The Dark Web Murders

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Thursday, 23rd August. Late afternoon

"You could breathe a lot better if you'd remove that heavy balaclava," Sheehan said caustically. "And you're going to rip your throat to shreds if you keep rasping like that." 

Nemein glared at him, his eyes glittering with anger. "Are you hoping to make me reveal myself?"

 "Reveal yourself?" Sheehan offered him a scathing glance. "Huh! I've known for days who you are. Take that silly mask off, Edgar. You aren't fooling anyone." 

Again the killer gave the detective a long, piercing look and, still glaring at him, he removed the balaclava, instinctively patting his hair down with the other hand. "How did you know?" It was indeed Edgar Doran, but his demeanour was far from the mild, irresolute persona he had presented in their previous encounters. Here was a man forceful, decisive, very much in control of his surroundings. The exposure of his true identity must have been a shock to him, but he appeared much less dismayed than Sheehan might have expected. 

Sheehan shrugged. "As I so often say to my sergeant, it's the small things, Edgar. Small things offer pointers until a pattern eventually emerges."

"Your reputation is well deserved, Chief Inspector," Doran said, trying to regain his aplomb. "Would you care to elucidate?" 

Glad of the opportunity to keep their captor talking, Sheehan said, "Of course. But there are some gaps, obviously, and I'll need some input from you to put the whole picture together."

 Doran offered no response. 

"Well, believe it or not, your vocabulary was the first small thing that caught my attention. Your first blog used the word 'punctilious'. It's probably ten years since I came across that word, maybe more. Actually missed that for a while. Knew there was something in the blog, however, that I should be seeing. Then a few days later, I remembered what was bugging me. That word. I had heard it recently. You used it during my first interview with you. You were talking about how punctilious the judge was in keeping his appointments. Not that it made you the killer, of course, or even a suspect, but it set my mind along certain tracks. Little things. It's amazing how the little things add up. Word like that cropping up a couple of times in a couple of days? Gotta be a bit more than a coincidence. I probably wouldn't come across it again for several more years ... or not! Because, what do you know, there it was again in the second blog. The teacher was punctilious in his habits. You need to get yourself a broader vocabulary, Edgar." 

Doran listened with great intensity, eyes blazing, but refused to respond to the jibe. 

"Same with 'must need' or 'must needs'. You used that expression when I was talking to you, and it's all over the place in your blogs. I don't think I've heard anyone else use that phrase in conversation ... ever. But when I saw it on the blog it jumped out at me because, like punctilious, I knew I had heard it only a couple of days before. Was that coincidence?" He shook his head. "I don't believe in coincidences." 

"Clutching at straws, Chief Inspector," Doran sneered. 

"No, Edgar. Small things. Initially, of course, I just noted them for what they were, random connections. I had absolutely no reason to suspect you. But it did throw your name up." 

 Doran continued to stare at him. 

"In the first blog you also described your killer blow," Sheehan went on, "an elegant sweep upwards, you said. Upwards? The killer had to be short. You'll forgive me, Edgar, if I point out that you are somewhat deficient in the height department. Vertically challenged, I believe, is the politically correct usage." 

Doran didn't reply, but his eyes were spots of fire. 

"My old brain wrestled with that, too, wondering, just wondering," Sheehan continued. "I mean, the investigation was hardly started and stuff is already pointing at you."