ny time. Listen, you want to do some business - not the kind that breathes, the other kind - you gimme a call. I'm well up for it.

Til bear that in mind.' Tadeusz ended the call. He didn't think he'd be dealing drugs or guns with Nick Kramer any time soon. He hadn't taken to the man, and on the evidence of this last conversation, he lacked discretion. He keyed in the number Kramer had given him and waited to be connected.

He was on the point of giving up when the phone was answered. A cautious voice said, 'Hello?'

Tadeusz made a quick decision. 'My name is Darko Krasic. Nick Kramer gave me your number.'

'Do I know him?'

'Well, he has your phone number.'

'So does my local Indian takeaway.'

'My boss and I used to do business with Colin Osborne.'

A snort of laughter. 'He can't give you much of a reference, now can he? Look, I don't do business over the phone.'

'Sure, I understand. All I'm looking for is a character reference. Somebody has applied to work with us, and Kramer seems to think you know her.'

'I know a lot of people.' The voice was cautious again.

'Her name is Caroline Jackson.'

A long pause. 'I know Caroline. What do you want to know?'

'Whatever you can tell me.'

'Fucking hell, you don't want much, do you? Look, if you're thinking about working with Caroline, all you need to know is that she's a serious player. But she's a loner. She doesn't trust anybody with her business. She's smart, she knows how to keep stumm, and she's very fucking good at what she does. She wants to work with you, you should bite her fucking hand off, because you're getting the opportunity to work with the best. OK?'

'OK.'

'Now you got what you wanted. Good night.' The call ended abruptly, leaving Tadeusz feeling less uneasy than he had ten minutes previously. What he didn't know was that he'd just been talking to one of Morgan's undercover operatives, briefed to give Caroline Jackson as vivid a reality as possible.

Tadeusz had sat through the third act, brooding over his course of action. As The Cunning Little Vixen drew to a close, he came to a decision. He had to see the virtual reappearance of Katerina as a good omen. He'd go with his gut reaction and see what she had to offer him.

In the cold light of morning, the decision still felt like a good one. He wished he'd been able to talk it over with Darko, but his right-hand man wasn't due back from Belgrade until that afternoon. And this was too important to entrust to telephones. He'd have to rely on his own intuition. He reached for the phone and dialled the number on the card she'd given him.

'Hello?' Her voice was already familiar.

'Good morning, Caroline. It's Tadeusz here.'

'Good to hear from you.'

She sounded determined not to show any enthusiasm that might not be matched on his side. 'I wondered if you might be free for lunch?'he asked.

'That rather depends.'

'On what?'

'Whether it's business or pleasure on the agenda,' she said coolly.

'I suspect that, with you, business would always be one f sort of pleasure or another,' he said, an undertone of amuse- " ment in his voice. He was surprised by how at ease he felt ?flirting gently with her.

'You didn't answer my question.'

'I think we may be able to do business," he said. 'But first, we have to get to know each other a little better. You see, I only deal with people when my instincts tell me they're reli- able.'

'Really?' she asked, sounding incredulous. 'And you still chose Colin?'

His source had been right. She was smart. 'If that was such 1 a bad decision, then by your own admission, the condemna- i tion falls equally on your shoulders, Caroline,' he pointed out.

'ToucheY she said.

'So, will we have lunch?'

'If you can make it earlier rather than later. I have some important calls to make this afternoon.'

'How is noon for you?'

'I can do that.'

Til send the car for you at eleven forty-five. I look forward to it'

'Thanks, but I've got to go out this morning. I don't know where I'll be at eleven forty-five. Just tell me where to be, and I'll get there for noon.'

He named the restaurant and gave her the address. 'I look forward to seeing you,' he added.

'The feeling is mutual. See you later.' The line went dead. So. To smart and discreet, add independent and wary. Caroline Jackson was beginning to intrigue him. And not just professionally. He found himself looking forward to lunch with an appetite that had nothing to do with food.

Tony stared at the screen. Petra had been as good as her word. The investigation reports from Bremen had been waiting for him when he'd arrived at her apartment, and he'd forced himself to put his feelings for Margarethe to one side and read them as objectively as he could. The fact that the killer had been interrupted had provided a few nuggets of information that might help as he went along, but the most telling details had come from Margarethe's boyfriend, and these could be incorporated right away in his draft profile.

