Free The Blissfully Dead by Mark Edwards, Louise Voss Page B

and examined the underside of Jess’s other wrist. She had a small red tattoo there: a love heart with a pair of crosshairs through it – the OnTarget logo.
    Patrick looked around. As with Rose, there was no sign of the clothes the killer had removed from Jess. None of her possessions were to be seen anywhere. He approached one of the SOCOs.
    ‘Her fingernails . . . Have you already picked them up?’
    ‘No, sir. We did a sweep of the floor, but there was no sign of them. They might turn up, but . . .’
    Patrick clenched his teeth. The murderer had taken them. But why? Why leave the bodies where they were so easy to find, but remove everything else? Was it because he wanted souvenirs? Or did he have some other purpose for the girls’ belongings?
    He took a final look at Jess’s body and thought, ‘We’re going to find him, sweetheart. And when we do, I’m going to make him wish he’d never been born.’
    It was only when he saw the way Carmella was staring at him, mouth agape, that he realised he’d spoken his thoughts aloud.

Chapter 13
Day 4 – Patrick
    P atrick paced the incident room, the rest of the team gathered nervously around the edges – all except Winkler, who was perched on the edge of a desk, arms folded, wearing his omnipresent smirk.
    Patrick had asked Gareth to print a map of the area, on which they’d marked the murder scenes of the teenage girls in red, their homes in green. Jess and Rose lived less than a mile apart but went to different schools – Jess attending the grammar school, Rose the local comprehensive. Patrick paused by the map and drew a circle that encompassed the four points.
    ‘Two girls, both fifteen, living close to one another. White, middle -class, though Jess’s family appear to be better off than Rose’s – much bigger house, nicer car, et cetera. Rose’s parents are divorced; Jess’s are still together. We know that both girls were massive fans of OnTarget. According to Jess’s mother, she attended the vigil for Rose at Twickenham Stadium.’
    This fact made him shiver. He and Carmella had been in the same small crowd as the second victim-fan. He had no recollection of seeing her. But it made him wonder – had the killer been the re too?
    And had the murderer’s next target – because he had no doubt this was not the end, the killer wasn’t going to stop now – been at the vigil as well?
    ‘Jessica was at the vigil with her best friend, one Chloe Hedges. Jess told her mum that she was going round to Chloe’s house, but she didn’t turn up. Gareth is going to interview Chloe later.’
    Patrick went on to describe the similarities between the two murders: the cuts; the perfume; the fact that their clothes had been taken.
    ‘Was this one wearing lucky knickers too?’ Winkler asked.
    Patrick looked at him with disgust. Trust Winkler to seize on the girls’ underwear. ‘What?’
    Winkler shrugged. ‘I noticed on the info sheet about Rose – she was wearing knickers with “ LUCKY ” written on them, wasn’t she? Thought it was pretty ironic.’
    ‘Yes. Well, we have a full description of Jess’s clothes on your new sheets, but it appears she was wearing new, black underwear.’
    Winkler nodded and made a note.
    Patrick moved on. ‘We know from the mothers that both girls were extremely active on the band’s forums and talked about them endlessly on social media. We’ve looked at their Twitter accounts – Rose was tweeting about OnTarget up to a hundred times a day; Jess even more. Jess’s mum says that her daughter lived and breathed the band, that she became obsessed with them from the moment they were put together on that talent show. She got those tattoos last month despite being underage.’
    ‘Crazy,’ Winkler muttered.
    Patrick counted to three, not wanting to lose his temper. But before he could speak, Wendy, the young-looking DC who had transferred from Wolverhampton and had admitted to being a fan of OnTarget, spoke up.
    ‘Why is