‘Maybe the art college will tell us more about Pierre and why she picked him.’
Inspector Girardot coughed. ‘Everyone at the college was interviewed during the original investigation.’
‘With all due respect, Inspector Girardot,’ Adam was quick to reply, ‘we will want to talk to anyone who was around at the time of Laurent’s murder.’
Kate took a couple of steps back from the two men, then entered the bathroom, with a view of the main suite and the dressing area to her left. She knew why the killer had created the scene in the smaller area, but why such opulence for the room, similar to where Rick Shevlin had been killed? It meant something to her. The killer may be affluent now, Kate thought, but there was every chance her beginnings were much more humble.
‘Is there anything else you want to see in here, Kate?’ Adam asked.
‘No, I’ve seen enough.’ Then she asked Girardot, ‘When Pierre booked the room, did he request a specific number?’
‘I’m not sure. We have the files ready for you to inspect, but why do you ask?’
‘It makes sense that she would have chosen it. The room number is important.’
‘Why?’ Adam asked.
‘The second two digits, 33. It’s another master number.’
‘What are you getting at?’
‘At the Earlbrook Hotel, Rick Shevlin was murdered in Room 122, the second and third digit another master number.’
‘What does it mean?’
‘I don’t know yet, but it means something to our killer.’
PONT DES ARTS, RIVER SEINE, PARIS
INSPECTOR GIRARDOT HAD set up the meetings for Kate and Adam at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. They were expected there at two p.m., initially to talk with the director of the Institute, Julien Chéry, and then Jacques Guéguen, the head of fine arts, under whom Pierre Laurent had studied.
Having spent the remainder of the morning going through the case files with Girardot, Kate and Adam were left with less than an hour to grab lunch before their scheduled meeting with Chéry. The day was still chilly, but bright, and they decided to walk to the college instead of taking a taxi. Kate was familiar with the route, and it reminded her of her previous visits. The aroma of strong coffee from the various cafés opposite the Seine was tempting, but they opted for a couple of hot panini and takeaway coffees from a street stall as they walked down a flight of stone steps to the river below. There, the chill wasn’t quite so bitter, protected by the riverbank walls.
Sitting on a public bench, it felt strange to Kate to be in Paris with Adam. All of her previous associations with the city had been personal and pleasurable, not work-related. It was hard to avoid slipping into recreational mode, but eating her lunch, she was content to sit in silence and take in the surroundings. It was Adam who spoke first, bringing the conversation back to work and their sole purpose for being there.
‘Kate, earlier on I got the impression that more things have slotted into place for you.’
‘It’s good to visit the crime scene, but you’re right. I feel I’m getting a deeper grasp of our killer – her motivation, and the level of anger and hurt involved.’
‘Hurt?’
‘There’s no doubt she has been hurt and damaged emotionally. Her actions are fuelled by and infused with hate. The fact that she used a similar level of attack on both Pierre Laurent and Rick Shevlin opens up other possibilities too.’
‘Like what?’
‘You asked me about earlier victims. I think her hatred and anger belong elsewhere, a previous influencer in her life. Pierre and Rick might have disappointed her – they may have let her down emotionally. The same would apply to Michele, provided we connect the case – but the killing is a culmination of loathing, built up over a protracted period. The murders give her temporary relief, but the hate isn’t going anywhere.’
‘A pity there wasn’t anything new in the case files,’ he said, leaning back on the bench, having finished his lunch. He folded his arms tightly to keep in the warmth.
‘No, but we still have the college.’
‘Girardot was insistent they’d exhausted all angles.’
‘Maybe so, but every victim has had some connection with the arts. And the way the killer creates the crime scene, and the visual consequences of the details within it, also point in the direction of the art world.’
‘This Tarot-card business and the master numbers, it adds an extra layer of weirdness to the whole thing, don’t you think?’
‘They’re important to the killer, but I’d be careful about letting them get in the way of holistically looking at the case.’
‘I don’t get you.’
‘We all develop idiosyncrasies. In that regard, people who perform vile acts are no different from so-called normal people.’
His mobile phone bleeped: a text message. ‘Who’s that?’ she asked.