My Heart Belongs To You: A Psycho Thriller (34 page)

Hanson stared into
Turner
’
s eyes for several seconds,
‘D
o the bullets recovered match that gun
?’
he asked quietly.

Turner
reached into his
pocket, took out two badly mashed bullets,
and placed them next to the gun.
  ‘
You mean these bullets
,
John
?’

Hanson picked up one of the bullets,
and
even in this condition
,
he could see that they never came from his Sig.
’

‘
You recogni
s
e the gun
.
Maybe
you saw it at the scene
,
John?
’

Hanson raise
d
his head from the study of the bullet and fixed
Turner
with a steady gaze
, ‘L
ooks familia
r
.’

‘
Hope it’s more than famili
a
r.
I’ve confirmed in my report that this is the gun
that
I collected f
r
om the scene along with these bullets
.’

For several seconds
,
their eyes remained locked
,
as an unspoken understanding passed between them.

‘
In fact
,
now
that
I see it up close, I can confirm that this is
in fact
the gun I saw at the scene
.’

‘
That would explain why it’s got Black
’
s fingerprints on it
,
’
informed
Turner
.

‘
Certainly would
,
’
agreed Hanson
,
seeing
Turner
in a new light.

‘
Of course
…
if there was a camcorder recording the whole thing, one
s
itting
up high
on a ledge where one might not see it.
Well, that might make things easy to put together
,
wouldn’t you say
,
John
?’

Hanson looked deep into
Turner
’s eyes
.
How
could he have missed that
?
Cupid was obviously recording each of
the
couples
that
he’d seen the DVDs
,
for Christ
’s
sake.
  ‘
I suppose a recording could help to clarify things
,
’
agreed Hanson.

‘
A recording like that would give us all the answers we would need as to how Cupid met his end
.’

‘
There’s no arguing that
,
’
affirmed Hanson
,
his eye
s
still locked with
Turner
’
s.

‘
It might show how Black cut out Cupid
’
s heart, threw it to one side and stuffed Brenda Stiles
’
heart into his chest cavity.
’

‘
Would have been ugly
,
Richard
.’

Turner
swallowed and simply nodded
,
his voice failing him for a beat.
  ‘
Problem is
,
’
he continued regaining his composure,
‘
things go miss
ing at this station sometimes. Y
ou know
,
I’ve heard of items ending up, by mistake mind you, in the incinerator in the basement, can you believe that?
’

‘
That’s terrible
.’

‘
Terrible is right
,
J
ohn
.’

Hanson dropped his eyes to the gun,
‘W
ouldn’t a detailed forensic study of the scene possibly throw up
, what shall we say,
other scenarios?
’

‘
Depe
nds
on
whether the lead detective o
n the case was unhappy with this particular scenario
.’

‘
That lead detective would be you?
’

‘
None other
.’

‘
Happy?
’

‘
Ecstatic
,
b
ut there is just one other thing
.’

‘
Which is?
’

‘
A lot of the details of how Cupid murdered the victims w
ere
kept secret from the public.
A lot of the tabloids picked up scraps and
of course
,
the families were advised
,
but to actually see loved ones being butchered would be something
that
I would not want the families of victims to see
,
b
ut that
would only be a problem if such
recordings existed
.’

‘
Absolutely
,
’
confirmed Hanson.

‘
Did you happen to see any such recordings when you were at Holt
’
s office yesterday?
’

Hanson shook his head
, ‘C
an’t say
that
I did
.’

‘
Even if they did
,
’
shrugged
Turner
‘l
ike I said, things go missing sometimes
.’

Basement?’

‘Who knows
?
’

Hanson nodded
agreement
,
‘
W
ho
k
nows
?
’

Turner
stood and offered his
h
and,
‘I think we’re done here.’

Hanson took the e
xtended hand in a solid grip, fixing
the detective through clear blue eyes,
‘I
f ever you need a friend, you only need to call.
             
I’
ll be there
.’

Turner
h
eld the grip,
‘A
friend like you
,
I could use.
An enemy
…’
Turner
simply
shook his head
,
his features lo
sing some of their colour
,
as he remembered the recording he had watched.

There followed a two month feeding frenzy among the tabloids covering the reign of Cupid.
Giles Fuller was in the forefront of the pack
, despite the charges hanging over him,
determined to get his slice of the media pie.

Hanson had to square away his decision to deal with Cupid as he had with his own con
s
ci
e
nce
.
It
wasn’t a difficult argument.
If Cupid had been allowed to reach a
courtroom
,
he would have used it like a
soapbox
to preach his distorted view of his
so-called
quest, his mission to bring lovers
to
eternal unity.
The families of each of the victims would have had to have suffered the minute details of the slaughter of their loved ones
.
Every
grisly moment of their death would become fodder for the press and an opportunity for every weirdo
and nut
job
to inflict further pain with
sick letters and e
-
mails targeting
the families.
So
me would argue that to set yourself up above the
l
aw
was to act as God.
Hanson would argue that the evil that some men do
,
takes away their rights to a judge and jury
,
and where
G
od
c
ouldn’t
act
,
he would.
Cupid had stepped into his world, abducted people dear to him and attempted to take their lives.
He had simply repaid in
k
ind.

The next occasion that Hanson met Richard
Turner
was at Tom and Karen’s wedding three months later
.
John was the best man
whil
e
Stephanie and Jane smiled and giggled as
b
ridesmaids
.
It was the most magical of days and a testament to the human spirit following the traumatic episode they had been subjected to.
The bond that had formed between them
and
forged in the fires of their ordeal, would never be broken.
Nothing they would face on life’s journey would ever come close to testing their strength of will,
their devotion or their commit
ment to each other
,
as that episode had.

During the
service,
there was a poignant moment when prior to the official vows
,
Tom and Karen recited a short paragraph each had written for the other.
The words spoken were a testament to the depth of the love that each felt for the other, moving and sincere
,
but it was the line that each finished with, the same line, that would stay with Hanson his entire life.
Five simple words that separately were harmless, innocuous, yet put them together in a certain order and in any langu
a
ge they became a powerful testament, the message within them universal, eternal.

‘
My heart belongs to you
.’