The Death Messenger (Matthew Ryan Book 2)(104)

‘I’ve had better days.’ The fact that she knew it was him sitting there blew his mind. Time and again, whether he was just out of the shower or back from a run, she never mistook him for someone else. He ruffled Bob’s coat and got a tail wag in return. ‘Then again, I’ve had a lot worse.’

‘You’ll get there.’ Caroline went quiet for a moment. ‘Do you think the victims were murdered because they knew something the killer wanted to protect, or because of something they were told and didn’t act upon?’

‘The latter,’ he said. ‘Montgomery has taken revenge. She feels wronged in some way. The victims were all in positions of trust: youth worker, solicitor, teacher, all people who offered guidance to others.’

‘You think it may have got them killed?’

‘It’s the only thing we’ve come up with that connects them.’

Having overheard the conversation, O’Neil swung her chair round to face them, coffee in hand, eyes on Ryan. ‘If we knew her motivation, it would help.’

‘Youth worker.’ It came out like a murmur. Newman hadn’t joined the conversation, he was talking to himself, his focus on his computer screen, as theirs had been a moment ago. He’d hit on something.

‘Frank?’ O’Neil was all ears. ‘What have you found?’

‘Not what, who.’

‘Who?’ Grace nudged him.

‘There’s a Paul Dean mentioned here. Ex-youth leader.’

‘Must’ve been uploaded recently,’ Grace said. ‘It wasn’t there this morning, I checked.’

The HOLMES system was like a big sponge that was continually updated by staff around the country. Regular checks threw up different information. A few hours could turn an enquiry on its head.

Newman had done well to find this gem.

He pushed his chair away from the desk. ‘There’s an amazing thread in this forum. Come and see for yourself.’

Grace was first out of her chair. The rest of the team – minus Caroline – weren’t far behind. Huddling around to get a closer look, they saw that Newman’s screen was open on a chat stream, more specifically a long and venomous conversation between someone calling himself Shdwman and another person whose chat room handle was dude1980.

Neither had a public profile.

‘Shdwman is angry,’ Newman said. ‘He’s talking about his mum, tearing Dean to shreds; dude1980 is egging him on. It goes on forever. This is just the end of it.’

Shdwman: He told her it was God’s will. FFS!

dude1980: dick

Shdwman: Why the fuck didn’t she get rid?

dude1980: she should have – not his life, was it?

Shdwman: It’s no life, man.

dude1980: sorry . . . cant help u

Shdwman: I’m fucked.

dude1980: you have me bro Shdwman: Not enough

dude1980: dont give up. this wanker will suffer

Shdwman: If you’re going to swear, learn to spell.

dude1980: he’ll get his

Shdwman: Not how it works.

dude1980: depends

Shdwman: He’s split man. Google him. He’s a big shot now.

dude1980: so am I

Shdwman: Fuck off loser.

Re-energized, Grace turned to the others. ‘This is gold, Frank. “He’ll get his” sounds like a definite threat to me. The timing is right too. The chat is dated January tenth of this year, six months before Dean met his death. We need Technical Support to track this IP address and extract any contact between these two, either before or after.’

‘Sophia is not dude1980,’ Newman said.

‘No, Mark is.’ Grace pointed at the chat handle. ‘The numbers coincide with his birth year. If it had been her, it would have been dude1978.’ She faked a frown. ‘Why do people do that? I’d rather keep mine to myself: dude1959 doesn’t have the same ring somehow.’

Ryan laughed.

‘It all makes sense now.’ Four pairs of eyes were on him. ‘Shdwman is talking about abortion. Like Rebecca Swift, he wishes he’d never been born. If Montgomery is of the same mind and Dean took the opposite view, it may have got him killed. No wonder Rebecca left the site. She’s a good person.’ He pointed at Newman’s screen. ‘She wouldn’t want to be associated with this crap. She chose a legitimate route to highlight her plight via the documentary. Locked out of the limelight, Mark Montgomery didn’t. He turned violent with the help of someone we already think is a killer: his sister.’

‘Psychopathic siblings has a certain ring to it,’ Grace said. ‘You think they’re standing up for the unborn?’ She made a face. ‘Such twisted logic. Moral crusaders are the worst kind. The theory hands justification to Sophia, explains why she killed her mother.’

‘We have no proof of that,’ O’Neil reminded her. ‘And no prospect of any without a confession. Forgive my cynicism, but I hardly think she’s the type to cough.’

‘Then we work on her brother,’ Newman said.

O’Neil glanced his way. ‘If we can find him.’

‘That shouldn’t be too difficult,’ Ryan said. ‘He lacked the nous to hide his birth year. Can you see him covering his ass, concealing his audit trail? I can’t. If Laura’s assessment of him was correct, and I’m inclined to believe it was, he’s so angry he can’t hold it together. That means he’ll have made and will continue to make mistakes. Technical support might get lucky.’