Chapter 29
EDINBURGH
Wednesday
The Reader was enjoying the warmth as he strolled along the Shore, down in Leith. It was early morning. Not too early but at a time when people who worked office hours started hopping on buses.
This part of Edinburgh was very cathartic for him, being Nancy’s home town, as it were. She had been brought up here, and had shared her memories with him, but she had had ambitions to move up in the world and had worked hard to get where she was.
Sometimes, he could feel her spirit if he closed his eyes. He stopped opposite Isobel’s. He laughed inside at the thought of the book Sylvia had taken from there.
He felt his mood darken as he replayed her words in his head, but then it was like the clouds had parted and the sun shone through when he replayed the gravestone falling on top of her.
It bothered him when he remembered that her arm was sticking out. If he had had a tool with him, he would have chopped it off, but it was a gamble; what were the chances of somebody going into that old part of the cemetery and discovering her anytime soon?
Quite high, he thought. He hadn’t thought that way last night, but then he remembered the newspeople talking about Kane being in the cemetery and there were ghouls who might want to go and have a look to see where the body was. If they did that, then they would find Sylvia.
It would be coming to a close soon anyway. That was the whole point. He wasn’t going to be like the American serial killer Zodiac, who had simply disappeared. No, he, The Reader, would just kill who needed to be killed.
It was something he had told himself over and over, but then again, there was something deep inside him that enjoyed watching them die. Would he be able to stop? He would have to.
After they found Sylvia and then Marianne Taylor, they would know. But he would be away by then.
He walked over to the café and stepped inside to the smell of rolls and coffee.
‘Hello again,’ Isobel said, smiling at him. The Reader had his hat and sunglasses on, and made no move to take them off.
‘Hello,’ he said, putting a slight English accent into his voice.
‘What can I get you?’ Isobel asked, but The Reader’s attention was caught by a young woman coming out from the back of the café.
‘A new member of staff?’ he asked Isobel.
‘This is my daughter, Moira.’ She smiled and turned to look. Moira smiled at him.
‘Pleased to meet you…?’
The question was there, hanging between them. He knew her name and, in return, she wanted to know his. ‘Peter.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Pete.’
‘Peter. Never Pete,’ he said.
His smile stayed in place. It was the name he had given Sylvia. Not his real name, of course. That would be suicide.
‘Sorry. Peter,’ Moira said.
‘Coffee?’ Isobel asked.
‘Please. No sugar. And I may as well have a bacon roll,’ he said with a smile.
Nancy had always said his smile was his best feature. That and the blue eyes, but of course, these two women couldn’t see his eyes for his sunglasses.
‘Why don’t you have a seat, love, and I’ll bring it over,’ Isobel said.
The Reader sat down without glancing at the bookcase. That might bring back memories of yesterday when he had been in with Sylvia.
Instead, he sat back and took the newspaper out of his pocket and unfurled it, starting to read, but he kept his eyes on the young woman.
Liam Brodie’s sister. It had taken a little while to track her down, but here she was. She was already dead.
She just didn’t know it yet.