Viper

65

Grand Hotel Parker's, Napoli A few too many beers and far too little sleep conspired to give Jack an early morning headache. He'd been hoping for a gentle start to the day. A little low-volume news on the TV, then a longer than normal soak under a hot shower. But after being awake for less than ten minutes he was already compelled to run yesterday's events through his head. What was still bugging him was the link between the killings at the pit and the murder of Francesca Di Lauro. He was still far from certain any of them were the work of the runaway Franco Castellani.

Jack used the bathroom, then padded over to the desk in the corner of his room and emptied out his thoughts. In that blurry moment when the killer at the pit had been disturbed, he'd shown that instinctively his weapon of choice was not fire, but a firearm. Fire was his fantasy, his pleasure, his turn-on. But when it came to split-second survival, then it was a gun that he turned to.

A shooter.

That's what he was.

When the chips were down and he had to react rather than plan, when he had to get down to business rather than indulge his fantasy, he was a shooter.

And shooters were cold and deadly. Remote, unemotional and detached.

They had to focus their hunt on finding a man who regularly handled a gun. Someone who was a proficient shot, felt confident and comfortable enough to kill strangers without hesitation.

Was that really Franco Castellani? Could you get that sort of proficiency from shooting rats in a pit?

Sadly, today's video game generation was proving to be among the world's deadliest and youngest shooters. Pennsylvania State, Columbine, Iowa, Omaha, Virginia Tech, Dawson, the list went on and on. Stats showed that around a dozen kids a day died in the States from gunshot wounds – kids these days were made to leave their innocence at the school gates.

Maybe psychology was going to have to bow to forensics. If the Castellani kid was guilty, then his DNA would be inside the young couple's car. His fingerprints would be on the bodywork and his trace evidence would be somewhere on the girl or on her clothing. Forensics could make an impressive prosecution case and Jack knew it would take more than his niggling doubts to dismantle it.

He took a pen and paper from the desk and totted up the ten major things that he believed he now knew about the offender. 1. He kills his victims and – with the exception of the murders at the pit, where he was disturbed – disposes of them in separate places. 2. He uses a gun to control his victims and take them to where he wants. 3. He is turned on by power and control. That turn-on is of a sadistic nature. More than anything he enjoys witnessing the suffering. 4. He has a vehicle, something big enough in which to conceal and move a victim, no doubt bound and gagged. 5. He has excellent local knowledge and the burial site is so well known to him it probably has a significant memory for him. 6. He is fit and strong enough to climb mountain paths and get in and out of deep pits in a hurry. 7. He is sexually active but is probably not in a relationship, so he is sexually frustrated. 8. He is noticeably cruel, perhaps even violent, and is probably known to be dangerous. 9. He is able to come and go of his own free will. He is not accountable to a close partner or scrupulous boss who might question his movements at odd times. 10. The use of fire is indicative of massive internal stress and frustration, which is only relieved when the flames roar and someone else suffers. Suffers externally like he suffers internally – could that be it? This last thought hovered in his mind.

Jack reviewed the ten points. Franco Castellani ticked some of the boxes, but not all. One thing for sure – this kid undoubtedly knew all about suffering. Perhaps he felt compelled to share suffering around.

Inflict it on others.

Get others to feel the agony that was slowly killing him.

Given the age, race and gender of the victims, Jack summarized the profile. * White male/s * Has experience and knows how to control violence, probably aged thirties to fifties (maybe younger if two people involved) * Single or divorced – a loner * Born and lives locally * Has special local connections to National Park area where victims' remains found. Also connections to holiday campsite in Pompeii where murder scene discovered * Holds driving licence. Owns – or has access to – vehicle big enough to move victims around in * Comfortable with a gun – possibly law enforcement officer (or works with such officers), ex-military, rifle-club member, sports shooter, prison officer. Perhaps a career criminal. A Camorrista with a history of violence? * Sexually active with fetishist/paraphilic tendencies * Sadistic – has a need to see others suffering

Once more the fit wasn't perfect. He trawled the list again. On reflection, he really didn't feel this was a two-person crime. And if you ruled out a second person then Franco really didn't seem to have the maturity and cunning to fit the profile.

Jack scanned the rest of the outline. He also didn't think the profession was right. There was a difference between shooting vermin every day and taking human lives. Unless Franco saw those really pretty women – the ones who rejected him and ridiculed him – as vermin. That would make sense. That would make perfect sense.

He was still caught in the tangle of contradictory thoughts when his cellphone rang.

'Jack, it's Sylvia. I just got a call from Sorrentino. One of his excavation teams has just found another body. The third. And it's another woman.'