Sasha was surprised at just how long she’d slept for. The couch had always been comfortable, even if she did have to squash herself into it. Stirring, she pushed herself up with her good hand, feeling pain ripple down from her shoulder into her arm. Her whole body was stiff and sore, making her grimace as she rose to standing.
“Coffee?”
Donna was at her door, a cup of coffee in her hand. She grinned as Sasha groaned, rubbing her hand over her eyes. “Bad night?”
“Long night,” Sasha corrected, accepting the coffee gratefully. “Thank you for your work. It was invaluable.”
“Just doing my job,” Donna replied, smiling. “Listen, I just stopped by to drop this off. It’s all the evidence, listed and organized.”
Sasha put down her coffee and picked up the sheaf of papers. “You did this?”
“Not just you who can stay up late,” Donna replied, with a chuckle. “I knew this was important to you and Stephen said you were going on holidays, so I wanted you to have this before you go.”
“Is there enough here to prove that it was him, then?” Sasha asked.
“More than enough,” Donna replied, firmly. “The blood samples match various victims, and the mementos and photographs they found….” She trailed off, shaking her head. “That man was flat out evil.”
“You can say that again,” Sasha murmured, remembering how he had looked when he’d attacked her. Looking back at Donna, she tipped her head a little, wondering whether to ask what was on her mind.
Donna grinned. “Something on your mind?”
“You can always tell,” Sasha replied, with a laugh. “Yes, actually. I know this sounds really strange, but did he have anything that might change the color of his eyes?”
“Change the color of his eyes?” Donna repeated, frowning. “No, I don’t think so. Do you mean colored contacts?”
“I don’t know what I mean,” Sasha sighed, thinking just how ridiculous she sounded. “Last night I was sure I saw his eyes practically glow yellow, but I must have imagined it.” There had been the lengthening nails and the sudden shock of dark hair, but Sasha put it down to her mind going crazy at the time. She wasn’t about to let Donna in on those details!
“You need to go home and rest,” Donna replied, firmly, her expression sympathetic. “You’ve put everything into breaking this case for months on end and now, finally, you’ve done it. It’s no wonder Stephen’s made you take two weeks off!”
Sasha laughed softly. “I know, although the only reason I agreed to two weeks was because he let me finish off all the paperwork first!”
“Well that’s done,” Donna said, firmly. “So what’s keeping you?”
The truth was, it felt odd to be going home, knowing that the case was closed. There would be a lot of different things to deal with in the next few days – the family, the funeral and even the newspaper reports that would be out in force. Was it strange that she didn’t really want to miss that? At the same time, Sasha felt her body grow tired, even just standing and talking to Donna. Her arm was aching again, which meant she needed more painkillers and that would probably make her mind a little bit fuzzy.
“You’re right, of course,” she muttered, shaking her head. “It’s weird to want to stay, right?”
“Not weird, no,” Donna replied, quietly. “Understandable, but not weird. But for your own good, I’ll be calling you a taxi and getting you home before lunchtime.”
Sasha opened her mouth to protest that she could drive, only to look down at her strapped up arm.
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Donna chuckled, as if reading her mind. “A couple of the officers drove your car home for you this morning. The keys are at the front desk.”
“That was very good of them,” Sasha said, truly appreciating their thoughtfulness. “Well, I’d better get my desk cleaned up and then head on out!”
“I’ll call that taxi for you in about an hour, shall I?”
Mentally calculating everything she had to do, Sasha nodded, thanking Donna as she left.
Sitting back down at her desk, Sasha put down the sheaf of papers and began to leaf through things one at a time. There was so much information to take in that Sasha found herself almost overwhelmed with all the evidence that stacked up against him. It appeared that, even though Thomas Clifford McBain was part owner of the whisky company, he had very little to do with it. He lived apart from his brother, out in the back of beyond, with only a dirt track leading up to his house.
The house itself, from the evidence photos, was in quite a state. There were things everywhere, with a mixture of dirt and blood on the floor of one of the bedrooms. It was assumed that room had been where he’d taken his clothes off after a kill, and had just never gotten around to cleaning it. He’d been so arrogant that Sasha guessed he’d probably believed he’d never be found out.
“A mixture of animal and human blood,” she murmured, reading the evidence beneath the photos. Animal blood? A shudder raked through her as she wondered whether or not he’d practiced his killings on animals first, before moving onto human victims.
However, there were no tools present at his home, which made Sasha wonder what he’d used to take his victims apart. They’d found claw like marks, and wounds that had a serrated edge to them, but there was no evidence of the tools he’d used to make those marks. Sasha frowned, something niggling at her. That didn’t make sense. He had to have used something, although they’d never quite been able to put a name to the tools used to make the marks. It was frustrating that they hadn’t been able to tie up that end of the investigation.
“It’s not for you to worry about, Sasha,” she told herself, signing off on all the evidence and adding her own notes to the pile. Turning to her computer, she set up an ‘out of office’ email response, shut it down and got to her feet, swaying slightly as she did so. She was tired. It was time to go home.
Putting her key in the door, Sasha laughed aloud at the sound of barking coming from inside her house.
“Okay, okay,” she laughed, managing to get the key turned with her one good hand. “It’s just taking me a bit longer than usual.”
Bramble, her sweet little dog, barked happily as she stepped inside. Bramble had been a stray she’d found amongst the brambles down by one of the lochs. That had been a few months ago now and, at the time, Sasha had no intention of keeping the animal. She had phoned the local animal rescue center and had said she’d take her in the following day, only for it to snow heavily and close the roads near Sasha’s home. Bramble had become a permanent fixture ever since.
Truth be told, it was nice to come back to Bramble every day. She was always pleased to see Sasha and it brought a smile to Sasha’s face to see Bramble.
“It’s cold out there,” she warned, as Bramble rushed outside, her tail sticking straight up as she put her nose to the ground.
Sasha lived by herself in a house that was far away from all the small villages. She liked the isolation, as well as the views of the land all around her. She could see the deep green forest on one side, and the sea on the other. The sunrises and sunsets could be breathtaking, and, occasionally in the depths of winter, there was the northern lights that lit up the sky. She never felt afraid, living out here by herself.
“Come on, Bramble!” Sasha called, seeing Bramble disappear into the long grass, after having seen a pheasant. “I’m freezing out here!”
With a happy bark, Bramble came back to the house, her entire body quivering with the cold. It was a relief to step into the warm house, although Sasha made sure to lock the door behind her.
There were a couple of messages on her answering machine that she made a mental note to take care of later on.
Kicking off her shoes, she walked to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of wine. It might only be early afternoon, but after the last few days, Sasha felt as though she deserved it.