One of the waiters had produced a camera and taken the photo which had adorned their fridge ever since.

Pushing aside thoughts of what Melanie would think of him, Norm crosses to his computer to start researching the next target.

With the police aware of his pattern, things have become harder. Yet the extra challenges make it more interesting. If he can continue raising the tally his reputation will be enhanced. With luck he’d join the greats.

To those who follow, he’ll be a deity. FBI students will be taught about him and his methods. Psychologists will analyse his psyche from afar and make spurious pronouncements on his motivations.

He may even be included in true crime books or one of the many books about serial killers. Perhaps one day someone will write a book solely about him or commission a TV documentary.

Maybe they’ll even turn his story into a movie. Sure, Boulder, the chief or some FBI guy will end up as the hero, but his story will still become famous.

Norm is aware of just how captivating a villain can be in the hands of the right actor. British actors like Alan Rickman and Anthony Hopkins have more than proven that particular theory.

He ignores the sudden urge for some fava beans and refocuses his mind onto the research he needs to do.

It takes him ten minutes to get a name for the finder. Next he identifies family members who live in the area. Of the twelve names he jots onto the pad at his left, three are under the age of eighteen and therefore discounted as not being viable targets.

That leaves nine. The parents, both sets of grandparents, two aunts and a cousin.

He fancies going for the cousin or an aunt but now the pattern is public knowledge it’ll be good to have one of the parents next.

With his research done until the surveillance can begin, he moves to a more comfortable chair and sits down with another apple and the special edition.

Reading between the lines of conjecture and speculation he finds there is little he doesn’t already know, other than just how involved Jake Boulder has become.

The beginnings of an idea start to form in his mind as he absorbs the articles. Each is written with a sense of detachment apart from a strong opinion piece by Ms Rosenberg.

Never one to hide her views, she takes multiple potshots at Casperton PD, the chief in particular, and the whole law enforcement system within the state of Utah. Only Boulder seems to avoid her scathing rhetoric, although his presence is used as another stick to beat the police with.

Even though he’s the cause of the fear-inspiring piece, he thinks she’s being harsh.

A government trained killer, selecting what appear to be random targets, then killing them in a variety of ways, is something no police department is equipped to deal with.

Norm knows he’s gotten away with the first twenty-five killings. They’d all been passed off as accidents or suicides just like he’d planned.

The Niemeyer bitch had been the breakthrough for him. Number twenty-six was the one he’d selected as the first to be an obvious murder. To escalate the game and invite an investigation. To provide an opponent.

It had succeeded twofold. Chief Watson and Jake Boulder now stood against him.

Soon it will be time to find out who is the worthiest.

58

The station is awash with agitated people when I return. A pair of patrolmen are trying without success to manage the crowd.

I hear their complaints as I push and wriggle my way through. They range from queries about past deaths being related, to demands the killer be caught before he strikes again.

Lord help Chief Watson when he gets back from the nature reserve. He’ll be mobbed. If he stops to answer each person, there’s no way he’ll be able to do his job.

Seeing Harriet ensconced once again in her mother’s arms, I make my way towards them.

Olly is off to one side. He’s neither part of the crowd nor separate from it. Instead he’s hanging in limbo as he tries to gather information, while also being there for his family.

I can tell from his face he’s achieving neither and feels useless because of his failure.

Taking his arm, I guide him off to one side. ‘Are all your family here?’

His nod elicits a mental sigh of relief from me, as his eyes wander across the crowd.

‘Gather them up and tell them to leave the people on the desk to do their jobs. As soon as the chief has something to tell you, he will. All they are doing is making things harder for the police.’

I can see my words are being taken in, but his mind isn’t working at full speed and it takes a few seconds to process the data I’m giving him.

His gaze locks onto Harriet. ‘You’re right. The sooner we leave them to do their jobs, the sooner all this will be over.’

I cast my eyes across the reception area and see Kelly Oberton’s grief-stricken face, Mrs Halliburton’s mouth set with grim determination and a host of other faces filled with sorrow or anger.

Taking the coward’s way out, I slip unnoticed into the office where Alfonse was working earlier.

He’s right where I left him, staring at the screen in front of him with furrows across his brow.

‘What you got?’

There’s pain in his eyes when he looks at me. ‘I’ve now got fifteen definites before Kira and I’m working on the sixteenth now. Every one of them has been made to look like an accident or suicide.’

‘That’s surely enough to convince the FBI.’

‘Darla typed it up and made an official request when I had proof of six.’ He gives a helpless shrug. ‘The sooner they get here the better. We’re way out of our depth with this one.’

‘You gonna give up when they get here?’ It’s a cheap shot from me but I need to know where he stands.

His eyes flash. ‘Of course not. But this guy scares the life outta me and your name is all over the paper. It’s only a matter of time before you or someone close to you gets hurt.’

‘What?’

He hands me a special edition of the Casperton Gazette. ‘Darla brought this in earlier. Read page two.’

I take the paper from him as he turns back to his screen. There’s a hunch to his shoulders which tells me his mindset.

Alfonse doesn’t get angry often, but when he does it’s always with good reason. I open the paper and see the headline.

Local Man Shows Inept Police Way Forward

Below the headline is Ms Rosenberg’s name and a stock photograph.

Local hero, Jake Boulder, has stepped in to show Casperton’s

inept police force how to conduct a proper investigation. Not even a private detective himself, he has nevertheless proved to be a far more competent investigator than any of Chief Watson’s so-called detectives.

Regular readers of my column will be fully aware of the disdain in which I hold the town’s detectives. Never has the curse of nepotism imperilled the good townspeople so blatantly.

It is a poor enough state of affairs – Mayor Farrage is the current incumbent due to nothing more than a family name and a lack of credible opposition. That his college-dropout son is the town’s lead detective is risible to say the least.

Surely once this heinous killer is apprehended, Chief Watson’s new broom will sweep clean the ranks of his detective squad. Anything less than five competent trained detectives and he will be failing in his basic duty. Leaving Lieutenant Farrage in his current position neither serves nor protects us.

My sources have been adamant every breakthrough in the pursuit of the killer has come from Jake Boulder. I can reveal to you that I have personally seen him attending the locations where three of the victims have been found.

From my personal observations, it would not be amiss to suggest our new chief of police has more faith in a man with no investigative qualifications or training than he has in his highly paid detective squad.