Last Kiss (17 page)

I ring each of the girls. Edgar is bound to phone them. I need to make sure they’re all saying the same thing. Afterwards, I think again about Alice being distant, Lori acting strange, and Karen’s gushiness during the last call, almost as if she, too, has something to hide. For the first time since this whole sorry mess began, I ask myself the question I should have asked from the beginning. How much of this is my own fault? Hadn’t Edgar only wanted what any other heterosexual male would want? Hadn’t I been the one to deny him?

I could cope with an affair. But there is more to this. I know it as sure as I know she’s been watching my every move. She wants more from Edgar than sex. She wants my life.

KATE REACHED DUBLIN airport with less than an hour to the flight take-off time. There was no way she could avoid it being tight, her plans having to be put in place so quickly. It hadn’t been as bad as she had feared talking to Declan, the two of them resigned to the inevitable, and in a strange way, that morning, she felt as if she was starting afresh, a new beginning of sorts.

Charlie had been delighted with the unexpected change of arrangements, and his obvious relief at seeing his parents getting on together, instead of the usual strained conversations he witnessed, caused her another pang of guilt.

When she finally got through to the departure lounge, Adam
was leaning with his back to the windows at gate twenty-six. Spotting her, he unfolded his arms and waved.

‘They didn’t arrest you, then?’ were his first words.

‘Not quite, although if looks could kill for cutting it close to the wire, I’d be on Death Row by now.’

‘We still have another five minutes before boarding. We can grab a coffee over there.’ He pointed to the coffee dock opposite.

She looked at the queue already forming at the boarding gate.

‘Never mind that,’ he said. ‘We’ve been allocated seats.’ Then he glanced at her small suitcase. ‘And we’re travelling light. I hate bloody queues.’

She was glad of the coffee, knowing they would talk about the investigation on the flight, welcoming a few minutes to settle and gather her thoughts.

‘No problem getting Charlie minded, then?’ he asked.

‘I think he was happy to get rid of me.’ For the first time in ages, she really smiled.

‘I know that feeling.’ His response was somewhat downbeat.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to …’

He put up a hand to stop her. ‘It’s okay. You don’t have to walk on eggshells with me.’

‘I know that.’ She blew on her coffee. ‘How are things between you and your son?’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘So-so.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It beats the hell out of shit, that’s what it means.’ He turned to the departure gate – the crowd at their gate was dispersing. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘We’d better go.’

After a final check of the passports, they walked in silence through the tunnel to the aircraft door. Their next conversation would be about work, safer ground for both of them.

The flight to Charles de Gaulle airport was under-booked, so there were only the two of them in a row for three. Kate took the seat at the window, and Adam the one beside her. She sensed he was still tetchy after their brief conversation about his son. He surprised her when, during the safety demonstration, he said, ‘I envy you, Kate, the relationship you have with Charlie.’

‘He’s still very young,’ she replied. ‘There’s plenty of time for him to turn into a rebellious teenager.’ She hoped a light-hearted approach would ease things. She wasn’t used to him being so open. Maybe his months off had changed him.

‘I see myself in him, you know, when I was that age, especially the anger.’

‘What were you angry about?’

‘Everything.’

‘It’s all part of growing up, I guess.’

‘Were you angry as a teenager, Kate?’

‘I think girls and boys differ at that age.’

‘You’re not answering me.’

She thought back to her childhood as an only child, the fractured relationship between her father and mother: he had believed he was all-knowing, and her mother had done nothing to contradict him. She had spent so long coming to terms with the strained relationship between herself and her father that, in many ways, she had ignored the one she had with her mother.

‘I guess you could say I was angry, at least for a time.’

‘What changed things?’

‘I don’t know. One day I was looking at my parents and I realised they were as vulnerable as me. It was a kind of freedom, but scary at the same time.’

‘So what happens if a child doesn’t have one of their parents around?’

She knew he was asking about his son. ‘Whether or not you’re physically around when a child is growing up,’ she hoped she sounded caring, ‘a father and a mother are always part of a child’s world. It’s not simply the genetic make-up, but what you represent, especially in our society, when so much emphasis is still placed on a particular family model.’

‘A somewhat out-of-date model.’

‘Yes, but to the child it’s still how the perfect family is presented.’

She thought about both of them failing in that regard and how, not so long ago, she wouldn’t have believed she’d ever have this conversation with him. ‘Declan and I are about to be officially separated – we will be as soon as the papers are filed.’

‘I figured it was happening, all right.’

‘My parents stayed together because it was expected of them. That wasn’t an ideal situation either.’

‘No, you’re right there.’

She turned away, looking out of the window, the plane above the clouds now, the stark brightness in contrast to their mood.

‘What matters most,’ her voice low, ‘is that a child feels loved.’ She thought about her mother again. Despite everything, she
had never doubted her mother’s love, and somewhere under her father’s anger, there had been love too. ‘If a child feels loved, they have a better chance than most.’

‘Did you feel loved?’

‘I guess I was one of the lucky ones, even though I didn’t always know it.’ She turned back to him. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her. ‘Give your son time,’ she said. ‘Another thing we all need.’

‘I owe him that at least.’

Surprising herself, she placed her hand on top of his, unsure how he would react, relieved when he squeezed it back. ‘You don’t need to worry about me, Kate. I’m made of strong stuff.’

‘I know you are.’

Then he pulled his hand away. ‘I guess it’s time we got to work and earned some of the taxpayers’ money. It won’t be long before we’re arriving at Charles de Gaulle.’

