Stuart MacBride - Close to the Bone

The room’s owner lay on what looked like a lumpy black recliner, supported by twin chrome rails, a copy of Magic Magazine draped across his face. No shoes, just a pair of black-and-red socks with pictures of flaming dice on them. The faint drone of snoring, little pot belly going up and down.

Logan waited until Chalmers was inside, then slammed the office door shut, hard enough to make the framed diplomas rattle. ‘Dave!’

Dr Goulding sat bolt upright, the magazine falling into his lap. ‘I’m awake, I’m awake. .’ He blinked a couple of times, then reached for the pair of glasses on the coffee table and slipped them on. ‘Logan, why didn’t you. .’ A frown. ‘Did she keep you waiting? ’

‘Ten minutes. Told us you were on a conference call to Johannesburg.’

‘Woman’s a nightmare. Just because I told her she couldn’t have the day off to go play golf.’ He stood, brushed biscuit crumbs from the front of his stripy shirt. ‘Sorry, manners.’ Dr Goulding picked up a pair of two-tone loafers and slipped them on. ‘Take a seat, please.’

Logan settled into a black leather chair that was all rectangles, then nodded at Chalmers. ‘Dave, this is Detective Sergeant Chalmers.’

The psychologist stuck his hand out. ‘ChalmersDaveGoulding.’ Pronouncing it in a rush, as if it was all one word. ‘Please, sit, sit. Do you want tea, or coffee? We had some garibaldis, but. .’ He glanced at the crumbs on the chaise longue. ‘Someone ate them.’

Logan pulled out Chalmers’s Post-it note, then stuck it in the middle of the glass desk.

Dave sniffed. Then picked it up. ‘A list of therapists? You’ve been seeing someone else? ’ A frown. ‘I have to admit that I’m a little bit hurt by that, Logan. I thought the talking therapy was working, and that’s why I hadn’t heard from you. You could’ve said something when I was helping out this morning-’

‘The four of you have been treating homeless men and women. For free.’

Bloody Chalmers was staring at him, one eyebrow raised as if she’d just heard he had a vestigial tail.

A frown. ‘Well. . yes. Only trying to do our bit for society. These people are vulnerable and conventional-’

‘Do you know if any of you treated a Roy Forman? ’

Dave tilted his head to one side. ‘You could’ve just given us a phone: didn’t have to come all the way out here. Not that I’m not happy to see you again, but. .? ’

‘I need a favour as well.’

‘Ah. I see.’ He steepled his fingers. ‘And have you been seeing someone else? ’

‘Dave, it’s important-’

‘Understand, my help isn’t conditional on your response, I’m just interested.’

Brilliant. Discuss whether or not he’d been seeing another therapist, with DS Chalmers standing there, staring at him. No way that would be all over the station by close of play. ‘No.’

‘Hmmm. . In that case, what can I do for you? ’

‘Professor Richard Marks. He was treating a young woman called Agnes Garfield as part of some kind of trial programme? ’

Chalmers flipped open her notebook. ‘Comparative benefit analysis of cognitive behaviour therapy and medication in the treatment of wide spectrum psychological disorders.’

A little smile curled at the corner of Dave’s mouth. ‘Is he a suspect in something? Please tell me the baldy sausage-faced old moron’s a suspect. Is it molesting sheep? I’ll bet it is, he looks like the type, doesn’t he? ’

‘We think Agnes Garfield might have killed Roy Forman. Professor Marks is quoting doctor-patient confidentiality.’

Dave blinked. Then his eyes pinched nearly shut and he sank down into his big leather chair. ‘Roy’s dead ? ’

‘We ID’d his body a couple of hours ago from a facial reconstruction. He was the necklacing victim.’

‘I can’t believe Roy’s dead. We’d made so much progress. .’

‘Dave, we have to find her before she hurts anyone else. I need you to go talk to Professor Marks. It’s a murder investigation, I can get a warrant if I have to, but if he cooperates it’ll make everyone’s lives a lot easier.’

A deep breath. A nod. Then he stood, straightened the cuffs on his stripy shirt, and marched for the door. ‘Make yourselves comfortable. I’ll get Little Miss Stroppy to get you a pot of tea.’

Clunk. And they were alone in the room.

Chalmers sat on the chaise longue thing, then lay back on it, putting her feet up. ‘So. . therapy, eh? ’

‘I’ve been stabbed, shot at, blown up, made to eat human flesh,’ Logan held up his left hand and showed her the two thin scars in the palm, ‘someone nailed my hand to the floor with a nail-gun, then tried to do the same with my head. Someone else set fire to my flat with me in it. My girlfriend’s still in the hospital after that one. .’ He wandered over to the window, looking down on a patch of green dotted with trees. The goths from the High Street had heaped up their long black coats in a big pile so they could chase back and forth after the Frisbee, laughing and squealing like children. ‘So yes: they sent me for therapy. It was that or be invalided out.’

‘Oh. .’ She cleared her throat. ‘Sorry, Guv. I didn’t. . Sorry.’

Silence.

Yeah, everyone was always sorry.

‘Get on to Control: I want someone watching Agnes Garfield’s house. Round the clock. If she wants her personal stuff she’ll have to go back for it. Chase up the lookout call on Anthony Chung’s car too. And talk to the PF’s office: I want a warrant for searching Dr Marks’s files faxed over to this office within the hour.’

‘I thought you said we could kill two birds with one stone? ’

‘Just in case. You know what these academics are like, stroppy bunch of sods can’t-’

A crash sounded from somewhere down the corridor. Then the sound of raised voices filtered through.

‘ Unprofessional bastard! ’ Liverpool accent, so that would be Dave Goulding.

‘ Get off me! Help! Someone call the police! ’ And that wasn’t.

‘Oh crap. .’ Chalmers scrambled out of the chaise longue and ran for the door.

Logan followed her, charging out into the reception area.

The receptionist was standing by the door to the corridor, one hand to her mouth, eyes gleaming as she shifted from foot to foot. She was muttering to herself, voice barely audible over the shouting and scuffling coming from outside. ‘Go on, hit him again, right in the balls. .’

‘ Agh! No biting! ’

Logan stuck his head out of the office door. Dr Dave Goulding had a short bald man in a headlock and was dragging him — kicking and swearing — down the corridor towards them.

‘I want him arrested !’ Professor Marks sat on the edge of a black leather armchair, a wad of damp paper towels pressed against his bottom jaw. His hair was little more than a memory, clinging in grey wisps around a shiny bald head. Big gold-framed glasses covered in fingerprints. No chin. His face just sagged its way down into his neck. Goulding was right: the man looked like a sausage. ‘You’re finished at this institution, do you hear me? Finished!’

Goulding stood with his back to the window, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. His right cheek was swollen, the skin shiny, already beginning to darken into a bruise. ‘Shut up, and tell them what you told me.’

‘Coming into my office, shouting the odds-’

‘You knew she was dangerous!’

Logan massaged his temples. ‘Is this really-’

‘He attacked me!’

Goulding took a step towards Professor Marks. ‘I’ll knock your bloody head off, you unprofessional git; she killed Roy Forman!’