Page 34 of The Clearing Rain

“Why do you say that?”Sally-Ann prompted, wiping pastry crumbs from the uniform stretched across her amble bosom.

“I’m not sure,” Nico mused.“It’s almost like this has come too easy.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Sally-Ann huffed.“That campsite wasn’t easy to find.It was sheer coincidence that guy tipped us off to those noises at the edge of his property.And if Pederson hadn’t chosen to call in sniffer dogs to check it out, then they might never have found the buried stash.”

It was all true.Sniffer dogs weren’t routinely used on this kind of search.Police work was sometimes a catalog of unrelated coincidences added to some lucky breaks that helped to solve a case.But something was still bugging him.

“How long have we been hunting Serge?”he asked.

“Over six months now.”

“And in that whole time, we’ve not had one clue, not one tip-off or even a single lucky break to give us a lead.Serge has been meticulous at hiding himself and everything else to do with his crimes.But now, all of a sudden, we find a hideout and concrete evidence linking him to the crimes?It seems too… I don’t know.Too blatantly obvious.”

“Are you saying you think Serge made it easy to find his campsite?Put those items there on purpose?That would be ridiculous.”

“Unless he wanted to point us in that particular direction.”The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.“This is wrong.I need to stop Pederson from going.”

“I don’t think—” But Sally-Ann’s words were cut off as Nico burst past her and out of his office.That was it.He had to warn Pederson that he was going off on a wild goose chase.

Nico surged into the ops room, heedless of who else occupied the room; his focus was on Pederson, who was standing at the whiteboard talking to Detective Saito.This was going to sound a little unhinged, but Pederson needed to listen to him.

“Pederson, I’m glad you’re still here,” Nico said, stepping between the two detectives and the whiteboard, so he had their full attention.

“You’ve heard then?”was all that Pederson said, his face devoid of emotion.

“Yes.And I don’t think you should go to Hobart.I think you need to concentrate all your efforts here, in Burnie.”

“Hmm.”Pederson merely regarded him with dark, unreadable eyes, not even asking Nico for an explanation.He was going to disregard anything Nico had to say, he could just feel it.

“I believe the killer wants you to go to Hobart for some reason.And I think for that exact reason, you shouldn’t go.”Nico could feel his blood pressure rising in the face of Pederson’s disregard.

“Hmm,” Pederson said again in that noncommittal way.Saito was staring at Nico as if he might’ve gone a little crazy, but she said nothing.

Nico drew in a calming breath.“You’re not listening to me.Serge wouldn’t be careless enough to leave that evidence at the campsite,” he said slowly and succinctly.“You asked for my knowledge on the subject of Serge’s motivations, the rationale behind this spate of serial killings.”

“Yes, and you’ve been distinctly unhelpful with that up until now,” Pederson ground out from between clenched teeth, and Nico knew he was referring to the fact that his own girlfriend was now in the hands of the killer and Nico had been none the wiser it was going to happen.

He decided to ignore all the million and one reasons he hadn’t been able to pinpoint Serge’s motivations more clearly before, and went on to say, “Maybe so, but on this fact, I’m very sure.Serge’s profile shows a perfectionist, someone with ultimate precision.And now we know he has a military background it all makes sense.He wouldn’t just have left Danika’s stuff buried at the site for anyone to find.And he wouldn’t have burned incriminating paperwork and left it there either.He did it because he wanted you to find it.I think that paperwork was burned intentionally.He was hoping you’d dig it up.”

Pederson shook his head, an incredulous look on his face, then opened his mouth to argue, but seemed to change his mind at the last moment; instead forming his lips into a thin line as he regarded Nico.“Okay,” he sighed.“I’ll take that under advisement and note it in the reports.”

That wasn’t at all what Nico was hoping to hear.“But you’re still going to Hobart, aren’t you?”he asked grimly.

“Yes, I am.This lead is too big to ignore.”Pederson had already turned his back, packing up his laptop and wrangling his pile of notes into some sort of order so he could put them in his briefcase.

You’re playing right into Serge’s hands, Nico wanted to yell.But Pederson was like a terrier when he got a whiff of a juicy bone, and there was no getting through to him.

Saito had said nothing during the whole argument, but now she stared at him with a contemplative gaze.Perhaps she might be more receptive to his rationalization, but even if she was, he knew she wouldn’t be able to change Pederson’s mind.In one way, the other detective was accurate, this was a big lead.And it might even turn out to be accurate; Serge could well have been renting an apartment down in Hobart.But Nico could feel it in his bones.This was a ruse, a machination to get the cops to focus on Hobart for some reason.But why?

Without another word, Nico turned on his heel and exited the ops room.Taking his bruised ego back to his office, he shut the door behind him.He needed to think this through.Go through all the permutations and see which one fit the best.

His gaze fell on Lacey’s handwritten note in a plastic evidence bag on his desk.He must’ve read her words a thousand times over, but every time he did, he found himself getting so angry he could hardly think.

Now, it was time to read this letter like a detective and not a distraught lover.Time to put his forensic skills to the test.

He’s in Boat Harbour.

Talk to Pacca, he knows more than he’s letting on.

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