Loved by Mr. Night

Chapter 9

Aria was late for the Met Police’s press briefing which had taken place earlier in the afternoon but there had been no new details to be divulged at the make-shift incident room where they had set up on the pavement across from the café behind which the dead girl’s body had been found. But from what she had picked up from the Press association copy on her laptop she had not missed a lot.

The story swirled round Aria’s head as she thought about all the details and then she remembered that there was something awfully familiar about the way the killings had been done. It was like she had studied this and then could not remember and just one click on the internet had proved her theory to be right. Whoever was killing they were being done by someone who was imitating Jack the Ripper, exactly.

That was when she had called Adriel and spoken to him about what she had found out and agreed to meet. She got dressed and then headed out for dinner. Before meeting Adriel she was going to meet Andre, her old newspaper buddy. He had called her up after she had reached Glasgow and then they had both decided that a couple of early drinks were not going to hurt anyone. Aria was glad anyway, because if he had not called her up then she would have and would have picked on his brain later on for the company in London.

Grizzled old hack that he was he did not miss much in London, and Aria knew that. She knew this very well that when in London, and surrounded by the so-called big-hitters and egos, it was good to have a Scottish ally. Aria knew that Andre was going to be his usual wily, charming self, out to prove he was ahead of the pack but watching her like a hawk in case she stiffed him out on a story. And at the same time, she also knew there would be a faint hope on his part that he could get her into his bed, now that she was down in the Big Smoke on what he had made his own turf after fifteen years as a top-front line hack in Fleet Street.

Aria smiled as she clocked him coming down into the bar and striding across the wooden floor. Simpson certainly walked the walk. A grin spread on his face when he saw her.

“There she is. Scotland’s finest.” He pulled Aria to her feet .” let me get a kiss at you right on the lips.”

He planted a too lingering kiss and held her tight.

“Steady the buffs.” She pulled away.” Do you do that to all the hacks who came to Glasgow?”

Still holding her. Andre scanned her face.

“Only the ones that I am secretly in love with….and you know I have always loved you.” He touched her face.” You are looking well, seriously.” He gave her another tight hug hen released her.” Oh, and I read all about that s**t in Spain. f**k me!! You could have been a dead woman.”

“Aww, don’t you start again, Andre. Everybody says that but believe me, nobody knows it more than me.”

She ruffled his hair, picked up her glass and drained it.” Come on. It’s your round. Tell me what has been happening to you these days. How’s life?”

They walked towards the bar.

“I am good. But listen, babe, with the UVF and the coke story. f*****g hell!!!! Some mad bastard tried to burn your arm off with a blowtorch? Is that true? Christ Almighty!! Are you alright? Really?”

“Of course, I am alright,” said Aria as she shrugged it off as the image flashed behind her eyes.” I can’t play the piano as well as I could before but apart from that it is all good.” She puffed.” Come on. I can’t be arsed talking about that now. It has been two months since UVF put out the hit on me. I have been hiding in Bosnia since then.”

“I heard that too,” said Andre and then he grinned again saying,” You need to watch yourself. I mean, a bullet or a stab in the leg doesn’t do your reputation at the front line any harm. But you don’t want to be getting killed. Because then you will be a dead reporter and….” He dipped down his head low and then whispered,” we haven’t even been to bed yet.”

Aria laughed out loud and shook her head, remembering the drunken clinch with him a few years back in the days when she drank a lot more than she did now, and she could be even reckless with it, too. She knew better now. She had paced herself. And she did not want to get involved with other reporters. Most of them were bit mentally deranged, like herself anyway. They were good fun. Focused on the job, and the job was their lives.

There was a part of her that didn’t involve work and that was the part that she had kept hidden from everyone. She knew better than anyone that she could not f**k up with Aubrey any longer.

“So what is the rumour mill spewing, Andre? Don’t tell me that there is an eye witness and then they are not being able to find him. I mean, if that really did happen then the killer would be packing his bags and leaving town already when it is in the newspapers,” said Aria and Andre nodded.

