“Jesus fucking H. Christ,” was his first reaction.
He poked and prodded at the rotting heap of guts and bones for a few moments and then went back to Greg.
“Well, I never saw anything like that in all my born days. That animal looks like it been boiled in a hot pan for two days. What else you got?”
“In the bushes, a fox. It’s messed up just like them poor ducks.”
John climbed the rail again and went over to the bush where the fox remains were still lying there. The fox’s glassy eyes stared up at him almost accusingly. John uttered a loud retching sound that echoed across the reservoir. Greg couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. John continued to poke around the body, occasionally retching which made Greg snigger each time he did it. He began to run a book in his head of whether or not John was actually going to puke. He gave him five-to-one against. John emerged from the bushes and came back over the rail. His podgy cheeks were bright red from the force of his retching. Greg was desperate to laugh, but he didn’t quite dare. He supposed that his mirth was from the fact that this had been the longest day he had endured since he took the post. He was ready for home and his beer and most importantly, his Nicola.
“Well Mr Farnham, I can honestly say that was the most grotesque thing I have ever seen in my fucking life, and I have had my hand stuck up a cow’s twat on a regular basis.”
Greg felt the laughter rising again, but he held it down as hard as he could. “Any idea what could have done it?”
“I dunno, I never saw anything like that ever. Normally, if it’s been attacked by another animal, you would have teeth marks all over it and broken bones and shit. But that thing in there has had its skin and all its flesh and muscle stripped clean off. I don’t know anything on this earth that could have done that. I can’t even take it away for a proper autopsy ‘cos there aint enough of it left.”
Greg sighed, he guessed that they weren’t going to find an answer to it today. “No worries Mr Rogers, thanks for coming down,” he said and offered his hand. John shook.
“Not a problem. If anything else turns up, be sure to give me a shout. I want to solve this one. I love a good mystery y’know.”
“Me too Mr Rogers, me too,”
John tipped his cap at Greg and started to make his way across the bridge. He got about a third of the way across when he leaned over the side and hurled up his afternoon tea into the drink. Greg smiled to himself. His internal book keeper got to have his stake after all. He pulled up his radio and called Louis. The clean-up was just about done. Louis told him to get his arse home and she would see him in the morning. He breathed a grateful sigh of relief and began to make his way back into town to grab the bus home. He mused about how nice it would be to get his own patrol car. Still, it would be nice to dream.
He arrived home just after five thirty and Nicola met him at the door wearing one of his oversized shirts and nothing else. Her arms enveloped him and her lips were on his, kissing him gently but with a blood pumping passion that got his motor running straight away. She broke the kiss.
“Hi handsome,” she said.
“Hello sexy woman. What have I done to deserve all this?”
“Well, you know me, I’m a sucker for a man in uniform,” she said and bit her bottom lip seductively.
“Is that so? Well, sounds like your luck is in little Miss,” he said smiling. He reached down and picked her up by her backside. It was naked and the feel of her smooth skin got him going even more. She hoped up and wrapped her legs around him, pressing her crotch against the bulge in his trousers.
“Wanna take me to bed?” she said in his ear and she began to gently rock her hips against him.
“I don’t know if I can make it that far,” he said kissing her neck.
“Then put me on the floor right here.”
“Let me get this uniform off,” he said and reached for the zip on his vest.
She grabbed his hand to prevent him from pulling the zip down and shook her head. “Leave it on.”
He lowered her to the floor and her hands went down to his crotch, scrabbling at his fly. After a moment she uncurled his stiffened member from his trousers and placed it on her entrance. He pushed forwards with his hips and he slid into her. It was a feeling that he could never grow tired of if he lived to be a hundred years old. He made love to her right there on the floor just inside their front door. By the time that she had begun her second orgasm he felt the stress of the day ebbing away. By the time he exploded inside her, so hard he felt his eardrums bulge, his day was all but forgotten. He lay on top of her getting his breath back. He had good cardio, but coming always took his breath away especially after he first met Nicola. He climbed off her and got to his feet, pulling her up at the same time. He gave her a long slow kiss and gave her arse a slap.
“I’m gonna go run you a bath handsome. Then we can watch a bad film and eat bad food,” she said.
“Sounds perfect,” he said smiling.
“I’ll go put the taps on, and I gotta go clean up too, you naughty boy,” she said and giggled.
Greg laughed, and as he zipped himself and watched her head for the stairs he thought to himself how he had been so lucky to have God put an angel on this earth just for him. The fact that she was a little bit crude made him love her even more. He went to the living room mirror that was hung over their imitation fire and checked his reflection. His hair was stood up in wild bunches from where Nicola had pulled it in the throes of passion. He had a big goofy grin on his face (and why not) and then he saw the dark circles under his eyes. Yes, it had been a long day and getting cosy with Nicola after a quick soak was just what he needed. He made his way up the stairs and into their bedroom. He got himself out of his uniform and hung it up in its usual place on the small hook on the outside of the wardrobe. Nicola liked him hanging it there, after all she did have a thing for a man in uniform. Nicola came out of the bathroom and found him standing in the bedroom in his underwear. She took him by the hand and led him into the bathroom, stripped him off and shooed him into the water. He felt the heat from the bath envelope him and his bunched muscles finally gave up and relaxed.
