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<title>Chapter 34</title>
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<h2>34</h2>
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<p>Ralph Slater had been right. Everything was hitting the fan by
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the time Jack got to the station. Even as he crossed the old
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bridge, screeching over the curve in second gear, recklessly
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ignoring the black ice on the brow, he could hear the urgent wail
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of sirens way down on River Street. On the turn towards Artisan
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Road two police cars sped past, cutting in front of him, lights
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sending blue strobe flashes bouncing off the glass doors of the
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Regal Cinema.</p>
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<p>Bobby Thomson only raised his eyebrows when Jack came hustling
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in, letting the door slam behind him. He watched in silence as the
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other man strode past the desk and took the stairs three at a time,
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coat flapping behind him.</p>
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<p>Ronald Cowie's secretary half rose in her seat as he came
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barging through and raised a hand to forestall him, but he ignored
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her, twisted the handle on the office door and stormed inside.</p>
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<p>"This damned stupidity has to stop," he snapped without pausing
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for breath. "It's a slaughterhouse out there and you've got me
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kicking my heels. I've had enough. As of this moment I'm reporting
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back for duty."</p>
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<p>"And why not?" a voice said from behind him. Jack whirled and
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saw a tall, grey-haired man in a herringbone coat standing with his
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hands in his pockets. "Where've you been Jack?"</p>
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<p>Divisional Commander Hector Nairn came walking towards the desk,
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his eyes shifting from one man to the other. Cowie was still seated
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behind his desk, his mouth hanging open.</p>
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<p>"Is there something I should know?"</p>
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<p>"Chief Inspector Fallon had to take some time owing," Cowie
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started to say.</p>
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<p>"That's a lie. I was ordered out, and if you'd have let me
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handle things my way, you wouldn't have half the force out on the
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streets this morning."</p>
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<p>"Ordered out?" Nairn looked from one to the other again, then
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swivelled his eyes back to Jack. "I think there is something I
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haven't been told, and I think I should hear it right now." He
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turned and pulled up a swivel chair and lowered himself slowly into
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it. He'd been head of the murder squad in the city when Jack had
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joined. The two of them had worked on dozens of cases together.</p>
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<p>Jack hauled another chair from the far side of the office and
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sat down heavily.</p>
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<p>"Office politics, and I'm bloody fed up with them," he said.
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Mentally he took his gloves off and prepared for a bareknuckle
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fight.</p>
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<p>"We've got a serious situation here," he began.</p>
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<p>"Now there's an understatement if I ever heard one." Hector
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snorted.</p>
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<p>"And getting more serious by the minute. We shouldn't have lost
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young Gordon Pirie. If we'd let O'Day stay in the church, then he'd
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most likely still be alive, and those kids wouldn't be dead this
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morning."</p>
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<p>Jack turned to the Divisional Commander. "I've wasted the last
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two days doing nothing but being kept out of the way while we
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announced we'd got the killer. But I knew we didn't have him, and
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we won't get him unless somebody sits up and takes notice."</p>
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<p>"You went off duty," Cowie protested, his face red.</p>
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<p>"With respect, Superintendent, I was ordered to take my leave. I
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have a duplicate copy of my objections to that order, and my
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protest over the arrest of Michael O'Day."</p>
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<p>"Is that right, Ron?" Hector Nairn asked softly, but there was
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an iron undertone. "Did you order Jack off the case?"</p>
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<p>Cowie began to bluster. His mouth opened and closed. He started
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to say something, but the senior officer held up his hand.</p>
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<p>"You tell me, Jack. And when you're finished, I want to hear an
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explanation of everything I've been reading in the newspapers."</p>
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<p>"It's simple," Jack said. "I was told to stay away on Thursday
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night. That's the night the tele-message claimed that we'd got the
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killer. I objected to that and to the arrest of Michael O'Day
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because I didn't believe he should have been in a cell."</p>
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<p>"But he'd stolen religious artifacts and he confessed to being
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involved in the Herkik killing," Cowie interjected.</p>
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<p>"Yes, he had admitted taking the chalice, and for a reason which
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was explained to you."</p>
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<p>"Mumbo jumbo is what I heard," Cowie rasped, but Hector Nairn
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merely held up his hand again.</p>
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<p>"That's enough Ron, I want to hear it from Jack and I don't want
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to waste another minute, okay?"</p>
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<p>"But the man had not admitted to killing Marta Herkik," Jack
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continued. "He only said he was in Cairn House on the night it
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happened, and he was perfectly safe up in the church tower. He was
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asking for sanctuary."</p>
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<p>"A bit archaic," Hector observed.</p>
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<p>"Yes, maybe, but he was safe, and he was going nowhere. I'd been
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looking for him for some time, and if I'd got the message from an
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informant on time, then perhaps we could have resolved this case a
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week ago. But I didn't get the information from Superintendent
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Cowie until it was too late, and my requests for extra manpower was
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denied. I am not into playing politics. I'm a policeman and my job
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is to catch this thing."</p>
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<p>"Oh, I agree with that, Jack," Hector said with a humourless
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smile. "So what's the juju I've been reading about?"</p>
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<p>"Devils and monsters," Cowie interjected. "It's absolute
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rubbish."</p>
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<p>"I won't tell you again, Ron," Hector said icily. Cowie's mouth
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closed like a trap.</p>
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<p>"That's speculation in the press, but there is a basis to it.
