‘Normal profile categories don’t apply,’ Connie told the audience of stony faces. ‘That’s because he doesn’t have a standard motivation for killing or kidnapping. With each offence, our offender has grown bolder and less afraid. His appearances are increasingly public. We now know that the dead man found at the rear of the sports centre had intervened only once the abduction attempt had begun. Xavier Coghill is missing. That leaves us attempting to profile a man who has killed one adult female and is currently holding a woman, a female child, and an adult male hostage.’

Connie looked around the incident room. Every police officer not out on active duty was gathered. They were tense, frustrated, and reaching boiling point. Law enforcement professionals gathered with a single aim became a pack. Their mentality changed. They became less rational and reasonable. They also disliked listening, craving action and resolution. She felt the same, only traditional police work – knocking doors and watching CCTV – wasn’t working.

‘Our perpetrator has gone from failing, to organised, to chaotic again in just a couple of weeks, yet he’s proving more successful than ever at obtaining his targets,’ she continued.

‘So what’s he after? There must be a pattern,’ someone called out.

‘I don’t think it’s a pattern as much as a collection,’ Connie replied. ‘He must be fulfilling some sort of fantasy, but not the sort we’re experienced with. Maybe he’s not playing a single fantasy over and over in his head, like most predators do. It seems more likely that his particular fantasy is story-driven and still developing.’

‘You want to talk in English?’

Connie didn’t bother looking up to see where that came from.

‘Look at it this way. A standard serial rapist replays the same fantasy. They have a victim established in their mind, and in most cases they’ll be pretty repetitive with the things they do. It’s a movie on repeat in their brain, and while there might be variations such as clothing or location, the basic scenario remains stable. We learn more about them because replaying the same scenario makes them predictable,’ she explained.

‘Are you trying to be helpful, or explaining why you’re no further forward?’ A woman stepped from the back wall, arms crossed, killer heels on full display.

Unfamiliar as Connie was with the finer aspects of the Scots accent, Connie had no doubt that she was hearing the upper-class end of it. Stick-thin and sporting nails that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a high-class dominatrix, both the suit and the attitude screamed senior officer.

‘Sorry, we haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Detective Superintendent Overbeck. Do carry on.’

Connie gave Baarda a quick sideways glance. He’d warned her about Overbeck, and had failed to do the woman justice. She was unlike any police officer Connie had seen before.