‘You’re right.’ She was sorry their hands had parted. ‘Where do you want to start?’

‘Pull out that report of yours, the one you faxed to Lynch and Egan this morning.’

‘I have a copy for you.’

‘I thought you would.’

They read the report in unison. Although Kate had been over it half a dozen times that morning, she couldn’t shake the notion that there was still a large piece of the jigsaw that she should have put together, and hadn’t.

Interim Report on the Murder of Rick Shevlin

Compiled by: Dr Kate Pearson

Crime Scene Characteristics

• Primary crime scene

• Married male – mid-forties

• Worked as an art dealer – successful

• No known criminal record

• Location: Earlbrook Hotel, Dublin; hotel room offering privacy and secrecy

• Cause of death: exsanguination – throat severed

• Frenzied attack: multiple slash and puncture wounds to the body, slash wounds to face, whip marks to buttocks

• Puncture wounds relatively straight, trajectory from above with victim lying on bed

• Weapon used: equal in size to a large carving knife, capable of maximum damage, gaping wounds and deep penetration

• Blood localised to bed area and immediate vicinity

• Victim sedated prior to attack – use of Special K to immobilise him, administered orally

• Victim found naked and face up, his right ankle tied to brass bedpost at top of bed with a one-inch double-knotted rope. Left leg bent at the knee, at a ninety-degree angle; both arms bent at the elbow joints, placed under the body at the mid-point and tied together with rope identical to that used at the ankle

• Emotionally charged attack

• No sign of victim putting up defence – on entry of attacker into hotel room, or during the actual assault

• Re-creation of the Hangman card from the Tarot deck

• Estimated time of death: between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.

• Minimal forensic evidence found at crime scene – female tissue in male genitals matched to escort, see ‘Sexual and Ritualistic Influences of Crime Scene v. Emotional Dynamics’ below. Lipstick residue: properties identified to major brand, but insufficient to create a DNA profile. All blood deposits found were matched to the victim

• Crime scene cleaned down by killer or someone else

• No forced entry

• Dressing table in hotel room moved; see earlier notes on framing of killing

• Hotel-room curtains pulled back allowing light from car park. For commonality and diversities between Dublin and Paris killings, see analysis below

• Depiction of both the Hangman card and the Hermit card at both scenes re-created in finite detail and reproduced through mirrors

• Other factors: victim advised his wife he had a late business dinner in town, making it necessary for him to stay at the Earlbrook overnight – no business meeting recorded at victim’s office

Crime Inferences

• Crime scene: organised

• Use of sedatives rendering the victim immobile – broadening the physical characteristic of the attacker to include a female or someone physically weaker than victim

• Degree of planning: high

• Hotel room, offering killer privacy and time to carry out killing and creation of crime scene undisturbed

• Lack of forced entry – either the attacker had a key, or the victim allowed the killer in willingly

• Possibility of attacker being known to the victim based on no obvious struggle: medium-high Alternative: attacker perceived as harmless – for example, a member of hotel staff

• Attack savage, frenzied and fast

• Aftermath, scene re-creation – calm and prolonged

• Killer has murdered before

• Tarot cards: the Hangman (Rick Shevlin), the Hermit (Pierre Laurent), each a card of the Higher Arcana – possible card spread. Q: Is the killer the Querent or the Reader of the spread?

• Emotionally charged attack points to sole killer

• Effectiveness and efficiency of murder –

(a) gaining access without forced entry

(b) immobilising victim

(c) severity of attack

(d) creation of final crime scene with minimal forensic traces

– indicates individual with planning, high motivation, calmness of execution, ability to detach and clear focus on task in hand; high intelligence, 95–100 percentile

• Creativity –

(a) an understanding of shape and form

(b) attention to detail

(c) ability to visually re-create

• Minimum of two victims across two jurisdictions; explore work and recreational aspects of travelling between jurisdictions

• Time span between victims indicates potential stressors prior to killings

• Killer is on a progressive path

• Killer is capable of repeat and heightening attack

• Murders offer some form of payback – possibly revenge, emotional loss, failed relationship, desire for dominance, fetish desire and/or means of re-enactment

• Tarot card re-creations – message/signature/context still unknown

• Italian murder, if positively connected, opens up possibility of multiple victims per attack

• Drive – emotionally based and obsessional

Sexual and Ritualistic Influences of Crime Scene v. Emotional Dynamics

• Sexual fetishes illustrated at Dublin crime scene

• Paris victim known to have masochistic tendencies

• Dublin victim possibly at early stage of S&M – willing to give and receive pain

• Dublin victim: explore prior involvement in group sexual activity

• Self-harming/desire for sight of blood by Dublin victim possibly developed by previous sexual partner/relationship

• Dublin victim known to have had extra-marital affairs, including use of escorts

• Sexual involvement with both victims demonstrates an ability on the killer’s part to adapt sexual behaviour based on the needs of their partner – see note re sexual grooming

Commonality and Diversities between Dublin and Paris killings

• Each a frenzied attack with the use of a large knife

• Diversity in age of victims – mid-twenties v. mid-forties

• Link to art in both cases – art dealer v. art student

• Successful financial businessman v. student

• Location of both murders: hotel rooms

• Depictions of Tarot cards: Dublin victim, naked, body positioned and tied like the Hangman card on hotel bed; Paris victim, wearing monk’s habit, like the Hermit card, lantern by body, found on floor of hotel room, 2005. Rome victim 2006: awaiting further details