“You get yourself chilled out and cleaned up and I will go and sort us out some food mister. Play your cards right and you might get dessert,” she said.
“Is that so?” he said and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her into the water with him and she shrieked. Her weak attempts at resistance were cut off when he kissed her deeply and passionately. Dessert was on the menu, but he had to recover first. The muscles in his crotch jerked and twitched, but there was no fight left in them just yet. Nicola broke the kiss and weakly slapped his face.
“Just look at me now, I will have to go and get changed.”
“Oh, you know you love it when I get you all wet,” he said smiling.
She shook her head and then manoeuvred herself out of the bath. The shirt was wet through and she stripped it off and threw it in the sink. She bent down and kissed his cheek and ran out of the bathroom.
“Streaker,” he shouted and then laughed to himself.
He tipped his head back and let out a long breath. The sex and a soak was just the ticket. He closed his eyes and felt himself beginning to drift towards the endless beauty of a nap. Yet something kept on bringing him back to the waking world. It was the thought of the dead animals in the reservoir and the fact that there seemed to be no rational explanation for what had happened to them. He couldn’t fathom how the bones had not been chewed, broken or even marked in any way, and what was it that John Rogers had said? They looked like they had been boiled. What kind of sense did that make? How could an animal be boiled in a stone cold reservoir? Whatever it was that had done it, they would soon see if it was a one off, or the start of a spate of animal serial killings. Now that was sure to make the front page of the local newspaper.
He began to imagine himself giving a statement to the press and then perhaps appearing on local television appealing for witn
esses. Perhaps he could become a bit of a local celebrity and be invited to open the local summer fete, or go and give talks about law enforcement in the local schools. You could never really tell where anything was going to take you and....
Something brushed against his leg.
He looked down and saw a fox floating in his bath water. It was just like the fox they had found in the bushes next to the reservoir. Its skin had been stripped from its body from the neck down and he could see its guts slowly sinking to the bottom of the bath. Half of its head was above the water line and its dead glassy eye stared at him. All around his legs the water had turned a dark shade of scarlet. He tried to scream and pull his legs away....
He jerked awake in his bath sending some of the water cascading over the side which generously soaked the bath mat on the floor. The scream was still caught in his throat. He looked down at his legs expecting to see the fox corpse grinning up at him from between his knees. But there was nothing there. The water was clean and empty.
He tipped his head back again and took some slow long breaths to slow down his pounding heart rate. Soon, the relaxation came back and he was in control again. He decided to get himself washed and to go and see what there was to eat.
When he finally got downstairs again, Nicola was setting out their small dining table with cutlery. She had lit a small candle which sat in the middle of the table casting a thin yellow glow onto its surface. Something smelled wonderful, in fact if he wasn’t mistaken, it smelled like his favourite meal which was Nicola’s homemade Rogan Josh. Nobody could cook it like she could. He felt a strong hunger pang growl around his insides. Looking at Nicola, dressed in a lose white top and her sweat pants that still made her arse look amazing, he could feel another hunger growling around in his lower regions. He suspected that it was going to be a long night and a very pleasant one. He came up behind her as she was leaning over the table to put down another fork and he grabbed her buttocks, one in each hand and gave them a firm squeeze. She giggled and turned around to him.
“Easy tiger, got to feed you up first and give you some strength,” she said.
“Strength? What on earth for?” he said with a gleam in his eye.
“I want you to put up some shelves,” she said, grinning and putting her arms around his neck.
He laughed at her sarcastically. She kissed him and then led him to his seat at the table. “Please take a seat sir,” she said and then disappeared into the kitchen. A moment later she came back with two plates loaded with the amazing smelling curry. He generally knew his luck was in when he got the royal treatment, and vice versa, so did she.
She sat at the table and they started to eat. The food was amazing and his stomach growled its pleasure at receiving its long overdue feast.
“So, how was your day?” she said between mouthfuls. Greg told her the story of the reservoir and the dead animals that had been found. As he did so, Nicola’s rate of eating slowed and she wrinkled her face in disgust.
“Do you have any idea what did it?”
“Not got a clue. There was no sign of any bite marks on the animals or anything to suggest that anything had been trying to eat them. It was like Mr Rogers said, it looked like they had been boiled.”
Nicola’s fork went down. “Oh my God, that’s disgusting.”
“I’m sorry honey, I won’t talk about it anymore, or at least until we’ve finished eating.”
She looked at her half eaten plate of food mistrustfully. “I think I lost my appetite.”
Greg laughed.
“Hey it’s not funny mister. What could have done that to those animals?”
Greg shrugged and forked more food into his mouth. “I’m sure we will find out eventually,” he said.
“Yeah well, I’m staying away from the place until it’s all sorted out.”
“That might not be a bad idea.”
Nicola looked at him, there was a look of fear on her face.
