Free The Rain Killer by Luke Delaney Page B

Then the man saw me looking in and he came for me outside. He beat me. He beat me in the rain – in front of her, but she never tried to stop him – never tried to help me. After I fell silent he went back inside and she let him take her again. Afterwards she showed me the money she had earned. I never let anyone beat me again and I swore I would have my vengeance on all whores.’
    ‘You mean vengeance on your mother?’ Sean asked.
    ‘I didn’t kill my mother,’ Ma answered.
    ‘Yes you did,’ Sean told him. ‘Over and over again.’ Ma’s mouth opened slightly as if he was going to answer but then drifted away, to another time and place. ‘Did you kill these women?’ Sean tried to catch the moment. ‘Heather Dylan? Lisa Sheeran? Norah Cardle? Rebecca Shepard? Cantara Roper and Huian Yuan? Did you kill these women?’
    ‘Yes,’ Ma answered slowly and deliberately. ‘I took them. The Great Serpent
took them all.’
    ‘Not took,’ Sean told him. ‘Murdered.’
    ‘Words mean nothing,’ Ma replied. ‘Nothing compared to the power of the Great Snake.’ His eyes glazing over as he slipped into a trance.
    ‘Okay,’ Sean said, leaning back into his chair. He sensed that for now Ma was gone. ‘Let’s take a break. Try to get some rest. I’ll arrange for some food to be brought to you. We’ll continue the interview later.’ He turned to his side and switched the recorder off.
    ***
    ‘He’s completely mad,’ Townsend proclaimed.
    ‘Not completely,’ Sean argued. ‘He knew exactly what he was doing, and why.’
    ‘Because he thinks he’s turning into a great snake?’ she scoffed. ‘What the hell’s that all about?’
    ‘Something he created when he was a child growing up in a bleak and dangerous place,’ Sean explained, ‘to make himself feel stronger. Safer.’
    ‘Couldn’t he have just invented an invisible friend?’ Townsend mocked.
    ‘In many ways,’ Sean told her, ‘that’s exactly what he did, although in the environment he grew up in his imaginary friend was never going to be a six foot tall white rabbit. His surroundings, combined with the trauma of being beaten by one of his mother’s clients, shaped him. Made him a very dangerous man.’
    ‘You some kind of psychologist?’ she asked. ‘Is that why Middleton put you on our investigation?’
    ‘No,’ he assured her. ‘I’m just able to empathize a little more with the likes of Ma than most.’
    ‘Is that what you call it?’ Townsend questioned. ‘Empathy?’
    ‘I suppose.’
    ‘So he had no choice?’
    ‘There’s always choice,’ he told her, ‘but it would have been difficult for him not to have become what he has. It didn’t take organized crime long to recognize his unique talents, although I don’t suppose they knew about his other activities. Probably would have killed him themselves if they did. The Triads don’t like that sort of attention.’
    ‘Christ,’ Townsend shook her head. ‘A serial killer disguised as a hit-man. That’s just beautiful. At least it’s over now – we have the bastard.’
    ‘We have him, but it’s not over,’ Sean reminded her. ‘We’ll give it a couple of hours and then interview him again and see what else he wants to tell us. You know where Daiyu is?’ he changed the subject.
    ‘She was in the office last time I saw her,’ she told him. ‘Discharged herself from hospital.’
    ‘I better go see her,’ he explained. ‘See how she’s doing.’
    ‘She’ll want answers,’ she warned him. ‘She was left hanging out there for a while.’
    ‘She’ll get them,’ he promised. ‘She deserves them.’
    ***
    As soon as Sean entered the Murder Investigation Team office in Streatham Police Station he spotted Daiyu sitting alone in the far corner wearing the same blood-stained clothes, nursing her wounded arm and sipping a coffee. He crossed the office, oblivious to the glances he was getting from the other detectives and sat next to her. ‘How you doing?’ he