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Marta Herkik was killed in the middle of some kind of seance.
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That's why I brought in Professor Toye. He's an expert on
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paranormal studies, and I know him. He has given us valuable
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advice."</p>
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<p>"Yes, but what about this spey-wife?"</p>
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<p>"Every source helps. She's been helping me. Basically, as far as
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I can tell, she's got some kind of extra sensory perception. She's
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seen some of these killings as they happen. Sometimes
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<em>before</em> they happen."</p>
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<p>"And she'd not involved?"</p>
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<p>"No, she is not. I've been there when it's happened. She's
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clean."</p>
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<p>"And you believe all this?"</p>
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<p>"I have to believe it. I was with her this morning when she told
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me about the boy in the bakery and the milk-boys. We're not looking
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for missing persons, I can tell you that. We're looking for
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corpses. And if we don't get our fingers out there will be a lot
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more, I can tell you."</p>
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<p>"It's a bit of a mouthful to take in all at once," Hector said
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gently.</p>
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<p>"I agree. I was too long in arriving at it myself, but
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everything has fitted so far. I want to continue to use Lorna
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Breck, no matter how it looks, or whatever it costs us in public
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relations. Our image doesn't matter a damn. It's the kids in this
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town who matter."</p>
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<p>Jack stopped talking for a moment to gather his thoughts and
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while he did, Hector Nairn asked him to tell him the full story
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right from the start. Jack wasted no time. He took him through it,
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from the killing of Marta Herkik, to his conversation with Andrew
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Toye about what might have actually happened on the night of her
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death. He told him about Lorna's premonitions and his initial
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incredulity, then the finding of where Neil Kennedy had been
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snatched, and her visions of baby Kelly Campbell's mother being
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smashed to the ground on Barley Cobble.</p>
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<p>"What did it for me was when we found the bodies in that
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chimney."</p>
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<p>He turned to Cowie. "Check Robbie Cattanach's report. There was
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one extra body. I told you this before. That was the baby from the
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fire on Murroch Road. That's the one Lorna Breck saw when it was
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actually happening. Sorley Fitzpatrick - he's the firemaster - said
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he thought the baby might have been completely destroyed by the
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heat, but Lorna Breck told me she saw something take the baby from
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the cot. I know it's far fetched and it doesn't sound like straight
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forward police work, but I can't deny her as a source, and at the
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moment she's all we have. She's the best we're going to get."</p>
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<p>"So who are we looking for?"</p>
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<p>"We're looking for Michael O'Day, initially," Jack said, not
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wanting to tell anybody exactly what he was looking for.</p>
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<p>"So he'd been the killer all along?"</p>
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<p>"No. Something, or some-one has been using these people. And it
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all started on the night of the seance."</p>
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<p>"So what is it?"</p>
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<p>"I don't know. But I'll find out and I'll find it."</p>
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<p>Hector sat back in his seat.</p>
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<p>"It really is a bit much to take on board, Jack." he said.</p>
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<p>"I've had longer than you. But I'll get nowhere if I'm twiddling
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my thumbs. Michael O'Day saw something at that seance that scared
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the hell out of him, and he believed it. He locked himself up in
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the belltower to get away from it."</p>
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<p>"And you think this Lorna Breck is genuine?"</p>
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<p>"I know it. I don't know how she does it, or why, but I've seen
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it happen. If I don't use her, then we can all walk away and let
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children die. It's as simple as that."</p>
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<p>"So what are we looking for here?"</p>
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<p>"Damned if I know. Seriously, I just don't know."</p>
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<p>"It sounds as if you don't think it's human. Not the kind of
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thing I want to tell the chief constable."</p>
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<p>"Frankly, that's the least of my problems. Tell him we're
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hunting a deranged escaped prisoner, which is the truth anyway
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because somebody took O'Day out of the church. It could be an
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influence which has <em>forced</em> these people to do what they've
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done. Michael O'Day was convinced he'd be safe in the church tower,
