When they had finished, the white paper on four of the easels was covered in notes. The blackboard was still relatively clear, and the black crosses on the map had been replaced by pictures of the victims.
‘Thank you, Inspector Danilov and Detective Sergeant Strachan.’ Chief Inspector Rock stood up and took the pen and chalk. ‘We are dealing with a far more dangerous criminal than I thought. We have to find the answers to four questions, gentlemen.’ He wrote the numbers one to four on the blackboard.
He held his hand up and touched his first finger. ‘Who is the victim at the Country Club?’
Strachan stuck his hand in the air. ‘All we know is he’s American, sir.’
Cartwright snorted again. ‘And how do we know that, Strachan? More jiggery pokery?’
‘Not really. Sally Chen had the character for America carved into her neck.’
‘So?’
Danilov interrupted the argument. ‘I believe our killer carves the characters for the country of the next victim on the body of his previous one. Sally Chen had America carved into her neck. Our body in the Country Club had France carved on his corpse, and the next murder victim was from France.’
‘Do you make all this up as you go along, Danilov?’
‘I assure you, Inspector Meaker, this murderer has a plan with every killing.’
‘And what is the plan, Danilov?’ asked Cartwright.
‘If I knew that, Inspector, I would be arresting him as we speak.’
‘But you haven’t arrested him, because no such plan exists, Danilov. He’s just picking on his victims at random. Like Jack the Ripper, he kills whoever comes along.’
‘Jack the Ripper most definitely had a plan, Inspector Cartwright. My investigations when I was in London made it clear to me that…’
‘Gentlemen, gentlemen…’ Rock held up his hands to get control of the meeting again. ‘Can we focus on the task in hand?’ He wrote the number two on the blackboard. ‘Second, where is the murderer committing these crimes? He must have a hideout somewhere, if neither the unknown man nor the lieutenant and his mistress were killed where their bodies were found.’
‘Dr Fang believed the last two victims were killed in a cold store. Detective Sergeant Strachan has produced a list of possible locations.’ Danilov passed the list to Chief Inspector Rock who pinned it to the To Do board.
‘Third, why is he committing these crimes? We seem to be no closer to a motive linking the victims. We haven’t found the pattern yet, gentlemen. When we do, we will be able to answer the fourth question.’
‘What’s that, sir?’ asked Meaker.
The Chief Inspector paused. ‘Who is our murderer?’
‘I believe I can answer, Chief Inspector,’ said Danilov quietly. ‘These atrocious acts are being committed by Thomas Allen, otherwise known as the Character Killer.’
Cartwright threw his arms up in the air.
Meaker laughed.
Chief Inspector Rock stood there. ‘How can you be so certain he is committing the murders, Danilov?’
‘All the clues point to its being him. The methods of killing, the types of victims, the careful placement of the bodies.’
‘No, it can’t be,’ said Cartwright. ‘You said yourself, Danilov, you shot him dead on Garden Bridge. How can someone come back from the dead?’
‘We never found the body, Inspector. And if all the clues point to the impossible, then, however unlikely, the impossible must be possible.’
‘Russian bollocks…’ said Meaker under his breath.
‘There was one final clue the doctor found on the body of Lieutenant Deschamps.’
‘And what was that, Danilov?’ sneered Meaker.
‘A box of sweets; French violets to be precise.’
Both Meaker and Cartwright burst out laughing. ‘So we’re to base our whole investigation on the discovery of a box of sweets?’
‘Don’t forget they were French violets, George. That’s an important clue, that is,’ Meaker sniggered once more.
Chief Inspector Rock held up his hands. ‘Gentlemen, gentlemen, please.’ The laughter stopped as Cartwright and Meaker settled down, the latter staring across at Danilov and shaking his head. ‘It does seem a step too far to hang our whole investigation on one piece of evidence, Inspector Danilov. Particularly when that evidence points to the murderer being a man who is already dead.’
‘But, sir…’
Rock held up his hand. ‘We’ll keep an open mind at the moment on the question of the murderer being a reincarnated Thomas Allen. We have many more things to investigate before we can be so bold as to pinpoint a particular name.’
‘And meantime, the man will go on killing, sir?’
The smile on Rock’s face vanished. ‘I don’t think I like the tone of your voice, Inspector Danilov. We will continue our investigations, is that clear?’
Danilov sighed audibly. ‘Yes, sir, but…’
Chief Inspector Rock interrupted. ‘Let’s move on, we have a lot to do.’ He turned towards the two inspectors on his left. ‘Meaker and Cartwright, I want you two to discover the name of the victim in the Country Club. This is imperative. There must be a connection between the victims; find the link and we solve our crime. You can also follow up on the chess pieces. Where were they made? Where purchased? Anything and everything about them. Finally, check out the embalming fluid. Who uses it? How common is it? Where would one buy it?’
‘Anything else, sir?’ Cartwright said sarcastically.
Chief Inspector Rock carried on writing on the action list pasted to the wall. ‘No, that’s all for the moment. I’ll call you if I think of anything else.’ He turned to Danilov and Strachan. ‘You two can follow up on the van. Did anybody actually see it that morning? Strachan, as you’ve compiled the list of ice stores, I want you to check them out. Let’s discover the location of the murder of the French lieutenant and his woman. Perhaps the killer left a trace.’
‘But sir, I think we should begin looking for…’
Rock stood taller and puffed out his chest. ‘You have your instructions, Danilov. I’ll liaise with the French. Somebody has to grab the short end of the straw.’ He looked at his watch. ‘It is 10.15 now, gentlemen; let us meet at nine tomorrow morning to report back.’
‘But, Chief Inspector…’
‘You have your orders, Danilov.’ Rock looked towards the door. A round figure was outside the glass, listening. ‘Miss Cavendish,’ he shouted.
The door opened and the tea amah came in wheeling her trolley.
‘Where is the bloody woman,’ said Rock as he bustled back to his office. ‘How am I expected to know the number of Major Renard?’