The Elemental (Blair Dubh Trilogy #1) by Heather Atkinson

hated him even before he buried my mum alive. For years it was just her and me. She had the odd date but no one could ever compare to my dad. Then that arsehole came along and made me feel unwanted in my own home. I couldn’t understand why she was friends with such a horrible man but Logan was good-looking in a tall, scary sort of way. Do you remember what he was like when he was preaching? It was impossible to take your eyes off him, even when he was spouting all that fire and brimstone crap.”
    “ I remember. He used to scare me to death.”
    “ You weren’t the only one. People were afraid to blow their noses in front of him in case he told them they were going to hell for it.”
    “ What do you think his motive was?”
    “ He was off his head, plain and simple. I did some research. The elements are earth, air, fire and water, all symbols of purification. Logan was obsessed with sin. I think he thought all four women were bad so he decided they weren’t fit to live, in his arrogant way. Maybe in his twisted logic he thought he was saving their souls. To him Mum would have been the worst offender, tempting him onto the sinful path. It would have been just like that bastard to blame her for the affair and not take responsibility for his own actions.”
    Craig found it very interesting that her theory tallied with their own. From what he remembered of Logan, his wild staring eyes, powerful voice and zealous ways, it was entirely plausible. “That fits in with what my dad believed.”
    “ Do you know there’s a fifth element?”
    His eyes narrowed with interest. “No.”
    “ Spirit, the ether. Are you sure there weren’t five victims?”
    Craig opened his mouth in denial then closed it again. He couldn ’t recall a death after Rose Macalister but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to check.”
    “ Surely that would have been attractive to him? I bet you there’s another victim, one everyone thinks died naturally.”
    “ I’ll check, I promise. I want you to know, Dad fought hard to prove Logan was guilty but the odds were stacked against him.”
    “ He was a good man. You must miss him.”
    “ Every day,” he said sadly.
    “ He’d be so proud of you arresting a serial killer.”
    “ Like I said, it was pure dumb luck. In Inverness we had a killer abducting women from Bellfield Park. He’d rape them, cut their throats then dump them back in the park. I was part of the team going door-to-door. I knocked on Lee McDonald’s door. He looked pretty non-threatening, mid twenties, lanky, sticky-out ears. When I asked him if he’d heard or seen anything a woman screamed for help from inside his house.” Craig repressed a shudder. “He changed right before my eyes. The little boy lost look fell away and underneath he was an animal. He pulled a knife and went for me. We fought, I got the knife off him and punched him in the face until he lost consciousness. We found Denise Brown, eighteen years old, hog-tied in his kitchen. If he’d tied her gag any tighter I wouldn’t have heard her.”
    Freya stared at him in horrified fascination. “Was she okay?”
    “ Fine. He’d beaten her up a bit, but overall she was okay. Much better than his five previous victims.”
    She noted the flicker in his eyes. “Were you okay?”
    “ Yeah, just a couple of cuts on my arms, defence wounds.”
    “ That wasn’t just luck, it was good police work and you were very brave,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze. She was surprised by what she’d done and quickly retracted her hand, looking embarrassed. “I just mean you’ve done so well for yourself, achieved everything you wanted to. It’s good.”
    Craig was overcome with sadness. She ’d wanted to be a doctor, it was something she was adamant about throughout her childhood, so adamant that her mum bought her one of those toy doctor’s kits and she’d adored it, kept it for years. She’d played doctor on him, examining him,