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and I think he was right. He told me he did not want to kill
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anybody, but that he'd be compelled to if he was taken out of
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sanctuary. I believed him then, and I believe him now. It doesn't
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matter what you call it, and it doesn't matter what it is. It's a
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killer, and it has to be stopped. Let's say it's some psychosis
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brought on by the seance. I just want to stop it killing anybody
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else."</p>
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<p>"Well, you've got my backing on that. As of now, you're in
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charge of the case," Hector said. "Use whatever resources you need,
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and ask for anything else you want."</p>
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<p>He turned to Ronald Cowie who hadn't said a word for some
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time.</p>
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<p>"I want you to understand that Chief Inspector Fallon has my
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fullest confidence. There will be no interference in this case
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whatsoever. From you I want a full report of why a senior
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investigating officer was taken off duty in the middle of such a
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serious case, and it had better be good, though, frankly, I doubt
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it."</p>
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<p>Cowie did his goldfish act again. Hector heaved himself from his
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chair and walked to the door, Jack followed him out. Beyond the
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ante-room, the divisional commander stopped him.</p>
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<p>"I can't say I honestly believe a word of what you've just told
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me," he said. "I think we're looking for a nutter, or a group of
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them. But in the meantime, I'm going to rely on your judgement, no
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matter what. Just don't make me look like an idiot."</p>
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<p>"I'll do my best," Jack promised him, though in his own mind he
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wasn't sure what that best would be. He didn't even know where he
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was going to start.</p>
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<p>He was only in his office five minutes when Robbie Cattanach
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knocked on the door and popped his head round.</p>
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<p>"I heard you'd been sent home," he said. "Then I got a whisper
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you were back."</p>
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<p>"Word travels fast," Jack said.</p>
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<p>"Listen, I know you're busy, even busier than I've been, if you
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can believe that," Robbie began. "But I have all the reports on the
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bodies in the chimney and the other ones from the town hall. The
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baby is definitely Kerry McCann. There's a great deal of
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desiccation of the tissues, caused by the cold and the dry
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atmosphere at the height of the chimney, but the blood tests are
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fairly conclusive. There is not a shadow of doubt about Kelly
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Campbell, again because of the blood tests, and the others have
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been positively identified as Neil Kennedy and Carol Howard. We
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suspect the fifth to be Timothy Doyle, but identification has been
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hampered. There are no distinguishing marks and sufficient
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putrefaction as to make it very difficult. His own mother hasn't
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recognised him, and to tell you the God's honest, there isn't that
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much left."</p>
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<p>"I know," Jack said. "I brought him down."</p>
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<p>"As far as the other three are concerned, you can call off the
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search for Charles Black and Edward Redford. Votek Visotsky we know
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about. The missing part matched."</p>
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<p>Jack pulled a disgusted face.</p>
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<p>"I know," Robbie apologised. "It sounds callous, but what else
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can I say?" Jack shrugged.</p>
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<p>"Cause of death?"</p>
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<p>"Blood loss and shock in all cases, more or less, though we
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can't be too sure about the three infants. However, it does point
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that way. Partial strangulation on Charles Black, and severe trauma
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in Redford's case. His leg was pulled off at the hip. That would
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kill anybody. Visotsky died from a single blow to the side of the
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head."</p>
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<p>Robbie stopped and looked over at Jack.</p>
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<p>"I'm more interested in the secondary wounds. Mutilation
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describes it better. In every case, they occurred after death, and
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in some cases long after the event."</p>
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<p>"How do you figure that?"</p>
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<p>"Without being too technical, generally we can tell by the
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condition of the skin close to the wounds. The integuement dries
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out quickly in the open air, making it more liable to rip. There's
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no elasticity and it pulls away on either side of a cut. But that's
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neither here nor there."</p>