At this stage, it could only be a rough outline. There were things he still needed to do and see. He wanted to go to Bremen, partly to make his peace with Margarethe, but mostly to see the house where she had died, to see if the crime scene could tell him more about his prey. He needed better quality photographs of the crime scenes. But for now, he could make a start.

He loaded his word processing program and called up his personal template for profiles. It began with a standard disclaimer. This might be an informal, unofficial investigation, but that was no reason not to do things properly.

The following offender profile is for guidance only and should not be regarded as an identikit portrait. The offender is unlikely to match the profile in every detail, though I would expect there to be a high degree of congruence between the characteristics outlined below and the reality. All of the statements in the profile express probabilities and possibilities, not hard facts.

A serial killer produces signals and indicators in the commission of his crimes. Everything he does is intended, consciously or not, as part of a pattern. Uncovering the underlying pattern reveals the kilkr's logic. It may not appear logical to us, but to him it is crucial. Because his logic is so idiosyncratic, straightforward traps will not capture him. As he is unique, so must be the means of catching him, interviewing him and reconstructing his acts.

Tony then gave a brief overview of the three cases, with particular attention to the nature of the victims' academic research. Moving on from there, and assimilating his new information, he wrote,

All academic psychologists who conduct experimental research on human subjects may be at risk from this killer. Given that Margarethe Schilling told her partner she was scheduled to meet a journalist representing a new psychology e-zine, it may be advisable to ask psychology lecturers to contact this investigation if they receive such an approach. However, it is clear that this poses potential problems. If the killer has links to the academic community, he may be privy to any such warning and alter his strategy accordingly. Furthermore, such a warning may provoke a panic response among those at risk. There is also the difficulty of the scale of the operation. The killer has already operated in two EU countries that we are aware of -- Germany and Holland. There is no reason to suppose that this is the limit of his range.

What do we know of the killer from his actions so far?

i. Although there is almost certainly an element of sexual stimulus in the commission of these crimes, the motivation is not explicitly sexual. The victims do not correspond to any physical class and encompass both genders. It is therefore impossible to predict where he will strike next based on any superficial description of appearance. Contingent on this, and on the scalping of the pubic region (reducing his victims to something resembling a pre-pubertal state) I would suggest that the killer's own sexuality is relatively unformed. By this I mean that he has never successfully established adult sexual relationships. He may have experienced sexual humiliation at an early age and decided that he was not prepared to expose himself to that again. At some level, he blames this inability to form normal sexual contacts on his victim group. I believe it is highly unlikely that he will be either married or in any sort of long-term relationship. He is most likely to be a single man with no history of emotional relationships with either sex.

So many reasons for the corruption of the sexual impulse, Tony thought sadly. His own experience of impotence, and the soul-searching journey that had taken him on, had given him a unique empathy with those whose natural desires had been morphed into something the rest of the world saw as perversion. There was always an explanation, always a sequence as unique as DNA that lay beneath these strange surfaces, and it was one of the many paradoxes of Tony's life that what had given him so much personal pain had also given him a professional head start. Maybe, like the killers themselves, he was looking for something that would make him feel less of a failure.

2. His choice of victims gives him a sense of superiority.People like them have always made him feel slow, unsophisticated. But now he can move into their world, invade their territory and there is nothing they can do to stop him. It is a way of proving to himself that he is not the inadequate he thinks he is. It's extremely unlikely that he has a university-level education. I would doubt he even completed secondary education, although he is clearly far from stupid. Given what I believe to be his strategy in the choice of victims (see below), it is likely that he has educated himself in their field of expertise. He has probably read extensively about psychology and its applications, both in books and on-line. He may even have taken adult education classes in the subject. He probably thinks of himself as an expert in his field, although his knowledge will of necessity be superficial

3. He is capable of a high degree of self-control andorganization. To execute his plan, he has developed a strategy of sufficient finesse to convince victims who are experienced in negotiating with the world. In order to succeed at this, he must be able to disguise his unfamiliarity with their universe.

4. He must have planned this series of attacks well inadvance, since the victims require prior research rather than the opportunistic picking at random of a candidate who meets certain physical criteria. It is clear from how close together the last two murders are that he has a pre-set list of victims. The fact that his time-scale is shortening means that he is growing in confidence but also that he needs more kitts to satisfy whatever his agenda is.

