Flesh House (6 page)

8

Hanging about in Court One, waiting to be called, wasn't exactly Logan's idea of a good time: an endless procession of Aberdeen's dispossessed, unlucky, or downright stupid, being hauled into the dock to find out if they'd be going home with a fine, or a getting a few weeks free B&B at Her Majesty's Pleasure. In a strange way it was a bit like a dentist's waiting room - unhappy people sitting about waiting for something nasty to happen - only without the ancient copies of
Woman's Realm
and dog-eared
Readers' Digests
.

At least it was better than humping dusty file boxes up from the archives. And it gave Logan a chance to read some of the old case notes.

By the time Grampian Police arrested him, Ken Wiseman had eighteen notches on his belt - a string of bodies that stretched all the way across the UK. Eighteen people and the most they'd ever found were a few chunks of meat.

Logan flicked through the names and dates. All those deaths ...

According to the notes, everyone knew Wiseman was responsible, but couldn't prove it, so in the end they'd had to settle for the only ones they could prove: Mr and Mrs McLaughlin, Aberdeen, 1987. And even then--

'Sergeant McRae!'

Logan looked up from his pile of paperwork to find the whole court staring at him. He clambered to his feet, blushing. 'Ah ... yes, sorry Milord ...' and it sort of went downhill from there.

The light was blinding, streaming in from an open door on the other side of the bars. Heather screwed her face shut, one hand over her eyes for added protection. After all this time in total darkness it was just too painful.

Her head throbbed, her throat ached, she felt dizzy and weak. Her wrists burned where she'd scraped them up and down against the rough edge of the bars, till the cable-ties snapped.

Gradually her eyes got used to the light and the room faded into focus. They were in a small metal space, no bigger than their tiny bedroom back home - the floor red with rust and dried blood ... Oh God ... Duncan was dead. She reached through the bars with a trembling hand and stroked his forehead. It was hot, not cold: he was still alive!

She croaked through the bars at him:'Duncan! Duncan wake up!'

Nothing.

'Duncan! Someone's found us, Duncan! It's going to be all right!'

A shadow blocked the light, then a loud metallic clang rattled the walls.

Heather tried to shout, but her throat was too dry to do much more than whisper,'My husband needs medical ...' There was a figure standing in the doorway: butcher's apron, white Wellington boots, grubby rubber mask, the eyeholes two black voids with nothing human behind them.

'Please,' Heather tried again,'please, we won't tell anyone! Please, Duncan needs help!'

The man in the butcher's apron stood with his head on one side, watching her cry, the way a cat watches an injured bird.

'Please! I'll do anything you want! PLEASE!' She scrambled to her knees and fumbled at the buttons on her blood-soaked blouse, tears rolling down her cheeks as she exposed her pale body. 'Please don't hurt us ...'

The Butcher turned and pulled an old tin bath into the room.

Heather knelt there in her grey, mumsy bra. 'Whatever we did, we're sorry!'

He stooped and pulled two lengths of chain out of the bath, and threaded them through a pair of pulleys bolted to the ceiling. Then he dragged Duncan into the middle of the room.

She lunged forwards, hands scrabbling between the bars, clutching at her husband's ankles. Holding on for dear life.

'NO! You can't have him! You can't!'

The Butcher let go and Duncan clattered to the ground. Heather hauled him back towards the bars, screaming at the top of her lungs,'HELP! HELP! WE'RE IN HERE! SOMEBODY HELP!'

The Butcher grabbed her wrists, yanking her forward and bashing her head into the metal bars. Pain closed her eyes, burning iron filled her nose. Heather opened her mouth to cry out and tasted blood. She tried to break free, but he held her firm ... and then he let go. She lurched backwards, but something jerked her to a painful halt - there was a fresh set of cable-ties around her wrists, binding them on either side of a rusted metal bar. 'NO!'

She lunged back and forth, ignoring the pain. 'LET HIM GO!'

