Mandy didn’t know what she expected to happen; the last few months had shown her that the impossible could become possible, and deep down she hoped that maybe some miracle might occur – he would react to her sound, her smell or just her presence. But he didn’t stir.
‘It seems pretty nice here,’ she continued, looking out of the window at the gardens surrounding the home. ‘And the nurses seem very friendly. I hope they’re looking after you.’
Without warning, she felt her eyes brimming and once the first few tears fell down her cheek, she couldn’t stop the rest.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this … I was supposed to meet you and we were going to fall in love like they do in the films and in those real-life stories you read in trashy magazines in doctors’ surgeries. And even though I know it’s never going to be like that with us, I still can’t stop myself from thinking about what could have been. I’ve spent God knows how many hours looking through old photographs of you and watching your childhood videos. I feel like I know you even though I thought you were dead. And now here we are together, and you’re still alive and I have your baby inside me. It should be the happiest time of my life but it’s not. Because you have no idea who I am or that I’m even here.’
Mandy brought Richard’s palm up to her cheek. He felt cold, she thought, and held it tighter in an attempt to warm him up. His touch was like nothing she had ever felt before. It was as if his skin was permeating hers and she could feel his, her own and their baby’s heartbeats all inside her body.
Then for the briefest of moments, Richard’s body jolted as if it had been struck by lightning. Mandy stared at him, sure that her eyes were playing tricks on her, but again, his body jerked as if his heart had been restarted with defibrillators.
She couldn’t take her eyes off his face, staring as his eyelids blinked, languidly at first and then more rapidly. The corners of his mouth under the breathing apparatus lifted, turning upwards ever so slightly. Mandy held her breath as she waited for his pupils to focus and see her for the first time. This was it. The moment she’d been waiting for.
Mandy dashed out of the room into the corridor frantically searching for assistance.
‘Richard Taylor, he just moved!’ she blurted out to a confused nurse. ‘He needs help.’
‘He just moved?’ the nurse repeated.
‘Yes, I put his hand to my face and his body moved and then his arm and his eyes opened. Please, can you call a doctor? I think he’s waking up.’
Chapter 72
CHRISTOPHER
For precisely eighty-two days, Christopher juggled his mission to kill thirty women while maintaining his burgeoning relationship with Amy.
It hadn’t been easy to devote time to either, particularly when he and Amy spent every other evening and weekend together. And it didn’t leave him with many opportunities to keep regular tabs on the remaining five women. He’d check his computers when possible and occasionally resorted to drugging Amy’s drinks with a small measure of propofol he’d purchased from the dark web, which rendered her unconscious for up to seven hours at a time. That left him undisturbed to continue his research at home until the early hours or, in the cases of numbers Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five, snuff them out before a groggy Amy awoke.
Amy had been the first to hesitantly use the ‘L’ word, surprising him as they took her sister’s dog for a walk across Hampstead Heath one morning. Oscar, the scruffy, ginger Border Terrier, had been staying with her for a week while her sister was away on holiday and, while Christopher didn’t see the point in pets, he liked how he felt when the three of them went for long walks together, their arms linked. He told her that he loved her too and,while he’d said the same to several partners over the years, it’d always been in order to get something from them. With Amy, it was the first time he had meant it.
He permitted himself to imagine what it could be like if they remained this way for the rest of their lives. Maybe one day they could even buy a dog of their own, he thought, or a house in a countryside village? A marriage and a family of their own might follow. Everything he’d assumed he didn’t want or need was now appearing very likely, and it was all because of his DNA Match.
When Amy wasn’t around, he found himself thinking about her, and when she was in his vicinity, he felt something he could only compare to the thrill of killing. Or at least how killing used to feel when he’d first started all those months ago, because now it was different; Amy had made everything different. She made his skin feel tender to the touch even when she wasn’t touching him; his eyes softened as they followed her around a room and he longed for the nights he could finally complete his project so that he could spend undistracted time with her instead.
Even the act of murder no longer felt as joyous as it once had. The final gasps that had once been music to his ears were now simply a means to an end. Revisiting the women’s homes days later to leave a photograph of his next victim was a chore. Everything that did not involve Amy was burdensome.
Their lives together were quite secluded – neither had yet shared the other with an outside party. Christopher had no one to call a friend, but he’d lied and told her how his university pals were now spread out internationally and that it was problematic for them to see each other regularly. In truth, he had never been to university and the only people he had occasional contact with were his two older brothers. And, if put on the spot, hewouldn’t be able to remember the names of all five of his nieces and nephews, or who was the offspring of whom.
Likewise, Amy hadn’t mentioned Christopher to any member of her family. She’d explained that being the only girl and the youngest of five children, her protective parents and siblings didn’t approve of her dangerous job as a police officer. And they couldn’t understand why she, as yet, had no desire to marry, settle down and start a family of her own.
‘I want to continue with my career for at least another three years,’ she’d explained. ‘My parents are from a different generation and haven’t done the test, but they believe in it and, if I told them I’d met my Match, the pressure they’d put on us would be relentless. I’ll tell them about you eventually.’
‘Do your work colleagues know you’re seeing me?’ Christopher asked, hoping she’d boasted about her wealthy, handsome boyfriend – who just so happened to be the police’s most wanted man.
‘They know I’m dating, but I haven’t told them it’s anything serious. I like keeping you as my dirty little secret.’
Christopher smiled to mask his disappointment. The mischievous side of him wanted to meet her colleagues, especially those investigating his case. He’d pictured himself enthusiastically shaking their hands without them knowing just how close they were to the killer they were hunting.
‘That’s fine,’ he replied. ‘We all have our dirty little secrets, don’t we?’
Chapter 73
JADE
It had been close to a fortnight since Kevin’s funeral and Jade was feeling increasingly claustrophobic living in the confines of his family’s farm.
To watch someone die so young was both heartbreaking and inspiring. Kevin had wanted so desperately to embrace life but had been robbed of the opportunity, and the best way that she could pay tribute to him was to begin the next chapter of her life by immersing herself in what the world had to offer.
