‘No.’ Barry put out his hand and touched her arm. His fingers clutched her coat sleeve. ‘No, you can’t just leave it there. If he hates them, why does he?’

‘Perhaps he’s been turned down too often,’ she said, backing away from him. ‘Perhaps a long time ago one of them hurt him. He doesn’t want to kill them but he can’t help himself.’ As she flung his hand off her arm the words came spitting out. ‘Or he’s just ugly. Or little, like you.’

Barry stood on tip-toe to bring himself to her height. He took a step towards her, his fists up. She backed against the railings and a long shudder went through her. Then she wheeled away and began to run, stumbling because her heels were high. It was those heels or the roughness of the ground or the new darkness as clouds dimmed the moon that brought her down.

Collapsed in a heap, one shoe kicked off, she slowly raised her head and looked up into Barry’s eyes. He made no attempt to touch her. She struggled to her feet, wiped her grazed and bleeding hands on the scarf and immediately, without a word, they were locked together in the dark.

Several remarkable features distinguished this murder from the others. There was blood on the victim who had fair hair instead of dark, though otherwise strongly resembling Patrick Leston and Dino Facci. Apparently, since Barry Halford had worn no scarf the murderer’s own had been used. But ultimately it was the evidence of a slim dark-haired customer of the Red Lion which led the police to the conclusion that the killer of these seven young men was a woman.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Epub ISBN: 9781407089706

Version 1.0

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Hutchinson in 2007

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

The Venus Fly Trap (Venus’s Flytrap) © Ruth Rendell 1972; A Bad Heart (Trapped) © Ruth Rendell 1973; The Fallen Curtain and The Clinging Woman © Ruth Rendell 1974; The Double (Meeting in the Park), The Fall of a Coin and Almost Human © Ruth Rendell 1975; You Can’t Be Too Careful, People Don’t Do Such Things, The Vinegar Mother and Divided We Stand © Ruth Rendell 1976

Means of Evil (The Case of the Shaggy Caps) © Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd 1977; Achilles Heel (Inspector Wexford on Holiday) © Kingsmarkhsm Enterprises Ltd 1978; Old Wives’ Tales, When the Wedding Was Over and Ginger and the Kingsmarkham Chalk Circle © Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd 1979

The Fever Tree and Other Stories © Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd 1982