5. What might that agenda be? The answer to that must lie in his choice of targets. What all three have in common is that they are academic psychologists who have published research based on experiments conducted on (willing) human subjects. I believe he entertains the conviction that his life has been blighted as a result of experiments carried out by one or more psychologists. He may himself have been a direct victim, but I doubt that. If that were the case, he would have a specific object for his revenge and it would probably have been sufficient for him to kill that single practitioner. Perhaps he suffered childhood abuse at the hands of a parent or other adult who had been the victim of psychological torture? Given the abuse of psychology at the hands of, for example, the Stasi, this does not seem as improbable as it might in another time and place.

Tony read over what he had typed so far. It made sense, in the context of what he'd been able to glean from the files. But it didn't take them any closer to who the killer might be. Now he had to start moving away from what he knew and could logically surmise into the realm where he excelled. He had to reason backwards from the crime to the man who had committed it.

What does all this tell us about the killer?

1. He is subject to high stress levels, which will be perceptible to those around him. His behaviour will be more erratic than usual.

2. He is posing as a journalist on an e-zine in order to gain private access to those he has targeted. I believe he will have made the arrangements for his meetings with the victims via e-mail, since he is unlikely to possess the interpersonal skills to set up meetings with such highly socialized victims either face to face or via the telephone. Therefore we can state with some certainty that he possesses his own computer; he would not risk such communications on a system available to others. Furthermore, an expert search of the victims' computers may reveal traces of these communications.

3. He is unlikely to be unemployed; he can afford acomputer, he can afford to travel. He is also comfortabk moving around in more than one country, suggesting a familiarity with them. In my opinion, he is likely to have a job that involves travelling, but not one that requires people skills. It may well be a job that demands a certain level of intelligence and responsibility, yet one that is not highly regarded by the world at large. Perhaps a long-distance lorry driver, or a maintenance engineer on some specialized equipment. He will drive a well maintained mid-range car of unassuming appearance. It is unlikely that he uses public transport to go to and from the scenes of the crimes, and this may mean that he is either hiring cars in or near the cities where he has killed, or that he has local access to company vehicles because of his job.

4. The first crime of serial offenders tends to take placenearest their home. Since the first crime in this series took place in Heidelberg, I believe he is probably based in the central region of Germany.

5. He is most likely to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Typically, serial killers take time to work up to their ambition. If they make it into their late thirties without killing, they're less likely to start because they have found alternative ways to sublimate their desires.

6. It is likely that a member of his immediate familyhas a history of treatment for mental illness or a record of psychological torture at the hands of officialdom. If the latter is the case, it may well be that the family originated from the former East Germany.

7. If he has a criminal record, I'd suggest that it mayinclude stalking or Peeping Tom offences. Most serial killers exhibit a history of bully ing, animal torture, minor vandalism and arson, but in this case, I believe he is more likely to have convictions for violence against the person. Whatever was done to damage his psyche will have produced enormous levels of suppressed rage in him. Until he found an appropriate (for him) target for his anger, he may have been prone to outbursts of violence against anyone who he perceived as laughing at him. He may have assaulted prostitutes or other men who made fun of his lack of a girlfriend.

Tony stared bleakly at the screen. In truth, it wasn't much.

As usual, he felt like the conjuror who is expected to produce

an elephant from his top hat but only manages the same tired

"7old rabbit. He reminded himself that this was only a raw first

draft. He needed more data and he wanted to talk a couple

of ideas over with Carol before he committed them to paper.

Tony packed up his laptop and scribbled a note to Petra. He let himself out of the front door and wearily descended to the street. It was a beautiful spring day, the air damp and cool, the sky bright with sunshine. Only a clod could fail to be moved by the possibilities of life on a day like this, Tony thought. But somewhere out there, rain or shine, a killer was, planning his next move. And it was up to Tony to try to make sure it would be the one that ended in checkmate.

The restaurant he had chosen surprised her. She had been expecting somewhere with private nooks and crannies, where they could talk without fear of being overheard. There was nothing intimate about this place, however. High ceilings with steel and tungsten light fittings, the tables and chairs a design statement in themselves. It was smart and noisy, the sort of place where everyone automatically checked out the rest of the clientele to satisfy themselves that the cutting edge hadn't moved somewhere else since they were last there.

