‘So you’re saying you think that he is stealing items for a trophy?’

‘No, Jan,’ Brauner’s voice was suddenly tighter. ‘I don’t think that this guy is a random psychopathic serial killer. Most serial-offending psychopaths take trophies, anything from a personal item to an internal organ. This guy’s trophies are all documentary. Remember you asked me if we had found a diary or appointment book in the second girl’s apartment? And the thing that really doesn’t fit is, why did he wipe all of her files from her computer? I’ll bet if we keep looking, we’ll find even less. She was a journalist, wasn’t she?’

Fabel nodded.

‘She was freelance, right? And worked from the office in the next room?’

‘I guess so,’ said Fabel.

‘Then I suggest you go through her files. My guess is there’ll be stuff missing there as well.’

Fabel looked from Brauner to Maria and then Werner, who had entered the room and had caught the main part of Brauner’s theory.

‘You’re saying that there is an ulterior, objective motive here? Surely this guy is a psycho …’

Brauner shrugged. ‘That’s up to your criminal psychologist to determine, but yes, I agree, the killer is psychotic. However, that doesn’t mean he falls into the serial pattern. You’ve heard of Ivan the Terrible?’

‘Of course I have.’

‘Ivan the Terrible united Russia. He was the father of the nation. He turned it from a loose collection of feuding principalities and fiefdoms into a cohesive nation. That was his motive. But as well as being a monarch and general, Ivan fitted all the criteria of a psychotic murderer. In fact, in many ways, he fitted the profile of the classic serial offender – a shy, quiet, sensitive child who was abused from a very early age. As a result, while still a child, he tortured and killed small animals. Then he killed his first man when he was thirteen. After that he committed countless rapes, murders, acts of obscene torture … including frying, boiling, impaling or feeding his victims to wild animals. We’re talking thousands of rapes and hundreds of murders committed personally by Ivan.’ Brauner nodded in the direction of the next room. ‘He even had a similar taste for rituals. He had a personal bodyguard, the oprichniki. He formed them almost like a holy order with himself as the abbot. They raped, tortured and mutilated victims in parodies of the Russian Orthodox Mass.’

‘What’s your point, Holger?’

‘Just that Ivan was clearly a psychopath. A sociopath, in fact, totally devoid of any empathy with his victims. But he was also an extremely intelligent man and the worst of his crimes were committed within a structured context. He used his psychopathy as a tool to instil terror and to consolidate his control of state and people. My point is that Ivan’s sociopathic behaviour was not an end in itself, it was a means to an end. He channelled his psychopathy to further his strategies and achieve his objectives.’