The Butcher fastened the chains around Duncan's ankles, then pulled - the links rattling through the pulleys as her husband's limp body was hoisted upside-down, dangling over the tin bath. Something flickered in his pale face, and his eyes opened. Confused. 'Heather?'

'Duncan!' She dropped her shoulder and slammed into the bars, too close to get up any real momentum, but enough to make the metal groan.

'Heather ...'

This time the whole room shook as she slammed into the bars. 'LET HIM GO!'

The Butcher took a long, green rubber apron from the bucket and pulled it on. Then a pair of elbow-length green rubber gloves.

'Give me back my fucking husband!' BOOM - she threw herself at the bars again, tearing the skin on her naked shoulder.

An axe came out of the bucket, followed by what looked like a torch, or a lightsaber. The last thing was a set of knives. The Butcher selected one and sliced Duncan's clothes off, running the blade up the seams, peeling him like an orange.

And when Duncan had been stripped naked - his pale skin fluorescing in the harsh electric light - the butcher twisted the lightsaber in half, slipped a tiny green cartridge into it, and screwed it back together.

'LET HIM GO!' She slammed into the bars again.

'Heather ...'

Click, and the lightsaber was given another small twist. The man grabbed a handful of hair and dragged Duncan's head up.

'Heather ... Heather, I love y--'

He brought the blunt end of the lightsaber down hard, right on the top of Duncan's head. A loud CRACK reverberated round the metal room and Duncan convulsed; a thin plume of blood pulsed from the new hole in his scalp. Heather screamed. The Butcher calmly picked up a thin wire rod and slid it into the little geyser of blood: jerking it in and out, then jamming it so far in that only the wooden handle protruded. Duncan stopped moving.

The Butcher slit Duncan's throat vertically from clavicle to chin, opening his neck. Then the blade disappeared up inside the cut, twisted, and a huge rush of bright scarlet deluged into the tin bath.

Duncan hung naked and still as the grave. Dripping and swaying gently.

Heather sank to her knees and sobbed. She didn't watch the man skin and gut her husband.

9

DI Steel was waiting for Logan when he got back from court. 'Well?'

'Two months.'

'Is that all?'

'Sheriff said he'd shown real remorse and didn't present an immediate danger to the public. We were lucky he got banged up at all.'

'Why do we even bother arresting the bastards?' Steel hitched up her trousers. 'Right, I want you to--'

'Scuse me,' DC Rennie staggered to a halt, clutching a dusty cardboard box full of case files. 'Bloody thing weighs a ton ...'

The inspector stood to one side and Rennie lurched past.

The constable paused. 'You two coming tonight?'

Steel shrugged. 'Ah, why not? Laz can bring his new boyfriend from Birmingham.'

'He's not my boyfriend!'

'That reminds me,' Renne shifted his grip on the box. 'Chief Constable Faulds's been looking for you.'

'Oh aye?' said Steel,'Well he can kiss my--'

'No, not you: DS McRae. Something about retracing the original investigation.'

Logan closed his eyes. 'Oh God ...'

Steel slapped him on the back. 'Never mind, Laz, you'll get your reward in heaven. But before you get there I want that vandalism report, or you're going the other way, understand?'

The setting sun made the grey buildings glow peach and gold as Logan locked the pool car and waited for Faulds to finish his anecdote about a seventy-two-year-old prostitute he'd arrested in the middle of Birmingham town centre wearing nothing but a nun's wimple and a surgical truss. Alec the cameraman waited till the Chief Constable got to the punch line, then confirmed the sound levels were perfect.

'Good.' Faulds ran a hand through his hair and looked up at the sparkling granite tenement. Cleared his throat. Marched up to the door.

Logan leaned over and whispered to the cameraman,'So ... Insch tell you to get lost again?'

Alec pulled a face. 'He's a nightmare. Thought he was going to smack me one this morning. All I did was ask how his diet's going.'

