Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I shook my head, not wanting to believe it. “How … I mean … how?”
DI Hatlock said, “There have been four murders so far. Our first victim, Jennifer Parsons. Blond, twenty-four, murdered in December in Bracknell Forest. Second victim, Angela Wright, blond, aged twenty-seven, murdered in June in Slough.”
Horror began to fill me with dawning realization.
“Polish primary teacher Ewa Kowalski, age twenty-six, killed in October—”
“In Maidenhead,” I answered numbly.
“Yes.”
Dread sank heavily in my gut. “And the fourth murder was a victim called Rachel, age twenty-three, in High Wycombe.”
The police officers nodded. DI Hatlock continued, “Each victim went missing forty-eight hours before their bodies were discovered. They suffered stab wounds to the heart and had the words I’m sorry carved in their torsos. Each victim was then hung in a location where their bodies were likely to be found quickly.”
The killer was copying King’s Valley to a tee. The show had Valley in the title because the murders took place in towns within the Thames Valley area. Each victim shared the same name, age, month of death, and wounds as the victims on the show. My character Charlie King found his mother hanging when he was seven years old, and she’d left a note with just the two words “I’m sorry.” Charlie’s victims all looked like his mother, and the idea was that he stabbed them in the heart because his mum had broken his heart as a boy. He was acting out her punishment on other women.
“Someone on our team was a fan of the show and started to put the pieces together when our third victim, Ewa, was murdered,” DCI English relayed. “You should know members of the public have started piecing it together online. We’ve tried to shut it down, but we have our hands full, and it might not be long before the media picks it up.”
“Right. Of course they would,” I murmured stupidly. The room was spinning a bit. Stumbling backward, I leaned against the wall.
“Are you all right, Mr. Cavendish?” DCI Hatlock asked.
What did she think? “I’ve just found out the greatest writing achievement of my career has been used as inspiration to murder innocent women.”
“We don’t believe you are in danger, Mr. Cavendish, though we must ask if you or any of your cast or crew have received disturbing or threatening messages?” She probed.
“I haven’t. I don’t know about anyone else.”
“We’ll need a list of everyone who worked on the show.”
“Of course.” Renewed horror cut through me. “You don’t think the perpetrator worked on the show?”
“We can’t rule anything out.”
“Are you here for my help beyond that? There are three more murders on the show. My character, Charlie King, murders a woman named Helen. It was his mother’s name. And then he murders his father and stepmother.”
DCI English nodded. “We know. We have a team analyzing the show and the murders. We just need the cast and crew list from you, Mr. Cavendish. And we wanted to make you aware of the situation personally so you can be on alert. We must caution again, however, that the reason we did not want this information released to the public was for public safety, but it’s likely the tabloids will speculate.”
It was a warning.
For my safety.
People might blame me.
Or more likely, the actors on the show.
Like North.
Fuck.
I might not be on speaking terms with North, but he’d been through enough this year.
“You have my utmost discretion in this matter,” I promised. “Do you have an email? I’ll get that list to you by the end of day.”
Twenty-Four
SARAH
Iwas lost in my thoughts, worrying about Theo, and hadn’t even noticed the two women enter Flora’s Café. My palms hugged my coffee mug, seeking the heat as nerves churned in my gut. I was worried about Theo. Other than how he was when he chased after me from London, I’d never seen him so off-kilter as he was yesterday. He’d told me about the police and the fact that they believed the Hangman serial killer was copycatting the serial killer from King’s Valley.
We’d walked around the village while Theo made a few phone calls, the most important one being to his executive producer at Skylark World Productions, giving her a heads-up and asking for a full cast and crew list from the show that he could forward to the police. Next, he sent a blunt text message to North. I know he still hadn’t forgiven him, but I also knew Theo didn’t want his friend going through another year of media scandal.
North had tried to call him after the text, yet Theo couldn’t bring himself to answer. Instead, he’d just stood there, staring at his phone, looking so lost and forlorn. Unable to bear it, I’d broken my promise to myself to keep my physical distance from Theo until I felt like I could trust him again, and I’d wrapped my arms around him.