Viper - Michael Morley [97]
‘And you had some photographs too. Sylvia, perhaps you could remind Luciano of them?’
Her hand slid into the file again and produced more pieced-together pornography. This was a shot of a naked woman cuffed to a metal pole, being whipped and branded with hot irons.
‘That kind of stuff turn you on?’ asked Jack.
Creed smiled. ‘Yeah, it does. Naked women with tight asses and big tits – it hits all the spots.’
Very true, whispered Howie. LVA shows exceptionally high level of arousal and excitement.
‘It does for most men,’ said Jack, ‘but you know that’s not what I mean. I mean the violence. You get turned on by the idea of women being tortured?’
Creed’s bravado buckled a little. ‘Not so much the violence. I – err, I like to see them vulnerable. Women on their knees, women under threat. It’s not that unusual.’ He read Sylvia’s face. She looked an inch away from punching him. ‘Hey, you know men like me get knocked back all the time by women like you. How come it’s a surprise I might like to see you not looking so smug?’
Jack turned back to Creed. ‘You ever indulge these fantasies further than masturbation? Ever deliberately hurt a woman, or have a woman hurt for your own gratification?’
‘Listen, I came here to help. Not to answer twenty questions about what turns me on.’
Anxietywise, he’s off the score right now, said Howie. Jack held his gaze. A single look that seemed to turn silence into guilt.
‘Okay. Sometimes I pay hookers to whip each other, while I watch. They fake being hurt and I like that. I like it a lot.’
Altar boy’s telling it straight.
‘So, how can you help? What have you got to offer, Luciano?’
Creed slouched forward on his elbows. Jack leaned back as he caught a draught of sour breath. ‘You should be looking at these cousins. I saw the stuff in the papers. You should be grilling them like steak. You know how close cousins can be. I reckon –’
Jack cut him off. ‘Is that the best you’ve got to offer, Luciano? We should follow up on stuff that’s already made the news stands? Is that how brilliant a profiler you are?’
‘I know these cases better than either of you.’ Creed reddened. He turned to Sylvia. ‘Better than anyone on your team. I’ve studied every detail for months on end. I know the clubs they went to, the taxi firms they used, the bars they visited, even where they shopped for their clothes. I can save you time and help you narrow down leads. Let me work up a profile with you –’
Jack cut him off again. ‘What were you doing on the VA website?’
‘You mean the Virtual Academy?’
‘Aha.’
‘Learning. That’s what it’s for, isn’t it? I was being tutored. Check my grades. Check the hours I logged in. I bet there are not many global students who put in as much time as I did and got scores as good as mine. You and me, Jack, we can be a team.’
Jack had already checked. Creed had made the top ten per cent of students, even though he’d had no right to be there in the first place.
‘You shouldn’t have been on the site, Luciano,’ said Sylvia. ‘You told them you were employed full-time by us as a law enforcement officer. You faked references and you routed material through our servers so it would look authentic.’
‘So, arrest me for it.’
Sylvia was tempted. Instead, she closed the interview. She and Jack took a break outside while coffee was sent in for Creed. They stood together in the corridor and Sylvia searched for her cigarettes.
‘What a creep. I’m really itching to charge him, but what good would it do?’
‘Paperwork – and bad publicity. It would create lots of both.’
‘Exactly.’ She shook the last cigarette out of her packet.
‘So, you think he’s of any value to your inquiry team?’
‘Only dead. I can’t, Jack. I know he knows the cases, but I just can’t stomach the idea of him being anywhere near me.’
‘Then you’ll have to let him go.’
‘I know.’ She lit up and inhaled deeply.
Jack waved away the smoke. ‘And warn him.’
‘Sorry. I’m going to kick this damned habit when all this is over. To stay away, you mean?’
‘Absolutely.