Chapter Twenty Two

Calling Card

The woman’s body gave the occasional spasm, but otherwise there was no resistance to the steps of the process that had, of necessity, to be carried out before death. Since this was not Kay he took a phial of anaesthetic gas and injected it directly into the hollow tube protruding from the top of the spinal column. He then proceeded to perform alone the ritual that had in the past been shared equally by members of the extraordinary circle to which he had belonged, and which had led to his present total defeat.

A rapid inspection of the inelegant kitchen provided him with egg cups. These soon held the warm blood. The studio was well equipped with cutting and scraping implements and Frank felt a creative surge as he made the first incision in the back and sought out the renal veins and arteries. He removed both kidneys through an untidy tunnel carved out of the subcutaneous tissues and placed them on a plate decorated with cartoon images of robots constructed from brightly coloured vehicles. Reading the words on the plate he smiled at the transformation that his present work would bring to the life of Kay. Her terror would be inexpressible, and he licked his lips as he tasted her salty fear. His appetite thus aroused he rolled the woman over and began the rather more difficult job of removing at least some of the heart. In this he was aided by his father’s sampling tube, which he pulled out of the spine and, having removed the intervening clothing, inserted between the appropriate ribs, easily puncturing the intercostals muscle and meeting resistance in the firm wall of the heart itself. Frank took a deep breath and thumped his fist down on the tube. It penetrated the heart and a gush of bright red blood covered his hand and face. He glanced down and saw the damage done to his Italian jacket, shirt and tie. Every enterprise has its hidden costs, he reflected, and carefully extracted the cylinder of cardiac material.

He had never really shared his colleagues’ taste for human flesh, so he sprinkled a little rock salt and a few drops of balsamic vinegar on the heart and kidneys before he nibbled them. A few teeth marks were all that was required. The organs were then returned to the body cavities. He now busied himself with underlining the calling card he was leaving for Kay. He methodically took every one of the one hundred and forty four models of Douglas and placed them in a circle; all facing in towards a centre which was the bloody hole in the woman’s chest. Finally he smeared his lips with a patina of blood, salt and vinegar and planted a gentle umber kiss on the mouth of Kay’s portrait, forever unfinished in the gloom of the studio.