“You’re wrong, Inspector. Wrong!” His voice notched up a few decibels.

“We’ll see who’s right or wrong once the results are confirmed. Keep denying things, Mr. Liddell, and you’re only going to make matters a whole lot worse when your court date finally comes around.” Sally grinned broadly at the seething man. “I’m intrigued to know as to why you’ve only just started killing these women. What was the motivation behind that?”

Liddell’s lips remained buttoned.

“Maybe it’s due to your child’s illness. Is that what has triggered your revenge on the man who supplied you with his sperm when you found yourself in a fix?”

“Bollocks.”

“That’s correct,” Sally nodded with a wink and a smirk.

“He deserved it,” Liddell sneered.

Sally noticed the change in Liddell. He chewed the inside of his mouth and glanced up first at Jack then at her. What are you planning, buster? “Did he? Why?”

Liddell picked at his nails for a few seconds then sighed. “You would’ve done the same if he’d stolen the love of your life, and don’t tell me otherwise.”

“It might have started out as payback for losing your girlfriend, but it soon escalated into something far more sinister, didn’t it?”

“Whatever.”

“Let me try and fill in the gaps for you. You’ve always blamed Dorling for Michael’s illness, and it’s taken you years to try and think of a way to get back at him, right?”

“No comment.”

“Ah, a sure sign that I’m close is when a suspect starts tossing around the ‘no comments’. Two things puzzle me in all this.”

He looked up at her through narrow slits.

“How did you get your wife pregnant with another man’s sperm?”

He offered no response.

“No? All right. The first time, I think I’ve got that sussed because you used the fertility clinic. They did it for you, right?”

He grinned at her.

She continued, her heart beating hard against her ribs. “Did the same thing happen with your second wife? You had the sperm frozen. Is that right?”

“No comment.”

“Did your second wife know about your infertility?”

“No comment.”

“Okay, I know I’m right there. The thing that’s bugging me is how you got the sperm out of the clinic? As far as I know, they don’t do take-outs.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“Ah, so you paid someone on the inside to give you a sample with the intention of setting Dorling up, right?”

“No comment,” he said angrily.

“I’m betting that you heard about Dorling’s conviction as a rapist and a plan started to form. How’s that for a stab in the dark?”

He shrugged and grinned.

She shook her head in disgust. “Only someone with a warped mind would hatch such a devious plan like yours, Liddell. Thank God someone disturbed you from carrying out yet another murder.”

“So, that’s how you caught me, because I screwed up with that last bitch.”

“That’s right. Didn’t you realise that you hadn’t succeeded in your attempt to end Amanda’s life?”

“No. I thought I had done enough. That old codger returning to the comfort of his cardboard box spoilt it for me.”

“Why? Why Amanda? Did you take a fancy to her during a visit to the store?”

“You could say that. That’s usually how things like this come about,” he agreed sarcastically.

Sally frowned; his moods swung the more she challenged him. One minute, she thought he was being helpful and compliant; the next, she felt he was toying with her, dangling a carrot just within her grasp. He might have been exhibiting a severe bout of psychotic behaviour. She pushed on regardless, determined to force him to admit her accusations were correct. “Go on, admit I’m right.”

He winked at her. “And save you the job of figuring out if you’ve hit the nail on the head? Nah, not going to happen, Inspector.”

Sally leaned back and crossed her arms and reiterated what she’d surmised so far. “Let’s see. Dorling wronged you when you were friends. He also told us that you asked him for a supply of sperm because of your impotency.” His eyes narrowed. “Oops, sorry, wrong word. Your infertility. Let me know if I get anything wrong, won’t you?”

“I will.”

“So, you’ve had his sperm on standby for years just so you could eventually pluck up the courage to put your vindictive plan into action. Is that right? Or was it genuinely so you could father more kids. Although why still confuses the hell out of me. But then serial killers aren’t known to think things through thoroughly. They have a tendency to attack first and ask questions later. That’s how most of them slip up.”

He remained silent, staring at her.

Then something changed. The more she repeated the accusations, the more he squirmed in his seat.

“But your new wife was desperate to have a child, wasn’t she? Did she know you had a stash on standby at the fertility clinic?”

“No!”

“So, the trigger has to be Michael’s ill-health.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “You blamed him for your son’s deteriorating health, didn’t you?”

Liddell’s jaw moved from side to side.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” She smiled and winked as his cheeks flared in rage.

“You think you’re so damned clever, but I’m the one who achieved the satisfaction of seeing that fucker go to prison.”

“Is that all that matters to you? You have no intention of showing any kind of remorse for your victims in the slightest? Dorling isn’t even going to prison.”

“And I would have got away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for the last one.”

Sally nodded and agreed with him. “You’re probably right. Shit happens, eh?”

“There’ll be others,” he mumbled under his breath.

She slammed her fisted hand onto the table to gain his attention and glared. “No, there won’t.” Her voice had risen, and he flinched. “Even if you hired the best defence you could afford, I’m going to ensure you spend the rest of your worthless life behind bars. No one deserves to have their life terminated because of another sick person’s pointless vendetta. No one.”

“The women all enjoyed it. They revelled in the interest I showed them that others failed to do. Not to mention the mind-blowing sex I bestowed upon them.”

“Bestowed upon them? Are you for real?”

“You had to be there, Inspector. It was definitely consensual. No woman can resist my charms.”

She refused to feed his over-inflated ego, so she ended the interview with a deflating shot. “Delusional until the last minute. Now, why am I not surprised by that? Expert research shows that serial killers are mostly delusional and lacking in virility.” She had no idea if that was true or not, but she enjoyed the put-down, nevertheless.

He laughed, a moronic laugh that reverberated around the room. Sally thanked the solicitor for attending then instructed the PC to return Liddell to his cell.

Back in the incident room, Sally instructed the team to continue to dig into Liddell’s background, scraping together every last morsel of evidence they could pin on him, determined not to let him get away with his crimes. Then she turned to Jack. “I have one last visit I need to make today, and I’d like you to join me. But first, I have to go tell the DCI we’ve cracked the case.”

The DCI congratulated Sally and asked her to pass on his appreciation to the team, which she did while instructing the team to go home for the evening. All except Jack.

He seemed bemused as he followed her out of the station. They drove the short distance in silence.

He uttered a single word when they pulled up outside her old house. “Ah!”

She winked at him, regretting the action due to the pain still emanating from her bruised socket. “I hope you’ve got your cuffs handy?”

Darryl was surprised to see them standing on the doorstep when he opened the door. He looked dishevelled, as if they’d interrupted his nap. Sally hoped it wasn’t anything else, like having another woman in the house. Then she chastised herself for thinking such a thing. Who he shagged shouldn’t have mattered to her. “What are you doing here?”