Peter Lovesey - The Secret Hangman

He took a step in and spoke Jerry’s name. Trying to sound reasonable with a message that suggested the opposite, he said, ‘There are armed men with me. I want you face down on the floor.’

No sound came back, and he had a strong sense that the place was empty.

He edged round the bookcase.

No one.

But if any doubt lingered about Jerry’s guilt, this scene removed it. The bookcase was literally a front that screened off a primitive cell, with slop bucket, mattress, plastic plates and water bottles.

Scraps of food were scattered about the floor along with shoes, Kleenex tissues and Hosannah totebags.

Leaman came in behind him.

‘Don’t ask.’

‘But his car’s still outside, guv.’

‘Hole in one, John. He drives here in the Shogun and uses the van to transport his victims. He’s already on his way to another hanging.’

‘W hat do we do now — wait for a shout from uniform?’ Leaman asked, making it sound like an accusation. The stress was getting to everyone.

‘What you do, Inspector, is inform all units they’re looking for a dark blue van with Hosannah written on the side.’

‘Do you know the make and registration?’

‘If I did, would I keep it to myself?’

‘Is there any way to work out where he’s heading?’

‘You think that hasn’t crossed my mind?’ He left Leaman using his personal radio and went back to Paloma. He wanted her to see the interior of the book depot. Not to rub her nose in it, but to remove any scintilla of doubt about her son’s recent actions.

Her mouth quivered, but she drew in a sharp breath and got control. They walked over to the building. At his suggestion she held a tissue to her face when he took her in. She stood looking for a couple of seconds and then needed the fresh air. Outside, she swayed a little and he thought she would faint, so he took her back to his car. There was a bottle of water in there.

He waited for her reaction, but she was numb. Her eyes were opaque and her shoulders sagged. All her vitality had drained away.

‘You did the right thing, making me look,’ she said finally in a low, flat voice. ‘There’s no escaping that.’

‘And you had no suspicion?’

Her eyelids closed a moment longer than was natural. She gave no answer.

‘Any thought where we can find him now?’

She shook her head. ‘Dear God, I wish I knew.’

Sensing the turmoil within her, he kept to practicalities. ‘Must be somewhere he’s familiar with. He’ll have visited there a number of times, staked it out. There are only so many places he can know that well.’

She pressed her hands to her face as if to hold her emotions in check. ‘He knows the church and the hospitals he visits. Laura Place, where he lives. The Pulteney Bridge area.’

Diamond had already gone through these possibilities in his mind. Pulteney Bridge would be a spectacular place for a hanging, but it would entail breaking into one of the shops built into the structure and that would add to the complexity of the crime.

‘He evidently knows the parks,’ he said.

‘Yes, he enjoys a walk.’ She’d missed the point, and perhaps it was a mercy.

‘Where does he do his shopping?’

‘Waitrose is the nearest. Sometimes like today he’ll do a big shop with me over at Sainsbury’s.’

‘Green Park, where you and I met.’

She glanced at him, bit her lip and looked away. The tears were not far off.

He went back to direct operations. Some of the rapid response team could be stood down. Four would remain in case Jerry returned to collect his car. But if he did, he would already have committed a sixth murder.

Leaman had broadcast a description of the van. ‘There aren’t that many commercial vehicles moving around the city after midnight,’ he said. ‘With so many officers on duty we must stand a chance of intercepting it.’

‘By now it won’t be moving,’ Diamond said. ‘It’ll be stationary, and close to the place he’s selected.’

‘Even so.’

Diamond nodded. ‘But there’s so little time. My guess is that he leaves his victim tied up in the back of the van while he rigs up the gallows. Unrolls the plastic cord, slings the end over the crossbeam or whatever, secures it, makes a noose, cuts it. Ten minutes maximum. He left here at least an hour ago.’

‘There are people about. He may have to wait a while to pick his moment.’

‘We can hope.’

To his credit, Leaman was trying to contribute ideas. ‘He’s never used the same sort of structure more than once. A kid’s swing, a viaduct, a tree, Sham Castle, the arch in Victoria Park.’

‘Where does that take us? The possibilities are endless. A crane, scaffolding, a multistorey car park, a floodlight tower.’

‘He hasn’t used a bridge over the river.’

Diamond pulled a face. ‘Do you know how many there are? I can think of ten. I left instructions that each one was obboed.’

‘Would he have driven out into the country?’

‘If he has, we’re sunk. But there’s a certain arrogance at work here. Up to now he’s found sites within the city and I’m sure he means to get away with it again. Where do you look for a parked car in a city?’

‘Car park?’

‘Get them all checked. We’ve got the manpower.’ He thought of what he’d discussed with Paloma, and added, ‘The one behind Sainsbury’s.’

Leaman spoke into his radio.

Diamond kicked at some weeds growing through the asphalt. Then he returned to Paloma and sat in the car with her.

She asked if there was any progress and he shook his head.

‘I’d better tell you,’ she said without looking at him.

‘Tell me what?’

Mental pain has its own vocabulary. From the depth of her being came a moan primal in its intensity. A mother’s lament. People say there is nothing worse to endure than the death of your own child. Maybe something is worse, Diamond thought, and that is to discover that your child has grown up into a cold-blooded killer.

The sound died away. Her eyes were still squeezed shut and her head was shaking.

‘It’s all right,’ he said, knowing it wasn’t. He was at a loss.

She reached for his hand and gripped it with extraordinary force. Then the words came, haltingly, each one as if it hurt. ‘You asked just now if I’d had any suspicion about Jerry. Well, I don’t know what you call suspicion, but I’m his mother and I see him a lot, and I’ve had a horrible feeling for weeks that he was getting into something bad, something illegal, though nothing so terrible as this. How could anyone imagine…?’ A sob jerked from her chest. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t go on.’

‘Try,’ he said. ‘I need to know.’

She drew another long breath. ‘I could tell he was on edge a lot of the time, ever since he became so involved in this church. But they’re church people and they shouldn’t be doing bad things, so I kept telling myself I must be mistaken.’

‘Did you raise it with him?’

‘Quite a few times. That is, I didn’t say he was up to no good. I said I could tell he was under pressure. I didn’t think it was the job, or a woman. I wondered if he had money problems, but he knew I could help him out and sometimes did.’

‘What did he say when you spoke to him?’

‘That I was fussing and ought to treat him like a grown-up. It’s so hard.’ The tears streamed from her eyes again. ‘You’ve got to let go, I know that. But as his mother I could sense he was in some kind of trouble and it was getting worse all the time. Little things you notice, like if we were shopping he’d move into another aisle to avoid people he recognised. Or he’d jump if the phone rang. And he changed his address about five times in two years for no good reason.’ She swung to face Diamond and her voice broke up as she said, ‘That’s why I wrote you the letter.’