Stop Dead (DI Geraldine Steel)

hair,’ Reg went on, ‘not until we get the results of the DNA test.’
    ‘Amy was blonde,’ Sam pointed out, and Reg groaned.

     
    They all agreed the DNA results were crucial. They would be available soon, expedited for the murder team. The discussion was beginning to go round in circles. Until they had more information they could only speculate. Just as Geraldine was about to suggest returning to her desk to double-check Desiree’s statement, the door opened and the psychological profiler, Jayne, entered the room, her long skirt sweeping the floor behind her. Geraldine had been disappointed with the profiler’s contribution to their last case. Nevertheless, she listened closely as Jayne gave a brief overview of what they had been considering.

     
    ‘What can you bring to the table, Jayne?’ the detective chief inspector asked.
    Jayne spoke very slowly.
    ‘One thing we can be sure of is that this is a hate crime. The nature of the injuries tells us that. Whoever killed the two restaurant owners –’
    ‘We’ve got three victims,’ Geraldine corrected her, struggling to control her impatience.
    ‘Whoever committed these murders was making the attacks very personal. Inflicting injuries after death is a different kind of assault to one where the perpetrator just wants to dispatch the victim, to get him or her out of the way as efficiently as possible, without leaving any clues behind. Some murders are really quite functional in that sense, a means to an end, where the victim is killed for his or her money, for example. In this instance the violation of the bodies is probably the killer’s end in itself, or why would he hang around to mutilate them, increasing the risk of discovery? There’s something going on here, some expression of loathing, a venting of a deep-seated anger.’

     
    ‘You mean the killer didn’t like his victims?’ Sam asked.
    She turned her head to wink at Geraldine, who ignored the signal. Geraldine had very little respect for the profiler, but she did her best to hide her disdain, and her irritation that Reg set so much store by what Jayne said. The profiler was only doing her job.
    ‘I think the killer is driven by more than mere dislike,’ Jayne replied evenly.
    ‘We wouldn’t have thought of that, would we?’
    Sam appealed to Geraldine who hesitated, tempted to support her sergeant in disparaging the profiler. Instead, she deflected the conversation to a new topic.

     
    ‘Do you think the killer’s a male then?’ she asked.
    It was a straightforward question, but Jayne looked unexpectedly flustered. Her naturally pinkish complexion turned deeper red as though she suspected Geraldine might be intending to catch her out.
    ‘That’s a tricky one –’ she hedged. ‘Was there anything at the scene to suggest the killer could have been a woman?’
    Reg explained about the DNA found on Patrick’s body.
    ‘Flecks of skin on his cheeks and under his fingernails, suggesting defence wounds or at least close contact of some kind, and evidence of sexual activity shortly before he died, although that wasn’t conclusive because of his injuries.’
    Jayne nodded.
    ‘In the light of that, we had more or less decided we were probably looking for a woman. And there’s more, but also inconclusive, confusing even,’ he added with a sigh.

     
    Geraldine explained about the hair found at two of the scenes.
    ‘So it looks rather like two women might have been involved, one dark-haired, one blonde, yet the injuries are virtually identical, and singular.’
    Jayne shook her curly head. ‘That doesn’t rule out one killer. The hair evidence could easily be misleading. The woman – if it was a woman – might have dyed her hair.’
    They proceeded to discuss the third victim, who didn’t seem to have any connection to Henshaw and Corless.

     
    ‘Let’s assume for now that the first two men had some sort of connection to the killer,’ Jayne said. ‘Having killed twice might have released some impulse in the killer who then went on to attack again, perhaps even selecting the next victim at random.’
    ‘Bradshaw was an easy target,’ Sam agreed, persuaded by the sense the profiler was making.
    ‘Perhaps the killer gave in to some long suppressed urge –’ Geraldine said.
    ‘And having started found himself, or herself, compelled to kill again,’ Jayne finished the thought.
    No one put into words the obvious conclusion that they were dealing with a serial killer.