“And they decided not to go public on this?”
“Not yet. I’ll tell you why in a moment. Summers was in the middle of filming a major project for Channel Four, with a top American actor in the title role.”
“Which is…?”
“The Ancient Mariner.”
“The poem?”
“Yes. You wouldn’t think a poem could be turned into a feature-length film, but, as you probably know, the Mariner is a powerful story running to many verses and scenes. Summers decided it would cater very well to the current appetite for fantasy and myth and persuaded the backers to invest over fifteen million.”
“Is that big budget?”
“By UK standards, yes. There’s a hefty financial input from industry. They get their corporate message on the credits and in the commercial breaks-that is, if the film isn’t blown out of the water by this tragedy. Quite a lot is in the can already. Summers had just been away for five weeks shooting the sea sequences off the coast of Spain.”
“Nice work if you can get it.”
“Rather exhausting, actually. He’d told his office he was taking a complete break before the next phase, leaving them to deal with enquiries. He didn’t want to be disturbed. Convenient for us, as it turned out. It wasn’t necessary to announce his death immediately. Only a small number of people know of it.”
“Why are you suppressing it?”
“Do you know your Coleridge?”
“Do I look as if I know my Coleridge?”
“Inside the house on Summers’ desk the murderer left a sheet of paper with five words on it: ‘he stoppeth one of three’.”
“‘It is an ancient Mariner, and he stoppeth one of three,’” Diamond chanted.
“So you do know it?”
“We did it at school. Heard it on disc. Ralph Richardson, I think. Some lines stay in the mind once you’ve heard them. I couldn’t have told you who wrote it.”
“This was cut from a book and pasted on an ordinary A4 sheet of copying paper. Below were three names, cut from newspapers. The first was Axel Summers.”
“And the others?”
“Are equally well known.”
“A death list?”
“We have to presume so.”
“You could take it that way,” Diamond said. “On the other hand, if you read the lines as Coleridge intended them you could take it to mean Summers was the chosen victim and the others won’t be troubled.” Not very likely, he thought as he was speaking.
A nod, and no other response.
Diamond waited. “So you’re not going to tell me who they are?”
He was given a less than friendly stare. “I’m telling you about Emma Tysoe’s part in all this. As a matter of urgency the team investigating the murder wanted to know if the others were under serious threat-in other words, was this a serial murderer at work?”
“What was her answer?”
“After much thought and a couple of visits to the scene, yes. She said the killer was a type unknown in this country. By naming a list of potential victims he-and she was in no doubt that this was a man-was challenging the police, an act of pure conceit.”
“Psychotic?”
“‘Emotionally disconnected’ was the phrase she used. He was treating this as a chess game. He had planned it cold-bloodedly, and with the advantage of surprise was already several moves ahead in the game. It was probable that he’d drawn up his list in a way that best suited his plan. So we might be mistaken if we looked for motives, personal grudges against the people. Quite possibly there was no motive in the sense that you or I would understand it. The motive was the challenge of the game.”
“Chilling.”
“Yes, it shows a complete absence of humanity, the mentality of a psychopath. My word. Psychologists are wary of using it. But what she said made sense.”
“Did she get so far as to produce a profile?”
“Apart from what I’ve just told you, no. She was still absorbing the data. Profilers like to take their time, and there was plenty to take in-the reports from the scene, the forensics, the autopsy, all the follow-up stuff.”
“The strange choice of weapon.”
“Certainly.”
“That must limit the field. What sort of people learn to use crossbows?”
“I told you. It’s not specially difficult. No doubt Dr Tysoe would have given us some guidance if she had lived.”
“Wasn’t the SIO-this man Barneston-getting her advice?”
“That isn’t the way she worked. She preferred to go away and make up her mind. When she was ready, she would come back with her recommendations. Barneston was running a full-scale murder investigation-still is-and she was on the fringe of it, really.”
“Was it her suggestion to keep the whole thing under wraps?”
“No, that was the SIO’s decision, and I’m sure he’s right. We must protect the two other people the killer named on his list.”
“Are they going to be any safer if it isn’t made public?”
“We’re sure of it. This man, whoever he is, wants his crime sensationalised. He’s picked people in the public domain as his targets. Imagine what the tabloids would make of it.”
“So have you slapped on a D-notice?”
“In effect. The local paper discovered something was afoot and we secured their co-operation. The nationals still don’t know.”
“And the others on this death list?”
“Have been told, of course. They were offered round-the-clock protection, and they’ve taken it.”
“Quite a number are in on this, then?”
“Already more than we would wish.”
An ominous statement. “One more is no big deal, then.”
“You don’t need to know.”
Diamond knew as he spoke what the answer to his next question would be. “So are you about to tell me the same thing your man Cameron was suggesting-that there’s no link between the murders of Axel Summers and Emma Tysoe?”
The answer was laced with scorn. “You can’t compare them. This killer is focused, organised. A controller. Emma herself told us that. He’s got his agenda and he’ll stick to it. He’s not going to put his master plan at risk by strangling her on a public beach. That’s another MO, altogether.”
“It’s cool.”
“That may be, but it leaves far too much to chance. You’re investigating an opportunist killing. This man doesn’t work like that. He’d hate the idea of so many people around, so much outside his control.”
“Just now you said he wants it in the papers.”
“Ah, he’s conceited, yes, a publicity seeker, but he’ll carry out the killings-if his plan succeeds-in an environment he controls. A beach has too much potential for interference.”
Diamond doggedly refused to be steamrollered. “It may be another move in the chess game. If this genius felt his master plan was threatened when Emma Tysoe was called in, wouldn’t he do something about it?”
“But he didn’t know she was involved.”
“How can you be sure? Certain people knew. The SIO and his team presumably. Yourselves. Her professor at the university.”
“He doesn’t know the details of the case.”
“You keep this list of profilers. You said she was the obvious choice.”
“To ourselves, yes.”
“A cunning bastard like this is going to have heard of your list and know she’s the number one choice.”
“Possibly,” he conceded.
“If the killer is as smart as you say he’s going to have a line into the investigation.”
The Big White Chief was quick to say, “So you think you should have a line in as well?”
“We’re on the same side, aren’t we?”
“I’ve told you more than I intended already, and I thought you’d have the experience to see that these killings are chalk and cheese.”