Isobel's assistant started with the head. Dirty water gurgled down the cutting table drain, and as Valerie Leith's face slowly appeared from its coating of foul-smelling slime, Logan's spirits sank. With the other victims it'd been easy to maintain a sense of detachment. They were just hunks of meat. But this was different, this finally looked like a human being. Valerie Leith: thirty-five, skin all puckered and discoloured, brown hair straggly round her face as Isobel's assistant rinsed the sewage away. And somehow Logan didn't feel as pleased with himself as he had.
Aberdeen was a sparkling blanket - yellow and white streetlights shining in the deep blue November night outside DCS Bain's office window. The head of CID stood with his back to the room, staring out at the view. Taxis drifted by on the streets below; drunken clots of Aberdonians lurched for the nearest club, chip shop or taxi rank; the sound of sirens in the distance. Nearly midnight. 'Why the hell wasn't that septic tank searched the first time round?' 'Why would they?' Steel didn't bother covering her mouth, just let go a jaw-cracking yawn, followed by a little burp. 'God ... no reason to think this was anything other than what it looked like.' 'Insch should have--' 'Yeah, well, he didn't. And if it was me, I wouldn't have either. And neither would you, Bill.' The DCS turned and stared at Logan. 'But you did, Sergeant?' 'It was just a hunch ...' Steel clapped him on the shoulder. 'Don't be so modest! Tell you, Bill, he--' The DCS cut her off. 'The question is: what are we going to tell the media? How's it going to look when they find out her body lay undiscovered, less than thirty feet from her house for a fortnight? DI Insch--' 'Don't start, Bill, OK? Been a long day and I can't be arsed fighting with you.' Steel stretched out in her chair, making creaking noises. 'Doesn't matter what we tell the press: they'll just make up their own shite anyway.' 'You're not seeing the big picture here, Inspector. We told the world and his bloody dog that Wiseman killed Valerie Leith, didn't we? And if that's not bad enough, it looks like the same person killed the Inglises and Tom and Hazel Stephen. Where was Wiseman at the time? Craiginches!' The DCS sat back behind his desk. 'So now we've got two psychopaths out there, butchering their way through the populace, and our only suspect is looking less and less guilty every day!' 'Actually,' Logan dug in his jacket pocket, pulled out the dog-eared copy of
