The Sister(151)

‘Do you know why? Because what I had subconsciously doodled, was a series of spider webs, covering Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham and London. The spokes, the radials, every one of them running through anchors or links, extending to the far corners of the country, then I noticed something else. The spokes didn’t extend to the centres. The city centres were completely empty. For a while I really, really thought I was onto something. He wasn’t targeting premises; he was targeting homes; either because they were easier pickings or because he got more of a thrill from what he might find there.’ She gestured, rolling a hand, inviting his response.

It was a game, and one he couldn’t resist.

‘Maybe, but you know what I think?’ He paused, a serious look on his face. ‘If you have enough dots you can join them together to make almost anything, with a little imagination, even the face of Mickey Mouse.’

She poked the tip of her tongue between her pursed lips and mimed blowing a silent raspberry. Shaking her head slowly, she reached into her bag and produced a piece of paper, which she unfolded and passed to him.

It was a map of Great Britain. On it, she’d marked several overlapping webs; the lowest one had spokes that emanated from around a central location – London. The radials linked to the spokes that extended into the farthest reaches of the map, way beyond the limits of the concentric patterns. What she’d drawn was just as she described to him.

He scratched his head. She was a seasoned reporter; did she really believe this stuff worked outside of films and books?

Yet, something struck a chord. ‘You know, you just might be onto something there.’

‘I know I am, but I just don’t know what.’

‘You know what we need?’ He looked at her seriously.

‘What do we need?’

‘We need more information!’

She raised the back of her hand as if to slap him, and he raised a hand and knee in mock defence. They both grinned widely.

‘Coming back to this character, you said he might get more of a thrill from what he finds in the homes than presumably he might find in an office? What makes you say that?’

‘He only takes what he can carry in his pockets from what I can gather, and there’s evidence he spends quite a while in the houses, going through paperwork, private things. He steals sentimental items, and then tries to blackmail the more attractive women into sex in exchange for returning the items, or for keeping quiet about other things he has discovered. I could go on and on with the details. He knows which ones are attractive, presumably from photographs he sees or finds in the house. Anyway, I was telling you about that tape earlier. It’s really quite graphic. He lured one victim – I think she had emotional issues – into a meeting. He filmed the whole thing, and he could be heard telling her he was filming it. She even smiled for the camera at one point, unbelievable. He also told her if she notified the police, he’d send the tape to the News of The World. She did go to the police and good as his word; he sent the tape.’

‘So you’ve seen it then?’

A slight flush coloured her face. ‘Only for professional purposes, but yes, once or twice,’ she admitted.

‘I assume you couldn’t identify him from the film?’ He gave her a knowing look.

‘Well, of course you don’t see his face!’ she said hotly. ‘I’m sorry, you don’t know how much stick I’ve had to endure as I was the one who saw it originally.’

‘It’s okay,’ he told her, adding with a broad grin, ‘did anything stand out?’

She kicked him on the shin.

‘Ouch!’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘That really hurt!’

‘That wasn’t hard,’ she said.

‘It doesn’t have to be hard to hurt.’ He attempted to rub the pain away.

‘We digressed; it’s a little bit outside my field, but very interesting all the same. I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it in the press before.’

‘If you are interested, the press christened him the 'Midnight Man’.’

‘I’ll look it up,’ he said. ‘I promise.’

‘I hope you meant that, because I’m going to hold you to it.’ She laughed. ‘And I mean that.’

‘I said I’ll look it up, and then we’ll see.’





The train slowed as it pulled into the station at York. When it stopped, the platform suddenly came alive with the movement of people, passengers disembarking, as others got on. The two of them fell silent as they waited for the resumption of the journey.

He asked himself a question. Have you ever met someone before that you connect with so completely and utterly, you feel you have known them all your life? The only time that even came close was when he met Josie, and for the first time since the journey began, he wondered if she might be thinking the same. He turned away from staring out the window, and she had her eyes on him. She smiled warmly as if she’d read his thoughts. He smiled back, but inside he was scared. Afraid he might become involved, not only in the case, but with her, too, and he didn’t want to risk losing her.





Chapter 127



After a few minutes, the train resumed its journey. A tall man with a rolled up copy of Der Speigel protruding from the side pocket of his jacket, lurched up to their row of seats, and tried to sit with his rucksack still on his back. Miller exchanged looks with his new companion. She made a drinking gesture with her hand. He nodded agreement. The man decided he couldn’t perch on two inches of the seat and stood up to remove the backpack. It swung dangerously close to her as he unhitched it from one shoulder and then the other. He sat across the aisle to her and promptly closed his eyes. She gave him a sharp look, then gestured Miller towards her over the table. She spoke so quietly; Miller had to lean forwards to hear what she was saying.