They followed Faulds into the building. It was dark inside: a welcome mat smeared with mud and the faint smell of dog shit; a mountain bike chained to the banisters; a stack of junk mail slowly festering in a dirty puddle on the tiled floor. Faulds started up the stairs.

'Anyway,' said Alec,'this is going to be great for the Flesher special - revisiting the original case, talking to the witnesses, walking the crime scenes.'

Faulds paused on the first landing, leant on the balustrade and called down to them:'Something wrong?'

'With you in a second.' Alec lowered his voice. 'Just between you and me: what do you reckon to Faulds, then?'

Logan shrugged. 'He's OK, I suppose. Fancies himself a bit. I was expecting him to be more of an arse, pull rank the whole time ... you know: your average Chief Constable.'

'You remember that Birmingham Bomber case? Well Faulds was the one who--'

'You two asleep down there?'

Logan sighed and started for the stairs. 'Our master's voice.'

Flat six was on the top floor, the door painted dark red with a little brass plaque above the letterbox:'J
AMES
M
C
L
AUGHLIN
PHD' engraved at the top,'C
ERBERUS
, M
EDUSA
&MRS POO' underneath. Logan rang the doorbell.

It was answered two minutes later by a young, bearded man in his pyjamas, dressing gown and slippers. Mid twenties. Cup of tea in one hand, slice of toast in the other. Glasses perched on the end of his nose. He took one look at the three of them standing in the hallway, saw Alec's camera, and said,'Ten minutes. I get to plug the book twice. It stays in shot the whole time. Agreed?' He stuck the toast in his mouth then offered his hand to seal the deal. There was jam on it.

Logan didn't shake it. 'We're not from the television, Mr McLaughlin.' He dug out his warrant card. 'DS McRae: Grampian Police, this is Chief Constable Faulds: West Midlands. We're here to ask you a few questions about the night your parents disappeared.'

'It was twenty years ago!' McLaughlin rolled his eyes. 'Look, read the book, OK? It's all in there. I can't remember anything else.'

'We'll try not take up too much of your time, sir. It is important.'

Sigh. 'OK, OK. You can come in. But watch where you're walking. I'm pretty sure Medusa's been sick, but I haven't found out where yet ...'

James McLaughlin's living room was littered with books. A computer desk sat in the bay window, covered in bits of paper and more books. A typist's chair sat in front of it, a large, grey, furry cat watching them from the seat, master of all it surveyed.

McLaughlin shooed it off. 'Come on Cerberus, that's daddy's chair.'

Logan couldn't see anywhere to sit himself, so he moved a pile of paperbacks from the settee to the floor. 'Sorry if we got you out of bed.'

The man shrugged. 'Nah, you're all right: I was working.' He swept a hand down the front of his pyjamas. 'Standard writers' uniform.'

Faulds picked his way round the room, peering at the framed photographs on the wall. 'I read your book,' he said at last. 'Very good. I especially liked the bit about all the fancy policemen coming up from down south.'

McLaughlin beamed. 'Glad you liked it. It was ...' He frowned. 'Detective Superintendent! Thought I recognized you. Jesus, you've not changed much.'

'Chief Constable now. For my sins.' Faulds picked up a little wooden plaque, read the inscription and put it back down again. 'I'm really glad you did something with your life, Jamie. Some people would have curled up in a little ball and never come out again.'

'Yes, well, I was always good at English and my therapist thought writing the whole thing down would be ... well ...
therapeutic
. And now look.' He smiled, indicating the four framed covers on the wall - all bestselling children's books. Aberdeen's answer to J.K. Rowling, only nowhere near as famous. Or rich. 'But you're not here to talk about Simon and the Goblins, are you?'

'You've seen the news?'

