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on end. ‘You think when this book was published it triggered…?’ He used his hand to make a winding motion at the side of his head.
    ‘Who knows? Something had to.’
    Langton nodded, then patted her shoulder. ‘Get over to the offices at the Mirror and the Sun, see what they tossed; meanwhile I’ll bring this up with the team.’
    ‘Okay,’ she said, shutting down the computer, adding, ‘It’s a very popular website.’
    ‘What does that say to you, Anna?’
    She shrugged and again he leaned close to her.
    ‘It says, Anna, that there’s a lot of sick fuckers out there, that’s what it says to me. Who the hell wants to see those mortuary photographs? It should be wiped off the web.’
    ‘We have to find him,’ she murmured.
    ‘You think I don’t know that!’ he snapped.
    ‘It’s just that if he is a copycat murderer, there were two others: the police at the time reckoned they were done by the same killer. If he’s copycatted Elizabeth Short, then what may happen is he’ll go the whole nine yards and kill again.’
    Langton stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets. ‘I hope to Christ you’re wrong.’
    He moved off and she was left feeling slightly depressed, not because he hadn’t at any point praised her good work; it was his closeness. She had wanted some personal response from him, but had received none. It was as if their relationship from the last case had never existed. She mentally shook herself and told herself to get it together; after all, it had been her that had not wanted to continue seeing him. The truth was, there had been no one she had even been remotely interested in since Langton, and she chided herself for letting her old emotions seep back to the surface.
     
    Langton stood in front of the team, holding up the Black Dahlia book. Anna was well on her way to the Mirrors offices by the time he mentioned that DI Travis had brought it to his attention.
    ‘We have a very sick development,’ he said.
    He showed the mortuary photographs of Elizabeth Short to the team.
    ‘This victim was killed in Los Angeles nearly sixty years ago, but pass the book around and look at the way her body had been dismembered. Pay close attention to the mortuary photographs: you will see they are virtually identical to the way we found Louise Pennel. In fact, the entire scenario is crossing over. Their main suspect was described as a tall man, thirty-five to forty-five years old, well dressed and dark-haired. Their suspect was known to have been driving a very expensive automobile!’
    Langton pointed to the Incident board: under WANTED FOR ELIMINATION was their prime suspect. He had been described by Sharon and the dental nurse as tall, dark-haired and wearing an expensive draped coat. Neither woman was able to give the exact make of the car but they described it as large and black, possibly a BMW or a Rover.
    Langton looked into the dregs of his coffee, drained the cup and placed it down. He watched as the officers passed the book around, glancing at his watch. Intermittent gasps punctuated the silence in the room. One detective after another saw the horror they were now investigating mirrored in the black-and-white pictures of the murder that had occurred nearly sixty years ago.
    Langton continued. ‘There were two further murders; both were suspected to be by the same killer. If we are to consider, which I think we have to, that there is some sicko out there emulating this Black Dahlia killer, then it is also possible that he may have already targeted his second victim. Let’s hope to Christ we catch this bastard before he gets the opportunity for his next kill.’
    A murmur erupted from the stunned team as Langton walked over to the coffee machine for a fresh cup. He turned back to the room as Lewis pinned up the old black-and-white picture of Elizabeth Short on the Incident board.
    ‘The press have already compared the two victims, more or less due to the fact Louise Pennel had a flower in her