He pulled the weapon across his lap. The hunting knife he had used to abduct Jamie was still on the passenger seat. He considered taking it too, but it was overkill. It had served its purpose: the best way to take a man off the street with the least amount of fuss was to press a blade against the back of the neck and to make very clear what damage it will do if instructions are not followed instantly and quietly. Of course it worked on a child too.

But Richard was done with being quiet. He was done with making the least amount of fuss, with being concerned about being seen walking the streets with a double-barrelled shotgun.

He was here to make a noise.

Chapter 59

The first image silenced the room, tightened the ball of anxiety in the pit of Joel’s stomach and forced him to reach for the back of the chair to steady himself.

It was Marcus Olsen. He was alive. He was sitting in a chair, bare-chested, with his hands behind his back in a position that suggested they were tied. He was staring his terror right into the lens of the camera. The next image had Joel holding his breath.

The after picture.

But the job wasn’t quite finished. The head was still attached. A jagged saw was slick with a layer of red and black and slightly blurred where it hung down in a loose grip. Marcus Olsen, though, was entirely in focus. He was still sitting up. A rope was looped around his head, the two ends bunched up in the other fist of a solidly built man who stood behind him, also bare-chested; the hair on his chest that wasn’t covered in blood and gore was grey to match his beard and head hair. The rope was keeping the head up. The moment captured looked to be the man taking a break from sawing at the neck.

‘Jesus fuck!’ Joel said.

‘I’m sorry, I should have warned you. I should have said that this is not pleasant. But I wanted to show you, I wanted you to know.’

‘That is Nicholas? The man holding the saw is your husband?’ Joel already knew the answer.

‘Yes. But the man with him abuses children.’ That steel in her seemed to be here to stay. The two police officers had both taken a step back but Marilyn had stayed straight-backed in her chair. Joel reflected that this wasn’t the first time she had seen this image. She closed it to bring up the next.

It was Danny Evans.