He was already seated when she arrived, smoking a small cigar and reading the menu at a table in the middle of the room. Carol noticed she attracted a couple of curious glances as the waiter led her to his table. She was going to have to deal with that, and sooner rather than later.

When she reached the table, Tadeusz got to his feet and gave a small, formal bow. 'Thank you for coming,' he said.

'Thank you for asking me.' The waiter held out her chair and Carol settled herself. 'Tell me, are you some sort of celebrity in Berlin?'

He frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'I noticed last night and again just now. People stare at us. And since nobody in Berlin has a clue who I am, it must be you.'

His cheeks flushed scarlet and he looked down at the table. He riddled with his fork, then glanced back up at her, his mouth a thin line. She could see he was struggling not to show emotion. Tm not a celebrity, though many people know who I am. But that's not why they're staring.'

'No?'

'It's you.'

Carol gave a self-deprecating snort of laughter. Tm disappointed. I thought your flattery would be a little more sophisticated than that.'

Tadeusz breathed deeply. 'No, that wasn't flattery. Which is not to say that you're not beautiful enough to turn heads.' He gave a short sharp sigh. 'This is going to sound crazy.'

'Oh yes?' Carol reckoned Caroline Jackson would be suspicious by now and she worked on the matching facial expression.

Tadeusz studied his cigar. Impatient, he stubbed it out in the ashtray. 'You have a remarkable resemblance to someone.'

'What? I have a double who's famous in Germany?'

He shook his head. 'No, not like that.' He shifted awkwardly in his seat. 'You're the spitting image of a woman called Katerina Basler. She was my lover. That's why people are staring.'

Carol raised her eyebrows. 'They think you've replaced Katerina with a lookalike?' ~

He shrugged. 'I guess.'

'How long ago did you two break up?'

He cleared his throat. She could see the pain in his face, but she couldn't afford to indicate that she knew why he deserved sympathy. So she waited. 'We didn't break up,' he eventually said. He reached for his wine glass and emptied the contents in one long gulp. 'She died, Caroline.'

Carol had known this moment would come, and she had thought long and hard about how to play it. Shock, obviously. She'd have to act astonished. Appalled, even. Affronted would have to come into the equation somewhere along the line too. She let her face go slack, her mouth falling open.

That was the moment the waiter chose to appear, asking what they wanted to drink. Distracted, Tadeusz spread his hands in a gesture of confusion.

'Scotch,' Carol said decisively. 'Large, on the rocks.' fe

'Cognac,' Tadeusz said, waving the waiter away.

Carol concentrated on keeping the look of pitying horror on her face. 'She died?' \

He nodded, eyes downcast again. 'A couple of months ago. A road accident. A stupid, stupid road accident.' /"

'God, I'm so sorry,' she said. It wasn't an act this time. She'd have needed a harder heart not to have been moved by his obvious grief.

He shook his head. 'It is I who should apologize. I didn't mean to impose this on you.'

Impulsively, she reached out and covered his hand with hers. 'It's not an imposition. I'm glad you told me. I was beginning to feel paranoid. But, Tadzio, that's terrible for you. I can't imagine how I'd feel if that happened to someone I loved.'

'No. It's not imaginable.' He looked at her with a pained smile. 'I think everyone who truly loves another person has terrible guilty fantasies about how they would feel if their lover died. I think that's common, probably even natural. But there is nothing that prepares you for the reality. All your certainties disappear. If this can happen to you, anything can. It's like you lose your anchor to reality.'

'I'm so sorry,' she said. 'And you say I look like Katerina?'

He squeezed his eyes shut. 'Yes. You could be her sister.'

'No wonder you freaked out when you saw me last night,' Carol said, her voice soft. 'I had no idea, Tadzio. You must believe me, I had no idea.'

'Why would you? You had no way of knowing. Colin never met Katerina, he couldn't have told you.' He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. 'I'm sorry. When I suggested we get to know each other better, this wasn't what I had in mind.'

'No, I can see that.'

Before she could say more, the waiter arrived with their drinks. Carol wasn't in the habit of drinking Scotch in the middle of the day, but Caroline Jackson would need a stiff pick-me-up after Tadeusz's bombshell, so she took a healthy mouthful right away.

