Jack paced up and down outside the entrance to the police station, the print-out of the emails from the night before in his hand.
He turned around when he heard the large wooden doors swing open and smiled when he saw Laura. She walked over to him, returning the smile, although Jack thought she looked tired, her eyes red, the skin under them dark and puffy.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
She ran her hands over her face. ‘We’re just chasing this thing hard,’ she said. ‘We need to catch him.’
‘Look after yourself too.’
‘I will. It’s nice to see you. It seems like forever since we spent some real time together.’
‘I was going to say the same thing,’ he said.
‘Is this what this is about, that you want to see me?’
‘No, no, nothing to do with that,’ he said, and then he grinned. ‘It is good to see you though.’
She moved forward and kissed him softly on the lips. ‘You can have the rest later,’ she whispered. ‘For now, just tell me what you’re doing here.’
‘The emails,’ Jack said. ‘I’ve had some more.’
Laura’s eyes widened, alert now. ‘When, last night?’
He nodded. ‘You remember David Hoyle?’
She thought for a moment and then said, ‘Smart-arse defence lawyer. Nice suits, bad attitude.’
Jack nodded. ‘That’s him. I saw him last night, rushing out of Don’s house. He looked frightened, and when I got home, I received this,’ and Jack held out the print-out of the Hoyly Moyly email to Laura. As she read it, her eyes widening, Jack continued, ‘There was an intruder in his house, while his girlfriend was home alone. She’s the Angel in the poem.’
Laura looked at Jack, surprised.
‘There’s something else you ought to know too,’ Jack said.
‘Go on.’
‘The bodies weren’t left in random places. Don and Mike were supposed to find their daughters. It was revenge. I went to both murder scenes. Jane was found on a path that takes you right to Don’s house, a path that people use to walk their dogs. Don has a dog.’
‘And Deborah?’
‘Mike Corley is a fisherman. I saw his gear when I was at his house. I bet he uses that reservoir.’
‘He never mentioned that,’ Laura said.
‘Perhaps it wasn’t a big deal when it was just Deborah, but when Jane was murdered, a pattern emerged.’
Laura thought about that for a moment, and when he passed her the paper, she said, ‘Follow me.’
She walked quickly into the police station, rushing Jack through the reception area and towards Carson, whose pink dome gleamed through the crowd of uniformed officers putting off the start of the day. He was sitting with Joe Kinsella, deep in conversation. Jack threaded his way through the uniforms, and as he got closer to Carson, Laura held up the print-out.
‘You might want to see this,’ she said, and handed the first email over.
Carson looked at Jack. ‘Is this what I think it is?’ he said.
‘Another email, to me,’ Jack said, nodding.
‘Fuck!’ Carson said, his voice tired, his breath a mix of no sleep and too much coffee. As he read, Carson’s eyes started to widen.
‘What the fuck is all this?’ he said. ‘Poetry? Angel?’
‘Taunts,’ Jack said, pointing down at the paper. ‘Angel is David Hoyle’s girlfriend. Look at the title, Hoyly Moyly. Hoyle was at Don’s house last night, and he left looking pretty fraught. I saw him this morning and asked him how Angel was, and he looked like I had kicked him in the gut.’
Carson turned to Laura. ‘We need to check the incident logs from last night, see if she called it in,’ he said.
‘She didn’t,’ Jack said. ‘Don Roberts is trying to deal with it himself, and I reckon Hoyle has joined the gang.’
‘But if Angel had a confrontation, she might be able to give a description. This could be the killer’s second mistake.’
Joe Kinsella was reading the email now. ‘And we need to know how she was able to frighten him away,’ he said. ‘The first two victims would have fought too, so what was different about Angel?’
‘You find out,’ Carson said. ‘I’ve got to go to a meeting with the top brass. They’re worried about the cost of this case.’ He sighed heavily. ‘If we lose some of our squad, he’ll kill again, and that won’t make anything easier.’
‘You might want to see this then,’ Jack said, and handed over the second email. ‘It arrived later on last night.’ He watched as Carson read. And I have spotted a female. You know her, ha ha. Just got to work out the details.
Carson lowered the print-out and passed it to Laura. ‘This might be aimed at you,’ he said. ‘You can’t be alone today.’ Laura started to protest, but he held up his hand. ‘This is non-negotiable.’
Laura read it, and Jack saw the blood drain from her face for a moment. Then she recovered and said, ‘We better catch him then.’
Carson smiled at her, but then said, ‘Just be careful. We’ve had too many corpses.’