Rugby town centre, since I'd spent many days and nights on foot patrol there when I was back in uniform.
'Excuse me…'
I waited impatiently for the smiling young girl serving Lee to acknowledge my presence, but it took her a moment to finish fluttering her eyelashes at him for long enough to register my voice.
'Could you turn this up please, there's something I want to hear for a minute.'
She nodded and produced a remote control from under the counter, turning it up just enough for me to catch the detail of the report.
‘Local people are baffled as to why this particular building, home to the solicitors firm Johns Gilbert and Frankton, was targeted, but the firebomb almost completely destroyed the premises before fire-fighters were able to get it back under control.’
Lee wandered back over with a plate of croissants, Belgian buns and chocolate twists, looking up at the screen to see what had piqued my interest.
'The coffees are coming over in a minute. What's up?'
He set the plate down in front of me and helped himself to a croissant.
'Can you think of any earthly reason why somebody would want to destroy a solicitor's office?'
I eyed up one of the Belgian buns and then changed my mind and went for a chocolate twist.
'Lord knows I've wanted to every time they get some little scumbag off the hook to continue leaving a trail of destruction. But, no, it's not something you see everyday, I suppose.'
We didn't get chance to continue the conversation, as both of our phones began to ring in unison.
Chapter 21
The scene in Doctor Hardwick's office was horrifying.
Thick clots of gore had been smeared across the impressive bank of certificates on his wall and a fine spray of blood seemed to coat every available surface. I could almost taste it in the air. The windows had been left open all around the vast house, and fat summer flies danced a lazy bloated waltz around what was left of the Doctors face. I fought hard not to look at it again, but found that I was unable to keep my eyes off his corpse for more than a few moments at a time, and eventually opted to leave the room to compare notes with the crime scene investigators.
'Any initial thoughts?'
I walked up to the giant form of John Dent, who was filling out labels for items of potential evidential value that he'd seized.
'Well, don't quote me on it yet, but I'd say that he's definitely dead.'
He grinned, showing off teeth the size and general colour of tombstones.
'Why do you think he took out the eyes and tongue?'
I tried again, hoping for some spark of an idea that might tell me what the doctor's death was all about.
'If you wanted to be literal about it, it could be punishment for something he'd seen and then talked about, perhaps. Then again, he came into contact with a lot of crazies, so it could just be that they had a fixation and decided to keep those parts as trophies. You tell me, you're the Detective, I'm just here to clean up.'
Dent looked thoughtful as he replied. Many people find him caustic and difficult at times, but I didn't think there was any real malice behind the words, just statement of fact.
'Thanks John, believe it or not I think you just helped.'
I smiled at his furrowing brow.
'I assure you it was completely unintentional, Wade, so don't go spreading that around, I've got a rep to maintain.'
We were disturbed by the sound of footsteps approaching. Lee holding a plastic wallet with an envelope inside. The neat lettering on the front was immediately familiar.
'It was him.'
He didn't need to elaborate on who he was talking about, but I mentally struggled to reconcile the carnage in the office with the controlled and staged scenes that we'd grown accustomed to at the Grey Man's previous murders.
'If it was then this was entirely different for him. There was nothing in there that looked controlled to me this time.'
I thought about the pulp that now constituted a face, with empty hollows as eyes and a tongueless
'Excuse me…'
I waited impatiently for the smiling young girl serving Lee to acknowledge my presence, but it took her a moment to finish fluttering her eyelashes at him for long enough to register my voice.
'Could you turn this up please, there's something I want to hear for a minute.'
She nodded and produced a remote control from under the counter, turning it up just enough for me to catch the detail of the report.
‘Local people are baffled as to why this particular building, home to the solicitors firm Johns Gilbert and Frankton, was targeted, but the firebomb almost completely destroyed the premises before fire-fighters were able to get it back under control.’
Lee wandered back over with a plate of croissants, Belgian buns and chocolate twists, looking up at the screen to see what had piqued my interest.
'The coffees are coming over in a minute. What's up?'
He set the plate down in front of me and helped himself to a croissant.
'Can you think of any earthly reason why somebody would want to destroy a solicitor's office?'
I eyed up one of the Belgian buns and then changed my mind and went for a chocolate twist.
'Lord knows I've wanted to every time they get some little scumbag off the hook to continue leaving a trail of destruction. But, no, it's not something you see everyday, I suppose.'
We didn't get chance to continue the conversation, as both of our phones began to ring in unison.
Chapter 21
The scene in Doctor Hardwick's office was horrifying.
Thick clots of gore had been smeared across the impressive bank of certificates on his wall and a fine spray of blood seemed to coat every available surface. I could almost taste it in the air. The windows had been left open all around the vast house, and fat summer flies danced a lazy bloated waltz around what was left of the Doctors face. I fought hard not to look at it again, but found that I was unable to keep my eyes off his corpse for more than a few moments at a time, and eventually opted to leave the room to compare notes with the crime scene investigators.
'Any initial thoughts?'
I walked up to the giant form of John Dent, who was filling out labels for items of potential evidential value that he'd seized.
'Well, don't quote me on it yet, but I'd say that he's definitely dead.'
He grinned, showing off teeth the size and general colour of tombstones.
'Why do you think he took out the eyes and tongue?'
I tried again, hoping for some spark of an idea that might tell me what the doctor's death was all about.
'If you wanted to be literal about it, it could be punishment for something he'd seen and then talked about, perhaps. Then again, he came into contact with a lot of crazies, so it could just be that they had a fixation and decided to keep those parts as trophies. You tell me, you're the Detective, I'm just here to clean up.'
Dent looked thoughtful as he replied. Many people find him caustic and difficult at times, but I didn't think there was any real malice behind the words, just statement of fact.
'Thanks John, believe it or not I think you just helped.'
I smiled at his furrowing brow.
'I assure you it was completely unintentional, Wade, so don't go spreading that around, I've got a rep to maintain.'
We were disturbed by the sound of footsteps approaching. Lee holding a plastic wallet with an envelope inside. The neat lettering on the front was immediately familiar.
'It was him.'
He didn't need to elaborate on who he was talking about, but I mentally struggled to reconcile the carnage in the office with the controlled and staged scenes that we'd grown accustomed to at the Grey Man's previous murders.
'If it was then this was entirely different for him. There was nothing in there that looked controlled to me this time.'
I thought about the pulp that now constituted a face, with empty hollows as eyes and a tongueless
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