With the timing aspect not a problem, it then came down to the location. The hand had to be left somewhere as public as possible so it would be found quickly but that had to be balanced with the obvious concern of not being caught. It had taken journey after journey from all directions to finally get a grasp on where the CCTV cameras were. Most were obvious but there were others that belonged to hotels and shops which could have proven tricky. Those scouting trips had taken place during rush hour when hundreds of people poured from the trains and trams into work and back again during the morning and early evening. It was easy to get lost in the crowds and no one would notice someone paying greater attention to the particular security arrangements.

Ultimately, coming up with the list of locations hadn’t been anywhere near as hard as the killer feared – all it took was planning and time. The tougher part was tracking down all of the targets. The first two people were by far the easiest: unassuming and weak and the killer knew exactly where to find them. Not everyone was going to be quite that straightforward but the plan had to be put in motion in order to drive the others out into the open.

The disguise had been a bit of an accident. They had known something would be needed to conceal their identity from the cameras but it had been hard to judge exactly what would be appropriate. Some sort of fancy dress didn’t seem quite right, while anything that covered the face could prove troublesome if something did go wrong and a quick escape needed to be made. The key things were being able to see where you were going and wearing comfortable shoes to run in. The low heels chosen were perfect: comfortable but, given years of walking in them, surprisingly easy to move in. The long black hooded top had been an old favourite hanging in the wardrobe. It seemed so obvious afterwards that it was the ideal outfit and that had been proven by the coverage it had received.

After leaving that first hand, the killer had watched the television, listened to the radio and kept an eye on the major Internet news sites for two whole days. Things had gone pretty well. A bit more prominence would have been nice but perhaps that would come in time. The key thing was the police didn’t have a clear picture; they had a good enough image to get them excited and put the photos out to the public but nothing specific to go on.

It felt so satisfying when all the hard work paid off. The endless mornings and evenings of mingling in all those crowds had worked out. The practice runs of walking through the square, gently angling away from the various cameras, had been worth it. The killer thought that if all the other locations turned out this well, they really would be in the clear.

The killer picked up the evening paper and looked at the enlarged CCTV image on page five. Even the nickname was brilliant.

‘The Woman in Black’.

The killer thought it was almost a shame that wasn’t what they had christened themselves. A calling card would have been good with that name written on it, although perhaps it would have been overkill. Using a put-on American accent, they played with the words. ‘The Woman in Bah-lackkkkk,’ they said out loud, extending the final word. A big grin appeared on the person’s face; it really was a terrific moniker.

It only took a few moments for the smile to fade and the killer quickly felt sickened by their own flippancy. There was a real purpose to everything that had and was going to happen. The coverage had so far been decent and the nickname was a massive bonus but that was no reason to forget the reason behind it all.

Annoyed with themselves, they put the paper down and opened the lid of their laptop. Sending the finger had been a late addition to the scheme. At first they had just thought leaving the hand would be enough but the plan needed something a little extra to really draw the police in. It would have helped in advance if the killer had known which officer to send the finger to but hopefully it would have arrived with the right person.

The killer skimmed through the same news sites as they had that afternoon looking for a name. Most of the places directed witnesses to call a number but that was far too general. It took a while but eventually the name of a specific officer was found; Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel had spoken to a radio station about ‘the woman in black’ that afternoon and her quotes were now on the news section of their site.

Using a search engine, the killer looked up Sergeant Daniel. There was a photo of her on the police’s website and a few interesting articles from the past few years. She had certainly been involved in a couple of interesting cases. Nodding as they read, the killer knew this woman would be their main point of contact from now on. There was something quite nice about it all – this woman up against ‘the woman in black’. As long as the plan was stuck to and all the other locations were scouted as extensively as the first few, the killer knew there was only ever going to be one winner but it should be interesting. They hoped Ms Daniel was up to the task of unravelling all the information she would need to. From everything the online news archives said about her, she certainly seemed capable.

With everything in place, the killer closed the computer down and stood. They walked upstairs to pack the right shoes and the outfit and then made the journey to the storage unit that was such an integral part of the plan.

The trip didn’t take too long and the killer had been careful to visit regularly even before any bodies had been left there. The routine was important just in case the security officers present actually paid attention, which they never seemed to.

After entering the unit, the killer opened the lid of the large chest freezer. The size of it had initially been important just in case entire bodies needed to be kept in there but it had been easier than the killer thought to dispose of the bits that weren’t needed; the heads and torsos would never be found.

As the steam rose from the ice, the figure gave a slight shiver as they reached in with their gloves to pull out the frozen hand. The finger had already been removed and sat snugly next to where the appendage had been placed. That would go in the post to Ms Daniel in the next day or so but, for now, the hand had to be left and location two was an absolute belter.

The killer thought of Sergeant Daniel and remembered the reason everything was happening. ‘See you soon,’ they said to no one in particular.

6

Jessica sat in Cole’s office for the morning briefing trying to listen to what he was saying but constantly finding her mind drifting. It had been twenty-four hours since a second hand had been found in St Peter’s Square, again with the ring finger missing. Whoever was leaving them was going out of their way to find Manchester’s most public spots and Jessica couldn’t figure out what was going on.

‘Jessica? Sergeant?’ Cole was speaking.

‘Sorry, I don’t . . .’ Jessica mumbled.

‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes, I was just thinking about the hand.’ Jessica didn’t want to admit it but the finger that arrived in the post had troubled her more than she wanted to let on. At the time she had been so engrossed in having January in reception and trying to shield the object from view that it hadn’t really sunk in what had happened. Someone had cut a human hand off and left it in a public place, then sent them a finger as if to emphasise the point. Then, within days, a second hand had been left. Jessica had dreamed of the finger for two nights in a row and the squelching sound it made as it fell to the floor. She generally thought of herself as having a strong stomach for the job but, for whatever reason, it was getting to her.