‘This is my last visit,’ Ruby said, her gaze firmly on Mason Gatley. The piped music and floral scents of the psychiatric unit were just a memory as they sat on their hard, unforgiving prison chairs.

‘Really?’ Pushing up the sleeves of his sweater, Mason displayed an array of tattoos on his skin. ‘And here was me, thinking we’d become best friends.’

Ruby felt tense, unsettled. She had not expected this kind of whimsical response. But people like Mason could explode without a moment’s notice. She had to get this out of the way. ‘I heard you had a cell search. It wasn’t me who dobbed you in.’

‘I know that,’ he said. ‘At least, I know now.’

Ruby frowned. She had come here to ask for Abby’s whereabouts, but his words drew her in. His stay in the psychiatric unit had been short-lived. Was his illness part of an elaborate ploy? ‘How so?’ she said, her words steeped in cynicism.

‘I had a visit from your boyfriend. He set a few things straight.’

‘Nathan came here?’ Ruby’s eyebrows shot up. Was he bluffing? Nathan hated institutions of any kind. It would take a lot for him to come in person. How did he gain entry for starters?

‘You’re not the only one able to pull strings around here,’ Mason said. ‘No need to worry. Boundaries have been laid. We didn’t come to blows over you.’

‘Look, I don’t have time for this. There’s another woman missing and I need to know where she is.’ She hated the pleading sound of her voice but she had switched tack for a reason. She had to take the focus off her personal life and onto the task in hand. She could speak to Nathan later. Nothing else mattered while Abby and her baby were at risk.

‘You don’t have time?’ Mason said, his chair creaking as he leaned forward and delivered a chilling stare. ‘Baby, time with me is all you have. If you haven’t caught the killer by now then I’m the best lead you’ve got.’

‘Really?’ Ruby said, amused that, for once, she knew something he didn’t. But Mason was still talking. A speech he had no doubt rehearsed before she came.

‘While I’m holding all the cards you are at my mercy. So let’s cut to the chase. I’ve come up with a list of demands. Something to put me in the mood to talk.’

‘You can keep your list,’ Ruby said, ‘because I don’t need it. Our suspect has opened up about you; he’s having a good laugh at your expense.’ She pursed her lips. She could have told him about his son’s arrest, used that angle to taunt him. But sharing such sensitive information at this stage of the investigation could have her removed from the case. She was not done squeezing Mason Gatley yet.

Mason’s expression darkened as Ruby’s words had the desired effect. ‘He’s not called the filth. He wouldn’t dare.’

Ruby gave him a knowing glance. She knew she was playing with fire, but with James still in custody, what did she have to lose? Mason gave her a hotel address once before. Could she fool him into helping her again? ‘I didn’t say who he was in touch with, just that he’s opened a line of communication. I think he’s missing the attention. He feels he deserves more media coverage than he’s been getting.’

‘So he’s been speaking to journalists,’ Mason said bitterly. ‘Trying to make a name for himself.’

Ruby did not correct him. ‘He’s had plenty to say.’

‘You’re bluffing.’ Mason’s mouth curled in a sneer. ‘I warned him not to contact the press.’

Slowly Ruby inhaled a breath, instilling her best poker face. She was not surprised Mason Gatley told his protégé to stay out of the limelight. He wanted the attention reserved solely for himself.

‘I wasn’t bluffing when I told you about Thomas,’ Ruby said. ‘Seems you’ve backed the wrong horse to carry on your name. I have some of the transcriptions of his calls. Apparently he falls into a little Scottish accent when he gets passionate about things.’

Mason was shaking his head, but Ruby knew by the thunder crossing his face that her comment about the Scottish accent had hit home. Did James have a Scottish drawl? There was nothing in his background to suggest he had ever lived there. All the same, she had hit a raw nerve. She licked her lips, trying to remain calm while her heart was beating double time. ‘He really opened up. Used the child abuse angle, can you believe it? Turns out he wants us to feel sorry for him. They say abuse runs in families. I know you said you killed for fun but who knows what the press will make out of this one?’

Ruby jumped as Mason brought down both his fists on the table. A broad shouldered member of staff took two steps towards them only to pause as Ruby raised her hand to implore for a few seconds more.

‘I’m the one in control here, not you,’ Mason raged, his eyes alight with fury. ‘I am not some pathetic weakling begging some journo for scraps. Did you see the pictures of my victims? That’s nothing compared to what I could do to you.’

Ruby held up her hands in a gesture of mock surrender. She sat tall, her voice firm, but beneath the table, her leg trembled as a shot of adrenalin flowed through her veins. ‘Would you prefer that I say nothing? I’m doing you a favour. It’s better you’re prepared, before all the juicy details hit the press.’

The air seemed to thicken between them as Mason clenched and unclenched his fists. ‘It’s not going to. Because you’re going to stop that little bastard before he goes any further. If you weren’t so incompetent you would have arrested him by now.’

Ruby snorted. ‘You’re the one withholding information. If you want him stopped then you know what you have to do.’ She prodded the table with her finger. ‘Think about the headlines. They’ll print a story about abuse victims and tar you both with the same brush.’

‘You’re lying. Why the fuck would a cop want to help someone like me?’ Suspicion narrowed Mason’s eyes.

Ruby gave a one shouldered shrug, resisting the urge to recoil. He had leaned in so close to her that she could smell his last meal on his breath. ‘You know who my boyfriend is. Call it honour among thieves. In prison, reputation is everything. The press is baying for a story. I can stop it, but only if we catch him in time.’

‘He’s nothing, nothing but a plaything.’ Mason’s frown deepened as he turned his thoughts inward. ‘I’m not having that little runt making out he’s better than me.’

‘Give me the name and a hotel address. I’ll shut this down for good. Soon you’ll be talking to them face-to-face. I give you my word,’ Ruby said. They were big promises but time was running out. She could feel the answers drawing near. Mason would not have cooperated if she told him his son was in custody. He would not have cared about the woman tied up in a hotel room. The only way to get answers was to make Mason feel that he would be made to look a fool.

‘Don’t you see?’ Mason said. ‘Talk about dropping clues. I’ve been talking to him face-to-face all this time.’

Ruby shook her head. ‘No, you haven’t. I’ve drilled down through all of the patients, visitors and inmates that you’ve shared time with, and none of them were released that recently. They couldn’t have been there to carry out the crimes.’ She thought about Nathan’s visit and imagined his name being added to that list.

‘They’re not inmates or patients,’ Mason said. ‘They never were.’

Ruby’s mind was racing now as she searched for answers. ‘We’ve interviewed the staff. None of them worked both the prison and the mental institution.’

‘Who else has free passage, someone who can come and go as they please. Someone who doesn’t need a visiting order? Someone who could talk to me alone.’

Precious seconds ticked away as Ruby worked it out. She inhaled sharply as the answers finally dawned. ‘I know who it is,’ she gasped, the answers becoming clear. ‘But it can’t be. Not him.’ She cupped her mouth with her hand. She had spoken to the killer face-to-face. The very last person she imagined to be involved in such a thing.

‘But it is. The person you’d least expect,’ Mason replied, eerily voicing her thoughts. ‘It was fascinating dealing with him, watching him become aroused when I confessed my crimes. ‘There was no censorship between us. I even inspired him to do more.’

‘But now he’s gone too far, filled with his own sense of self-importance,’ Ruby replied. ‘I can’t believe he played me.’

Mason leaned forward, his eyes ice cold. ‘And now I want you to take him down. I would so love to see him again.’