the way. I was in bed by three. In spite of my burning desire to carry on with my work, I was overwhelmed with exhaustion. Not surprising, considering the effort I'd expended. I was asleep as soon as I switched off the light.
When I woke, I rolled over and looked at the clock. Then I checked with my watch. I had to accept its corroboration. I'd been asleep for thirteen and a half hours. I don't think I've ever slept for that length of time, not even after general anaesthetic. I was furious with myself. I'd been looking forward to sitting down at my computer to relive and rebuild my encounter with Adam till it more closely resembled my deepest fantasies. But now I barely had enough time to shower and eat.
On my way into work, I picked up a late city final edition of the Bradfield Evening Sentinel Times. I'd made page two of the paper:
NAKED BODY FOUND
The mutilated body of a naked man was found in Bradfield's gay village early this morning.
Council worker Robbie Greaves made the grisly discovery as he made a routine rubbish collection in the Crompton Gardens area of Temple Fields.
Now the city's gay community fears this may be the first act of a gay serial killer like the man who recently terrorized London's homosexuals.
The body was found among shrubs behind a wall in the park, a notorious night-time meeting place for gay men looking for casual sex.
The man, said to be in his late twenties, has not yet been identified. Police describe him as white, 5 it loins, muscular build, with short dark wavy hair and blue eyes. He has no distinguishing marks or tattoos.
A police spokesman said,
"The man's throat had been cut and his body mutilated. Whoever committed this callous crime is a violent and dangerous man. The nature of the victim's injuries mean the killer must have been covered in blood.
"We believe the man was killed elsewhere and the body dumped in the park sometime during the night.
"We would urge anyone who was in the Crompton Gardens area of Temple Fields last night to come forward for the purposes of elimination. All information will be treated in the strictest confidence."
Robbie Greaves, 28, the council worker who discovered the body, said, "I'd only just started work. It was just after half past eight. I was using my grab to pick up litter. When it touched the body, I thought at first it was a dead cat or dog. Then I lifted up the bushes and saw the body.
"It was horrible. I threw up, then I ran to the nearest phone box.
I've never seen anything like it in my life and I hope I never do again. "
Well, at least they'd got one thing correct. The body was killed somewhere else and dumped in Crompton Gardens. As for the rest of it . If this was any indication of the police's skills, I didn't think I'd have too much to worry about. That was fine by me. The last thing I wanted was to be arrested, since I'd already chosen Adam's successor. Paul, I knew, was going to be different. This time, it wouldn't have to end in death.
All his acquaintances afterwards described his dissimulation as so ready and so perfect, that if, in making his way through the streets . he had accidentally jostled any person, he would . have stopped to offer the most gentlemanly apologies: with his devilish heart brooding over the most hellish of purposes, he would yet have paused to express a benign hope that the huge mallet, buttoned up under his elegant surtout, with a view to the little business that awaited him about ninety minutes further on, had not inflicted any pain on the stranger with whom he had come into collision.
Carol turned off the main drag and cut through the back doubles to emerge in Crompton Gardens.
"Adam Scott was found just there," she said, pointing to a spot halfway down one side of the shrubbery.
Tony nodded.
"Can you drive slowly round the square, then park up against the wall where the body was found, please?"
Carol did as he asked. As they cruised round the square, Tony gazed out intently, swinging round in his seat a couple of times to snatch a second look. When the car stopped, he got out. Without waiting for Carol, he crossed to the pavement and prowled round the edge of the square. Carol got out of the car and followed in his