Grind Their Bones

by Cross, Drew

  'Don't worry, in that department I'm more than happy with my lot.'

  He flashed me another boyish grin and took a big bite out of his toast.

  'What am I going to do with her, Lee? She's in her early thirties now, a wife and a mother, and she's out behaving like a teenager. I thought she'd been assaulted to begin with, you know? Then when we got outside and she finally started to make sense, it turned out that she'd been quite happy to oblige a group of strange men like some streetwalker, and that it's apparently not the first time she's felt and acted on that particular urge.'

  I sighed in frustration and chewed at the ragged corner of a fingernail, pushing my unruly hair back with my spare hand.

  'And that's her choice, Za, so don't take responsibility for that on your own shoulders.'

  He put down what was left of his toast and moved around the table to hold me, enveloping me in the sweet smelling scent of a new Issey Miyake aftershave that I'd bought for him.

  'She'll be just fine in the end, you'll see. She just needs this time to find herself before she'll be ready to be a mum and resume all of the related responsibilities again. All you can do in the meantime is listen when she wants you to and bite your tongue until she asks for your opinion.'

  He played with a loop of my hair as he spoke and I almost forgot about my hangover.

  ‘You’re probably right as usual, but it’s not going to be easy to keep my mouth shut about her recklessness last night.’

  I closed my eyes as a heartbeat took up residence in the centre of my forehead, pulsing at double the rate of the steady rhythm in Lee’s chest. I tried to blank out the pain, but it felt absurdly like I was being punished for the fact that I was keeping some details of the previous night back for now. I wanted to mull them over some more before I invited anybody else in.

  Does he suspect what you’ve been doing? I’d asked, referring to Emily’s husband, David. Good God, no! He’d kill me if he did know…actually murder me. It’s in him somewhere, I’ve seen it in his eyes sometimes. She’d said, and then passed out, leaving me alone with my thoughts in the darkness.

  Chapter 29

  The girl was absolutely perfect in every possible way. A study in blossoming grace and femininity, with long wavy chestnut coloured hair and bright blue eyes that might have been piercing if it wasn’t for the warmth that radiated from her expression. The Grey Man would have taken her for one of his private dinners a long time ago given the chance, but there was one crucial detail that had made that an impossibility in the past. The girl worked for him, and as such knew who he was and had seen the face that he chose to wear like a mask for the world that existed outside of his fantasies and desires. He had always been careful to ensure that there were no clear links between his real self and his victims. Well, almost always his inner voice corrected. You nearly learned that lesson the hard way very early on in your career, didn’t you?

  He watched her through his office window, able to observe her bathed in glorious morning sunlight without her being able to see him in return due to the angle of the blinds, but she glanced up at the glass from time to time anyway, as if a sixth sense had alerted her to his scrutiny, and each time she did she smiled shyly before resuming her work.

  He’d already done some research into her life, unable to completely let go of his desire to own her, so he knew that she was single and living with her widowed mother, who was suffering with the onset of dementia or some other similar ghastly ailment. The absence of a boyfriend seemed to be a consequence of her duties in caring for mum, giving her very few opportunities to mix with her work colleagues or friends outside of the office. That kind of isolation tipped the balance back in favour of dinner slightly.

  He gave up on work and shut down his laptop, running his gaze back over her for the twentieth time, drinking in the details of her curves and noticing how there was only one other worker in the large open-plan space with her at the moment. Eventually, his frustrated scrutiny gave way to his desire, and he decided to see whether the scenario in his mind might play out after all. It wasn’t like the police were getting close to catching him yet anyway.

  She looked up from her desk as the door to his room clicked open and he emerged, and she smiled demurely with the ghost of a blush drifting up into her cheeks as he made pointed eye contact with her. He knew that even though he was old enough to be the girl’s grandfather, she was attracted to him on some level, and why not? He remained in impeccable physical condition, having retained good habits from his time served in the navy all those years ago, and he was very affluent. The years had been kind to him, making him look more distinguished than weathered, and he had excellent manners and a good natured welcome for each and every one of his employees when their paths crossed. In his line of work it paid to be an exceptional actor, and he was one of the best, living out the vast majority of his time playing this role, with only the one or two people closest to him having ever glimpsed one of his other faces.

  ‘Good morning Elizabeth, in bright and early as usual I see.’

  He smiled broadly showing off neat white teeth and slid casually into the seat next to her own, lowering his voice even though the only other person present was comfortably out of earshot at the far side of the room.

  ‘Your diligence and dedication have not gone unnoticed, and neither have your wealth of other assets, and I’d like to discuss a unique proposition with you tonight, if that’s okay? The only condition is that if you accept, then you must promise to exercise complete discretion, and tell absolutely nobody else about it for now.’

  He placed subtle emphasis on the words ‘assets’, ‘proposition’ and ‘discretion’ as he spoke, testing the water and allowing for possible naivety. If it all backfired then she would simply assume that he was fishing for some extra-marital entertainment and turn him down flat, and then he’d walk away and choose another companion instead.

