Page 215
Chapter 130
Onemonth later, Chapin-Hag Industries
Predictability killed those people, Frederick Beck thought, as he watched his current target.
Their routines, their passions, theirthirsts. A meticulous man could study a person and know them more intimately than they knew themselves.
It was how he’d known that Kane Hunt, despite being sent a death threat, would continue to guzzle down his sildenafil. His impotence made him predictable.
And Harrison Cummings, warm in the knowledge that regardless how abhorrent his behaviour, the country would protect him the moment he cried foul. His arrogance had made him feel safe.
And Karen Royal-Cross, monotonously unoriginal in the way she viewed the world. He could have sent her a bottle with ‘Deadly Poison’ printed on the side and all she’d have done was tweet, ‘fake news’ before throwing another fat-pill down her flabby gullet.
But people like him saw everything.
The things they wanted everyone to see and the secrets they carried in their deepest pockets. For a meticulous man they were low-hanging fruit. There to be plucked at his pleasure. And yes, he had miscalculated how quickly his method would be uncovered, but that was OK – failure was an essential part of scientific discovery.
So, he would adapt and come back stronger. No warnings this time, just death. Creeping across the country, ruthless, inevitable. The likeness they’d circulated had been a decent representation, but he had planned for exposure. His beard was gone, his eyes now hidden behind coloured contact lenses. His hair was a different colour. Botulinum toxin injections in his forehead and aroundhis eyes made him look ten years younger than the man they hunted.
It had been a month since he had failed to kill Douglas Salt. It was time to start again.
But first someone had to die. A nobody. A piece of life’s flotsam. Bill Hershaw was a victim of happenstance rather than design, but unfortunately he stood between him and his current goal. Tonight was a vanity project, an unnecessary risk, but he knew if he didn’t scratch the itch, whatever followed would bring him little pleasure.
Bill was a security guard, little more than a nightwatchman. Beck had been watching him for two weeks and his routine hadn’t varied. He waspredictable.
He arrived at work exactly five minutes before his shift began and he left twelve hours ten minutes later, exactly five minutes after his shift had ended. He took a cigarette break every two hours and patrolled the facility every thirty minutes. He ate his meal at midnight – always sandwiches and crisps – and did theDaily Expresscrossword up until then. After that he stuck his nose into a trashy novel – he seemed to like American crime writers – and, other than his patrols and the occasional check of the facility’s CCTV monitors, he rarely looked up.
I know everything about you, Bill, Beck thought. I know you were discharged from the army after a back injury and I know you live alone. A sad, flavourless life.
Helived alone, but that was by choice. All great men were alone, really, even when they were married. It was a curse and a blessing. He hadn’t enjoyed being married. He resented the time it stole. He had pitied Melanie for the way she looked at him, searching for a sign she was more than just a means to an end. Did he use her? Of course he did. She wasselected. Not only was she his secret weapon in the cutthroat business of medical research funding, she was also a treasure trove of blood and spinal fluid. No need to get regulatory approval for sample acquisition, not while a living donor slept in his bed.
He never hated her though. She’d had the best life she could have. That’s what that pathologist bitch hadn’t understood. He’dwatched them talking that night. Melanie had known she wasn’t supposed to mingle, but there they were at the bar, gossiping like fish wives. Later, back in the hotel room, she’d sworn blind they hadn’t been talking about him, but he knew a liar when he saw one.
The pathologist couldn’t be allowed to put everything at risk. Couldn’t be allowed to ruin his newfound reputation. If Robin Hood had married Maid Marion just to gain a tactical advantage, there would be a different statue outside Nottingham Castle. In hindsight, he should have just killed the pathologist. He had the skills to make it appear natural. He’d wanted her alive, though, knowing she was being punished for interfering with his marriage. That was a wound that would never heal. She would scream her innocence, of course, but it would be too late. She’d be just another rich girl who had killed her daddy. The thought had pleased him. But now she was free and interfering in his plans.
After tonight he would turn his full attention to Estelle Doyle.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213
- Page 214
- Page 215 (Reading here)
- Page 216
- Page 217
- Page 218
- Page 219
- Page 220
- Page 221
- Page 222
- Page 223
- Page 224
- Page 225
- Page 226
- Page 227
- Page 228
- Page 229
- Page 230
- Page 231