own pain, her own suffering and her own loss. She’d seen it take her mother’s life and her father’s mind. She’d seen friends and family slowly abandon them. She’d seen their eyes averting hers; the useless gestures of tenderness become less and less frequent. The offers of help withdrawn. The quarantine setting in. The red cross painted on the door. She had seen what crime does to people.
She’d seen it rip her family apart at the seams.
“Are you kidding me?” Ash’s voice shook her away from her thoughts. “Get forensics back on and tell them if I can get here then they can. I want a team here in less than an hour. Eran for Christ’s sake breath into a paper bag or something, can’t you?”
“ Sorry, guv.” Eran held up his hand defensively. “Think I’m allergic to flies.” He waved his hand around pathetically in the direction of the church and staggered away toward the bushes. Alix’s anxiety level jumped up another notch.
Flies mean dead things.
Eran having apparently ruled himself out of being helpful, Ash looked at Keera expectantly. She finished her coffee and threw the cup in a bush.
“She gonna’ be okay, guv?” She nodded at Alix.
“She’ll be fine, S ergeant.”
“ I should have been at the CPS meeting this morning.” Keera sounded pissed. Something close to a wry smile crossed Alix’s lips. She had met Keera Julian before whilst working with Ash. It hadn’t taken her long to sus her out. She glanced down to her feet to make sure they were still there. The cold had stripped her of all feeling.
“Open the door, Keera.” Ash’s tone was patient but firm. Keera shrugged her shoulders, gave one final, curt glance at Alix – looking as if she had eaten something that disagreed with her – and threw open the church doors.
Chapter 20
Deep underground in the basement of the City Hospital where the dead were filed, Ernst Stranger had spent the last fifteen minutes pacing frantically up and down. Occasionally, he dared to glance at the dreadful thing he had unveiled inside a bag that should have contained the body of young, dead girl. He had managed to get his breathing under control and was now trying to work out what to do next.
In ordinary circumstances, Ernst was supposed to report any abnormality to his line manager. In two years, he had done that only once, when he was left with the body of an old man who died from cancer. Ernst had noticed cuts on the wrist and wondered whether anyone else had spotted them.
But Ernst wasn’t supposed to look at the bodies.
Ernst was supposed to just tag them, store them and log them on to the hospital database. Ernst had been shouted at that day. He had almost lost his job. Ernst didn’t want to lose his job. Not again. And the shouting reminded him of the school bullies. He had cut deep into his skin that day. So what else was he supposed to do?
Also, what if this was something to do with him? What if someone knew what he was doing down here in this decaying isolation? What if someone knew about his... his fondness for his subjects? So they sent him a message. A joke, maybe. That was possible. Telling people about it meant he would be caught out. So he wouldn’t tell. He wouldn’t.
Finally, there was also the question of the tag and the message written on it.
Ernst peaked under the bag for the fifth time, hoping desperately that this time he would see the corpse of a young girl and not the mangled wreck of flesh that stared back at him the first time around.
It was a dog, he thought. But its body had been so savagely ripped open that it was no longer recognisable as a dog. It was putrid. An eyeball had been squeezed out of its socket and a large chunk of flesh had been torn away from the creature’s mouth exposing its yellow teeth in a permanent, menacing grin.
He hadn’t noticed it, but he had dug so deeply into the scratch on his neck that fresh blood was freely trickling down the back of his shirt.
She’d seen it rip her family apart at the seams.
“Are you kidding me?” Ash’s voice shook her away from her thoughts. “Get forensics back on and tell them if I can get here then they can. I want a team here in less than an hour. Eran for Christ’s sake breath into a paper bag or something, can’t you?”
“ Sorry, guv.” Eran held up his hand defensively. “Think I’m allergic to flies.” He waved his hand around pathetically in the direction of the church and staggered away toward the bushes. Alix’s anxiety level jumped up another notch.
Flies mean dead things.
Eran having apparently ruled himself out of being helpful, Ash looked at Keera expectantly. She finished her coffee and threw the cup in a bush.
“She gonna’ be okay, guv?” She nodded at Alix.
“She’ll be fine, S ergeant.”
“ I should have been at the CPS meeting this morning.” Keera sounded pissed. Something close to a wry smile crossed Alix’s lips. She had met Keera Julian before whilst working with Ash. It hadn’t taken her long to sus her out. She glanced down to her feet to make sure they were still there. The cold had stripped her of all feeling.
“Open the door, Keera.” Ash’s tone was patient but firm. Keera shrugged her shoulders, gave one final, curt glance at Alix – looking as if she had eaten something that disagreed with her – and threw open the church doors.
Chapter 20
Deep underground in the basement of the City Hospital where the dead were filed, Ernst Stranger had spent the last fifteen minutes pacing frantically up and down. Occasionally, he dared to glance at the dreadful thing he had unveiled inside a bag that should have contained the body of young, dead girl. He had managed to get his breathing under control and was now trying to work out what to do next.
In ordinary circumstances, Ernst was supposed to report any abnormality to his line manager. In two years, he had done that only once, when he was left with the body of an old man who died from cancer. Ernst had noticed cuts on the wrist and wondered whether anyone else had spotted them.
But Ernst wasn’t supposed to look at the bodies.
Ernst was supposed to just tag them, store them and log them on to the hospital database. Ernst had been shouted at that day. He had almost lost his job. Ernst didn’t want to lose his job. Not again. And the shouting reminded him of the school bullies. He had cut deep into his skin that day. So what else was he supposed to do?
Also, what if this was something to do with him? What if someone knew what he was doing down here in this decaying isolation? What if someone knew about his... his fondness for his subjects? So they sent him a message. A joke, maybe. That was possible. Telling people about it meant he would be caught out. So he wouldn’t tell. He wouldn’t.
Finally, there was also the question of the tag and the message written on it.
Ernst peaked under the bag for the fifth time, hoping desperately that this time he would see the corpse of a young girl and not the mangled wreck of flesh that stared back at him the first time around.
It was a dog, he thought. But its body had been so savagely ripped open that it was no longer recognisable as a dog. It was putrid. An eyeball had been squeezed out of its socket and a large chunk of flesh had been torn away from the creature’s mouth exposing its yellow teeth in a permanent, menacing grin.
He hadn’t noticed it, but he had dug so deeply into the scratch on his neck that fresh blood was freely trickling down the back of his shirt.
Similar Books
