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?'
