Jessica was still trying to concentrate on breathing but panic was beginning to set in. The knife was on the ground mere inches away but her body wouldn’t move.
Edward stood and moved to stand directly in front of her. ‘Right, to business,’ he said, clapping his hands. ‘I know it’s a bit of a cliché but I figure you may as well go out actually knowing what’s gone on, so what the hell. I’ve got to be quick though because I’ve got a body to bury and a car to get rid of, though you already know that.’
The man’s cheeriness was incredibly unsettling and he continued speaking in the same tone. ‘Right, here goes. I am your woman in black. It was pretty funny actually when I saw those headlines. At first, it was just a disguise but then I realised it really had confused you. I was a bit pissed off with those robbers who stole my disguise but I guess it didn’t do any long-term harm. Either way, I dress up in women’s clothing now and then, so what? I might have to have “words” with my nosy neighbour though. I know the city pretty well and, once you realise where the cameras are, it’s pretty easy to get out of places without being spotted.’ He paused for a moment, then added, ‘Any questions?’
Jessica couldn’t have spoken even if she’d wanted to. Edward smiled. ‘No, right, well, it was me who reconciled with Charlie. The guy’s a complete dick; I bet you didn’t know that. I was the one who looked after Dad and he left me the house. Charlie whined on about his share and then pissed off to London. I got in touch a few months ago and gave him a sob story about signing over half the house and making up and so on but it was just because I needed him for this. He was the key one because I wanted the story to come out about what they’d done to Samantha but I couldn’t do everything as Edward because you lot would know it was me. So I came up with the idea of killing “me” off and becoming Charlie. That way you’d have no way of knowing I was involved. Well, in theory anyway.’
Jessica found his tone and mood difficult to judge. He spoke about the killings in a matter-of-fact voice with no emotion at all. He seemed almost put out by the entire affair and, although he clearly intended to do her harm, he almost seemed regretful about the whole thing.
He began to speak more quickly, clearly becoming impatient. ‘You probably want to know why I sent you the fingers. I should really apologise because it can’t have been nice to get something like that in the post, especially when a big package arrives. Whenever the post van turns up, I always get a little excited wondering what’s inside. I feel like a kid again whenever something with my name shows up that I haven’t specifically ordered. Anyway, sorry about that. It was just because I didn’t want you to forget. That was the reason I gave the thumbs-up and waved at the camera too – I wanted you to find the reason for it all so people would know. I figured you might have been struggling to identify everyone and I wanted to keep you interested. I couldn’t make it too obvious, which is why I used the fingers and called you over for that first picture. It almost worked out.’
Edward tapped his hand on the floor as if wondering what else he should say. ‘Umm,’ he muttered to himself, tutting. ‘Right, I suppose the only other thing is to tell you why.’ He stood, pacing a couple of times before sitting directly in front of Jessica. He moved the knife away from her and made sure her eyes could meet his. She had no choice but to look at him.
He lowered his tone and his voice cracked a couple of times as he spoke. ‘I was a virgin, you know. I met Samantha on holiday and we had a really good time. We’d talked about meeting up again when we got back to England. She was the first girl who ever really showed much interest in me. I know you know most of this now about the attack on her. I wanted to tell them to stop but Jacob was so much bigger than me. I didn’t know what to do; I was just some scrawny kid.’
Edward looked away, then met Jessica’s eye again. He sniffed and then spoke even more quietly; his demeanour had changed completely from being breezy and cheerful to sounding far more solemn. ‘I wasn’t always like this. You know in “The Shining” when Jack Nicholson goes a bit crazy in a big house on his own? I’ve felt a bit like that since Dad died. I’ve got all this space and don’t know what to do. I paint and cook but it’s only for me.’
He paused for a moment. ‘I’ve not had a girlfriend since Sam. The dressing up is just for show. Manchester’s the right place to be for all of that with other men but I don’t really know what I am. I started to think all of this through about a year ago. I figured that, if I could make the other men pay for what they did to Sam, maybe I would be able to get over it too? It took ages to find out where everyone was but the Internet’s a wonderful thing. After that, I had the problem of it being obvious it was me. That’s when I thought of using Charlie too. Believe it or not, after all the planning, it really wasn’t that hard.’
Edward stood again, sounding a little cheerier. ‘I think that’s everything. At least you should be happy now.’ He played with the knife before putting it back down and muttering under his breath, ‘Bit messy’. He made a ‘hmm’ noise then began to speak again. ‘Sorry about all of this, I’ve never done it like this before. The men were easy because it all happened in the storage unit which was easy to clean out.’
Jessica continued to try to move but her body refused to respond to her commands. Her arms and legs felt heavy and she couldn’t shift them. She didn’t know any of the correct medical terms but Edward had clearly gone mad. She could perhaps just about understand his motive but everything had been exacerbated by his isolation. Jessica wondered about the effect of seeing his girlfriend assaulted and how it had changed him. It sounded as if he were just a normal teenager before that but now he had turned into a killer whose moods shifted drastically.
He was clearly artistic and clever, while everything must have taken a huge degree of planning. Somewhere along the way, though, he had lost his conscience. The casual way he was talking about getting rid of her but being unsure how to do it was almost as disconcerting as the fact he was happy to kill an innocent person. Jessica tried to keep herself cool and focused on trying to move her right arm. She could twitch it ever so slightly more than she could before but still nowhere near enough to do anything of note. It was hard to stay calm but she realised getting frustrated would do no good either.
The man was still muttering to himself but quickly stopped pacing, turning to look directly at Jessica. Everything that had happened in the previous minutes almost felt as if it were occurring to someone else but, for the first time, Jessica felt genuine fear at the steel in Edward’s eyes. Something had changed in his thought process.
‘You do look rather pretty sat there all helpless,’ he said. His tone was level and Jessica felt a chill go down her back. It was the most feeling she’d had in a while. ‘The others were all men and not for me but it would be such a waste to leave you there.’
Edward reached towards the belt that was holding up his linen trousers and started to undo it. ‘At least we can have a bit of fun before you have to say goodbye,’ he said casually. ‘Given the reason all of this has happened, it’d be fairly apt, don’t you think?’
36
Suddenly realising the horror of what Edward intended, Jessica tried as hard as she could to move her limbs. Her legs weren’t responding but her right arm had a tiny amount of motion, although barely enough to lift it. She wanted to scream but no sound came out. The man dropped his trousers and Jessica tried not to look at him, closing her eyes tightly.