Marlow closed his eyes. She could see his long lashes, every line of his handsome face. He licked his top lip, then he opened his eyes. The color seemed even more startling, the pupils were like pin-points. As if watching in slow motion, Tennison felt every tiny movement recorded in her mind.

He tilted his head to the right, then to the left, and smiled. No one in the room moved; they all focused on Marlow, on his strange, eerie smile.

“I said I did it.”

There seemed to be nothing else to say. Everyone in the room except George Marlow held their breath, ready to explode, but he seemed totally relaxed. Eventually Tennison breathed out and said, “Please sit down, George.”

He slumped into his seat. She watched him closely as she asked, “What exactly did you do?”

He checked them off on his fingers. “Karen, Della, Angela, Sharon, Ellen and . . .” He screwed up his eyes, trying to remember, then snapped his fingers. “That’s right, Jeannie . . .”

Only Tennison’s eyes reflected the impact of his words. George Arthur Marlow had just casually admitted to killing all six victims.

Chapter 12

12

When George Marlow had been led back to his cell, DCI Tennison lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. The welter of emotions inside her was under rigid control, and she showed none of it to the others in the room.

She had just caught the man she had devoted every ounce of her energy to catching, a man who had caused her the loss of the only lover she had ever really cared about, had deprived her of sleep for days on end, had nearly lost her job and her self-respect. She sat quietly and smoked her cigarette down to the filter, then stubbed it out.

DC Jones, his face flushed, raced into the bar of the local pub. Pushing the other regulars aside, he stopped in the middle of the floor, raised his hands in triumph and yelled, “He’s bloody admitted it! All six of them, he’s admitted doing the lot!”

The team rose to their feet as a man, although one of them was Maureen Havers. The cheer went up; Jones grabbed Havers and danced her around the floor as everyone congratulated everyone else.

A group of DIs from another team looked on the feverish celebration with interest. When Havers finally sat down again, one of them came over to her, carrying his pint.

“What gives?”

Beaming, Havers replied, “Our guv’nor’s just got a suspect to admit to six charges of murder! Biggest case this station’s ever had . . .”

DI Caldicott returned to his own table and spoke to his mates. The racket in the bar was so great that no one else could hear what he was saying, but they all turned to stare at Tennison’s team and raised their glasses in salute.