I felt my stomach muscles clench because I suddenly realised where this was going.

‘What was it, Mr Fowler?’ I said. ‘What was it she told him?’

He left it a couple of beats before responding.

‘She told him that he was Terry’s father. And she gave him a letter that she wanted him to give to their son if he decided to step up to the plate and look out for the lad.’

36

Slack

He was enjoying the view again, the one from his apartment balcony. The storm clouds had gone and the rain had eased to a fine drizzle.

London was looking grey and damp. It was on days like this that Julie used to try to persuade him to move to somewhere abroad where it was always sunny and warm and the cops didn’t keep hassling them.

He wished now with all his heart that he had taken her. They could have had many more years together. And she would have given him a reason to live now. A reason to fight the cancer and stay alive for even a few extra months.

But she wasn’t here and neither was Terry, the son he had known for only the shortest time.

Who wouldn’t be bitter in his shoes? Who wouldn’t be getting off on the mayhem and suffering he was causing?

He imagined with glee the panic inside Scotland Yard, home of the Metropolitan Police. The top brass would be in a right old state and with every killing the pressure would mount. As they tried to hold things together the minions would be running around like headless chickens.

They might well be convinced that he was responsible, but without proof there was fuck all they could do about it. And they weren’t going to get any proof. Just like they weren’t going to stop the bloodshed.

Rosa Lopez, The Slayer, was too clever by half. She was making it seem so easy. He understood why Carlos Cruz described her as the best in the business. She was in a league of her own, streets ahead of all the other contract killers he’d had dealings with over the years. Those guys would probably have been reluctant to take on a job like this where there were multiple, high-profile targets.

But Rosa Lopez had honed her skills in a country where mass murders were a feature of everyday life. Where assassins were tasked with killing entire families and large groups of people, including cops.

So to her this assignment wasn’t so daunting, and he could not help but admire the business-like way she was going about it.

The CCTV footage of her in the overcoat and baseball cap had made him laugh out loud. The Old Bill would be scratching their heads, unable to determine whether it was a man or a woman.