The meanest Flood

again. This weapon, whatever it is he’s using, it’s about power. Cars, bullets, guns, rockets... anything that’s powerful and makes a lot of noise, something you can use to poke with or stick in somebody... can be penis substitutes. Guys who use them or have obsessions about them, they’re either impotent or might not be impotent but they certainly worry about it. So somebody who kills women with a sword, that’s gotta be significant. This is a guy who doesn’t understand women. Might be a misogynist. Has trouble getting a hard-on.’
    ‘And there’s one other thing,’ Sam said. ‘The guy’s manipulative. Always moves me into position before he closes in for the kill. That could be one of his strengths, the way he manipulates people. Could be something to do with his job. What kind of job could that be, where you manipulate people? Is he a politician? Some kind of manager?’
    ‘Yeah,’ Geordie said. ‘But he doesn’t just manipulate people, he manages the whole scene. He manipulates events as well.’
    ‘So think about jobs that involve all that,’ Sam said. ‘Could be in the Army or the Navy?’
    ‘Another thing too,’ Sam said. ‘Because he’s into manipulating the scene, he makes himself vulnerable.’
    ‘How do you work that out?’
    ‘He has to get me into place before he can kill the next victim.’
    ‘Seems like he’s managed that fairly easily up to now,’ Geordie said. ‘He got you here, to Norway.’
    ‘That’s right. He did. He told me Holly would be next. And he knows enough about my character to realize I’d come here to protect her.’
    ‘Which means he’s sussed you,’ Geordie said. ‘How does that make him vulnerable?’
    ‘Because he can’t be sure I’m here.’
    ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘He’s guessing I’m here, hoping I’m here, but he doesn’t know. Before he can kill Holly, he has to see me.’
    ‘Right,’ Geordie said. ‘You might’ve gone to Scotland. He’s given you the clues, and he knows you’re a detective, hopes you get it, that there’ll be enough to lure you here.’
    ‘But he has to see me,’ Sam said. ‘If he doesn’t see me here, then Holly’s safe. He won’t touch her.’
    ‘Does that mean we’re going home? I haven’t seen the Munch Museum yet.’
    ‘No, we’re staying. We can play him at his own game. He’ll be watching Holly’s flat, hoping to see me going in there.’
    ‘Which means we watch the street, Calmeyers gate,’ Geordie said, looking for the guy who’s watching the flat.’
    ‘You got it, Sam said. ‘That’s exactly what we do.’
     

21
     
    ‘You can sit there until you decide to give me some civilized answers,’ Ellen said.
    Marilyn was seated on a high stool at the end of the kitchen table. She’d stopped crying but her eyes were red and she was sniffing and blowing her nose into the remains of a man-size tissue.
    ‘It’s that Danny Mann character, isn’t it?’ Ellen said. Marilyn nodded her head. ‘Yes.’
    ‘You’ve been following him? Stopping him in the street?’
    ‘Not exactly.’
    ‘Marilyn, I’m not going to beat about the bush here. The signs are all too clear. You’re not taking your medication. You’re clearly obsessed with this man - all that stuff on your bedroom wall. Two or three times lately you’ve stayed out all night, or most of the night. You’re weepy and erratic in your behaviour.’
    ‘Only when you go on at me.’
    ‘Correction, not only when I go on at you. Usually you behave like this when the chosen man of your dreams doesn’t know what is happening to him and tells you to get lost.’
    ‘God!’ Marilyn said, getting off the stool. ‘I don’t have to stand for this.’
    ‘Oh, yes, you do, my girl. Sit on that stool now or I’ll ring the doctor immediately.’
    ‘And what’ll that prove?’
    ‘It’ll prove that you’re not taking your medication, that you’re highly emotional and unstable, and will probably lead to another spell on a locked ward. You know exactly what it means, Marilyn. We’ve been here before, remember?’
    ‘I’m not listening to this,’ she said. ‘I’ve got things to do. I’m going out.’ She flounced across the room and pulled at the door, which remained closed.
    Marilyn turned on her mother.
    ‘You can try the front door, too, if you like,’ Ellen said. ‘And the windows. You are locked in here with me, and that’s the way it’s going to stay until I know exactly what’s going on. It’s for your own