Page 58 of Two for Joy

Romeo grinned at Gareth. “Good boy.”

“Swear to god if this barrier wasn’t here—”

“I’d have laid you out for hitting Chad, and then I would’ve strangled you.”

“With your hands connected to your ass, I don’t think so.”

“Enough!” the DI said. “We’re here to talk about—”

“The Copycat Killer, the one mimicking my crime. Very obviously not Chad.”

“We found the picture of you and the magpie at Chad’s address.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“He visits you every week.”

“Am I not allowed visitors?”

The DI gestured to the camera in the corner of the room. “We’ve had a specialist go over your visits.”

“A specialist?”

“Body language, lip reading. You send messages to each other. There’s an obsession there, and we know the killer is obsessed. The feather, the strangulation technique, the cigar is the same brand you used.”

“Does he use their possessions?” Romeo asked.

“No, the crime scenes are clean, suspiciously clean. Like someone who knows what the police look for, how to clean up.”

“Someone like Chad.” Romeo laughed. “You can’t be serious. You know him.”

“We knew him.” Gareth said. “Before you got into his head. Before you took him. Before you changed him.”

The DI sighed. “Over a few weeks, we’ve noticed a difference in him, a frustration, an anger.”

“No big surprise if you’re accusing him of being a serial killer.”

“There’s a change in the murders, too, an increased anger.”

“What do you mean?”

The DI pressed his hand down on the folder on the table. “The first victim, found in the bedroom, strangulation, number five, just like yours.”

“Yeah, a copycat—

“At the second victim’s address, his two dogs were found dead in the living room.”

“James had dogs. The killer went for the dogs…”

“Yes.”

“But the dogs weren’t reported on in my case.”

“Exactly, that was inside knowledge.”

“Could be a coincidence, the killer just wanting to get the dogs out of the way.”

The DI flared his nostrils, then looked at Gareth.

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