Webley can’t stop thinking about that word.
Insane.
It seems such a strong word. But it also seems appropriate. Rory Stroud is no psychiatrist, but he can’t be wrong about that. The sanity of anyone who cuts off all their hair and then one of their fingers is questionable enough, but this!
She can’t imagine it. She has tried. Pictured herself lying there with a knife, slicing into her own abdomen, parting the skin and the fat, wondering what to do about all that blood, fighting to stay conscious while coping with the pain. Rummaging through her own internal organs in search of a worm of flesh. Slicing it away.
And then the tidying up. Sewing it all back together. Can you use a normal needle, normal cotton thread? The pain of pushing steel through her flesh over and over, then pulling it tight.
That has to be the very definition of insanity.
And why? For her? To regain her love?
But maybe a question like ‘why’ doesn’t apply when you have lost all reason. There is no why. It’s just whatever your deranged mind tells you to do.
And yet there is still the question of what caused this. What led a seemingly normal man like Parker to suffer total mental devastation in such a short period?
The last time she saw Parker was on Valentine’s Day. February 14. So, about seven weeks ago. She had agreed to meet him in a restaurant on Dale Street, to ‘talk things over’.
She gave him the benefit of the doubt.
He tore it into shreds and threw it back in her face.
It was his jealousy again. His conviction that his place had been taken by Cody. Much to Webley’s embarrassment, Parker ranted at her and then stormed out.
Seven weeks to go from jealous rage to self-mutilation.
It shocks her that the human mind can be so incredibly fragile.
* * *
At his desk, Cody is having similar thoughts. He doesn’t know much about Parker, but it does seem incredible that the man Webley loved and trusted absolutely could have flipped so dramatically.
Which raises another possibility. One that Cody doesn’t want to allow into the forefront of his mind.
What if Parker isn’t doing this to himself? Rory Stroud wasn’t willing to rule that out. What if he’s right?
But worse than that…
What if this is Waldo’s doing?
It has the feel of the kind of sick joke that Waldo might perpetrate. The sending of the finger wasn’t that dissimilar to Cody’s receipt of his own toe. Could Waldo be behind this? Is he cutting up Webley’s ex-fiancé and making the comparison with Cody in the notes just to get at him?
No, he tells himself. Waldo would be more direct. He would come at me head-on.
But Cody isn’t completely reassured.
He tries to turn his mind back to the case, but that’s still bothering him, too. The unidentified thing he is sure he has overlooked continues to remain elusive.
His thoughts are interrupted when Webley enters the room and perches herself on the edge of his desk.
‘Hey,’ he says. ‘How’d it go with Missing Persons?’
‘Good, I think. They’re pulling out all the stops. I just hope they find him in time to stop himself doing something else stupid. That’s assuming he hasn’t already bled to death.’
‘What about Blunt? You spoken to her?’
‘Yeah. She was really sympathetic. Suggested I go home.’
‘Maybe you should listen to her.’
‘No. What am I going to do at home except worry?’
‘Parker might try to contact you there.’
‘I thought about that, but I can’t sit there all day on the off-chance he might pay a visit. That’s assuming he’s even capable of moving around if he’s just operated on himself. I need to be proactive.’
Something pings in Cody’s brain. About Parker going to Webley’s house? No, not that. Somebody going to somebody’s house, though. Who else? Why would that ring alarms? Why would—
‘You want to get some fresh air?’ he asks.
‘I could do with it. Why, what’s up?’
‘Something I want to check out.’
* * *
At Coleman’s DIY store they identify themselves to a supervisor and ask to speak to Toby Hooper. The supervisor, who appears to lack the ability to smile, tells them to wait at the desk. He returns a couple of minutes later with Toby in tow but seems reluctant to leave them alone.
