He hears Webley move in behind him.
‘What?’ she says. ‘What is it?’
Cody releases the cloth and turns to face her. He grabs her by the shoulders.
‘Jesus, Megan, I’m so sorry.’
‘What? Cody? What are you talking about?’
‘It’s not Oliver Selby. It’s… it’s Parker.’
37
Love Kills
– Queen
Webley searches Cody’s face for meaning.
Because this makes no sense at all. They are not here looking for Parker. They are here looking for Oliver Selby. Or Claire Somerville. Or the man who claims to be Claire’s brother. In fact, any fucking person other than Parker. Parker is in a different universe. Webley’s personal universe. Not work. Not the job. The two things are completely separate. He cannot be here.
And yet Cody looks so serious. This is not a joke. He would never joke about something like this.
And so it’s a mistake. All that blood, he hasn’t seen the face properly. It’s not Parker. Can’t be.
‘Cody, what are you talking about? How can Parker be here? What’s he got to do with any of this?’
Cody’s eyes are filled with immense sadness. ‘I don’t know. I’m really sorry.’
She starts to move away from him, and he tightens his grip on her arms.
‘Megan, it’s a crime scene. We have to—’
She pulls away. ‘I have to see.’
She moves to the bed, lifts the cloth.
It’s him. It’s Parker. The man she was going to marry. The man who has now literally been ripped apart.
‘No,’ she says. ‘No, no, no…’ She backs away but cannot tear her eyes from the spectacle in front of her. ‘How can he be here? How has he got anything to do with Selby?’
Cody takes her in his arms and hugs her tightly. ‘I don’t know what the fuck’s going on. Come on, you need to get away from this.’
He leads her out onto the landing.
‘Wait here,’ he says. ‘I have to check the other rooms.’
Webley stands stock-still, staring into space, barely aware of Cody’s movements. The shock of what she has just witnessed is preventing grief taking control for the moment. It feels to her as though her brain has encountered a critical error and needs to reset.
And then it all gets worse when Cody says, ‘Oh, fucking hell!’
Webley turns. Cody appears in the doorway of another of the bedrooms. His face is ashen, his hands shaking.
‘What?’ she asks.
‘It’s… It’s Selby. And I think Claire Somerville too.’
Webley starts towards the room.
‘Don’t go in there,’ Cody says. ‘They got the same treatment as Parker.’
Webley presses on. ‘I’m a big girl, Cody.’
He steps aside to let her through. The room is much bigger than the previous one. At its centre is a huge bed. Two bodies lie on top of it – both naked and with their innards stacked on top of their corpses. Their eyes are open and bulging, their mouths gawking at the ceiling as though they died screaming to their maker. Webley recognises the distorted face of Oliver Selby. The woman next to him has long, fiery-red hair. In life she would have been beautiful. Now she looks unreal – like something from a zombie movie.
The bodies have been posed so that they are holding hands. In their other hands they are grasping fleshy bulbs.
‘What… what are they holding?’ Webley asks.
‘I think… I think it’s their hearts.’
Webley continues to stare. She has attended many murder scenes but never anything like this. So savage. And yet curiously symbolic. There is a message here, but its meaning escapes her. The presence of Parker in the same house as the man the police have been trying to trace only multiplies her confusion.
And who is responsible for this? The man called Bobby? Who the hell is he? How did he come into contact with Parker?
‘Come on,’ Cody says quietly. ‘We need to call this in.’
She steps out of the room with him. Truth be told, she’ll be glad to escape this hell-hole. She knows it will haunt her dreams.
