The Reaper by Steven Dunne Read Free Book Online Page A

clear from the blood patterns that the family were killed where they were found. Even if we assume that Jason was in full control of his faculties, we then have to accept that he walked into the room and cut his sister’s throat where she lay, without father or mother moving a muscle to intervene. Then he did the same to his parents, in which order I don’t yet know, though I suspect it was ladies first. Again, little sign of physical struggle.’
    DS Noble’s face betrayed a caveat to Brook’s theory but he had trained himself, after several painful lessons, not to lay himself open to ridicule. That applied doubly in the presence of the Chief Super.
    ‘Couldn’t he have overpowered his father first, taken him by surprise?’ asked McMaster.
    ‘The mother as well? No, we checked. Again, subject to forensic confirmation, there are no marks on any of the victim’s wrists or ankles. They weren’t tied up. There were no injuries or contusions on the parents’ skulls so he didn’t creep up and knock them unconscious.’
    ‘What’s the second reason?’ asked McMaster.
    ‘Sergeant?’ asked Brook, fixing Noble with a stare. He couldn’t let him have it too easy.
    Noble hesitated but knew not to wait too long. A swift error would pass notice much easier than a long anticipated one. ‘The baby?’ he offered, trying to keep the question mark out of his response.
    ‘Right. The baby completes the family. Its…’ Brook looked at Noble for a prompt.
    ‘It’s a girl, sir. Bianca.’
    ‘…
her
presence on the scene is part of the killer’s strategy. The baby was brought from her bed as part of a logical choice, as was the decision not to kill her. If Jason had done this under the influence of narcotics or alcohol, why bring the baby down? Surely, if it’s a drunken mindless act, he would have killed his baby sister upstairs, where he found her. It doesn’t make sense. Our killer sees it differently. He wants the baby in the family portrait but chooses not to kill it. Her.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Perhaps he’s showing us he has the intelligence and humanity to feel mercy. God knows. But he needs the baby there to fulfil his need.’
    ‘What need?’
    ‘Maybe he’s a Barnardo’s boy, an orphan in search of a family. Whatever that is,’ Brook added, with an unexpected trace of bile that surprised even himself. ‘It’s difficult to say.’
    After a suitable consoling pause, McMaster ploughed on. ‘What about writing SAVED on the wall and cutting it on the girl? What’s that all about?’
    Brook looked at the wall behind her head as though he were casting around for a solution to a question he hadn’t yet considered. It didn’t do to over-egg the pudding. ‘Some kind of religious claptrap I imagine. Maybe crowing that he’s saved her soul from a life of sin and packed her off to Heaven.’
    ‘A God squadder,’ she nodded. ‘Why
he
?’ she queried.
    ‘The usual reasons,’ replied Brook.
    ‘Statistically sound, I know,’ she countered, with amore confident edge in her voice. She was on her own turf. ‘But why so sure?’ She stood and picked up a small water jug on her desk.
    ‘Do you want the classic profile of the serial killer?’
    She turned sharply from her spider plant, spilling a little water on the floor. ‘Is that what this is?’
    ‘I think so. This has been planned for a long time. All that was missing for the killer were the right victims.’
    ‘And if it is a God squadder we’re looking for a middle-aged male,’ nodded McMaster, ‘which rules out the Wallis boy.’
    ‘Why middle aged?’ asked Noble before he could stop himself.
    ‘Jason’s too young to be appalled by the moral cesspool of society,’ said Brook. ‘That’s more a function of my age group.’
    ‘Are you saying that whoever did this has picked the Wallis family out at random?’ Noble asked.
    ‘No. Our killer has sound reasons for wanting
this
family dead.’
    ‘Well,’ said Noble, deciding to risk humiliation