Half an hour later they were all upstairs in the boardroom, getting snarled at by Chief Constable Baldy Brian. 'How exactly did the Flesher get both of them out past two unmarked police cars?' DS Beattie might have been blushing, it was difficult to tell under all that beard. 'We clocked every vehicle going in and out of the street, and the two streets either side. PNC checked the lot: all residents.' 'I want them hauled in here and questioned.' The Chief Constable must have caught the expression on DI Steel's face because he rounded on her. 'You have something to say, Inspector?' She shrugged. 'Just think it's a bit of a coincidence, don't you? Suddenly the Flesher lives four doors down from the Nichol place?' 'Actually,' Doctor Goulding, Faulds' pet psychologist, straightened his horrible tie and waited for their undivided attention,'it's not that unusual. Some serial killers start close to home, then spread their wings. Others select victims from the people they see around them every day - they stay close. And others are building up to something. There was a chap in the States who decapitated older women - only stopped when he finally got round to cutting off his mother's head. He'd been working up the courage.' Goulding smiled, as if that somehow made his anecdote more palatable. 'Given the level of destruction in the Nichol house, I think it's fair to say that our killer's finally lost control. Twenty years he's been operating with impunity, but since Halloween he's been under a lot of pressure. Thursday night he almost got caught; one victim escaped; he had to kill a second and hide her body in a bush; abandon the partially-butchered remains of a third. He's not in control anymore, and that's never happened to him before. So he goes out for revenge, even though he knows it's high risk.' The psychologist nodded, agreeing with himself. 'It's taken twenty years, but the man you call 'the Flesher' is finally escalating.' 'Aye,' said Steel,'it's a comforting thought all right. Sure it'll make Munro's husband and kids feel all warm and fuzzy inside.' 'I'm just saying that this is the end game as far as the Flesher's concerned. He's unlikely to come back from this, most likely it's the start of a spree--' 'Jesus, that's even more comforting! The bastard was bad enough when he was in control, can you imagine what he'll be like now?'
'HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME!' Sobbing in the darkness. 'PLEASE!' 'Heather? You awake?' 'With all that racket going on?' She rubbed at her eyes, feeling gritty all over. 'You got any more of those pills? We could both--' 'They made you feel ill.' 'I just want to sleep ...' The shouting stopped, replaced by incoherent screaming and the sound of Mrs I'm-a-Police-Officer throwing herself against the metal walls of her prison. Heather groaned and stared up into the impenetrable dark. 'Kelley? Tell me a story.' 'I don't--' 'Please?' 'HELP ME!' 'I ...' Kelley went silent. 'I can't think of anything.' Heather reached through the bars, feeling for her cellmate's hand. 'Tell me about your mum and dad - the nice