  ‘I’d very much like to hear your suggestions,’ she replied instead, and rested her slim hand on the top of his thigh underneath the desk, maintaining steady eye contact and smiling considerably less shyly now, just for him.

  Chapter 30

  I'd not really planned it, but when I finally left Lee's place I wasn't yet in the mood to tackle Emily back at home and I soon found myself walking along Hallie's road. As her neat red brick house came into view I saw Mike and one of the boys out on the drive washing the car, Mike accidentally-on-purpose spraying the bare-chested boy with the hosepipe and then ducking out of the way as a sponge was thrown in retaliation. The scene was pleasant and peaceful, so utterly removed from my world at the moment that I briefly entertained the thought of turning back around, but then Mike looked up and spotted me, waving me over with a loud and cheery 'good morning.'

  'Hallie's just headed to the shops for milk, but she'll be back pretty soon so you've only got a couple of minutes to try to seduce me if you find yourself overcome by desire at the sight of my manly torso!'

  He hugged me tightly, grinning, and then let go to ruffle his son's wavy brown hair, sending him on his way to put the kettle on.

  'Cute as you are, I'll try to restrain myself this time for Hallie's sake.'

  I replied, starting to feel slightly more like a human being again after my late morning walk.

  'Come on, let’s go inside and I'll sort out coffee; I would suggest something stronger, but I think you already beat me to that one.'

  He turned and led the way indoors and I realised I was grateful for the chance to get back in out of the sun, since it was beginning to feel like intense dehydration looming large again.

  'Guilty as charged, Mike. Don't suppose I could get a vat of water to go with that coffee too, please?'

  I grimaced sheepishly and he nodded as he disappeared from view to organise the drinks, whistling loudly and tunelessly and clanking cups together as he did so.

  No sooner had he walked out then Hallie arrived back looking effortlessly immaculate in a cream coloured maxi dress and a spar
kly headband that matched her painted finger and toenails. I found myself contemplating how you can easily go off a person.

  'Woah there! No offence Webby, but you look like you went swimming in a barrel of gin last night! What's up?'

  She handed milk to Mike when he emerged briefly at the sound of her voice and he kissed her gently as he took it from her, and then leaned over to pass me a large glass of water.

  'Thank you. I owe it all to a heavy and eventful night laden down with sister trouble.'

  She shared a look of sympathy and took a seat opposite me.

  'Want to talk about it hun?'

  'Maybe later. I actually wanted to run some ideas about the murder investigation past you while I sober up away from Emily. Sorry, I know it's not exactly the most pleasant choice of conversational matter for a social call that you'll get this week, but I don't want to go back there yet and my minds running in circles as ever. I've already been over to Lee's this morning, and he's so disgustingly fresh and cheerful that I might just have killed him if I'd stayed in his company for another minute.'

  I tried on a weak smile and she turned her body to face me properly, pulling her feet up onto the chair and crossing her legs. Mike arrived right on cue with coffee, handing each of us a mug and sitting to one side with a newspaper, leaving us to get on with it.

  'Okay, I'm not sure exactly how much use I can be with something like this, but fire away. What have you got that you're allowed to tell us so far?'

  She sipped from her mug, keeping her eyes fixed on me.

  'Well, I'm working on the theory that this one knows me somehow. That he's crossed my path in the past, and that's what's behind him leaving me these letters at the scenes. The only problem with that is that I've arrested an awful lot of nasty characters, anyone of which could be the one that we're looking for, and in the absence of anything meaningful from forensics so far I need some kind of criteria for reducing their number.'

  I blew on my own coffee and risked a small sip as Mike surprised us all by speaking up first.

  'If you don't mind me butting in for a minute, why exactly are you just focussing on the criminals that you've met?' He said.

  Chapter 31

  'What do you mean?'

  We both looked over at him for an explanation as he casually folded the newspaper and rested it on the arm of his chair.

  'Just that it's difficult to see how that fits with your theory in some respects.' He sat up straighter and leaned forward in the seat. 'I mean, when you discount the obvious fact that many of them are going to be violent and criminally inclined, it looks less likely that one of them is going to be your man without him really sticking out in your mind in some way. After all, if you're so meaningful to him that he's writing to you and only you at these scenes, then you'd have to assume that there's, in his mind at least, a much bigger connection going on than just the fact that you locked him up once for something relatively minor. It would have to be fairly minor or he'd still be in prison.'

  He paused and took a sip of coffee, looking deep in thought.

  'Unless, of course, there was some kind of resonance that I just didn't pick up on at the time, or they felt I was somehow to blame for something bigger that I'm not aware of, or I've never met them at all and they're just a common garden variety psycho with a fixation.' I ventured, sighing in frustration. 'This is hopeless isn’t it? I'm trying to attach logic and reasoning to the actions of somebody whose perception of those two concepts is as different from mine as night is from day.'

  I fussed with my hair and Mike wagged a finger at me, tutting exaggeratedly.

  'I'm no detective, in fact all of my knowledge on police investigations comes from books and films and listening to you, so your experience and knowledge trumps mine every time Zara. But my point is that this freak might actually know you, and not just be somebody who you've arrested.'