“Look, I don’t think there are any big wild monsters lurking out there, but I want to know exactly what went on. Perhaps it was some kids from out of town did something nasty to them just for kicks, I don’t know, but I think it would be best to be a little cautious.”
She stood up and came over to him. He moved his chair out from the table. She sat on his lap and put her arms around his neck. “I just want you to be careful out there,” she said in his ear.
“Oh I will, but this is Hurndell, it’s hardly the crime capital of the world.”
She smiled against his neck and he could feel it. He could also feel something else stirring caused by the warm and sexy body that was sitting in his lap. He slipped a hand under her legs and then stood up with her cradled in his arms.
“Why don’t you let me take you upstairs and I can take your mind off things for a little while.”
“Are you sure you have had enough to eat?” she said.
“Not yet, but I soon will have,” he said and then he felt her smile against his neck again.
They made love until the moon was high in the night sky and then they slept. Neither of them stirred until the next morning when they were woken by Sergeant Louis Nelson banging on the front door.
5.
Greg sat bolt upright in the bed. He had always been an exceptionally light sleeper and the smallest noise could rouse him probably two or three times a night. Last night he hadn’t stirred once, such was the quality of the sexual encounters and the meal he had been given. The sudden banging on the door had snatched him out of his sleep into attack mode straight away. It wasn’t a normal knocking on the door that he had just heard, it was the kind of banging that could only mean that something was badly wrong. He threw the covers back and stood up. He was mildly relieved to see that he had put his shorts on last night before he went to sleep. He grabbed a t-shirt and stuffed himself into it as he made his way down the stairs. The banging came again, causing the letterbox to clatter on its broken spring.
“O.K. I’m coming,” he yelled at the closed door.
He took the door key from the hook and rattled it into the lock. A moment later he pulled the door open and saw Louis standing on his doorstep.
“Morning Louis, am I late?” he said.
“No Greg, I’m early. But we have a problem.”
He stepped aside and let her in. Nicola was making her way down the stairs. Her hair was stuck up in batches of tangles, it looked almost comical.
“What’s going on?” she said, her voice croaky and thick with residual sleep.
“Morning Nick, I’m sorry but I have to commandeer your husband,” said Louis.
Greg looked at the clock on the wall, it was ten-to-six. “What’s going on Louis? We ain’t due out for another two hours?”
“A body has been found, up at the reservoir,” she said.
“Another animal?” said Greg.
“Yes, but again, there is more than one of them. Looks like we might have an animal serial killer on the loose,” said Louis.
“What’s been found this time?” said Greg.
“Deer. I’m not sure how many. The Captain says he wants us to go and check it out right now.”
“Christ, does he ever sleep?” asked Greg heading for the stairs.
“Yep, during the day in a coffin,” said Louis and yawned.
“Fancy a coffee Louis?” said Nicola.
“You’re a life saver Nick,” said Louis, and plonked herself down on the sofa. Nicola patted her on the shoulder as she headed for the kitchen. She had a very fancy coffee machine that Greg had bought for her last Christmas. She loved her coffee and this machine had been a blessing. The best part about it was that you could just load it with a little plastic container which had everything in it and push a button, no effort needed. She made one for Louis, herself and one for Greg. She put Louis’s and Greg’s in travel cups so they could take them with them. When she brought them through, Greg was coming back downstairs. He was zipping up the vest on his uniform in readiness for the day ahead
. Louis who had begun to doze off in the comfort of their sofa jumped back up to her feet. Nicola handed her the fresh coffee.
“Oh thank you, you’re an angel,” said Louis.
Nicola handed Greg his cup and gave him a slow kiss on his lips.
“See you later handsome. I love you,” said Nicola.
“Love you too,” said Greg and the two officers made their way out of the door.
Before long they were on their way up to Barrington reservoir for the second day in a row. Greg was glad that Louis was driving because it gave him a chance to sip his coffee and doze a little whilst they were on their way up there.
“We have to report back to the D.C.I. after we have been for a look at this one,” said Louis, snapping Greg out of his nap.
“What on earth for? Nobody has died have they?”
Louis shrugged, “The word is that he thinks it might be someone preparing for a killing spree. According to him, a lot of these types start with killing animals. They start with something small and then they start working on bigger ones and then they finally get the balls to try it out on a person.”
Greg sighed and shook his head. “Well, I guess orders are orders Louis.”
“Yep, you got that right,” she said and drank more coffee. “Your wife sure makes a mean coffee Gregory.”
They were driving up the narrow road that led to the reservoir. Louis parked the car at the edge of one of the passing points and paused to drain the rest of her coffee from her cup. Greg did the same. Being snatched out of his unfinished sleep this morning was still having a detrimental effect on him.
“Right, come on. Let’s get this over with. We have to go and interview the guy that found it after we have finished here,” said Louis heaving herself out of the car.
Greg got out of his side of the car, “Who found them?”
“Nelson Whilton, the local crackpot. I tried to talk to him, but you know what he is like. He has a theory on everything. The only thing he didn’t have a theory on was what the hell he was doing by the reservoir at four in the morning,” said Louis.
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