McLaughlin shuddered and pointed at a copy of the
Daily Mail
sitting on a pile of encyclopaedias -'C
ANNIBAL
K
ILLER
S
TILL
A
T
L
ARGE
'. 'Difficult to miss it. Been having nightmares ever since I heard about those body parts down the docks. Last night I dreamt Wiseman came back to finish me off ... Took half a bottle of Macallan to make that one go away.' He wrapped his dressing gown around himself, tying the chord tight.

Logan pulled out his notebook, flipping through the pages till he got to the bit about McLaughlin's parents. 'We've been reviewing the old case files. They're a bit vague about what happened before you got to the house.'

Faulds nodded. 'And you don't say much about it in your book either.'

McLaughlin opened his mouth to say something, then changed his mind. He stood. 'Anyone fancy a drink? I've got gin and I've got whisky. Drank all the wine last night ...'

'Sorry, sir, but we're on duty. Tea would be nice, though.'

'Right, tea it is then.' And he was off into the kitchen.

The Chief Constable stopped on his tour of the living room, selecting a book from a low shelf:
Smoak With Blood - The Hunt For The Flesher
. It had a photo on the front of someone dressed in a butcher's apron and Margaret Thatcher fright mask. Not surprising there wasn't a framed version up on the wall - who wanted to look at the man who killed their parents every day?

By the time McLaughlin returned with the drinks Faulds was reading aloud:

'"For some reason, it's one of my earliest memories - walking through the dark and rain-swept streets with my best friend. Heading back to my house. Hand in hand with a killer. Everything before that is lost to me, as if the first five years of my life never happened. As if I only came into being at that moment. Sparked into existence minutes before the death of my parents ... "'

McLaughlin blushed. 'Yes, well ... I was reading a lot of Dickens at the time. Can't believe I wrote anything so pretentious.'

'What happened to Catherine Davidson? She was supposed to be walking you home.'

The young man handed over Logan's tea, then poured himself a large measure of eighteen-year-old Highland Park. 'Wish I knew. When I was writing the book I tried everything: word association, hypnosis, the works. I know it sounds like a load of old wank, but everything before that walk home is a blank. It's like my childhood never happened.' He took a deep drink from his whisky, holding it in his mouth for a thoughtful pause, before swallowing.

'What about your friend: Richard Davidson?'

'Ah, yes ... Richard. We don't talk these days. Last I heard he was in Craiginches doing three years for possession, perjury, and aggravated assault. Like you said, Superintendent: some people never come out again. Wiseman took my parents and my past, he took Richard's mum and his future.' Another mouthful of whisky. 'I don't know which is worse.'

'And then he made you both dinner.'

'Yeah. Findus Crispy Pancakes with fried onions, mashed potatoes and peas. I wanted fish fingers.' A shallow laugh. 'Good isn't it? My mum and dad are being dismembered in the kitchen and I'm whinging about Captain Sodding Birdseye ... I'd never seen so much blood ...' The last of McLaughlin's whisky disappeared. 'Who's for another one?'

Rush-hour was in full swing as Logan drove them back to the station - roads packed with nose-to-tail traffic beneath the yellow streetlight. Muttered swearing came from the back seat; Alec checking the messages on his mobile phone. 'Bloody hell, why can no one get anything right? ... Delete ... Don't care ... Delete ... Holy shit!' The cameraman scooted forward, sticking his head between the front seats. 'You're not going to believe this--'

Faulds' mobile phone started playing Phil Collins:'In The Air Tonight'. 'Hello?'

'I've just got a call from the BBC News Department--'

'Hello?' The Chief Constable stuck one finger in his ear,'Yes ... No, we'll be right there!''

--Wiseman's been on the phone.'

Logan took his eyes off the road for a second, then had to slam on the breaks to avoid rear-ending a Porsche. 'You're kidding!'

'Wants to set up an interview, like that Ipswich guy.'

Faulds hung up. 'Any chance you can put your foot down? We've got a briefing to get to. Wiseman's--'

'Been on the phone to the BBC. Yes, sir, Alec was just telling me about it.'

Faulds frowned. 'No. He's grabbed someone else.'