Tadeusz sipped his brandy and gave her a tired smile. 'So, now you know probably the most important thing about me right now. Why don't you tell me something about yourself?'

Carol shrugged. 'I've nothing to say that comes close.'

'I don't want this to be some solemn, grim meeting,' he said. 'As I said, I think we can maybe do business, but I need to have more of a sense of you before I'm prepared to make any kind of commitment. So, tell me about yourself.' He raised one finger. 'But before you do, let's order some food.'

They scrutinized the menus, Carol asking for his recommendations. She settled on a traditional German fish dish, while Tadeusz ordered steak. By the time the waiter left, he was back in total command of himself. 'OK,' he said. 'Tell me about Caroline Jackson.'

She raised her glass and clinked it against the rim of his. 'Once upon a time...'she said, a quirky smile lifting one corner of her mouth. After all, she was telling a story. And she needed to make it very convincing indeed.

Petra walked into the health club, gym bag over her shoulder. Setting this place up as a meeting point had been one of her best ideas. The minimum membership period was three months, and she was determined to make the most of it. She had already spent an hour working out in the well-equipped gym first thing that morning. She'd told Plesch she'd dropped by to book the private sauna for that afternoon's debrief, but she'd left herself enough time to take full advantage of the facilities. This liaison job was certainly giving her a taste for the good life. The opera last night, lunch in a restaurant that was well outside her salary bracket, and access to one of the best leisure clubs in the city. All this and the best possible chance to nail Radecki.

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. When Carol had e-mailed her to pass on the details of her lunch date with Radecki, Petra had had to use all her charms to get a last minute table somewhere so fashionable. Even worse, she'd had to take The Shark along with her for camouflage. He'd been the only member of the team who wasn't too busy to come out to lunch. It really was a pity that Marijke wasn't a Berlin cop, she'd thought regretfully, and not for the first time. The Shark had bored her stupid with tales of his attempts at digging up information on Marlene Krebs and her missing daughter, but at least she'd been able to tune him out and keep an eye on Carol. And when he'd suggested he accompany her that afternoon, she'd sent him off to chase his tail again. She reckoned that there weren't many people Darko Krasic would trust to look after Marlene's kid, so she told The Shark to abandon Marlene for now and concentrate on finding out who Krasic might have dumped Tanja with. He wouldn't get anywhere, of course, but at least it would keep him out from under her feet.

Petra collected the sauna key from the front desk and went through to the changing rooms. Carol wasn't due for another twenty minutes, so she reckoned she had time for a quick swim. She ploughed up and down the pool for a dozen lengths, thinking about the serial killer case. There was still nothing from Europol, but, realistically, she couldn't expect anything before tomorrow at the earliest. At least Bremen hadn't questioned her request for copies of their case material. Sometimes there were distinct advantages to working for Criminal Intelligence. It might piss off local officers, but she could always pull the 'need to know' line when she really wanted access. She hoped Tony had found it useful. A profile would give them a head start, she knew.

By the time she returned to the changing rooms, Carol was sitting on a bench, wearing nothing but a bath sheet. There were a couple of other women getting changed, so the two police officers ignored each other. But under cover of opening her locker and heading for the showers, Petra unobtrusively dropped the sauna key in Carol's lap.

Five minutes later, they were side by side on the wooden bench, naked save for the sheen of sweat on their skin. Petra couldn't help admiring the sleek lines of Carol's body, the well-defined shoulders and thighs and the flat stomach. Not that she was tempted, but it would have been perverse not to notice, she told herself. 'Did anyone follow you from the restaurant?' she asked.

'I don't think so,' Carol said. 'I was expecting a tail, but I didn't spot one. You came out behind me, didn't you? Did you see anyone?'

'No. And that surprised me too. I felt sure he'd have you under surveillance by now. He's normally so circumspect, I can't believe he's leaving you alone.'

'Maybe he's still dazzled by my resemblance to Katerina.'

Petra wiped her damp forehead. 'Even if Radecki is walking around in a daze, I can't believe Darko Krasic isn'lf on the ball:

Carol shrugged. 'Maybe he hasn't told Krasic about me yet.'

