‘Yes.’
‘Have you always been a killer?’
‘No.’
‘Why do you hate women?’
‘I don’t. They’re just easier to overpower than men.’
‘Why did you start killing?’
‘To see if I could get away with it.’
‘Why? You’re an intelligent man – that’s one of the things I love about you. Why not put your efforts into something that helps people?’
‘That’s not how my brain works. I don’t care about people. I only care about you.’
‘Why did you take me for dinner at the restaurant where the young waitress with the pierced nose worked?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You do know, Chris. It was to get some perverse kick from having her serve us, knowing that later you were going to murder her. It was like a cat leaving a mouse at its owner’s feet. You were showing off.’
Christopher averted his gaze from Amy’s.
‘What does the symbol you leave spray-painted on the pavements outside your victims’ houses mean?’
‘It’s a Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travellers. He’s carrying Christ, as a boy, on his back, over a river.’
‘And that’s what you think you are? Saint Christopher, leading these girls from life on one side into death on the other?’
‘Kind of, but they’re never really going to remain dead. They are always going to be associated with this case and, when you’re remembered, you’re never truly dead.’
‘Don’t kid yourself, Chris, they are truly dead.’
‘Can I ask you a question now? Why didn’t you just turn me over to your colleagues when you discovered who I was? That would’ve been the obvious thing to do, not … this.’
Amy turned her head from side to side and was about to run her fingers through her hair. ‘Don’t do that,’ Christopher ordered. ‘If even one strand falls out, you’ll be leaving your DNA.’ His concern surprised her.
‘We are supposed to be living and working in an age of equality and I have just as many opportunities to climb the promotional ladder as any of my male colleagues. But if I told them what I know about you, then to my friends, my family, to strangers in the street, in books that’ll be written about you and television dramas that’ll feature the two of us, I’ll always be the policewoman whose boyfriend was one of the country’s worst serial killers; the detective whose Match murdered twenty-nine women right under her very nose. As well as ending the lives of those girls and ruining their families, you will have destroyed me, my career and any chance I might find of happiness with another man, because the world will know I’m damaged goods.’
Christopher felt something akin to jealousy by her mention of other men. For the first time, he began to imagine how he might feel if Amy was with someone else, and he didn’t like it.
‘So let me go and you’ll still have me, albeit a flawed me,’ he reasoned. ‘Untie me and let’s make this work. Now you know everything there is to know about me, we have nothing to lose. You think I’ve ruined what we had, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I won’t ruin what we could have from here on in.’
‘You can’t ask me to do that, Chris,’ Amy replied, her voice weakening. Her face began to screw up as she fought to hold back the tears, desperately wanting to believe him. She was evidently torn by the love she had for her Match and knowing the right thing to do. She began to pace around the room again, cautiously sidestepping him.
‘And what happens when your true nature rears its ugly head again? What happens when you need to find that thrill you get from killing again, that project, that buzz, that I can’t give you? You didn’t love me enough to stop killing when you had the chance. And as much as I want to believe that this won’t happen again, it won’t be love or our shared DNA that keeps us together, it will be my fear that you will strike again and hurt another person.’
‘You don’t understand,’ Christopher replied sharply. He was becoming increasingly frustrated that he was losing his battle to convince Amy. As long as they were together, he’d never need to hurt another soul. ‘I love you, Amy.’
The voice of a male news presenter on the television interrupted Amy before she could react to Christopher’s words. ‘Breaking news in the story we have been following this evening,’ he began. ‘After the streamed footage we saw earlier, allegedly showing Match Your DNA chief executive Ellie Stanford involved in a fatal altercation with a man believed to be her fiancé, an official company statement has confirmed it has launched an immediate investigation into revelations that Matches worldwide could have been tampered with.’
Amy and Christopher glared at the screen and listened carefully as the news anchor continued. ‘Up to two million Matches are thought to be affected in one of the highest-profile data breaches of the last decade, throwing into question the relationships of all couples that have met in the last eighteen months.’
