'Many necrophiliacs are sexually aroused by the image of death. The Flesher kills to produce a dead body he can have absolute power over. The act of murder is a means to and end, it's incidental for him. He doesn't sexually abuse the corpse, because that's not what fuels his fantasy. The Flesher practices necrophagy - the mutilation and eating of dead bodies. It's quite a fascinating subcategory of necrophilia.' 'But--' DCS Bain glowered at him. 'If you have any more questions, Sergeant, I suggest you take them up with Doctor Goulding after the briefing. Now: moving on.'
'Sorry about that,' said Faulds, when they were back in the history room,'didn't think he'd be so ...' 'Boring?' Steel sat back in Logan's chair, hands wrapped around a coffee. 'I was going to say, 'thorough', but 'boring' works too.' Logan tore the wrapper off his Tunnock's tea cake. 'How about 'condescending'? Or 'toss-pot'?' 'Anyway, I think it's a reasonable profile. We should go through our list of possible suspects and see how they stack up.' Which led to three hours of sodding about on the whiteboard. Logan:'How about Catherine Davidson? Maybe they never found her remains, because she was the one doing the killing?' Steel:'What a great suggestion! Let's see how she fits the profile: oh, wait a minute, she's no' a man. Next!' Faulds:'What about Jamie McLaughlin? His friend is screwed up so badly he ends up in prison, but Jamie ends up writing children's books. He's a creative guy. Lives alone. Did a lot of research into the first round of killings. What's to say he's not re-enacting the death of his parents over and over again?' Logan:'How does he get into the abattoir to dump the remains?' That was how they spent the rest of the morning - coming up with alternatives then picking them apart. Finally, Faulds pushed his chair back, stretched, groaned and said,'Lunch?' 'Wednesday's haddock and chips in the canteen.' 'Oh God, not more chips. You people never heard of salad?' Steel bristled. 'And what the hell's wrong with chips?' 'How about sushi then?' Logan grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair and slung it over his shoulder. 'There's a little place down the market that's pretty good.' 'It's not deep-fried is it?' Faulds stood. 'Because ... DI Insch - David - I was sorry to hear about your loss.' The inspector was standing in the doorway, a huge, tent-like overcoat draped over his dark blue suit. 'I need to borrow Sergeant McRae for a couple of hours if that's OK, sir.' 'Actually' said Faulds,'we're just on our way out for some sushi. Care to join us?' 'I'd love to sir, but I'm on a tight schedule. I've got an arsonist being transferred to Barlinnie this afternoon - Sergeant McRae was part of the initial investigation, so I'd like him there when I talk to the little sod.'