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<p>Robbie reached into his black case and brought out a set of ten
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by eight prints. He shuffled them onto Jack's desk.</p>
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<p>"I've burned the midnight oil on these, and I can tell you, my
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freezer room's filling up too damned quickly. We don't have room
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for any more cadavers and I'd be pleased if you could catch this
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loony and give me a break."</p>
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<p>He leaned over the prints, without waiting for a response and
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jabbed his finger at several of them in quick succession.</p>
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<p>"Every one of these injuries is post mortem. You can tell by the
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tearing of the underlying muscle and ligaments that this is exactly
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what it was, a tear. To get this kind of damage, we're talking
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about considerable force. Something very powerful. You get this
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trauma in mechanical accidents, where people have been dragged into
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machinery, but that's not what happened here."</p>
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<p>"So what did happen?"</p>
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<p>"I'm coming to that. Just bear with me. Just remember what I
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said when I looked at Shona Campbell's body. I've a set of pictures
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in a book which show the aftermath of a bear mauling. The damage is
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similar to this, wrenching of muscle and ligaments, twisting of
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joints in the socket. It's what you'd expect when you have a
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powerful animal dismembering a carcass."</p>
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<p>"We've ruled out animals."</p>
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<p>"I know you have," Robbie said. He leaned over the spread of
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prints again and used his finger to stab here and there.</p>
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<p>"Look at this. These are certainly bites, and it's got a radius
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you wouldn't believe. I've worked it out that it's got a gape about
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seven inches across. This was not, repeat not, caused by a human.
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Something has been eating these children after they were dead."</p>
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<p>"You know anything with a bite like that?"</p>
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<p>"Ever watch <em>Jaws</em>?"</p>
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<p>"Get out of here," Jack said. "We're looking for no shark."</p>
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<p>"I know that. I just don't know <em>what</em> you're looking
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for. This doesn't fit anything I've ever come across. I've been
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through all the books, because the fiscal's ordered full inquiries
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into each of these cases, and I just don't know what to tell
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him."</p>
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<p>"Neither me," Jack said. He didn't know what to tell Robbie
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Cattanach either.</p>
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<p>"Welcome back to the cuckoo's nest," was how John McColl greeted
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Jack when he made it to the operations room. Ralph Slater turned
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round from the grid-map and gave him a tired grin.</p>
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<p>"You should have stayed away," he said. "It's a madhouse in here
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and out there."</p>
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<p>Jack didn't bother with the explanations both of them were
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expecting. Instead he crossed to the map and told Ralph to give him
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a briefing. Ralph began with the call from the bakery and went on
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non-stop for fifteen minutes, pointing out the by-now very familiar
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parts of town.</p>
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<p>"We've a report in on the girl. Lisa Corbett. She just
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disappeared from the stair landing. Somebody found her handbag on
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the stair between the third and fourth floors, but there's no other
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sign."</p>
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<p>"How about the old man?"</p>
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<p>"Nothing so far. Nobody's called it in. What I'd like to know is
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where you're getting this from?"</p>
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<p>"Later. As of now, I need you to organise a special team, all
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local boys, to do a search of every place that's higher than forty
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feet."</p>
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<p>"That's a lot of places."</p>
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<p>"I know that, but we have to do it. Forget out-buildings and
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garden huts. This thing doesn't operate on the ground. Remember
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where we found the bodies? And Jock Toner? It came in the skylight
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at Rolling Stock. It's a climber and it leaves them up high. That's
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where we'll find the bodies, and that's where we'll find it."</p>
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<p>"So you think it's bodies again?"</p>
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<p>"Certain of it. It hasn't left one alive so far. Also, it
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operates in the dark, so it has to hide somewhere during the
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day."</p>
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<p>"You keep calling him <em>it.</em>" John McColl said. "I thought
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we were looking for O'Day."</p>
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<p>"We are." Jack replied. "He'll be holed up somewhere. If we can
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find him and lock him up before dark, then we've got a chance.