Petra looked sceptical. 'I don't see it. And I don't think Radecki is completely blinded by your looks. I spoke to your man Candle earlier this afternoon, and he told me that one of your undercover colleagues in the UK got a call from Radecki himself last night. Apparently he claimed he was Krasic, but from the report of how good the guy's English was, it sounds as though it was Radecki himself.'

'That must have been when he left the box at the second interval.' Carol leaned forward and ladled more water on the hot coals. Steam hissed and the temperature shot up, making her a little lightheaded.

Petra nodded. 'Radecki was looking for someone who could vouch for you personally. He was told you were very good at what you do, but that you're also a loner and very cautious about who you work with. I must say, your people have calculated exactly what will appeal to Radecki.'

'We couldn't have done it without help from you, Petra.'

She smirked, pleased at the compliment. 'So, how was lunch?'

Carol told her about Tadeusz's admission that he recognized her resemblance to Katerina. 'I almost felt sorry for him,' she said. 'It's obvious that he absolutely adored her.'

'Even if that's true, it still doesn't stop him dealing in the sort of racket that robs other people of the ones they love.'

'Oh, I know. It's not that I think it excuses anything, just that it's hard not to be touched by someone who's in that much pain. Even if you think almost everything else about them is repellent.'

'So, did you manage to get him to talk about business?'

Carol wiped sweat from her face. 'No. And I didn't push it. He kept saying he wanted to get to know me better before he would consider any professional liaison. That's obviously why he chose such a public place. Nobody in their right mind would try to have a private conversation there. Besides, if he's been briefed that I'm the sort who takes care, he must have known I wouldn't broach anything as sensitive as business arrangements where we could be overheard.'

'You gave him your cover story?'

'I made him work for it. But yes, I made sure he has enough information to check me out. Morgan's people set up a load of false records and planted stuff where it can be found without too much difficulty. If he follows up what I gave him today, Caroline Jackson will check out all over town.'

'Did you arrange to meet him again?'

'He found out that I like messing around on boats. So tomorrow he's taking me out on the Spree. He has a little launch, he says. That probably means a forty-foot gin palace.'

'No, I know his boat. It's quite a fast little motor boat with a small cabin. He'll probably take you round the city ring of the river and canals. We should be able to keep an eye on you from land, because there's a speed limit and a few locks to slow you down.' Petra groaned. 'I bet I have to spend the afternoon on a bike.'

Carol pushed herself off the bench. 'Exercise is good for you. I've got to shower,' she added. Tm dying here. Are you coming?'

Petra followed her out of the sauna into the cold showers on the wall opposite. Both women gasped as the stream of freezing water needled their skin, snapping the open pores shut in shock. Carol chickened out first, jumping clear and running back into the sauna, and Petra joined her moments later. 'Bloody hell, that was cold,' Carol said, more in admiration than complaint. f

'It's good for the heart.' *

'Kill or cure. There's one thing about being on a boat with Tadeusz,' she said, getting straight back to business. 'We'll be private. He'll feel able to talk.' 4

'It's a pity we can't wire you up,' Petra said., \i

Carol gave her an odd look. Had she finally found a chink in the German detective's briefing? 'I don't need to be wired.'

'Oh, I know, it's a risk we can't afford to take.'

'No, I mean, there's no need.' Carol took in the puzzlement on Petra's face. 'They didn't tell you, did they?'

'Tell me what?'

Carol rubbed her towel over her damp shoulders and leaned back against the hot wooden wall. 'I have an eidetic memory for speech.'

'I don't understand this word, eidetic.'

'I have total recall of whatever I hear. I can transcribe a conversation verbatim, as long as I do it within a few days of it taking place. I don't need to be wired, because I can remember everything.' Seeing Petra's dubious look, Carol continued. 'It's been scientifically tested. This is no party trick, it's for real.' She closed her eyes. '"You know, they told me you looked like Easier,"' she said in an approximation of Petra's accent, '"and it's true, your photograph does resemble her. But in the flesh, it's uncanny. You could be her twin sister. You are going to blow Radecki away. I swear to God, he is going to be freaked out when he sees you."

'"Let's hope it's in a good way,'" she continued in her own voice. Then back to Petra's tones. "'Oh, I think so. I don't see H how he could resist."'

Petra wiped clear the sweat that threatened to overflow the dam of her eyebrows and frowned. 'How can this be possible?'