Кара Хантер - All the Rage

`˜Like rubber gloves, you mean, those Marigold things?'

She shakes her head. `˜No, sort of fatter than that. Bigger. Perhaps gardening gloves or something.' She sighs. `˜So there won't be any fingerprints, will there.'

`˜He'll have messed up somehow, just you wait. And that's how we'll catch him.'

`˜I kept hoping someone would come,' says the girl softly. `˜But no one did. No one ever does, do they? Not when it matters. Not when you really need them.'

* * *

* * *

When I get back to the incident room there's a map up on the board. Thumbtacks show where Faith lives, where she was abducted, where she was found. Mute but insistent.

Asante is sitting quietly at his desk. I asked him not to say anything until I got back, until all the team are here. But now they are.

I catch Asante's eye and he gets to his feet.

`˜OK, everyone, can I have your attention, please. There's something we all need to see.'

People look up, register the fact that Asante is linking his iPad up to the projector. Ev's curious, Baxter's sceptical, Quinn's downright irritated and doing very little to hide it.

Asante fires up the screen and navigates to the page. I don't look at it; I don't need to. I've seen it already. But I watch their faces change as they realize what they're looking at.

Seen that titbitch on TV? `“ another roastie riding the cocksucking carousel

submitted 2 days ago by supremegentlemen89

17 commentsshare hide reportOnly good femoid is a dead femoid spread their legs ok then no wot I mean

submitted 2 days ago by suckingthatblackpiller

10 commentsshare hide reportWe need to scare these sluts `“ I mean acid-in-your-fucking-face TERRORISE the c*nts

submitted 1 day ago by justyouraveragecumpanzeee

35 commentsshare hide reportThe fukking game is rigged from the start `“ 20% of Chadfukkers getting 80% of the fux

submitted 1 day ago by proudtobeaunowot

24 commentsshare hide reportDont have to be that way mate `“ all these whores and feminazis fantasize about getting raped. Ud be doing them a favour

submitted 17 hours ago by furiousmadomegger

22 commentsshare hide reportU know whats worse `“ those fucking shemales that's who `“ they deserve everything they get

submitted 16 hours ago by downwiththegynocracy

35 commentsshare hide reportNo kidding `“ my mate grabbed a hot cunt only to find she was packing a dick

submitted 9 hours ago by YeltobYob

6 commentsshare hide report`˜How the hell do you get to know about this?' says Gislingham. He can scarcely believe what he's looking at, and I can tell you now, he's not the only one.

Asante shrugs. `˜We had an incident last year in Brixton. A twenty-three-year-old woman was attacked by a bloke who'd asked her out and been knocked back. He was a bit of a loner, obsessed with gaming, you know the type. Turned out he stalked her for weeks afterwards, online and off, and when we checked his PC he'd been logging on to known Incel sites all that time. I was on the case, so I ended up knowing a certain amount about it. That's how I found this `“ I knew where to look.'

Quinn gives him a look that says smart arse , and I give Quinn one that says takes one to know one .

Baxter meanwhile is frowning. Thus far the internet has been his uncontested domain and he's clearly more than a little miffed at this sudden incursion.

`˜Incel as in what, precisely?' he asks.

`˜Involuntary Celibate,' says Asante. `˜Men who can't get enough sex `“ or any sex `“ and blame women for withholding it from them. As well as the alpha males who get more than their fair share. That's what the bloke on this board is referring to. Incels call men like that Chads.'

Quinn flushes a little at this, but if he starts getting called Chad in the canteen I suspect he's not going to be doing much complaining.

`˜And of course their own pathetic chauvinist inadequacies have nothing whatsoever to do with it,' says Ev acidly.

There are a couple of half-hearted laughs at this, but Asante's face is like stone. `˜This is way beyond casual sexism.' He gestures at the screen. `˜This is just a sample of what's out there, and believe me, there's a hell of a lot worse if you know where to look. The hosting sites keep closing these boards down, but they just spring up somewhere else.'

`˜Don't you just love the internet,' says Somer bitterly. `˜Helping psychopaths make new friends.'

`˜It's worse than that,' says Asante, holding her gaze. `˜Our attacker in Brixton `“ he wasn't just having a harmless vent with other losers. It's like any other type of radicalization `“ these people egg each other on. Each round of replies got angrier and more violent. Right up until the day he threw a can of bleach at the girl, after one of his online pals told him to `њburn the cum-dumpster `“ let's see how many fucks she gets if she's got no face`ќ.'

Somer has gone pale; Everett has her hand to her mouth. They don't say anything; they don't need to.

`˜So what makes you think our man is part of this shit?' says Quinn. `˜I mean, it's disgusting and all that,' he says quickly, `˜of course it is. But the scum who spend their lives on these boards `“ it's all bloody talk. That story about his `њmate`ќ `“ it's just a load of bollocks. Doesn't mean he actually did anything `“'

`˜Oh, I don't know,' says Baxter darkly. `˜Sounds suspiciously like `њasking for a friend`ќ to me.'

Asante turns to him. `˜I've seen at least one Incel talking about abducting a woman and holding her captive to rape and torture. And no, that doesn't mean he went ahead and did it, but the line between fantasy and actuation can get very thin here.'

Quinn rolls his eyes. He clearly considers the line between clued-up colleague and pretentious know-it-all tosser is pretty thin too.

`˜So why do you think this is different?' says Gislingham.

`˜Exactly,' says Quinn quickly. `˜Even if this tosser did do something, what are the odds it was Faith? It could be absolutely bloody anyone. We don't even know where these wankers live `“'

`˜Look at that last username,' says Somer quietly.

They stare at her and then at the screen.

`˜What, the YeltobYob one?' says Quinn, none the wiser.

Baxter turns to her. `˜That's just a name, isn't it `“ like that BBC bloke, whatsisname `“'

`˜Alan Yen tob,' says Everett. `˜It's not the same.'

But Somer is shaking her head. `˜It's not a name at all,' she says. `˜It's backwards. Yob is Boy. And Yeltob is Botley.'