Christopher turned to Amy, his brow knitted as he tried to process the news. Although he wasn’t good at reading people, he knew what the expression on Amy’s face meant.
‘Amy,’ he pleaded, his voice trembling as she stepped out of his eyeline. ‘This doesn’t change anything, we know that we are meant to be …’
But before he could continue, he felt the cheese wire he had used on twenty-nine separate occasions wrap around his neck and tighten. He rocked his body back and forth and then sideways in an attempt to free himself, but Amy refused to let go of her grip. He knew she was strong but she must have been using every muscle in her arms and torso to the point of bursting as she held firm trying to restrain him.
As the wire began to penetrate his skin, he suddenly stopped fighting, and allowed a feeling of calm to take over his body and mind. He snapped his head backwards and stared Amy in the eyes, watching as the tears fell from her chin onto him and merged into his own until, eventually, everything became black.
Chapter 98
JADE
Jade spent much of her final day on the farm preparing for her trek around Australia’s east coast.
By the time she returned from the store, having picked up food supplies, Susan had washed, dried and ironed all of her clothes and left them neatly pressed by her suitcase. Dan had taken the keys to Kevin’s truck and made sure the tyres were full of air, that a spare wheel was in the boot and that the oil, water, coolant and brake fluid were all topped up. He loaded the vehicle with seven two-litre bottles of water just in case of an emergency and gave Jade a spare phone charger in case she needed it. He made her promise to email them photos she’d take en route.
Before leaving, Jade took time out to visit Kevin’s grave and sat before the temporary wooden cross that’d been erected while they waited for a headstone to be fitted. If she closed her eyes and became mindful of her surroundings. She could feel Kevin in the breeze, and when she took a deep breath she could smell him in the flowers. He was in the trees and a part of every sunrise she’d ever wake up early to see. He’d always remain inside her, no matter where her journey took her.
She scrolled back through her phone, reliving the hundreds of conversations they’d had over the six months she’d known him before she came here. DNA Match or no DNA Match, she missed him terribly. There was no one else in the world who’d known her better than Kevin had.
‘Have you always been a killer?’
‘No.’
‘Why do you hate women?’
‘I don’t. They’re just easier to overpower than men.’
‘Why did you start killing?’
‘To see if I could get away with it.’
‘Why? You’re an intelligent man – that’s one of the things I love about you. Why not put your efforts into something that helps people?’
‘That’s not how my brain works. I don’t care about people. I only care about you.’
‘Why did you take me for dinner at the restaurant where the young waitress with the pierced nose worked?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You do know, Chris. It was to get some perverse kick from having her serve us, knowing that later you were going to murder her. It was like a cat leaving a mouse at its owner’s feet. You were showing off.’
Christopher averted his gaze from Amy’s.
‘What does the symbol you leave spray-painted on the pavements outside your victims’ houses mean?’
‘It’s a Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travellers. He’s carrying Christ, as a boy, on his back, over a river.’
‘And that’s what you think you are? Saint Christopher, leading these girls from life on one side into death on the other?’
‘Kind of, but they’re never really going to remain dead. They are always going to be associated with this case and, when you’re remembered, you’re never truly dead.’
‘Don’t kid yourself, Chris, they are truly dead.’
‘Can I ask you a question now? Why didn’t you just turn me over to your colleagues when you discovered who I was? That would’ve been the obvious thing to do, not … this.’
Amy turned her head from side to side and was about to run her fingers through her hair. ‘Don’t do that,’ Christopher ordered. ‘If even one strand falls out, you’ll be leaving your DNA.’ His concern surprised her.
‘We are supposed to be living and working in an age of equality and I have just as many opportunities to climb the promotional ladder as any of my male colleagues. But if I told them what I know about you, then to my friends, my family, to strangers in the street, in books that’ll be written about you and television dramas that’ll feature the two of us, I’ll always be the policewoman whose boyfriend was one of the country’s worst serial killers; the detective whose Match murdered twenty-nine women right under her very nose. As well as ending the lives of those girls and ruining their families, you will have destroyed me, my career and any chance I might find of happiness with another man, because the world will know I’m damaged goods.’
