A Room Full of Killers, Michael Wood [best books for students to read txt] 📗

Kate stood up and went over to the small window in the corner of the room which looked over the rear of Starling House and the well-kept sprawling grounds. The window had bars on the outside and Matilda noticed several locks on the inside.

‘DCI Darke, I’m sorry. I’m not being very helpful at all, am I? But you must see this from my point of view. I appointed the staff here so if I hired a murderer then I will feel just as guilty. My position will be untenable and I do not want to have to give this job up.’

‘Kate, you have no reason to blame yourself. You said that staff often have trouble seeing a young, fresh-faced teenager as a killer. The same thing happens with an adult too.’ Jonathan Harkness came into her mind. She had no idea he was a murderer when she first met the young man who was frightened of his own shadow and lived in self-induced isolation. Admitting it to herself was incredibly difficult and it took a while to come to terms with. Matilda had liked Jonathan. She had a great deal of sympathy for him. She often wondered, had she met him twenty years earlier, would she have been able to save him, prevent him from committing his crimes? Maybe. But that brings up the question of whether killers are born or created.

TWENTY-EIGHT

There was a knock on the door. Dr Henrik Klein was preparing himself for anyone who might want to come for a chat. He imagined, after the murder, several of the inmates would want to talk. He didn’t expect to be troubled so soon after arriving.

‘Come in,’ he called.

The door opened and a young man popped his head into the room.

‘Would it be possible to have a quick word?’

‘Of course. Come on in.’ He had never seen this man before. He was tall and good-looking with a dishevelled hairstyle which probably took a while to perfect every morning. This was not an inmate of Starling House.

‘I’m DC Rory Fleming from South Yorkshire Police. I’d like to ask your advice, if I may?’

‘Is this to do with the murder?’

‘No. This is purely me wanting to ask a question. It’s totally off the record.’

‘I see.’ Henrik looked bewildered. ‘Well, come on in. Sit down.’

Rory did as he was told. He seemed nervous as he unbuttoned his suit jacket, smoothed out his tie, adjusted his collar, swept away imaginable dust from his trousers and tucked his hair behind his ears.

‘What is it you wanted to ask me?’ Henrik prompted.

‘Well,’ Rory cleared his throat, ‘can you tell me … how a murderer becomes a murderer?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘These boys in here … I keep remembering what I was like at the age of fourteen and fifteen. I was out on my bike all the time, and I played a lot of football. It never occurred to me to kill someone.’

‘Is this your first murder investigation?’

‘No.’

‘Why are you questioning this now?’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘You’ll have met a number of killers in your career. Did you often wonder what made them become a killer?’

Rory frowned while he thought. ‘No.’

‘So why now?’

‘Because a fourteen-year-old boy shouldn’t be a killer,’ Rory almost snapped.

‘You’re right. He shouldn’t. From my point of view, you were the ideal teenager: you rode your bike and played sports – that’s what a fourteen-year-old should be doing.’

‘So why did these boys become killers?’

‘Every case is different. However, it depends on your own theory of whether you believe a killer is born or created.’

Rory leaned on the arm rest, his head being supported by his left arm. This subject was obviously weighing heavily on his mind and it was having a deep effect on him. ‘I don’t believe a child is born evil.’

Henrik smiled, although it was difficult to see under his moustache. ‘Neither do I. Young people who kill tend to fit into one of three categories: the large majority of them will have been abused or witnessed abuse. Maybe their father abused them or their mother and they were protecting the mother from the father. Things escalated and the father ended up dead. It is this situation, where the young person is subjected to abuse, that is the most common. They’re fighting back.

‘The second category is if the young person is mentally ill and they haven’t received any or sufficient treatment for their illness. Detecting a mental illness in a child is difficult as, more often than not, a parent will put their child’s behaviour down to hormones and the perils of being a teenager.

‘The third category is where the young person has a long history of severe antisocial behaviour. They will be difficult for the parent to control at home and for teachers at school. They will be emotionally detached, cruel to others, insensitive and incredibly thick-skinned.’

Henrik paused and watched Rory’s expression while he took in what he said. He seemed an intelligent and capable young man. It was clear he was listening.

‘Most of the boys here seem to have killed their parents. Is that normal? Well, I know it’s not normal, obviously, what I mean is … is it …?’

Henrik smiled again. ‘I know what you mean. Like I said, the majority of children who kill will kill a parent or relative because they’re being abused or witnessing abuse. If a child is mentally ill, they will see their parents as being in the way. There was a case in France last year. A sixteen-year-old boy asked his parents for some money so he could meet a girl he had been chatting to online. They refused so he shot them. He also killed his two younger brothers and the family pets too. He then stole money from his father’s bank account and caught a train to meet the girl. He was arrested when he returned home as if nothing had happened. When the police interviewed the girl he’d gone to meet