Page 10 of The Tapes
‘Do you still think about it?’ I ask.
Liam takes a moment. He’s spoken about this sort of thing frequently in the meetings, because it was ultimately what led to him forming this local group.
‘Probably not as much as I once did. The last murder was twelve, thirteen years ago – so it’s not constantly in the news any more. For a while, it was like I couldn’t escape it. There wasbasically a seventeen-year spree and it felt like it would never end. Then it just did.’
I googled the Earring Killer when I was at Dad’s house but it’s difficult to figure out fiction from fact. The line from news to opinion to speculation feels ever blurred. I know what people call him, of course, but it’s not as if I’ve followed every facet of our area’s resident serial killer. If anything, I’ve gone out of my way to avoid the grisliest details – but I know Liam’s mum was one of the early victims; possibly the third. I know that’s what led to him starting this group.
There was maybe a time I thought Mum’s disappearance could be linked – except there was never a body with her. She wasn’t part of the pattern. Plus, she had her own issues anyway. For most, utterly disappearing would be out of character. For her, it wasn’t a complete stretch.
Liam glances across to the trio on the far side who are talking near the tea urn. He never ushers people out, and I know I’m taking advantage.
‘Does that mean that he hasn’t killed anyone since?’ I ask.
‘I guess not.’
‘If they say I’m missing, I’m not. I’ve been killed…
I know who the Earring Killer is.’
Two separate lines from Mum’s tape. Can it really be a coincidence that she disappeared – and there hasn’t been a single killing since? As Liam said, a spree that went on for a decade and a half that simply… stopped.
It’s only now I see the link in the timing.
‘Is there a chance he might’ve carried on – but he stopped stealing earrings?’ I ask.
Liam is still looking across the hall as he answers, ‘I had a check-in with the police about five years ago. They said Mum’sfile was still open but there were no new leads. I asked if the Earring Killer might still be going but that he could be hiding it better. They said they couldn’t rule it out but they didn’t think so. All the victims had their throats cut in the same way. They were all women with long, dark hair. No bodies have been found like that this entire time. If he’s still doing it, it would have to be completely different.’ He pauses for a moment, then adds, ‘I think he just… stopped.’
We’re in now: a conversation I don’t want, but instigated, and somehow need. Liam is so used to talking about this sort of thing in front of people that it doesn’t occur to him I might have ulterior motives.
‘Do serial killers stop?’ I ask.
Liam stiffens a fraction and then turns back to me with a blink. ‘I don’t know,’ he says. ‘Do you remember the book that came out a few years back?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Written by Vivian something. She emailed about a year ago, saying they were going to make a documentary about it all. I’m not sure how far it all got but I’ve not heard anything since.’
I think on that for a moment, already picturing the drone over the main street, then somebody sitting in a chair asking, ‘Are we running?’ to a person off-camera. Every one of those true crime things come out exactly the same.
But then there’s Mum’s voice, saying she knows who the Earring Killer is. I listened on, but the tape blended back to me as a babbling infant. From what I can tell, that’s it – except it feels as if there’s a lot of the recording missing. Perhaps she named the person earlier, but it was lost to the poor quality of the tape?
Maybe it’s on one of the many other tapes in the box?
I almost jump as Liam touches my shoulder. ‘I know it’s hard after the death of a parent,’ he says. ‘Even if it’s somewhat expected.’
I’m almost overwhelmed by the guilt of making him talk about this under some false pretence of struggling with my father’s death. The whole point of this support group is honesty and I’ve managed to obliterate that by not telling him about the tape.
‘You’ve got my number,’ he adds, which is about as brutal a nudge as he’s going to give that he wants to lock up. ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’
I tell him I’m fine, then grab the final chairs that haven’t been packed away. I add them to the stack and then wave a goodbye to the trio across the hall.
Except, as I head to the car, I realise the talk with Liam has only strengthened the thought I first had when I heard my mother’s voice mention the Earring Killer.
What if the final killing wasn’t the one they all think? What if therewasone more? What if that personalsohad long, dark hair?
What if she was my mother?
SIX
