SUNDAY

One week earlier.

He could never quite explain the combination of emotions that ran through him at the sight of his wife nursing their infant child. But then he supposed that some things were better off not explained but simply felt. He watched from the doorway as Lindsay ran her hand down Rob's cheek, watched his brow crinkle in concentration and his little hand fist at her breast. As if sensing his presence she looked up through tired eyes and smiled at him.

"What are you doing up?"

He shrugged and abandoned his position near the door in favour of resting against the changing table "I couldn't sleep and when I noticed you were no longer beside me, I thought I'd come and find you and…." He gestured with his head "Offer my assistance"

She smiled, as he'd meant her to as she looked down at the baby guzzling his breakfast "I don't think this is anything you can assist me with"

"I haven't got the right equipment, hey?"

She lifted Rob up, swapped sides and watched as he settled back down "I don't believe so"

"Well then how about if I just offer company?"

"That'd be nice"

He moved to settle into a more comfortable position and thought life, quite possibly didn't get any better than this.

* * *

In another part of the city, another man was thinking exactly the same thing.

He wandered slowly around the basement of the small house he'd recently purchased. Paid for in cash, because nobody could ever say that Edmund Harrison didn't learn from his mistakes. There'd be no paper trail to follow him this time. No clues to his whereabouts except the ones he'd reveal. This time the game would be played with his rules. He'd lost last time, partly due to over confidence and partly, he liked to think, because of bad luck but that wouldn't happen now, nine years in prison had given him ample time to refect upon his mistakes and ample time to figure out how to correct them. This time he was playing to win and he'd be damned if he didn't. He was almost certain he'd covered all of his bases, but he wasn't overly worried about it, if he hadn't, he thought, he'd just cover them as he went along. He was ten times smarter than anyone else anyway.

That thought cheered him immensely and put him back in the good spirits he'd been in when he'd woken, keen to start the day. He hummed to himself as he picked up a sheet of the specially designed foam he'd ordered under an assumed name and again paid cash for. He raised the staple gun to the wall and firmly attached the sheet, then stood back to survey his handy work. Yes it would do, he decided, it would do just fine, when he was finished the room would be barricaded against sound. Insulated against people who would pry into his business. He chose another sheet and attached it to the wall and then another, until the entire room was covered in the foam. There were small windows about three quarters of the way up the wall, where the front lawn of the house met the wall of the basement, but he covered those as well. He didn't need air from that source, he'd thought of another method, indeed he was sure he'd thought of everything.

When he was finished he took out the small radio he'd brought with him, turned the volume onto full and covered his ears as the sound blasted out. He detested loud noise, but the experiment was necessary. Hurriedly he reached for the latch on the door, now nearly obscured by the covering he'd just added and he wrenched it open. For a brief second the noise followed him out until he secured it firmly behind him. He felt the silence wash over him.

His experiment was a success.

He allowed himself only a brief moment of self congratulations, before opening the door again, turning off the infernal noise and exiting the room. He couldn't get too over confident at this stage, hadn't that been his downfall before? Little errors that had lead to his capture before the game could be concluded. But that wouldn't happen this time, this time he'd do things right. Still, he couldn't shake his happy mood as he wandered into the kitchen to prepare breakfast, things were going so nicely. Although he knew he still had a lot to do before he was ready to play.

He still needed to choose his prey.

* * *