James Carol - The Quiet Man

‘It was wrong what they did to Laura,’ Barnfield said. ‘She gave everything to that investigation. I don’t think anyone could have done a better job.’

‘She’s one of the good ones,’ Winter agreed. ‘But that’s politics for you. It’s not about competence, it’s all about whether or not your face fits.’

‘What’s Freeman like? I haven’t met him yet.’

‘Let’s just say that his face fits and leave it at that.’

Winter picked up his mug and took a sip. It was a damn sight more palatable than Sobek’s coffee. Good-quality beans, just the right amount of sugar, and it hadn’t been stewing in a flask. It was almost as perfect as the view.

‘What sort of person would you need to be to build a bomb like this?’ he asked.

Barnfield didn’t answer straight away. She drank some coffee then put her cup down on the table. ‘Interesting question. The first thing you’d need is patience, but that goes without saying. I take it you’ve heard the phrase “measure twice, cut once”? Well, that’s doubly true when you’re building bombs. Make a mistake and you’ll wind up dead. Those are the stakes. But that’s not what you want to know, is it?’

Winter shook his head.

‘I’m not sure how to answer your question,’ Barnfield said.

‘If it helps, try imagining yourself as the bomber.’

‘Okay, I’ll give it a go.’ She hesitated a moment while she thought this through. Her eyes were searching the corner of the room without really seeing anything. ‘First, I’d need to establish what the bomb was for. In this case we have a rather unique situation. I want to kill someone, however, I want to make sure that a person who’s only a few yards away is unharmed. The amount of explosives would be crucial. Too much and I’ll end up blowing the door out, which could injure them. Too little and the person the bomb is attached to might live. At some point I’ll have to carry out experiments to see how little I can get away with.’ She stopped talking and looked at him.

‘What is it?’

‘That’s your first big difference. Usually you wouldn’t be too concerned with limiting the size of the explosion. Generally speaking, when it comes to IEDs, the bigger the bang the better. The people who build them are after the shock factor.’

‘Good. What else can you tell me?’

‘The bomber doesn’t have a military background.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because the design of this bomb requires a degree of lateral thinking, and that’s not something you see much of in the military. You want soldiers to follow orders. When they start thinking for themselves, that’s when the problems start. Also, he’s not a professional bomb maker. If he was, I would have recognised the design. Something this distinctive would have been flagged up. What we’re dealing with here is a talented amateur.’

‘Okay, let’s talk about the bomb. How does a talented amateur go about making something like this?’

‘Like everything else these days, your start point is the internet. That’s where you’ll find everything you need. The internet has a lot going for it, but it also has a dark side. Anyone can get access to this information. The Taliban, Islamic State, some poor brainwashed kid in Iraq or Paris or wherever who decides they want to make their mark on history.’

‘Is there anything about the design of this bomb that jumps out at you?’

‘The fact that he uses fireworks. It’s easy enough to build a detonator, but getting hold of explosives is much harder. You can’t just walk into a shop and buy some Semtex. Using ammonium nitrate is one possibility, but there are a limited number of places you can buy fertiliser from. If you start buying in bulk then you might be remembered. Then there’s the problem of getting the recipe right. It’s not as easy to make a fertiliser bomb as you might think.’

‘But fireworks are easy enough to get hold of.’

‘They are. And you know that they’re going to explode. To stretch the analogy, the recipe has already been cooked. That’s what makes it the ideal solution. Experimenting with how much explosives you’d need is easy too. All you’ve got to do is wait for Canada Day to come around and you can make as much noise as you need and nobody will bat an eye. Okay, time to turn the question back on you. What sort of person do you think would build a bomb like this?’

Winter reached for his coffee and took another sip. ‘It’s like you said, this person is patient, which means that they’re not going to be young. Let’s face it, how many teenagers have you met who are happy to wait for tomorrow to come around? Generally speaking, serial killers tend to get started in their late twenties and thirties, and most of them are male.’

‘What? You don’t get female serial killers?’

‘You do, but it’s rare. Aileen Wuornos springs to mind. She killed seven men in Florida. Beverly Allitt is another one. She’s from your part of the world.’

‘Okay, what else can you tell me?’ Barnfield asked.

‘Aside from Lian Hammond, all his victims have been white, which means that he’s most likely white. Serial killers tend to stick to their own racial group. He’s also going to be below average height. Anderton found a footprint at the latest crime scene to support that, but even if she hadn’t, the MO and choice of victims is indicative of that. And you’re looking at someone who’s socially adept. If you met this guy he’d probably come across as charming. This is someone who’s brazen enough to walk right up to a front door in a middle-income neighbourhood and ask to be let in.’

‘Or a higher-income area, as was the case with Nicholas Sobek.’

‘Exactly,’ Winter said. ‘Also, this person is unlikely to be a blue-collar worker. I can’t imagine him as a mechanic or a factory worker. This guy doesn’t like getting his hands dirty. Figuratively or literally. As for what he does, I wouldn’t rule out one of the creative fields.’

‘Like an artist?’

‘No. I’m thinking technically creative, like an architect or a software designer. He’s going to be drawn to a profession that requires both logic and a creative flair.’

‘So you’re looking for a white male in his late twenties to early thirties, who’s below average height and works as an architect or a software designer.’

‘That’s the bones of the profile,’ Winter said.

‘And you get all this from looking at the crime scenes.’

‘The crime scene is important, but it’s only a part of the story. The other part is examining the pre- and post-offence behaviour. Ultimately, I want to work out the why. What actually drives the behaviour?’

‘Fascinating.’

‘Well, it keeps me out of trouble.’

The door clattered open and Anderton came back in. Zeus was up and padding over to her in a heartbeat, demanding attention. She gave him the half-hearted pat of someone who’d never owned a dog. Zeus humphed his disapproval then flopped back down onto his bed and got comfortable again.

‘Freeman says well done,’ she said.

‘I can feel the warm glow starting at my toes and spreading through my entire body.’

‘He’s also offered us a seat at the table.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning that he would like to meet with us.’

‘Well, that’s progress, I guess,’ Winter said. ‘We must have impressed him.’

‘Or he wants to keep us where he can see what we’re up to. Remember the old saying: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’

‘So cynical.’

‘No, just realistic.’

Anderton turned and smiled at Barnfield. ‘Heather, thanks again for your help. Next time you’re in the city, give me a call and we can go grab a coffee.’