mouth stretched wide open, frozen into an agonised final scream. Yes he was a vicious psychopathic sadist, he excised chunks of flesh from still living victims and then cooked and ate it in front of them, but everything that we’d seen before was done in an altogether more orderly fashion. This was a different kind of butchery, not simply about excising the tasty parts. The Doctor pissed him off.
‘That answers the question about where the other bits of his face went anyway. If we can come up with something clever to explain what happened this time round then we’ll stand an infinitely better chance of catching him. Anybody got any ideas?’
Lee looked thoughtful as he spoke, looking in my general direction but straight through me at the same time.
‘The most obvious one is that he didn’t like the psych profile. Perhaps it was too close to the truth for comfort and he started to view the Doctor as a threat?’
John Dent offered over the top of his considerable shoulder, as he stuck the last of his labels on a container and then walked away.
‘Maybe, but after my chat with Hardwick I’d put my pension on it that he was hiding something, and that profile was just all wrong on every level. I guess it could be that the killer was offended by the press release, most psychopaths have egos the size of small planets, and they don’t need excuses to add to their tally.’
I felt that needling feeling that signalled the start of a connection again, but it remained maddeningly just out of reach.
‘He had a computer in his office when I visited, did you see anybody seize it?’
I didn’t see any of the tech guys at the scene, and with John Dent presiding over things, CSI wouldn’t just grab it without making us aware of that. Lee shook his head and frowned.
‘JOHN, JOHN?’
I shouted at the back of Dent who was exiting through the front door and he turned back around. The niggling feeling was growing much stronger now. Whatever had prompted this visit had been on Hardwick’s computer.
Chapter 22
The turmoil after the discovery of Alan Hardwick’s body, and the scrabble for meaning after my subsequent realisation that the Grey Man had taken his personal computer, made me all but forget about my sister’s presence in my house. Lee took the cowards way out and made his excuses at the end of a frustrating extended shift, and left me to return home to deal with her alone. It was starting to get dark as I quietly opened the door and let myself in, so I expected her to be tucked up in bed, at least I hoped she would be. So it would be an understatement to say that I was surprised when she greeted me in the hallway with a glass of wine and ushered me along to the neatly set dining table.
‘I didn’t know when you’d be home, and I didn’t want to bother you at work by calling to ask, so I’ve gone for things that are quite simple to do.’
She fussed around in a flurry of activity before disappearing back into the kitchen. I was already beginning to feel guilty about my blistering appraisal of her to Lee earlier, when she re-emerged with elegantly presented starters on my best plates, and the guilt deepened.
‘It’s pan-seared loin of tuna with a mustard and dill crust on a salad of mixed baby leaves and herbs. The main course is a mixed seafood linguini, you really are spoiled for choice with fresh ingredients around here.’
Momentarily speechless I took a mouthful of the fish and started to chew. It was absolutely delicious.
‘When did you learn to cook like this? It’s superb, by the way, thank you.’
I avoided meeting her eyes, trying hard to hang on to my resentment towards her uninvited intrusion into my world, and not wanting to watch her smile with pleasure at the first complement I’d given her in recent memory.
‘David adores fine food and drink, he’s practically obsessive about it, and my initial efforts when we first got together weren’t entirely palatable! So I took
‘That answers the question about where the other bits of his face went anyway. If we can come up with something clever to explain what happened this time round then we’ll stand an infinitely better chance of catching him. Anybody got any ideas?’
Lee looked thoughtful as he spoke, looking in my general direction but straight through me at the same time.
‘The most obvious one is that he didn’t like the psych profile. Perhaps it was too close to the truth for comfort and he started to view the Doctor as a threat?’
John Dent offered over the top of his considerable shoulder, as he stuck the last of his labels on a container and then walked away.
‘Maybe, but after my chat with Hardwick I’d put my pension on it that he was hiding something, and that profile was just all wrong on every level. I guess it could be that the killer was offended by the press release, most psychopaths have egos the size of small planets, and they don’t need excuses to add to their tally.’
I felt that needling feeling that signalled the start of a connection again, but it remained maddeningly just out of reach.
‘He had a computer in his office when I visited, did you see anybody seize it?’
I didn’t see any of the tech guys at the scene, and with John Dent presiding over things, CSI wouldn’t just grab it without making us aware of that. Lee shook his head and frowned.
‘JOHN, JOHN?’
I shouted at the back of Dent who was exiting through the front door and he turned back around. The niggling feeling was growing much stronger now. Whatever had prompted this visit had been on Hardwick’s computer.
Chapter 22
The turmoil after the discovery of Alan Hardwick’s body, and the scrabble for meaning after my subsequent realisation that the Grey Man had taken his personal computer, made me all but forget about my sister’s presence in my house. Lee took the cowards way out and made his excuses at the end of a frustrating extended shift, and left me to return home to deal with her alone. It was starting to get dark as I quietly opened the door and let myself in, so I expected her to be tucked up in bed, at least I hoped she would be. So it would be an understatement to say that I was surprised when she greeted me in the hallway with a glass of wine and ushered me along to the neatly set dining table.
‘I didn’t know when you’d be home, and I didn’t want to bother you at work by calling to ask, so I’ve gone for things that are quite simple to do.’
She fussed around in a flurry of activity before disappearing back into the kitchen. I was already beginning to feel guilty about my blistering appraisal of her to Lee earlier, when she re-emerged with elegantly presented starters on my best plates, and the guilt deepened.
‘It’s pan-seared loin of tuna with a mustard and dill crust on a salad of mixed baby leaves and herbs. The main course is a mixed seafood linguini, you really are spoiled for choice with fresh ingredients around here.’
Momentarily speechless I took a mouthful of the fish and started to chew. It was absolutely delicious.
‘When did you learn to cook like this? It’s superb, by the way, thank you.’
I avoided meeting her eyes, trying hard to hang on to my resentment towards her uninvited intrusion into my world, and not wanting to watch her smile with pleasure at the first complement I’d given her in recent memory.
‘David adores fine food and drink, he’s practically obsessive about it, and my initial efforts when we first got together weren’t entirely palatable! So I took
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