P.D. Martin - The Murderers Club

P.D. Martin

Martins s

A taut and terrific debut novelMartin is a real find.

Cant wait to read her next.

Womens Weekly

Well-researchedthe intense first-person narration has enough twists and turns to keep forensics fans turning the pages.

Publishers Weekly

A great, gripping read.

Womans Day

P.D. Martin has done a terrific job presenting a smart, sassy, serial-killer-in-our-midst story.

News Weekly

P.D. Martinticks all the right boxes.

Sydney Morning Herald

Martins debut is truly superb, combining enough procedural details to satisfy CSI junkies with humor, emotion and a generous number of chills.

Romantic Times BOOKreviews (4 stars)

Gripping.

Herald Sun

Also by

BOD Y COUNT

AND COMING SOON IN JULY 2009

F AN MAIL

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, Id like to thank my agent Elaine Koster and everyone at MIRA Books, especially Margaret Marbury, Selina McLemore, Linda McFall, the design team and the sales and marketing teams.

For their advice and professional insights Id like to thank the FBI; ex-FBI agent and profiler Candice de Long; forensic pathologist Shelley Robertson; author and medical practitioner Kathryn Fox; Paul Spencely for some IT help; Guy Franklin for his Web and video-streaming expertise; Tom Cook (via Aislinn Kerr) for some helicopter facts; and firearms instructor Phil Harden. Any mistakes are mine and mine alone.

Id also like to thank Gil Broadway of Australian Tiger and Crane Kung Fu for the training; Gillian Ramsay and Momentum Technologies Group for my Web site (www.pdmartin.com.au); and Sisters in Crime for their support.

Big thanks also go to my test readersKeir Paterson, Kathryn Deans, Marlo Garnsworthy, Martina McKeon, Avril Baxter, Adele Whish-Wilson and Kirsty Badcock.

Id also like to thank my fantastic friends and family for their continuing support and faith in me.

Last, but certainly not least, Id like to thank all my readers for their interest in my leading lady Sophie Anderson, and for the wonderful feedback.

A few weeks ago

BlackWidow has entered the room.

AmericanPsycho: Welcome, BlackWidow, youre the last of our little groupand the only woman.

BlackWidow: Sorry Im late. Have I missed anything?

AmericanPsycho: No. Weve only been online for a minute or so.

BlackWidow: Good.

DialM: So, how do we start?

NeverCaught: Yeah, lets get down to the good stuff.

AmericanPsycho: Today is mostly orientation.

NeverCaught: Okay, shoot.

AmericanPsycho: First up is security. Ive set the system up for our protection, but I need to know youve followed my security demands. Did you all follow the instructions in your member packs?

DialM: Certainly.

NeverCaught: Sure.

BlackWidow: Yes.

AmericanPsycho: Great. Thats the first line of our defenseyour laptops are all specially fitted out.

NeverCaught: Yup, the instructions are clear.

AmericanPsycho: The rest of the security Ive handled from my end. We can never be too careful.

NeverCaught: Good. I want to stay never caught.

AmericanPsycho: Ive also set up a filter program that will pick up certain words, like your occupations, all of your real names, cities, states, etc. and replace any suspect text with a random number of ***. Theres a two-second delay to accommodate the censoring.

NeverCaught: Awesome.

AmericanPsycho: Secrecy must be our paramount concern AT ALL TIMES. No talking, no bragging, nothing, to anyone but us, online. Here you are safe.

Here you can say whatever you want. Feel free to indulge your darkest fantasies in the safety of our select group. All contact must be via this chat room. Never try to contact me, or each other, by any other means, including the other chat rooms we frequent. Ill keep posting news and the sites also got the online profiles.

Plus of course the main feature, video streaming. Questions?

DialM: Thank you, AmericanPsycho. That seems clear enough.

BlackWidow: What about the FBI and this site?

AmericanPsycho: The site uses the latest in data security and encryption and it will be almost impossible for anyone, including the FBI, to hack into itat least not without me getting an alert. But nothings impene

trable. If it comes to that, Ive got all sorts of security backups. And dont forgetif something is up, follow the emergency instructions in your pack.

NeverCaught: Gotcha.

AmericanPsycho: Okay, thats the boring part done.

Now we just have to waitonly a few weeks to go. The construction is nearly finished.

NeverCaught: Excellent.

AmericanPsycho: Any other questions? Comments?

NeverCaught: Yes. One. YOU know our names!

AmericanPsycho: Yes, me, and only me. But your secrets are safe with me. I am the President of the Club.

I hold my Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic in front of me, legs shoulder-width apart, and line up the guns sights, aiming at his chestthe heart to be precise. The middle sight is pointed squarely at the target, and the outer sights are horizontally level. I take a breath, hold it and squeeze the trigger. The gun recoils, but after each backward motion I readjust my aim and fire again. I empty my whole magazineeight shotsand revel in the muffled yet rhythmic clickclickclick as my shells are thrown onto the ground near my feet.

Nice grouping, Anderson.

I jump slightly, instinctively tightening the already firm grip on my gun. My rational mind wins out over my impulses and I resist the temptation to swing the gun around and point it. I turn to see Andy Rivers, the head of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, standing next to me. I relax my grip. Riverss dark, wiry hair is offset by patches of gray at his temples, the only sign that timeor perhaps stressis catching up with him. In his midforties, hes been the head of the unit for nearly ten years, and I dont imagine hell be leaving any time soon. Hes too good at his job. I take off my earmuffs and goggles and the muffled world returns to normal.

Hi, boss. I look back at my target and the bullet holes clustered around the heart. Thanks.

Im standing in booth twelve of one of the FBIs firing ranges at Quantico, Virginia. Our unit is part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes

NCAVCand we get to share the FBI Academys three hundred and eighty-five acres with new recruits and several other active units. The impressive complex includes three dormitories, a dining room, a library, an au-ditorium, a chapel, a gym, a large running track, a defensive-driving track, several firing ranges and the famous Hogans Alleya simulated town. Over the past year, since I started with the Bureau, Ive spent a lot of time hereits home now.

I push the button in my booth that initiates the pulley system and the target sails toward me. The range consists of fifteen booths, each with a pulley system to move the targets backward and forwardfrom the booth to the twenty-five or fifty-yard mark. When I first came to the States I was constantly converting to metric, but now Im used to the American way. The targets contain the impression of a person, an outline of someones upper body in black ink. My paper target arrives and I take a closer look.