churning out its meagre heat, he opened his briefcase, took out the A4 sheets and scanned the first note.
It had been received the morning after Pauline Brooks was found hanged in Alexandria Park. Like the one Croft had received, it was produced on a typewriter.
brakes up no oil i shag this one and she’ fukin bril and she riggle lyke a fish on a lyne but this is ony the begginningg.
Croft noticed instantly that it didn’t matter whether “brakes” was spelled as it was or spelled “breaks”, the only reason for its inclusion was to provide an anagram of the victim’s name: Brakes up no oil. Pauline Brooks.
In the second note, referring to the death of Emma Fisher, the anagram was just as easy to see.
Ayve kilt another she’s got such a tite and suking yoni frame is hem witch hangs on to mi nob ill suspend her up there with god.
Frame is hem virtually leapt off the paper at him, although he wondered whether it would have done had he not known her name.
Consulting the background notes Millie had left him, he learned that Emma was 28 and had been abducted from the Bentley Grange area of town as she made her way home after a late night party at a pub. Her friends had insisted that she had had a few drinks but was sober when she left. A bus driver recalled seeing her on his last run, and she got off at the terminus on the Bentley Grange estate. There were only two other passengers on the bus, both male, and they got off at the terminus too. Both men had come forward after seeing her photograph in the newspapers and both men were cleared of suspicion. Three days after her disappearance, workmen found her body hanging from a girder in the rear yard of a warehouse off Manchester Road.
The remaining notes told Croft nothing, but in each case, there was the anagram of the victim’s name. Janice Turner became ran in jet cure , Sheila Greenhalgh was I gag hells hare hen , Pat Laughlin became plug hail tan. Eggs marg rig rat was a substitute for Margaret Griggs, Aileen Collier was I clean role lie , and Susan Edwards was drawn sea suds . This man was not merely raping and murdering the womenfolk of Scarbeck, but he intended making sure that the police knew they were his victims by cryptically naming them in his communications.
Reading through the badly cobbled texts, Croft noticed a change after the murder of Margaret Griggs, when the notes took on an almost verse-like quality. While the early correspondence was simply boasting, hiding the name of the victim, the later ones took on a more surreal aura.
With Eggs marg rig rat
as I fukt her too
rope swings on
There was no poetic meter recognisable to Croft.
Narrowing his thoughts he stared at the verse for a long time. Why the change? Why suddenly break up the piece into clear lines? After going to such trouble to make himself appear illiterate, why suddenly demonstrate this knowledge of…
It struck him. He read it again and one final time to ensure he had not made a mistake. Then he scrabbled about the desktop seeking the note concerning Aileen Collier.
pulld it off in her quim
evry time after tea
all i lie role clean
rubbing it on her tits
They were acrostics.
Reading the letters down at the beginning of each line and carrying on with the letters down at the end of each line, from the note concerning Margaret Griggs he got W-A-R-T-O-N and from Aileen Collier, he got P-E-A-R-M-A-N-S. Margaret had been abducted from the Warton area of Scarbeck, and Aileen had been taken at Pearman’s supermarket. The Handshaker was confirming his identity by telling the police where he was picking up his victims…
Croft frowned. That was not right.
He took up the background information again and studied it.
Margaret was not abducted from Warton. Aileen collier was. And it was Susan Edwards who had been snatched from Pearman’s car park. That meant The Handshaker was not confirming where he abducted his victims, but where he would strike next.
Heart pounding with
It had been received the morning after Pauline Brooks was found hanged in Alexandria Park. Like the one Croft had received, it was produced on a typewriter.
brakes up no oil i shag this one and she’ fukin bril and she riggle lyke a fish on a lyne but this is ony the begginningg.
Croft noticed instantly that it didn’t matter whether “brakes” was spelled as it was or spelled “breaks”, the only reason for its inclusion was to provide an anagram of the victim’s name: Brakes up no oil. Pauline Brooks.
In the second note, referring to the death of Emma Fisher, the anagram was just as easy to see.
Ayve kilt another she’s got such a tite and suking yoni frame is hem witch hangs on to mi nob ill suspend her up there with god.
Frame is hem virtually leapt off the paper at him, although he wondered whether it would have done had he not known her name.
Consulting the background notes Millie had left him, he learned that Emma was 28 and had been abducted from the Bentley Grange area of town as she made her way home after a late night party at a pub. Her friends had insisted that she had had a few drinks but was sober when she left. A bus driver recalled seeing her on his last run, and she got off at the terminus on the Bentley Grange estate. There were only two other passengers on the bus, both male, and they got off at the terminus too. Both men had come forward after seeing her photograph in the newspapers and both men were cleared of suspicion. Three days after her disappearance, workmen found her body hanging from a girder in the rear yard of a warehouse off Manchester Road.
The remaining notes told Croft nothing, but in each case, there was the anagram of the victim’s name. Janice Turner became ran in jet cure , Sheila Greenhalgh was I gag hells hare hen , Pat Laughlin became plug hail tan. Eggs marg rig rat was a substitute for Margaret Griggs, Aileen Collier was I clean role lie , and Susan Edwards was drawn sea suds . This man was not merely raping and murdering the womenfolk of Scarbeck, but he intended making sure that the police knew they were his victims by cryptically naming them in his communications.
Reading through the badly cobbled texts, Croft noticed a change after the murder of Margaret Griggs, when the notes took on an almost verse-like quality. While the early correspondence was simply boasting, hiding the name of the victim, the later ones took on a more surreal aura.
With Eggs marg rig rat
as I fukt her too
rope swings on
There was no poetic meter recognisable to Croft.
Narrowing his thoughts he stared at the verse for a long time. Why the change? Why suddenly break up the piece into clear lines? After going to such trouble to make himself appear illiterate, why suddenly demonstrate this knowledge of…
It struck him. He read it again and one final time to ensure he had not made a mistake. Then he scrabbled about the desktop seeking the note concerning Aileen Collier.
pulld it off in her quim
evry time after tea
all i lie role clean
rubbing it on her tits
They were acrostics.
Reading the letters down at the beginning of each line and carrying on with the letters down at the end of each line, from the note concerning Margaret Griggs he got W-A-R-T-O-N and from Aileen Collier, he got P-E-A-R-M-A-N-S. Margaret had been abducted from the Warton area of Scarbeck, and Aileen had been taken at Pearman’s supermarket. The Handshaker was confirming his identity by telling the police where he was picking up his victims…
Croft frowned. That was not right.
He took up the background information again and studied it.
Margaret was not abducted from Warton. Aileen collier was. And it was Susan Edwards who had been snatched from Pearman’s car park. That meant The Handshaker was not confirming where he abducted his victims, but where he would strike next.
Heart pounding with
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