  He paused for a moment to let that opinion settle in before carrying on.

  'I'm willing to bet that most crims don't even remember the faces of the police officers who arrest them, much less their names and how their careers have progressed. I'm pretty sure that serial killers with vendettas don't tend to exist outside of Hollywood movies. What I'm saying is that, to begin with at least, your list needs to be much bigger.'

  His expression was open and serious, and I found myself wondering for the first time how much he and Hallie had been discussing the case that had been eating me up for so long now that I could barely remember life before it.

  'We can both help you to narrow down the list once you've got it all together, no matter how big a job it is.'

  Hallie stood up and manoeuvred her way around the coffee table between us, embracing me tightly while I leaned in gratefully.

  'I love you, you know?'

  I mumbled into her shoulder.

  'I love you too. Now for God's sake go and make it up with Emily and then get some sleep, the fumes coming off you are making me tipsy. When you're feeling vaguely sober again start adding names to that list – ex-boyfriends, people you fell out with years ago, even male colleagues.'

  She paused and let go of me, waiting for a reaction to the suggestion that another police officer could be responsible for these atrocities.

  'It's alright, the thought had crossed my mind already, repellent as the idea is I can't afford to be sentimental about it.'

  I massaged my temples in a vain attempt to soothe away the returning headache.

  'And I'd better see my name on there too, Zara.'

  Mike spoke up again and I looked across at him quizzically.

  'I'm male and I've known you for a long time, that's enough to put me on that list until it can be demonstrated that I shouldn’t be. No omissions.'

  Chapter 32

  Elizabeth Josephine Perry moved around her small bedroom performing an elated mock waltz. Her thick, lustrous hair was still wet from the shower and it clung to her naked body as she twirled and tossed her towel aside. She looked at herself in the full length mirror on the back of her wardrobe door and liked what she saw. Contrary to the opinions of her colleagues back in the office, 'Shy Beth' was not the demure little girl that they evidently believed her to be. She blew the twin in the reflection a kiss and reached for her moisturiser, enjoying the chocolate aroma of the body butter as she smoothed it into her flawless skin.

  'This show needs music.'

  She told herself aloud, leaning across to flick on her battered old CD player. If tonight went how she thought it would then she'd be able to buy an upgrade before the week was out. Right away Florence and the Machine's 'Howl' filled the room.

  'I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground.'

  She mimicked the atmospheric wailing passably well while she painted her nails in a shade of bright red polish that always reminded her of jelly beans. When she was happy that her fingers and toes were dry enough she started attending to her make up and hair. Opting for a couple of easily removable strategically placed clips after she'd finished drying and straightening, with red lip gloss and subtle smoky eye shadow on her face. By the time that she'd finished attending to herself and started to put on her favourite little black dress, the album was moving towards its conclusion and Florence was mournfully singing about coffins and death.

  Elizabeth had met men of all varieties, shapes and sizes through the internet before, keeping those experiences strictly to herself since she was perfectly adept at splitting her life into entirely separate secret compartments. Most of the one's she'd met had assumed that she was exactly what she had chosen to present to them, and she relished playing the different roles that her fertile imagination invented. However, some of them had been playing roles of their own too, which was why she carried an illegally obtained twenty thousand volt stun gun in her handbag. Truth be told she'd used it more often than had been strictly necessary in the past.

  She snapped back out of her thoughts and gave herself one more appraising glance in the mirror, picking a
couple of stray pieces of lint off the fabric of her dress. Pretty good, and she had to be tonight. This one was the big one, her possible ticket to a much more comfortable life than this for both herself and her mother. For somebody so adept at weaving fantasies, she was a realist on what counted, and she was under no illusions that he would be in a hurry to leave his wife and risk losing half of his considerable wealth for her anytime soon. Sheds make it clear that she was just fine with that, subject to a couple of conditions of course, when the time was right.

  She stopped at her mother's room on her way out of the door, reminding her for the tenth time that evening that she was going out on a date with a wealthy older man and kissing the frail but not yet elderly woman on the cheek. She had no problem with sharing the titbit despite her soon to be companions instructions that she should not, because she knew for a fact that the information would drift back out of her mother's memory again like smoke in the wind before she had even caught her bus.

  Chapter 33

  When I arrived home Emily was back in super chef mode, busily preparing a banquet for lunch that would have comfortably fed a rugby team by the looks of it. She swayed merrily from side to side in time to Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance', with no apparent concept of irony, while she worked. She remained oblivious to my presence in the kitchen doorway until the song came to an end, and when she finally caught sight of me in her peripheral vision she flinched in surprise before she caught herself and smiled awkwardly.

  'Before you say anything, I just want to apologise for last night, Zara. I had far too much to drink, not that it's a decent excuse for…what I did.'

  She shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other and stirred some kind of fragrant garlicky sauce with the wooden spoon she was clutching.

  'Anyway, I wanted to try to make it up to you, or to start making it up anyway. Now you go sit down, and I'll shout up when it's ready.'