‘I know you feel angry about how you were treated, bitter about what happened. But for fuck’s sake Dale, give me a break. Leave the sarcasm. For the families of those murdered girls the arrest of Gleason was a moment of glory. It meant he was off the streets for good.’

Hoban’s watery, sad eyes looked down at the floor. He reached out for his glass and took a slug. The occasional clink of the ice in his drink did nothing to dispel the awkward silence in the room.

‘Look, Dale, all I mean to say is you shouldn’t put yourself down. You did great that day.’ He looked away, embarrassed. ‘No, really you did. You were brilliant.’

‘A brilliant traffic cop, that’s all. And so great at my job – so good at protecting the public - that one day I ploughed my way into a party of fucking school kids.’

‘Well, that was fucking stupid, I must admit.’ The comment made Hoban smile. ‘Look – all I want is for you to try and remember anything about that day. I know you’re going to tell me to look in the files for your statement or see what you said to the reporters at the time, but I just want to go over it with you one more time. There might be something you thought was insignificant at the time, some detail, some feeling, some –‘

‘Dr Cramer, sorry to say this but it sounds as though you’ve been watching too many of those cop shows.’

‘Humour me, okay?’

‘Go ahead.’

‘Okay. Let’s go back to –‘ Kate looked down at her notes. ‘To January 30 1997. You’ve said in the past that it was an ordinary day, just like any other, right? You had finished your shift and you were driving down the Pasadena freeway on your way home when you saw a car, a few vehicles ahead, make an erratic manoeuvre.’

‘You sound like the traffic cop now.’

Kate raised an eyebrow.

‘Sorry,’ he said, smirking. ‘I’ll behave. Promise.’

‘So tell me what happened then.’

‘Okay,’ he said, taking a deep breath. ‘What happened then was that I put my foot down and switched on the siren. I pulled out and started to pursue the driver, who immediately increased speed when he saw me. A car chase ensued. I called for back up, as I was worried that he might hit one of the other cars on the freeway, cause an accident, a vehicle pile-up. Eventually I got up enough speed so I could pull alongside him. He was driving a large white van, with no side windows. I can still remember the plate number if you want it?’

Kate shook her head and waited for him to continue.

‘I wound my window down and gestured for him to pull over.’

‘And can you describe him for me? What did he look like?’

‘Dr Cramer, you know what he looks like.’

‘I know, but –‘

‘You were there in the courtroom, you saw him that day –‘

Kate reached into the black holdall at her feet and pulled out the clay model of Gleason’s head.

‘Is this him?’

Hoban’s eyes widened and the blood seemed to drain away from his cheeks.

‘Yeah, that’s him alright. Put that goddamned thing away.’

Instead, Kate placed the model on the table directly in front of Hoban.

‘Jesus, it’s like he’s in the room with us,’ he said. ‘Like he’s come back from the dead. Like he said he would.’

‘What?’

‘Well, I suppose that’s what he meant when he said it. I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but now –‘

‘Dale?’

Hoban swallowed and ran a thick hand over his tired eyes.

‘I never mentioned it to anyone. I didn’t think it relevant.’

‘Never mentioned what?’

‘When I pulled Gleason over I was expecting trouble. I recognised him straight away from that image that had been sent out to every cop in the state of California. But he didn’t put up a struggle, just held his hands out. He had this blank look on his face, a look of resignation. Almost like it didn’t matter.’

‘And?’

‘As I was cuffing him, he turned his head and said, under his breath – Let’s see if I can get the words right. Yeah, that was it. “Watch out for another me.” Yeah, those were his words. That’s what he said. I didn’t think of reporting it at the time, but –‘

‘Oh my God.’

‘What do you think he meant?’

‘I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s happening right now. And it’s happening to us. Me, Cassie, Weislander, you. I’ve no idea how, but in some form or other Gleason is back.’

28

‘You don’t think Gleason could have been working with an accomplice?’ asked Josh.

‘The father of Gleason’s first victim seemed to think so,’ said Kate, taking a sip of green tea. ‘But from what I remember, though, there was no evidence. Vaughan looked through the files that Collins gave him – documents compiled by a team of P.Is employed by Collins – and he didn’t find anything.’

‘So Vaughan believed that Gleason was proud to be a sole operator?’

‘Exactly.’

They had met in one of their old haunts, a Japanese restaurant downtown. From the outside it looked nothing special, in fact it was more than a little shabby around the edges, but the Japanese couple who ran it served some of the best sashimi in LA. Not that Kate was eating it.

Josh picked up a piece of tuna with his chopsticks and dipped the raw fish into a dollop of wasabi. But as he brought the glistening piece of fish towards his mouth an image of that tongue torn from the mouth of Jackson Weekes flashed into his brain. Fuck. Suddenly he didn’t feel hungry anymore.

‘Are you alright?’ asked Kate.

‘Yeah, just a bit tired, you know.’

‘You should get some sleep. Staying up all night is counter-productive. And it’s not good for you.’

‘Yeah, I know. It’s just that every time I try I think of that – that monster – out there and what he might do next.’ He paused and looked at Kate. ‘In fact, I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. I’ve been thinking a lot about you. About the –‘

Kate’s felt the blood rush to her face. What was Josh about to say? Did he want to come back to her? Could he have ended it all with Jules? The thought made her a little dizzy and suddenly nauseous, as though a small bird was trapped inside her ribcage. She wanted to take another sip of tea, but was afraid her hand would shake too much. She chewed her lip instead, hoping that the couple of drops of saliva would be enough to lubricate her parched mouth.