The Last Temptation (33 page)

Authors: Val McDermid

Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #General

given him a professional head start. Maybe, like the killers themselves, he was looking for something that would make him feel less of a failure.

2. His choice of victims gives him a sense of superiority.People like them have always made him feel slow, unsophisticated. But now he can move into their world, invade their territory and there is nothing they can do to stop him. It is a way of proving to himself that he is not the inadequate he thinks he is. It’s extremely unlikely that he has a university-level education. I would doubt he even completed secondary education, although he is clearly far from stupid. Given what I believe to be his strategy in the choice of victims (see below), it is likely that he has educated himself in their field of expertise. He has probably read extensively about psychology and its applications, both in books and on-line. He may even have taken adult education classes in the subject. He probably thinks of himself as an expert in his field, although his knowledge will of necessity be superficial

3. He is capable of a high degree of self-control andorganization. To execute his plan, he has developed a strategy of sufficient finesse to convince victims who are experienced in negotiating with the world. In order to succeed at this, he must be able to disguise his unfamiliarity with their universe.

4. He must have planned this series of attacks well inadvance, since the victims require prior research rather than the opportunistic picking at random of a candidate who meets certain physical criteria. It is clear from how close together the last two murders are that he has a pre-set list of victims. The fact that his time-scale is shortening means

that he is growing in confidence but also that he needs more kitts to satisfy whatever his agenda is.

5. What might that agenda be? The answer to that must lie in his choice of targets. What all three have in common is that they are academic psychologists who have published research based on experiments conducted on (willing) human subjects. I believe he entertains the conviction that his life has been blighted as a result of experiments carried out by one or more psychologists. He may himself have been a direct victim, but I doubt that. If that were the case, he would have a specific object for his revenge and it would probably have been sufficient for him to kill that single practitioner. Perhaps he suffered childhood abuse at the hands of a parent or other adult who had been the victim of psychological torture? Given the abuse of psychology at the hands of, for example, the Stasi, this does not seem as improbable as it might in another time and place.

Tony read over what he had typed so far. It made sense, in the context of what he’d been able to glean from the files. But it didn’t take them any closer to who the killer might be. Now he had to start moving away from what he knew and could logically surmise into the realm where he excelled. He had to reason backwards from the crime to the man who had committed it.

What does all this tell us about the killer?

1. He is subject to high stress levels, which will be perceptible to those around him. His behaviour will be more erratic than usual.

2. He is posing as a journalist on an e-zine in order to

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gain private access to those he has targeted. I believe he will have made the arrangements for his meetings with the victims via e-mail, since he is unlikely to possess the interpersonal skills to set up meetings with such highly socialized victims either face to face or via the telephone. Therefore we can state with some certainty that he possesses his own computer; he would not risk such communications on a system available to others. Furthermore, an expert search of the victims’ computers may reveal traces of these communications.

3. He is unlikely to be unemployed; he can afford acomputer, he can afford to travel. He is also comfortabk moving around in more than one country, suggesting a familiarity with them. In my opinion, he is likely to have a job that involves travelling, but not one that requires people skills. It may well be a job that demands a certain level of intelligence and responsibility, yet one that is not highly regarded by the world at large. Perhaps a long-distance lorry driver, or a maintenance engineer on some specialized equipment. He will drive a well maintained mid-range car of unassuming appearance. It is unlikely that he uses public transport to go to and from the scenes of the crimes, and this may mean that he is either hiring cars in or near the cities where he has killed, or that he has local access to company vehicles because of his job.

4. The first crime of serial offenders tends to take placenearest their home. Since the first crime in this series took place in Heidelberg, I believe he is probably based in the central region of Germany.

5. He is most likely to be in his late twenties or early

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thirties. Typically, serial killers take time to work up to their ambition. If they make it into their late thirties without killing, they’re less likely to start because they have found alternative ways to sublimate their desires.

6. It is likely that a member of his immediate familyhas a history of treatment for mental illness or a record of psychological torture at the hands of officialdom. If the latter is the case, it may well be that the family originated from the former East Germany.

7. If he has a criminal record, I’d suggest that it mayinclude stalking or Peeping Tom offences. Most serial killers exhibit a history of bully ing, animal torture, minor vandalism and arson, but in this case, I believe he is more likely to have convictions for violence against the person. Whatever was done to damage his psyche will have produced enormous levels of suppressed rage in him. Until he found an appropriate (for him) target for his anger, he may have been prone to outbursts of violence against anyone who he perceived as laughing at him. He may have assaulted prostitutes or other men who made fun of his lack of a girlfriend.

Tony stared bleakly at the screen. In truth, it wasn’t much.

As usual, he felt like the conjuror who is expected to produce

an elephant from his top hat but only manages the same tired

“7old rabbit. He reminded himself that this was only a raw first

draft. He needed more data and he wanted to talk a couplep>

of ideas over with Carol before he committed them to paper.

Tony packed up his laptop and scribbled a note to Petra. TWnvvVs -for your kelp.-I’ve begun \worU oh H\e pvoftle buf I v\eeŤA fo go fo fcrewevv. cŤm\ you book v*e ov\ Ť\ fvouvv ov 01 pl*w\e -Pivsf Hung? /\v\

277p>

fUiv^s $<5 I o*v\ fŤn1U fo H\e IocŤn1 cops? /\1so, If iŤoi\l 0 i-P you cotvl^A puf i*\e ux foucU \wlfU someone vwUo onn f*OU fo me <*boiAf H\e ^fŤ*$l’s use of psyckiŤnHy. I’m 301^3 b^icU fo v*vy

He let himself out of the front door and wearily descended to the street. It was a beautiful spring day, the air damp and cool, the sky bright with sunshine. Only a clod could fail to be moved by the possibilities of life on a day like this, Tony thought. But somewhere out there, rain or shine, a killer was, planning his next move. And it was up to Tony to try to make sure it would be the one that ended in checkmate.

The restaurant he had chosen surprised her. She had been expecting somewhere with private nooks and crannies, where they could talk without fear of being overheard. There was nothing intimate about this place, however. High ceilings with steel and tungsten light fittings, the tables and chairs a design statement in themselves. It was smart and noisy, the sort of place where everyone automatically checked out the rest of the clientele to satisfy themselves that the cutting edge hadn’t moved somewhere else since they were last there.

He was already seated when she arrived, smoking a small cigar and reading the menu at a table in the middle of the room. Carol noticed she attracted a couple of curious glances as the waiter led her to his table. She was going to have to deal with that, and sooner rather than later.

When she reached the table, Tadeusz got to his feet and gave a small, formal bow. ‘Thank you for coming,’ he said.

‘Thank you for asking me.’ The waiter held out her chair and Carol settled herself. ‘Tell me, are you some sort of celebrity in Berlin?’

He frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

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‘I noticed last night and again just now. People stare at us. And since nobody in Berlin has a clue who I am, it must be you.’

His cheeks flushed scarlet and he looked down at the table. He riddled with his fork, then glanced back up at her, his mouth a thin line. She could see he was struggling not to show emotion. Tm not a celebrity, though many people know who I am. But that’s not why they’re staring.’

‘No?’