The Boneyard: A gripping serial killer crime thriller. Mark Sennen

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       Chapter Three

       M4 Motorway, west of Reading. Sunday 16th April. 10.34 a.m.

      From Reading onward, Kendwick dozed. At some point, he jerked awake, disorientated, muttering a string of obscenities. He apologised. Jet lag, he explained, before slumping over and resting his head against the window.

      In the front, Riley and Enders chatted in low whispers, but Savage found it impossible to follow the conversation enough to be able to join in. Instead, she tried to rest herself. An hour or so later, Kendwick woke and wanted to stop.

      ‘A comfort break,’ he said. ‘I could do with something to drink too.’

      A few miles farther along the motorway, just beyond Bristol, Enders took the slip road to Gordano services and parked up a little way from the main building.

      ‘I’d forgotten how grim these places were,’ Kendwick said, as he climbed out of the car. ‘Piss-and-shit stops, overpriced confectionery and crap coffee, right?’

      ‘The coffee’s got marginally better, but everything else is just how you left it.’

      ‘Let’s hope the same applies back in Devon.’ Kendwick smiled and then strolled off towards the building.

      ‘Do you want me to go after him, ma’am?’ Enders said. ‘Check he doesn’t get up to no good?’

      ‘No. He’s not under arrest. Let him go to the toilet in peace. If bodies start turning up in the next half-hour then we’ll know who did it.’

      Savage walked across to several picnic tables which sat on a patch of grass to one side of the car park. Riley remained to talk to Enders and then, after a moment or two, joined her.

      ‘I’ve sent Patrick for some coffees,’ Riley said. ‘Reckon we could all do with a pick-me-up.’

      ‘Thanks.’ Savage moved to one of the tables and sat down. She nodded at Riley to sit too. It was the first time they’d been able to talk since they’d picked Kendwick up. ‘What do you think of our passenger?’

      ‘He’s a cool one, for sure.’ Riley gazed towards the main entrance of the service station. Kendwick had just pushed in through the doors and disappeared from view. ‘All the joking and the double entendres. Would he really act like that if he’d killed those women?’

      ‘I think his behaviour is very carefully calculated. It’s a double bluff. Or even a double double bluff. He knows that we know that he knows that we know.’ Savage paused. ‘What about Kendwick as a man, as a person?’

      ‘Tosser.’ Riley smiled. ‘But then us blokes are pretty shallow when judging each other.’

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘It’s about the competition for a mate, isn’t it? Kendwick’s got all the attributes: good-looking, intelligent, talkative, well-off. Lesser mortals, such as myself and DC Enders, feel threatened.’

      ‘Don’t put yourself down, Darius.’ Savage smiled back at Riley. ‘Women would be better off with you than Kendwick.’

      ‘They would be, yes, but that’s not how the female mind works. Ask yourself why so many women end up with unsuitable characters? We see it every day at work, the scrotes with a cute girl in tow, ready to do the scum’s bidding. There are plenty of nice guys out there, but a lot of women seem to be programmed to go for the arseholes.’

      ‘Perhaps you’re wrong about the number of nice guys. Perhaps there aren’t enough to go round and the reality is that most blokes are arseholes.’

      ‘Thanks.’ Riley looked wounded. ‘But back to Kendwick. He believes his charm will win out and he doesn’t seem to care what we think.’

      ‘Because he’s home free.’ Savage turned her head to where a soft-top BMW Z3 had slipped into a parking bay. Two young women climbed out. ‘As long as he keeps his hands to himself, he’s in no danger. He’s already laughed in the face of the US justice system so they won’t extradite him now, not without new evidence.’

      ‘And can he keep his hands to himself?’ Riley pointed discreetly at the women as they walked away. ‘I mean, he’s been inside for the past twelve months and now he’s going to encounter temptation daily.’

      ‘Recidivism is pretty much hard coded into people like Kendwick. If he is guilty, if he is a serial killer, then he’s going to commit another murder. More than one if he gets the chance.’

      ‘So we’ve got to stop him, is that Hardin’s idea?’

      ‘Probably. I think he planned this trip around some nebulous idea that everything would come good in the journey from Heathrow to Devon. He thinks I’ve got a handle on how men like Kendwick work.’

      ‘You have, haven’t you, ma’am?’

      ‘Perhaps.’ Savage СКАЧАТЬ