Grind Their Bones by Drew Cross Page B

Mike arrived right on cue with coffee, handing each of us a mug and sitting to one side with a newspaper, leaving us to get on with it.
    'Okay, I'm not sure exactly how much use I can be with something like this, but fire away. What have you got that you're allowed to tell us so far?'
    She sipped from her mug, keeping her eyes fixed on me.
    'Well, I'm working on the theory that this one knows me somehow. That he's crossed my path in the past, and that's what's behind him leaving me these letters at the scenes. The only problem with that is that I've arrested an awful lot of nasty characters, anyone of which could be the one that we're looking for, and in the absence of anything meaningful from forensics so far I need some kind of criteria for reducing their number.'
    I blew on my own coffee and risked a small sip as Mike surprised us all by speaking up first.
    'If you don't mind me butting in for a minute, why exactly are you just focussing on the criminals that you've met?' He said.
     
     

Chapter 31
     
    'What do you mean?'
    We both looked over at him for an explanation as he casually folded the newspaper and rested it on the arm of his chair.
    'Just that it's difficult to see how that fits with your theory in some respects.' He sat up straighter and leaned forward in the seat. 'I mean, when you discount the obvious fact that many of them are going to be violent and criminally inclined, it looks less likely that one of them is going to be your man without him really sticking out in your mind in some way. After all, if you're so meaningful to him that he's writing to you and only you at these scenes, then you'd have to assume that there's, in his mind at least, a much bigger connection going on than just the fact that you locked him up once for something relatively minor. It would have to be fairly minor or he'd still be in prison.'
    He paused and took a sip of coffee, looking deep in thought.
    'Unless, of course, there was some kind of resonance that I just didn't pick up on at the time, or they felt I was somehow to blame for something bigger that I'm not aware of, or I've never met them at all and they're just a common garden variety psycho with a fixation.' I ventured, sighing in frustration. 'This is hopeless isn’t it? I'm trying to attach logic and reasoning to the actions of somebody whose perception of those two concepts is as different from mine as night is from day.'
    I fussed with my hair and Mike wagged a finger at me, tutting exaggeratedly.
    'I'm no detective, in fact all of my knowledge on police investigations comes from books  and films and listening to you, so your experience and knowledge trumps mine every time Zara. But my point is that this freak might actually know you, and not just be somebody who you've arrested.'
    He paused for a moment to let that opinion settle in before carrying on.
    'I'm willing to bet that most crims don't even remember the faces of the police officers who arrest them, much less their names and how their careers have progressed. I'm pretty sure that serial killers with vendettas don't tend to exist outside of Hollywood movies. What I'm saying is that, to begin with at least, your list needs to be much bigger.'
    His expression was open and serious, and I found myself wondering for the first time how much he and Hallie had been discussing the case that had been eating me up for so long now that I could barely remember life before it.
    'We can both help you to narrow down the list once you've got it all together, no matter how big a job it is.'
    Hallie stood up and manoeuvred her way around the coffee table between us, embracing me tightly while I leaned in gratefully.
    'I love you, you know?'
    I mumbled into her shoulder.
    'I love you too. Now for God's sake go and make it up with Emily and then get some sleep, the fumes coming off you are making me tipsy. When you're feeling vaguely sober again start adding names to that list – ex-boyfriends, people you fell out with years