along to the other end, dodging their fellow passengers who waited at intervals along the platform.

“She got on the train near the front,” Ryan kept up his narrative and looked around the area. “Cameras cover this platform at both ends and I presume they’re still working. What about that one?”

He pointed towards a short corridor leading to a lift that was rarely used.

“I’m not sure,” MacKenzie said thoughtfully. “I’ll find that out when I’m asking about the cameras in the ticket hall.”

“Yeah, because if he took out the camera at the Grey Street entrance and then took the lift down to the platform level, he could shield himself from prying eyes whilst staying close to his victim.”

“Not all the cameras on the trains are working,” she warned him.

“Typical. But we have some?”

“Yeah, they’re still collating the footage, but the train operator has been co-operative so far.”

“Good. Here’s our train.”

They felt the ground rumble beneath their feet as a train rattled through the tunnel towards them, coming to a jerky stop before its doors buzzed open with an alert telling people to, “MIND THE GAP” in an electronic drone.

“After you,” Ryan said, letting MacKenzie go first. He was all for feminist principles and he didn’t happen to believe chivalry was incompatible with any of them. It was a simple matter of putting others before himself.

The Metro wasn’t too crowded, and they found a seat near the front of the train where they could talk quietly without fear of being overheard.

The train doors buzzed shut again.

“Something’s been bothering me, ever since our chat with Amaya Golzari.”

“Could be the fact that she was making moon eyes at you,” MacKenzie teased him. “I feel sorry for the poor kid; she was used to dealing with Cooper and Jessop, then you waltz in and she probably wished she’d worn her Minx Red to work, after all.”

Ryan’s lips twitched.

“Actually, it made me wonder—why didn’t Harris or Cooper show any defensive wounds? Sure, the drugs disabled them pretty quickly but why didn’t they at least try?” He shook his head, trying to imagine what it would take. “I have to wonder whether he managed to put them at their ease, so they never saw it coming.”

“He must be charismatic,” MacKenzie agreed. “But he’d be taking a huge risk to rely on his own personal charms.”

Ryan considered that, then shook his head.

“I don’t think we should underestimate just how arrogant this guy is. I think he really believes he can get away with all this and that he’s committed two perfect murders. A person like that doesn’t underplay his own charisma, he uses it ruthlessly to his advantage.”

They fell silent as the train sped through the dark tunnels beneath the city, and wondered whether there was another woman out there falling prey to the specious charms of a killer.

*

“Nicola.”

She moaned, an animal sound of torment.

“Nicola, I won’t ask again.”

She heard his voice somewhere in the distant corners of her mind and shrank away from it, twitching on the bed as her body remembered.

His face.

His eyes.

Pain. Such pain.

The sedative was wearing off again and the feeling of nausea returned as her body battled with shock. She was sweating, shaking so hard that her teeth chattered. Her lips were dry and cracked, bloodied from his slaps and where the skin had torn around the filthy gag he used while she was awake.

“You’re not going to be with us for much longer, are you, darling?”

He affected an air of sadness even as he wondered how much more he could do while she was still alive.

He checked the time and tutted.

“I was hoping to make some progress today, Nicola, but I really must be getting along. Time waits for no man, does it?”

He ran a gloved finger down her nose, as if she were a child.