Michael Morley - Viper

Creed was nowhere to be seen.

They'd been within touching distance of him. Close enough for Jack to have almost pulled open the car door and slapped cuffs on him. Then the weird little punk had just disappeared.

They looped on and off the autostrada. Blue police lights criss-crossed bridges and slip roads above and below them as they searched high and low. Intense radio chatter filled the airwaves, but no one had news of Creed's whereabouts. After forty-five minutes Jack and Pietro headed back to the barracks.

Sylvia was in her office. A face like thunder. 'Well?'

Pietro threw his hands wide. 'Andato.' Gone.

Sylvia slapped her desk. 'He made us look like fools. Like stupid, damn idiots. I wish now we'd never held that press conference.'

'Hindsight is a wonderful thing,' said Jack, checking his cellphone, more out of the need for a distraction than any sense of urgency.

'Affanculo! ' swore Pietro. 'Now the motherfucker is gone and we'll never hear from him again.'

'I wouldn't bet on that.' Jack looked down at the phone in his hand. 'Remember that gesture he made as we passed him? Well, it seems the manipulative little creep was planning to contact us again.' He spun the phone round so they could see the display. 'I've just got a text message from Creed.'

Pietro and Sylvia squinted at it.

'So, if he's innocent, why all this?' said Sylvia. 'What's all this about?'

Pietro shrugged sympathetically. 'He is messing with us again. He is lying now and was lying right from the start when he met Jack and said he was still working for us and the university.'

'And he lied about being involved with Francesca?' added Sylvia.

'Exactly,' said Pietro. 'Look at it this way. He books out of his hotel early in New York and then he comes back to Naples and won't talk to us. He turns up at the press conference tonight and then he runs away again. These are not the actions of an innocent man.'

'No, they're not,' agreed Sylvia, the message stoking her anger.

Jack wasn't so sure. To him the actions seemed like taunting. More a case of someone proving their point. 'The question that he asked at the press conference, when he listed the names of the missing girls -'

'What about it?' snapped Sylvia.

'If Creed is Francesca's killer, and maybe the murderer of more women, then it was a bold and crazy thing to do. An unnecessary risk. Why put himself so clearly in the frame and chance being caught?' Jack looked across at Pietro and Sylvia and made sure they were following him. 'The more I look at this case, the more I think we're hunting someone who is willing to cope with risk, but doesn't court it.'

'Evil can't always be explained,' said Raimondi.

Jack disagreed, he thought evil could always be explained. 'Let's look at the options. Creed was either egotistically trying to point the spotlight at himself as the killer – trying to enjoy the public horror and concern over the crimes he's committed – or else, he was being public-spirited and was attempting to focus attention on the missing girls and force you to put more resources into trying to find them. Angel or devil? Which is he?'

'Perhaps both?' said Pietro. 'Perhaps he is a Mr Jecky and Dr Hid?'

Sylvia laughed. 'I think you mean Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.' She patted him playfully on the shoulder. 'Good try, Pietro.'

'I mean half of him wants to kill and half of him wants to be stopped,' explained the big lieutenant, not amused at his own faux pas.

Split personality? It was something Jack hadn't thought about. But that didn't fit the profile either. 'There's one other possibility,' he said.

'I'm all ears.'

'What if Creed is doing all this as revenge?'

'Revenge? How so?' asked Sylvia.

Jack rolled out his latest thoughts. 'The carabinieri crushed his dream of becoming a psychological profiler. Stopped him being a hot-shot working high-profile police cases. The force ended his secondment and complained about him to his university, which also ruined his academic career. So, this could be his idea of payback. And I bet there's a lot worse to come.'

Casa di famiglia dei Valsi, Camaldoli By the time he got home, Bruno Valsi's hand was hurting even more than his damaged pride. That old thug had maybe broken two of his fingers. He went straight upstairs, showered and changed. If he'd had it his way he wouldn't even have acknowledged that his wife was in the house. But she followed him around, complaining that he was late for dinner and shouting at him. He'd eaten enough for the day and now he was going to go out and have some fun on his own.

Gina dogged him all the way to the hallway, where he finally stopped to adjust his tie in the mirror. 'I can't believe you're going out again. Since you've come out of jail, you've spent virtually every night away from me and Enzo.'

'You have a better idea?' he snapped. 'You think I should stay here, so you can shout all night and sit with a sour face? Or maybe instead I should go out and earn some money?'

'Ma vai! ' Gina waved a hand at him and flounced away. But she couldn't leave it like that. Pride and her fierce spirit stopped her in her tracks. 'Work, you say? Since when did fucking other women qualify as work?'

Valsi tried to ignore her. He'd had a bad day. That bastard Sal had publicly humiliated him. The last thing he wanted was trouble at home.

'Do you think I'm stupid?' Gina pushed him. 'Do you think I can't smell your whores on you and your clothes? See their scratches on your body? You make me fucking sick.'

'You are stupid. And you're talking nonsense. So shut the fuck up.'

A text message bleeped on Valsi's phone beside his wallet on the hall cabinet. Gina picked it up. 'Who's sending you text messages?' She held it behind her back. 'I read the ones you sent to Kristen. Is it her?'

Valsi wheeled round from the mirror. Slapped her hard. 'You never touch my phone. That's my business. Right!'

Gina held her cheek. It burned. 'You piece of shit. You cheating piece of shit.' She hurled the phone at his head.

Valsi dodged. It hit the wall and then the floor, smashing into several pieces.

The look on his face told Gina she was in for a beating.

She made a run for it.

'Come here, bitch!'

Valsi slipped to her left and blocked the corridor into the main body of the house.

Gina doubled back. One foot slipped on the tiling, twisting her ankle. She kept her balance. Ignored the stab of pain.

'Leave me alone! Bruno, just leave me!'

She headed towards the conservatory. If she made it through to the pool house she could lock herself in.

But she never got there.

Valsi grabbed her left shoulder and spun her round. His face was like stone.

Gina was scared. She jerked her right knee up between his legs. It never made impact.

His hands were quicker than a crocodile's jaws. His instincts still prison-quick. Fast enough to dodge a cell-made knife, let alone a clumsy woman's knee. He held her leg off the ground and slapped her face. She put her hand up to the burning skin and lost her balance. Her head struck the wall. He held on tight and kept her upright.

'Bruno, please don't. Please.'

Valsi could see the fear in her face. Wonderful. He felt powerful. Made him forget all about Sal the Snake and the humiliation he'd experienced.

He pulled her leg higher. Stretched her hamstring until it burned.

Gina had to hold his shoulders to stay upright. He flipped the door open behind her, backed her into the sitting room and dragged the door closed with his foot.

He could smell the fear on her now. See it in the sweat on her brow. Feel it as her heart pounded against his chest. It was exhilarating. It was the first time she had made him hard since he'd come out of prison.