Spider

81

San Quirico D'Orcia, Tuscany Spider manhandles his prey deeper into the darkness.

He'd spent days stalking the King woman and her child, following them at a safe distance, noticing and timing their movements, studying the way the free-spirited child wandered off from the over-busy mother who was constantly torn between attending to her business and carrying out her maternal duties.

Spider followed their car in the old Fiat motor-home he'd bought for the purposes of abducting, killing and then dismembering the young woman he'd targeted in Livorno. The motor-home meant he did not have to rent villas or check into hotels. It gave him untraceable freedom and the opportunity to spend time with his victims. The girl in Livorno had been killed in there. He smiled as he remembered how well that little escapade had gone. The surprising fun that had come with what was only ever going to be a functional kill. It had been early evening and he'd been parked up on a quiet country lane, doing a recce of the area when, through his rear-view mirror, he had seen her walking, red-faced from jogging, heading towards the back of the van. He was excited by how beautiful she looked.

Just your type. Dark hair, slight build, nice shape. Mother would approve.

He got out, taking a road atlas with him. He could see that there was no one around, no prying eyes to save her. He waved the road atlas and explained that he and his wife were lost, could she show him on the map where they were. He unlocked the back door of the motor-home to get some light, and handed her the atlas. As she traced a finger over the page, he grabbed her from behind, a well chloroformed handkerchief stopping her struggle as he bundled her into the van.

He'd planned to do the same with the King woman, but she was not so foolish. She was never alone. Except at night.

For the past few days, as Nancy and Zack had slept in their beds, Spider had been less than a hundred metres away from them, quietly preparing the underground area in their garden for what he was about to do. Here in the damp, stinking darkness he's hidden the tools of his trade: some specially customized electronics, several lengths of rope, thick coils of heavy-duty tape, a selection of razor-sharp knives, a sixteen-inch bone saw and a gun. The firearm came from Rome's Porta Portese. What the locals call mercato delle pulci. It has more than four thousand stalls, most of them trading illegally. It's not only Europe's biggest flea market, it's one of the continent's best-known one-stop shops for anything from counterfeit clothing to drugs and guns.

Spider shines his flashlight and can see that the Lidocaine is starting to act on King's wife. Her legs are beginning to buckle beneath her. Soon, the anaesthetic will rob her of the ability to move, let alone walk. He pushes her and the child on, deeper into the blackness of the catacomb, closer to their fate.