‘I didn’t say that.’
‘You did. You said it. What about Charlie, then? Were you thinking about him when you were off having your extra-marital affair?’
‘Don’t bring Charlie into this.’
‘You’re not the one listening to him ask for his daddy every morning.’
‘That’s below the belt, Kate, and you know it.’
‘Maybe it is, but unlike you, I’m not the one wanting to railroad this separation.’
‘Kate, I’m not having this argument again. Sign the papers and get the two of us out of this misery.’
‘Mum.’ She turned. Charlie was rubbing his eyes in his Batman pyjamas. ‘I heard you shouting.’
‘Declan, I have to go. We can talk later.’
Picking up Charlie, she asked, ‘Are you okay, honey?’
‘Was that Dad? Why did you hang up? I wanted to talk to him.’
‘You can talk to him later.’
‘I wanted to talk to him now.’ A large pout on his face.
‘Let’s get breakfast first. Then you can call Dad back.’
‘Do you promise?’
‘I promise.’
Over breakfast, Kate thought about what Declan had said. She had shut him out, driven him away. She couldn’t wash her hands of responsibility. It was an easy route to fire blame at him. She hadn’t wanted it to come to this – mud-slinging and bitterness. She had tried to keep a brave face for Charlie’s sake, bottling it all up, not talking to anyone, exactly the opposite of what she would have advised clients.
It was impossible to deny the emotional upheaval she felt towards Declan, and this new woman in his life, but at least he had been honest with her. She hadn’t mentioned anything to him about Adam, or her feelings for him, which made her a coward, happy for her ex-husband to take all of the dirt.
As agreed, she allowed Charlie to phone Declan after breakfast, but by the time she had dropped him at school, and was on her way to work, Kate already felt as if she had put in a full day, emotionally and every other way. She should have been pleased to get the phone call from Adam, but she wasn’t in a particularly talkative mood.
‘It looks like I’m off to Paris in a couple of days.’
‘Mark told me that might happen.’
‘What’s the story with your follow-up report?’
Business as usual, she thought. ‘I’ll be working on it this morning.’
‘Anything to add to what we’ve already discussed?’
‘For what it’s worth, I think our killer fantasises about her actions long before she carries them out.’
‘That’s never good. Anything more?’
If nothing else, she thought, this was taking her mind off Declan and Charlie. ‘I’ve looked at the file notes again, taking in the possible international connections, and there is something about the level of pride she’s applying to the images being created, both in the Dublin and Paris murders. The intricacy of detail, including shape, form and proportion, the framing of the crime scene, all require a level of intelligence and a form of creative genius.’
‘Creative genius – Kate, that’s a bit of a leap.’
‘I don’t think so, and remember, she also has the ability to keep a cool head. When most killers would be long gone, our killer stays.’
‘Sounds like a fanatical nutcase to me.’
‘She’s fanatical, all right, and someone with an underlying mental disorder. I keep wondering, how controlled is she and what are her pressure points? Something caused our killer to snap, to take action against her victims. It tells us that, despite her ability to be in control, she can flip, becoming the very opposite. Two sides to her personality …’ Kate hesitated ‘… which probably explains her ability to seduce her victims into trusting her.’
‘They wouldn’t be the first males to believe something a woman said when she meant the very opposite.’
‘We’d be foolish to underestimate her, and as for creative genius, only time will tell.’
‘You said mental disorder, Kate. Are we talking psychotic, psychopathic?’
‘I don’t know – at least, not yet. Many people with mental difficulties are highly intelligent. There are psychopathic inferences here, possibly even sociopathic.’
‘What’s the difference?’
‘There’s an extended school of thought on the difference between the two, but one obvious difference is that a psychopath lacks empathy …’
‘Sounds like half of the people I know.’
‘Statistically, about one per cent of the population have profound psychopathic tendencies; not quite half, admittedly, but it’s high. Sociopaths on the other hand can demonstrate the ability to empathise. They can feel regret, their actions can affect them emotionally, which is why they’re sometimes considered more volatile and less predictable.’
‘Meaning, Kate, it’s harder to work out their next move?’
‘Absolutely – and we’re only at the beginning. There’s history here, lots of it. What the crime-scene images are illustrating is simply the end result.’