Page 26 of Pure Killers

"Actually, I think I know who Needler's next victim is going to be."

That brings her attention back.

"But I can't tell you how I know."

Her lips purse. "Is it a hunch?"

I tilt my head from side to side. "Based on evidence."

"Evidence you can't show me."

I don't answer, since the answer is yes.

Tawill gives a heavy sigh. She’s wearing half-moon glasses, peering over them at me. Now, however, she takes them off, sitting back. She’s a big woman, though you don’t get the feeling it’s from any kind of slovenliness. Her skin is the smoothest I’ve ever seen, dark and rich in contrast to tightly curled blond hair cut close to her scalp. "Alright. Tell me your hunch, I'll decide what to do with it from there. Who's next?"

"Talisof," I say, name the recently arrested millionaire.

"Talisof isn't your case."

"With the nature of my case, it necessarily involves other's cases."

Tawill blinks. "Have you seen the news this morning?"

"No." I frown. I was so sure about this, with what little Needler gave away. ‘The size of someone’s wallet’, that’s what he said. Tawill picks up the remote and points it at the small TV screen hitched against the back corner of her office. It’s shaky footage, outside the courtroom. Talisof stands on the steps smiling and confident, like a man who knows he's never going back. "He was released on bail this morning," Tawill tells me. "And after how long it took to even make the arrest… people are saying it was set too low, given his means."

I spread my hands. "Then I'm right. If he's out, Needler can get him. We need to offer him protection."

Tawill raises an eyebrow. "You expect me to throw a safety net over a guy who switched out some granny’s sleep aids for cyanide just for funsies, based on your hunch?"

"Look, I'm not asking based on his character. He's a psychopath. But so is Needler."

Tawill shifts in her seat, sitting forward. "I'll get you half an hour with Talisof." She points her pen at me across the table. "The only protection he's getting is jail. The public is pissed off enough about this case without us giving him favourable treatment for no clear reason. You've got that time to get a confession out of him, otherwise he's on his own, and we'll see if you're right."

***

"I hope you know my client is only here as a courtesy. He can give you ten minutes at the most," Fielder, a small bald lawyer with low enough standards that I've had to deal with him on several murder cases, tells me.

I smile at him where he's seated next to Talisof. "Of course." Then I turn to the client. "Mr Talisof. We'd like to do you the courtesy of informing you that we have reason to believe you are the Needler's next target."

At first, he laughs, but when I stay deadpan, his expression changes. "What is this? Some amateur attempt to scare me?"

I flip a page of the folder in front of me. The victims of his. He'd masquerade as a nursing home attendant, switch their pills, then watch and wait. We suspect he was doing it over a number of years. It’s hard to account for all of the deaths, since not all of them had autopsies. Elderly people dying in nursing homes isn’t usually suspicious.

"How did those ladies die again? Cyanide, right?" I ask, then meet his eyes. They're a cold, dead blue, detracting fromanything that could be handsome about his face. "Do you know how cyanide works? It binds to cells in the bloodstream, preventing them from oxygenating. And when these corrupted cells reach the heart, the brain… they don't do what they're supposed to. Effectively, the victim suffocates, all the while, breathing."

"Thank you for the science lesson, detective…" the lawyer starts.

I cut him off. "A painful way to die I'm sure we can agree. I imagine you've heard of how the Needler handles his victims? In the same way, they took theirs, but slower. He'll probably give a smaller dose of cyanide, so it takes longer. And just when you're about to finally breathe your last… well, he's called the Needler for a reason."

"This is nonsense! We're leaving…"

But Talisof hasn't said a word. And now he lifts a hand, halting his lawyer mid-stand. His eyes don't leave mine.

"Of course," I go on, "…Needler has never been wrong so far. So if you didn't do it, I suppose you have nothing to fear, and there's no reason we should need to protect you."

His eye twitches.

I turn my smile on the lawyer. "If that’s all, you're welcome to show your client out. I'm sure he has places to be."

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