‘What choice do we have? Do we just sit back and let him kill again?’ Now Tony sounded angry. ‘I came into this business because I wanted to save lives. I can’t do nothing while a serial killer is left at liberty to take more victims,’ he said vehemently.

‘Marijke’s right. It’s insane,’ Petra insisted.

Tony shook his head. ‘One of two things is going to happen here. Either the police are going to help me, or I’m going to do it alone. So, which is it to be?’

Every day, he was growing stronger. Because at first he had thought what he did with Calvet was a weakness, he had nearly let it destroy him. There had been days and nights when he feared he’d never chase the darkness away again. But he’d gradually come to see that his first reaction had been the correct one. Making her his had been the ultimate demonstration of his power. It took a special sort of person to carry a plan like this to the limit, and he knew now that fucking her hadn’t tainted his mission. The realization had brought peace, and with the peace came a lightening of his spirit that was all the confirmation he needed. The headaches disappeared, and he felt released.

As if mirroring his personal relief, he heard the news that the river would be open again the next day. He would be able to continue his work. He’d been scanning the papers and the internet, and nobody seemed to have realized that he had crossed borders and killed in Holland. He had to believe that, there, his victims would still be oblivious to risk. He couldn’t afford to think otherwise, or the fear would eat into his soul and make it impossible to act.

With the news that life would soon return to normal, he had e-mailed his next target and rearranged their appointment. He’d have to be cautious, just in case the police were trying to trap him by deliberately keeping de Groot’s death out of the picture. He would have to make sure he wasn’t walking into an ambush. But in three days’ time, he felt confident that he would be knocking on a door in Utrecht. Professor Paul Muller would have to pay the price for what he’d had no right to inflict on others.