Ripped (52 page)

'You
and
Peerse.'

Stewart
laughed.
'You'd
be
all
right
with
Peerse
–
he'd
buy
a
box
of
matches
from
you
any
time.
Go
out
of
his
way
to
do
it.'
He
stood
up;
ready
to
go,
he
hesitated.
'What
I
was
saying
about
your
brother
,
don't
worry
about
that.
It's
just
Peerse –
but
you
know
what
Peerse
is
like.
I
mean,
they're
looking
for
a
maniac.
Merchant
wasn't
just
killed,
he
was
messed
about
–
even
worse
than
the
first
one.
It
was
the
same
weapon,
a
knife
with
a
long
narrow
blade.
They
think
he
might
have
got
it
first
in
the
back
of
the
neck
and
that
paralysed
him.
After
that
he'd
about
thirty
cuts
round
the
bum
and
at
the
front.
Whoever
did
it
peeled
his
prick
like
a
banana
and
Forensic
think
they
did
it
slowly.
Like
I
say – a
maniac.'

When
he
had
gone,
Murray
sat
lost
in
thought.
What
Eddy Stewart
had
described
seemed
different
in
kind
from
what
had
been
done
to
the
first
victim.
From
what
he
understood,
the
tears
on
the
body
in
that
first
case
had
been
made
as
if
the
killer
had
struck
and
sliced
in
excitement
–
and
most,
perhaps
all,
seemed
to
have
been
done
after
death.
It
looked
as
if
Merchant
had
been
tortured.
A
number
of
things
followed
from
that.
It
meant
he
had
been
killed
indoors,
perhaps
in
a
flat,
anyway
in
a
place
where
someone
could
take
their
time
.
Torture
could
be
used
to
satisfy
an
impulse
of
cruelty,
Eddy's
maniac;
but
it
had
another
use
as
well,
an
old
use.

Was
it
possible
someone
had
tortured
Merchant
to
get
information
out
of
him?
If
so,
what
kind
of
information
could
that
have
been?

Billy
had
misunderstood
his
silence.
When
he
looked
up,
Billy
said,
'You
shouldn't
let
Eddy
bother
you.
Anyway,
I
think
all
that
stuff
about
your
brother
at
the
end
there
was
his
way
of
apologising.'

It
took
Murray
a
moment
to
work
out
what
he
was
talking
about,
then
he
said,
'That's
just
Eddy's
style.'
He
touched
a
finger
to
the
swollen
side
of
his
face.
'If
he
thinks
you're
down,
he
can't
resist
giving
you
a
kick.
He's
been
in
the
police
too
long.'

'He
can
be
a
right
bastard,'
Billy
said
with
a
sudden
change
of mood.
'Before
you
came,
he
was
going
on
about
my
father. Telling
me
what
a
fine
man
my
father
was.
He
must
imagine
there's
something
wrong
with
my
memory.
My
father
had
a
silver
plate
in
his
head
from
the
war.
Eddy
and
the
other
boys
would
follow
him
about
and
torment
him
until
he
lost
the
place.
Then
my
mother
and
I
would
have
to
hide
with
a
neighbour
or
stand
in
the
street
while
he
wrecked
the
house.
Sometimes
he
would
take
a
fit
and
fall
down
and
roll
about.'

Murray
had
never
heard
this
before,
but
he
wasn't
interested
.

'When
I
described
that
guy
from
the
casino,'
he
said,
'Eddy
recognised
him,
I'm
sure
he
did,
maybe
that's
why
he
started
to
shout
the
odds.
What
about
you,
Billy?
Do
you
know
who
he
is?'

'You
could
call
Eddy
my
oldest
friend.
I've
known
him
longer
than
anybody
else.
One
night
back
then,
there
was
this
guy
lived
up
the
stair
from
us,
Sammy
Dudley,
and
Sammy's
hiding
in
the
house
because
he
was
frightened
to
come
out
and
face
–
what
was
his
name?
McConochie.
That's
right,
McConochie,
a
right
ned.
It
lasted
for
nearly
an
hour.
Sammy
hiding
in
the
house
and
McConochie
running
up
and
hammering
on
his
door
and
then
when
he
got
fed
up
with
that
running
back
down
into
the
street
and
yelling
up
at
the
window
–
Come
out
and
get
what's
coming
to
you,
ya
yellow
shite!
And
finally
Maisie
Dudley
–
she'd
be
about
fifteen
then – got
so
ashamed
for
her
father
peeping
out
between
the
curtains
peeing
himself
with
fright
that
she
put
on
her
old
man's
jacket
and
bunnet
and
ran
down
the
stairs
pretending
she
was
her
father.
She
ran
out
of
the
close
with
her
fists
up
and
McConochie
took
a
swing
and
laid
her
out.
Down
she
went,
the
bunnet
flew
off
and
all
her
hair
spilled
out.
McConochie
shouts,
Jesus
Christ,
it's
a
lassie!
All
the
women
hanging
out
of
the
windows
enjoying
the
laugh
went
crazy.
Bastard
was
the
kindest
word
they
had
for
him.
All
hell
broke
loose.
He
was
shirricked
right
down
the
street.
One-Punch
McConochie
they
cried
him
after
that
–
until
he
got
so
fed
up with
it
that
he
flitted.'