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. A Mark Reynolds, GeraldineReynolds, and Ronan Dougherty here as well asLouise.I really ought to get them in the fridge,but I m short-handed today. He eyed them withhope. No? Don t fancy helping me cart themdown the way? Didn t think you would.So, thisis a serial, yes? He moved back over to Louise,peeling back what was left of the skin on herface.Oliver felt like fainting. Serial, yes, Langham said. You ll havemore bodies in shortly.Male and female.Although they re related in the case to these poor193 SUGAR STRANDSbastards, they weren t killed by the same person.If you ll believe it, a young girl killed them. Hank shot his head up, stared at Langhamwith his mouth wide open. What, a young girlkilled these people here? No, a man killed these four, but the girlkilled the two you ve got coming in.When yousee the female victim, you ll wonder how a four-foot kid had the strength to do what she did, butshe had the help of drugs. Oh my.Well& Hank picked up an electricblade. That sounds most disturbing.Youth oftoday, eh? Anyroad, is there anything I can helpyou with, because I need to& you know.Off withher head! He slashed at the air with his blade,his red cheeks shining with sweat.Oliver s knees buckled, and he grabbed thetable behind him, shrieking at having touched asheet-covered foot.Hank laughed. Not literally, dear boy.Justcutting the top off.Need to have a wee look at herbrain. Bile surged up Oliver s throat and settled onthe back of his tongue.Good job he hadn t eaten194 SARAH MASTERSlately, otherwise what he d consumed wouldhave splattered all over the floor.He had to getthe hell out of here. We just needed to take a look inside Louisehere, unless you can tell us what we need toknow.Not that we even know what we re lookingfor, Langham said. Inside her torso.Did youfind anything there other than the strands andthe hairs? A bit of fibre, nothing to tell the neighboursabout, Hank said. Apart from the fact she washacked more after death than when she wasalive, that she received an almighty whack to theback of the head with a rounded object thinkmetal piping, something like that there snothing to report here.The others? Heshrugged. Won t know until I open them up,and that s just a saying.They re pretty muchopened up already, except for the old lady.Kindkiller, thinking of me like that, saving me a job. He smiled, laughed again, then gave his blade aburst of electricity. Sorry I couldn t be morehelp. If you find anything 195 SUGAR STRANDS I ll let you know.Chop chop! He broughtthe blade to humming life again and pulled atransparent visor off a table toward him.He heldit up. Wouldn t mind putting that on for me,would you? My hands are a bit messy. As Langham stepped around the table to givehis services, Oliver bolted from the room.Howcould Hank be so jolly? If Oliver had that job,he d be morose as hell.He leaned against thewall in the corridor, the sinister sound of theblade rasping on his nerves, and closed his eyes.He wanted to be sick, to run, and to sleep all atthe same time.Do anything to make this shit goaway.Now he realised why he should have justleft it at Louise s murder site, gone home aftergiving a statement and forgot the whole thing.Let Langham do his job alone.And how did hemanage to keep it all together with a job likethat? His admiration for the detective grew.Langham came out of the room, leaned onehand against the wall over Oliver s head, andlooked at him with concern. You okay? I will be when we get out of here. Oliverbreathed in deeply, tasting death.196 SARAH MASTERS Yep, we re going right now.I don t knowwhat s up with me today, but I forgot to run acheck on who owns Privo.I ll call it in to Shields,let him deal with it.I want to visit CordeliaShields before it gets too late.Then we re callingit a day.Everything will still be here tomorrowwhen we wake up, still one massive fuckingmess. It was with huge relief that Oliver steppedoutside into the fresh air, although faint tracesof odours still lived inside his nose
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