The Bat(31)

‘The man’s out of his mind,’ Lebie said. ‘Aren’t all serial killers schizophrenic anyway? Don’t they hear voices telling them to kill? I agree with Harry. Let’s get a shrink in.’

Watkins was scratching his neck. He seemed bemused.

‘A psychologist can probably tell us a lot about a serial killer, but it’s not at all certain that that’s what we’re after here,’ Andrew said.

‘Seven murders. I call that serial killing,’ Lebie said.

‘Listen,’ Andrew said, leaning over the table and holding up his big, black hands. ‘For a serial killer the sexual act comes second to killing. Raping without killing has no meaning. But for our man raping is paramount. In cases where he kills there is consequently a practical reason, as Inspector Watkins says. Perhaps the victim can expose him – she’s seen his face.’ Andrew paused. ‘Or they know who he is.’ He placed his hands down in front of him.

The fan was creaking away in the corner, but the air was stuffier than ever.

‘Statistics are all well and good,’ Harry said, ‘but we mustn’t let ourselves get carried away. Inger Holter’s murder may be an isolated act. Some people died of common pneumonia during the Black Death, didn’t they. Let’s assume that Evans White is not a serial killer. The fact that there’s another guy running round killing blondes doesn’t mean that Evans White can’t have taken the life of Inger Holter.’

‘Complicated explanation, but I take your point, Holy,’ Watkins said and summed up: ‘OK, folks, we’re looking for a rapist and a possible – I repeat – possible serial killer. I’ll leave it to McCormack to decide whether to ramp up the investigation. In the meantime we’ll have to continue what we’re doing now. Kensington, anything new to report?’

‘Holy didn’t make the morning meeting, so for his sake I’ll repeat myself. I spoke to Robertson, Inger Holter’s wonderful landlord, and asked him if the name Evans White rang any bells. And the fog must have lifted temporarily because in fact the name did. We’re going over this afternoon. Otherwise, the sheriff of Nimbin rang. This Angelina Hutchinson confirmed that she’d been at Evans White’s house for the two nights before Inger Holter was found.’

Harry swore.

Watkins clapped his hands. ‘OK, back to work, boys. Let’s nail this bastard.’

The words came without much conviction.





16


A Fish


HARRY HAD ONCE heard that dogs have an average short-term memory of three seconds, but with repeated stimuli it can be expanded by a considerable amount. The phrase ‘Pavlov’s dog’ comes from the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s experiments with dogs in which he examined conditioned reflexes in the nervous system. He provided a special stimulus every time he put food out for the dogs over a prolonged period. Then one day he gave the stimulus without putting food out. The dogs’ pancreas and stomach produced the juice to digest the food nonetheless. Not so surprising perhaps, but at any rate it got Pavlov a Nobel Prize. It had been proved that after repeated stimuli the body could ‘remember’.

When Andrew, for the second time in very few days, sent Robertson’s Tasmanian Devil rocketing into the hedge with a well-directed kick, there was therefore reason to believe that this kick would stay longer in the mind than the first. The next time Robertson’s dog heard unfamiliar footsteps outside the gate – instead of its evil little brain brewing up a storm, its ribs would perhaps start aching.

Robertson received them in the kitchen and offered them a beer. Andrew accepted, but Harry asked for a glass of mineral water. However, Robertson was unable to accommodate, so Harry thought he would make do with a smoke.

‘If you don’t mind,’ Robertson said as Harry took out a packet of cigarettes. ‘Smoking’s banned in my house. Cigarettes harm your body,’ he said, knocking back half of the bottle of beer.

‘So you take your health seriously, do you,’ Harry said.

‘Sure do,’ Robertson said, ignoring the sarcasm. ‘In this house we don’t smoke or eat fish or meat. We breathe in fresh air and eat what nature provides.’

‘Does that apply to the dog as well?’

‘My dog hasn’t eaten meat or fish since it was a puppy. It’s a genuine lacto-vegetarian,’ he said, with pride.

‘That accounts for its bad moods,’ Andrew muttered.

‘It’s our understanding that you know one Evans White, Mr Robertson. What can you tell us?’ Harry said, taking out his notebook. He wasn’t intending to jot anything down, but it was his experience that people felt their statement was more important if you pulled out a notebook. Unconsciously, they were more thorough, took the time to check that everything was correct and they were more precise with facts such as times, names and places.