‘Fourth, Levi Jones, hit from behind. Much more personal, but although the victim was a male, he was physically small and young, so an easier target, and again, there was the element of surprise. Low risk. And then we get to Rose-Marie. Face to face, up close and personal, but incapacitated first with the wrist ties and the taped mouth, so again fairly low risk. It’s almost as though the killer was serving an apprenticeship, Practical Killing 101. A different technique each time, which is smart, because it would make them seem unrelated. We always think of a serial killer as having a MO or set patterns. That’s what the criminal profilers tell us. There aren’t any here, or if there are, we haven’t realised it yet. We’ll have to go back and check these cases for even the most trivial-seeming details. This is the work of someone who has planned and worked hard to fool the police.’

‘And each time they’ve killed, they’ve got closer, more personal and more confident. That’s one hell of a creepy learning curve. Then, of course, you have to ask yourself who is going to be next, and how? What is the whole point of this spree?’ It was a damned good question.

‘I would place a bet on the murders continuing on if we hadn’t made the circus connection here. Balclutha is the next scheduled stop. Then Invercargill. But yes, you have to ask why? What is the trigger and what is the goal? Revolting as it may appear, it’s almost like someone’s doing it to see if they can. Which is too simplistic a view, I know. But look at it. They’ve set it up for the murders to seem completely unrelated, then if someone does get curious, or make a connection or two, then it looks like the culprit has to be in the circus, so all attention on them. Short of a personal vendetta against the circus or someone in it – in which case you’d think they’d just deal to the person they were pissed off with – or animal-rights activists gone feral, which I doubt, someone has created one hell of a smokescreen for their activities.’

‘And with everything that’s happened to the circus,’ said Paul, ‘they’ve achieved that emphatically.’

‘Hell, yes.’ Didn’t I know it?

45

‘Howdy, pardners,’ Maggie said as she breezed into the kitchen and dumped her backpack on to the floor. ‘Who’s for a cuppa?’

‘Thanks, but no thanks, if I had any more it would come out my ears.’

‘Paul?’

‘Ditto.’

Maggie headed over to the kettle and gave it a cursory water-level check before flicking the switch. I checked my watch. Shit, it was after 6 p.m. We must have been engrossed.

‘You two look like you’ve found the perfect way to spoil a beautiful afternoon.’