Christopher felt something akin to jealousy by her mention of other men. For the first time, he began to imagine how he might feel if Amy was with someone else, and he didn’t like it.
‘So let me go and you’ll still have me, albeit a flawed me,’ he reasoned. ‘Untie me and let’s make this work. Now you know everything there is to know about me, we have nothing to lose. You think I’ve ruined what we had, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I won’t ruin what we could have from here on in.’
‘You can’t ask me to do that, Chris,’ Amy replied, her voice weakening. Her face began to screw up as she fought to hold back the tears, desperately wanting to believe him. She was evidently torn by the love she had for her Match and knowing the right thing to do. She began to pace around the room again, cautiously sidestepping him.
‘And what happens when your true nature rears its ugly head again? What happens when you need to find that thrill you get from killing again, that project, that buzz, that I can’t give you? You didn’t love me enough to stop killing when you had the chance. And as much as I want to believe that this won’t happen again, it won’t be love or our shared DNA that keeps us together, it will be my fear that you will strike again and hurt another person.’
‘You don’t understand,’ Christopher replied sharply. He was becoming increasingly frustrated that he was losing his battle to convince Amy. As long as they were together, he’d never need to hurt another soul. ‘I love you, Amy.’
The voice of a male news presenter on the television interrupted Amy before she could react to Christopher’s words. ‘Breaking news in the story we have been following this evening,’ he began. ‘After the streamed footage we saw earlier, allegedly showing Match Your DNA chief executive Ellie Stanford involved in a fatal altercation with a man believed to be her fiancé, an official company statement has confirmed it has launched an immediate investigation into revelations that Matches worldwide could have been tampered with.’
Amy and Christopher glared at the screen and listened carefully as the news anchor continued. ‘Up to two million Matches are thought to be affected in one of the highest-profile data breaches of the last decade, throwing into question the relationships of all couples that have met in the last eighteen months.’
Christopher turned to Amy, his brow knitted as he tried to process the news. Although he wasn’t good at reading people, he knew what the expression on Amy’s face meant.
‘Amy,’ he pleaded, his voice trembling as she stepped out of his eyeline. ‘This doesn’t change anything, we know that we are meant to be …’
But before he could continue, he felt the cheese wire he had used on twenty-nine separate occasions wrap around his neck and tighten. He rocked his body back and forth and then sideways in an attempt to free himself, but Amy refused to let go of her grip. He knew she was strong but she must have been using every muscle in her arms and torso to the point of bursting as she held firm trying to restrain him.
As the wire began to penetrate his skin, he suddenly stopped fighting, and allowed a feeling of calm to take over his body and mind. He snapped his head backwards and stared Amy in the eyes, watching as the tears fell from her chin onto him and merged into his own until, eventually, everything became black.
Chapter 98
JADE
Jade spent much of her final day on the farm preparing for her trek around Australia’s east coast.
By the time she returned from the store, having picked up food supplies, Susan had washed, dried and ironed all of her clothes and left them neatly pressed by her suitcase. Dan had taken the keys to Kevin’s truck and made sure the tyres were full of air, that a spare wheel was in the boot and that the oil, water, coolant and brake fluid were all topped up. He loaded the vehicle with seven two-litre bottles of water just in case of an emergency and gave Jade a spare phone charger in case she needed it. He made her promise to email them photos she’d take en route.
Before leaving, Jade took time out to visit Kevin’s grave and sat before the temporary wooden cross that’d been erected while they waited for a headstone to be fitted. If she closed her eyes and became mindful of her surroundings. She could feel Kevin in the breeze, and when she took a deep breath she could smell him in the flowers. He was in the trees and a part of every sunrise she’d ever wake up early to see. He’d always remain inside her, no matter where her journey took her.
She scrolled back through her phone, reliving the hundreds of conversations they’d had over the six months she’d known him before she came here. DNA Match or no DNA Match, she missed him terribly. There was no one else in the world who’d known her better than Kevin had.