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After dark, then it's anybody's guess. Whatever's controlling him
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can do what it likes then."</p>
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<p>"You mean like hypnosis?"</p>
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<p>"Something like that," Jack said, though he didn't explain what
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he really thought. Ralph and Jack looked at each other, but said
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nothing. Ralph picked up the phone and made a call, and ten minutes
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later, Jack was briefing the patrols. The search went on through
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the day.</p>
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<p>At three o'clock, while it was still light, but already turning
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to dusk, Keith Fraser, who ran a television repair and installation
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business from a small workshop behind Wattie Dickson's newsagent's
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place was on top of Denny Court, the second grey monolith of
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high-rise council housing by the river next to Latta Court where
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Timmy Doyle had been snatched from his pram. Keith had been an
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electrical engineer in Castlebank Shipyard until the Korean
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shipbuilding had all but obliterated the Clyde from the forefront
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of marinecraft and made it just a memory with only gaunt black
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cranes on the skyline as a reminder of the boom days. Now he was in
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a growth industry, and spent much of his time on roofs and up
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ladders installing satellite diches which were beginning to
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proliferate like mushrooms on walls and houses throughout the
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town.</p>
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<p>Despite the wail of sirens in the frosty morning, and despite
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the shocking spate of murders which had cast a pall of unease and
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trepidation among the townsfolk, the residents of Denny Court on
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that day were more concerned about the fault in their television
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reception. They flooded the council with complaints and Keith
|
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Fraser, who was working in Lochend that day, eventually had to head
|
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back into town and check out the problem before the good people of
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Denny Court started a riot over the loss of their daytime quiz
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shows and soap re-runs.</p>
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<p>The elevator, smothered in graffiti and stinking of sweat and
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bad cooking took him to the ninth floor and refused to go further.
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He had to trudge up the final five flights with his toolbag until
|
|
he got to the roof where he used his pass-key to get out onto the
|
|
flat.</p>
|
|
<p>He spotted the problem with the communal aerial immediately, but
|
|
it took several moments for the gruesome truth to dawn on him.</p>
|
|
<p>The aluminium prongs of the antenna were bent out of line by two
|
|
small bundles which dangled down from the spidery rig. At first
|
|
Keith thought that one of the housewives from the teeming block of
|
|
flats had come up and hung her washing on the aerial, but as soon
|
|
as he crossed the asphalt roof, he realised what he was seeing and
|
|
took several slow steps backwards, shaking his head all the while,
|
|
eyes fixed to the two sightless and staring eyes which twinkled red
|
|
in the glow from the hazard-light dome.</p>
|
|
<p>Keith made it all the way to the ground, shunning the elevator
|
|
the whole distance, and had reached his van parked fifty yards away
|
|
before he remembered that he had a portable phone in the pocket of
|
|
his jacket. As it was, it took him seven attempts before his
|
|
shaking fingers managed to press the numbers for the police
|
|
emergency service and even when he got through to the operator, he
|
|
could not speak for fully three minutes.</p>
|
|
<p>In the station, Ralph Slater got the call and made it across the
|
|
bridge to Denny Court in seven minutes, followed by two patrol cars
|
|
with sirens squealing.</p>
|
|
<p>Young Colin Jamieson and his cousin Laurie Liddell had both been
|
|
spiked under the jawline on the aluminium spines, which made their
|
|
towsled heads twist grotesquely. From the amount of blood under the
|
|
body, it was clear that Laurie had still been alive at the time.
