The Profiler by Chris Taylor Read Free Book Online

the name Jane Doe at the front of the timeline and then turned back to face them. “I know I don’t need to remind anyone about the savagery of this attack. Identifying this young woman is our top priority.” He turned to Clayton. “We’ve been running her picture in the media for the last couple of weeks. We’ve had a handful of enquires, but so far, nothing’s panned out.”
    Clayton tapped a finger to his lips, his brow furrowed in thought. “I take it these girls went missing from the same area?”
    Ellie answered. “Yes, more or less. They’re both from western Sydney and live within a couple mile radius of each other.”
    “And Sally Batten attends Uni?”
    “Actually, Josie Ward’s a student, too,” Ellie said. “She attends classes at the same campus.”
    Ben frowned. “Really? I didn’t know that.”
    Ellie shrugged. “Apparently she’s been taking some art class a few days a week. Nothing major from what I could gather.”
    “So,” the Fed replied, “has anyone talked to the staff at the university?”
    “We’ve made a start,” Ellie replied, “but you’re talking about hundreds of people. Faculty members, groundsmen, cleaners, other staff. And that’s before we start looking at the students.” Her gaze challenged him. “We don’t have the unlimited budgets some people do.”
    He stared back at her, lasering her with his eyes. Heat scorched her neck. She looked away.
    Luke broke the tense silence. “We’ve talked to some of the girls’ friends. From what we can gather, neither of them knew each other. Preliminary enquires seem to indicate there’s only one faculty member who has a common link to them. Stewart Boston, an art professor. He was Josie’s teacher and it looks like Sally Batten was also taking one of his classes.”
    Ellie returned to the discussion. “The art professor’s on a month’s leave. He left about a week and a half ago.”
    Clayton’s eyes narrowed. “So, that means he took off shortly after Josie was reported missing. You don’t think that’s significant?”
    He’d addressed her directly, his gaze burning into hers. She held her ground, refusing to be intimidated.
    “Possibly. It’s too early to tell. Besides, Sally Batten’s been missing about a month. And of course, until we’ve identified Jane Doe, we won’t know if there’s any connection there.”
    “But he does work at the University and he just happens to teach two of our missing girls.” He drilled her again with his gaze. “And now he’s disappeared?”
    The sudden tension in the air was palpable. Anger ignited inside her. How dare he come and throw his weight around the minute he arrived? He’d been invited along to help them, not make them feel like incompetent probation officers straight out of the Academy.
    Ellie seethed in silence. Ben leveled her with a look of warning and she clamped her mouth shut. The Fed turned back to the whiteboard.
    Easing out her breath, she flashed Luke a look of apology. He grimaced and directed his attention back toward Clayton who’d begun to speak again.
    “At this stage, it’s impossible to tell who we’re looking for and whether we’re looking for one killer or more. Until we know if the missing girls are, in fact dead, we don’t even know if there’s a connection between them and the unidentified head.”
    He spread his arms wide. “I understand your concerns. Anyone prowling the streets of Sydney decapitating women while they’re still alive needs to be found, and quickly.” He swung around and stared at Ben. “You’re right when you say identifying Jane Doe is your number one priority. Once we know who she is, then we can decide if there’s a link between her and the missing girls. Until that happens, unfortunately, there’s not a lot we can do unless another body turns up.”
    Ellie grimaced. No one wanted to think about that possibility. But the Fed was right. Until they’d cemented a link between the women, they were stuck