Page 74 of Stolen Ones

And he or she has your current attention, Alex thought, reading the distraction in her eyes. She was here but not all of her. Alex swallowed down her irritation. She wanted, expected and demanded all of the woman’s focus to be on her.

‘I really would like to help,’ she said as earnestly as she could manage.

Kim sighed. ‘I’ve got a guy who abducts young girls, keeps ’em for a year and then brings them back, safe and sound.’

‘Sexual?’

Kim shook her head. ‘Don’t think so.’

‘Strange answer but okay. Physical harm, psychological harm?’

‘No, and no.’

‘What does he do, take them to Disneyland?’

‘He watches them.’

‘That’s it?’

‘Yep. Feeds them, clothes them, educates them and watches them.’

‘He’s not a psychopath.’

‘His third victim didn’t come back.’

‘He’s not a psychopath.’

‘How can you say that? You’re the one who explained to me that not all psychopaths are violent. You told me they want what they want. Well, he wants to lock up little girls and feed off their beauty. You don’t think that’s psychopathic?’

‘Not at all and you should be pleased.’

‘Hang on, how can you be so sure he’s not a psycho? I’ve given you about four sentences.’

‘If all he does is watch the girls, he’s not what you think he is. Sociopaths, as I like to call us, don’t sit and watch anything. We have to be involved, we have to be playing a game, competing, doing something. Our brains aren’t wired to sit and appreciate beauty. The emotion is too high. We want to own, possess, battle, win. Watching something mundane is just not interesting.’

‘He voluntarily came to the station to assist with our enquiries but has as yet admitted nothing.’

‘Now that is interesting. He’s clearly playing some kind of control game, which might mean he’s narcissistic or a control freak. You say his third victim never came back?’

Kim shook her head. ‘And we’ve found the body of a young girl at a site with a strong connection to him.’

‘Have there been any since number three?’

‘We’re looking, but if there were, they didn’t come back either.’

‘Hmm, interesting’ Alex said. She would have liked to discuss this more, but she’d already seen the guard glance at her watch.

Being a respected police officer got the woman an out-of-hours visit but it didn’t give her the right to stay all night.

‘Okay, I’m glad—’

‘Why should I be pleased he’s not a psychopath?’ Kim asked, frowning and showing that she really did listen to every word.

‘Because it means he has a weakness. He has a vulnerability. However evil you think he is, there will be a string you can latch on to and pull until it unravels him. You just have to look closely enough to find it.’

Kim appeared to be considering her words, but she now needed to move this along. Much as she’d enjoyed their conversation, this meeting was about her and now she wanted the inspector’s full attention.

‘I asked you to visit because I’ve got a parole hearing at the end of the week.’