Chapter 120
‘Whatthe hell was all that about?’ Poe asked.
‘He was gloating,’ Mathers replied.
‘But he didn’t.’
‘Didn’t what?’
‘Gloat.’
‘Maybe he likes hearing the sound of his own voice then. Your profile says he’s driven by revenge for his dead wife, but it also says he’s a narcissist.’
‘All serial killers are narcissists. They don’t all call for a chat, especially when their plan is unravelling.’
‘Maybe he wanted to let us know he has contingencies.’
‘Why would he have contingencies? As a concept for murder it was almost flawless. By the time he warned his victims, they’d already taken the floating tablet. And by the time they died, all the evidence had been digested. Of course, now he has to adapt, but he didn’t need to tell us that – it’s what we would have expected him to do.’
‘I’m not sure what it is you’re getting at, Poe,’ Flynn said.
‘Did you notice how he steered the conversation around to Estelle?’
‘I’m not surprised – she’s the one who worked it all out.’
‘Except she was only able to do that because I got a copy of the case file to her in prison.’
‘So?’
‘So I think heguessedit was Estelle who figured it out. He can’t have known. Like everyone keeps saying, as brilliant as she is, she’s not the only pathologist we work with. I don’t think he actually cared if it was her or not.’
‘He didn’t care?’
‘No, I think he asked if it was Estelle because he wants us to think it’s why he framed her.’
‘But it wasn’t?’
‘I think that was pure misdirection.’
‘So if it’s not her pathology skills he’s scared of, wheredoesProfessor Doyle fit into all this?’ Mathers asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Poe said. ‘But Estelle’s met him. Perhaps she knows something he doesn’t want us to know.’
‘But I don’t,’ Estelle said.
‘Have you had time to read Tilly’s profile yet?’ Flynn asked.
‘Not yet. I’ve only just been handed it.’
‘Someone get that woman a reading lamp, a comfortable chair and a pot of coffee,’ Poe said.