|
|
His bloody prints on the spike above his head showed his desperate
|
|
yet futile efforts to free himself. Ralph could visualise the
|
|
squirming youngster trying to raise his body while the pain tore
|
|
into his neck. His agony must have been extreme. From what he could
|
|
see, the youngster would have been trying to scream for help as his
|
|
struggles weakened, but no help came because nobody would have
|
|
heard. The spike of metal had been driven right through the boy's
|
|
larynx. His cousin, a small, slight shape dangling close by, had
|
|
probably died before he was hung up like a carcass in a butcher's
|
|
shop. His eyes still glittered, kept moist in the cold air, and his
|
|
hands hanging limply at his sides were blue with the lividity of
|
|
blood draining down into them. The spike had taken him on the left
|
|
side of the jaw, causing only a small puncture hole, but he had
|
|
been driven down upon it with such force that it had rammed right
|
|
through his temple on the other side.</p>
|
|
<p>Keith Fraser produced a hacksaw and cut through the metal and
|
|
the boys were loaded into bags which were too big for their small
|
|
frames, while Ronnie Jeffrey took pictures of everything for
|
|
posterity.</p>
|
|
<p>Just before darkfall, on the coldest night of the year so far,
|
|
the body of Lisa Corbett was spotted by a teenage boy. The only
|
|
surprise was that no-one had seen it earlier. Sorley Fitzpatrick
|
|
sent his biggest ladders from the fire station, but they couldn't
|
|
get high enough up the steeple of the old parish Church at the
|
|
crossroads of River and Kirk Streets, and eventually they had to
|
|
call in the Sea King helicopter from the submarine base further
|
|
down the estuary to come and lower the frail limp thing down from
|
|
the golden weathercock where it had been swaying in the gathering
|
|
breeze. The massive cast-iron weather vane had easily taken her
|
|
weight. The girl had been pierced through the shoulder by the
|
|
six-foot long stylised arrow and had swung with the northening wind
|
|
until her foot had snagged on the compass-point. There she had hung
|
|
all day, leaking drops of blood to the far pavement in the strange
|
|
secrecy of height and familiarity before a schoolboy had casually
|
|
looked up and wondered what the flapping shape was. He'd pointed
|
|
upwards and his friends, on their way home from school early, had
|
|
gathered around. Passers by had stopped to rubberneck and finally a
|
|
policeman had chanced along. Even he hadn't recognised the shape,
|
|
but he knew of the find on top of Denny Court, and called it in
|
|
just in case. John McColl had to go back to the station for a pair
|
|
of binoculars and when he twiddled the focus ring, the dead girl's
|
|
pale face, jaws so wide the back teeth were visible, had sprung
|
|
into awful clarity.</p>
|
|
<p>The body of Graham Friel was found a week later pinned to the
|
|
guard-rail of the gas tank on the east end of town. It might have
|
|
gone undiscovered for a while longer, but because of the freezing
|
|
winter, people were using more gas than normal to heat their homes
|
|
and when the huge cylinder sank as the fuel was drawn off, the
|
|
bloody body of the bakery worker was found lolling on the curved
|
|
roof. An arm and most of the shoulder were missing and were never
|
|
recovered again.</p>
|
|
<p>Old George Wilkie, the caretaker at the planner's office had
|
|
simply disappeared. It was not until May, when the buds on the
|
|
trees had exploded into green that his rotting carcass slipped off
|
|
the overflow pipe on the roof of the old masonic hall and tumbled
|
|
into the valley gutter and blocked the flow of early summer rains.
|
|
The water backed up behind the body and seeped over the lead
|
|
flashing and into the old hall where the brothers met in secret
|
|
conclave, ruining a display of memorabilia from the boom-town
|
|
bygone age. Keith Fraser's cousin George, a mason who also ran a
|
|
roofing firm got the ladders up to check the blockage and found the
|
|
corpse of the old man, though, by this time, it was only his coat
|
|
which held him together over the drainage gutter. The flies had had
|
|
the spring months to get to work and when George grabbed a hold of
|
|
what he thought was a bundle of rags, a pile of squirming white and
|
|
bloated maggots came spilling out of a sleeve, along with a
|
|
skeletal arm which had been picked almost clean. The stench was
|
|
awesome.</p>
|
|
<p>On the day the bodies of the milk boys and Lisa Corbett were
|
|
found, Blair Bryden worked overtime to get the story on the wires
|
|
and his story blared from every networked news channel. The name
|
|
he'd coined for the killer had stuck.</p>
|
|
<p>Blair himself managed to get in front of a camera in a live
|
|
broadcast from the crossroads at River and Kirk Street, pointing up
|
|
to the night sky where floodlights illuminated the needle-spite on
|
|
the old church steeple.</p>
|
|
<p>"This," he said, "is where the <em>Shrike</em> brought his
|
|
latest victim."</p>
|
|
<p>He gave a brief and eloquent summary of the ghastly events which
|
|
had rocked the town in the space of three short weeks, and managed
|
|
to slip in a barbed comment about Jack being taken off the case by
|
|
Superintendent Ron Cowie whose picture was shown, carefully chosen
|
|
by Blair, one suspected, to catch a shot of him with his eyes
|
|
closed and mouth open. He added that O'Day had escaped from the
|
|
cell after Jack got his marching orders. Blair speculated as to
|
|
where the <em>Shrike</em> would strike next and painted a picture
|
|
of a town shivering with fear, which was closer to the truth than
|
|
the viewing public beyond the burgh boundary realised.</p>
|
|
<p>Next morning, his story made the front page of every newspaper,
|
|
but by then it was all over bar the shouting.</p>
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