“No. Nothing like that. Strangely enough, there has not been much speculation at all. We are all over it down here at the moment and if the cops cannot give the hacks something of interest then things are not going to heat up and die down. They have to keep giving the hacks something if they want to keep going. I have told my Met contacts that we need new lines of defense everyday to keep the interest of the people up.”

“So have they been able to give you any intelligence at all?” asked Aria feigning interest. She could already feel that she knew more than Andre but she was not going to let him understand that.

He took a swig of his drink and then flipped over the page.

“One line for tomorrow that I have got for myself. And I am going to share it with you for old time’s sake,” he winked.

“I am all ears,” she replied,” Ignoring Andre’s game face.

“It is not much really. But I have got this news down from a solid source that he picks up the girls from the lobbies of the hotels and all the girls have been contacted from those prepaid sims which cannot be traced later on. The girls are all hookers so people are not very worried but I think we have a new serial killer on loose,” said Andre.

“Have you thought of a name?” asked Aria with her poker face on.

“Not yet. My chief editor has told me that he will get back to me on that one. I mean this is close enough to be something spicy but also not so posh so as to capture attention. Yet we have nothing else on our hands as of now,” said Andre.

“I am thinking of doing a detailed life spot of the ones that he has killed. I mean, like a human figure piece you know. The people nowadays have become exceptionally detached from themselves and their families and they have forgotten to think about others as human beings,” said Aria when a voice from behind her spoke.

“I couldn’t have said it better if I had tried it myself. But then again you are the writer,” said Adriel as she looked back upon him and smiled. There was such light in her eyes that Adriel could feel the man in him rise up and take notice that he was the cause of that sudden surge of happiness in this woman. Not an easy task for sure!

“I did not know that the detective would be joining us, Aria, you little minx. Are you two timing me?” asked Andre with his mock anger on and Aria laughed it off and said,” Well if I was then I don’t think both of you would be here at the same time.” Adriel could not help but smile hearing her reasoning. Only Aria could deal with men in this way and not anger anyone, of course, the mobs and gangs were a different story altogether.

“Fine! Now that the good detective is here I shall go and find myself something else to get stoned with. Enjoy the evening darling. And welcome back to London. We have missed you,” said Andre as he rose up and then kissed Aria on both the cheeks and then waved himself out as Adriel took his place on the chair.

“You are one dangerous woman,” said Adriel as Aria smiled.

“Good evening to you to, handsome. Was I of some help?” asked Aria and he nodded.

“We had it figured out, you know. Before you called me Kevin had already brought in this book, the murders of Jack the Ripper and we were discussing about him only when you called up. I mean I felt honestly stupid to God once I heard all the descriptions. That man is not only taunting us but also it is like a challenge. He is getting interest in playing us like cat and mouse which is making me even more agitated,” said Adriel as he took of his hat and then signaled the waiter for a drink.

Aria looked at him and stared at him for a few seconds and sighed.

“I know that this might sound odd to you Adriel but I think that if we are going to even close to what he is doing and try and catch him then we have to think in the way that you have stopped pursuing,” said Aria with a meaningful look in her eyes.

“I can’t do that. You know I can’t,” said Adriel shaking his head, “ It is too risky and I am not going to let down my guard or control the way you are suggesting to.”

“It might be risky but I think that the lives of the hookers that you will be saving will make taking that risk worth it. Don’t you think that is enough to let your guard down?” asked Aria. She was goading him into thinking like a criminal and that was one of the reasons that how Adriel was in such a position while all his contemporaries are still several ranks junior to him. Adriel could think like the criminal once his profiling was complete and as soon as that was done there was nothing at all which could stop him from catching the bastard. He was like bloodhound who would not let go of the smell that he had been scented off.

“Aria, I know that you mean well but we don’t even know that it will work this time. All those times we had almost nothing in our hands and yet we had a clue. But here we are dealing with someone a lot more sophisticated. He is not doing it as a crime of passion or something else. He is planning this and then making sure that we are never going to be able to nab him because this is a cold blooded killing which he is doing for the sake of pleasure. Trust me, Aria, if you had seen what he did to those to women you would not be able to even eat anything for a week!!” said Adriel in a low voice because he did not want to scare of the other patrons.

“Then may be it is time that you showed me,” said Aria.