The Slowest Cut by Catriona King

was adamant and Craig stared at him curiously. Even if he was still young enough to overreact emotionally Davy was a scientist. If he said ‘no’ that firmly they’d better listen.
    “Why not?”
    Davy pointed to the knives. “Look at the razor-edges.” He pointed back to the other image. “Now look at how deep the cut in her muscle was.” He stared at Craig. “Do you really think anyone could cope with that level of pain unless they were anaesthetised? They would die from s…shock.”
    Craig’s eyes widened. He was right! He’d missed it. John had missed it. They’d all missed it except Davy.
    “Davy, you’re brilliant!”
    Davy blushed, then realised that he hadn’t asked why. Liam asked for him. He’d entered the squad a moment before and heard the last part of their debate.
    “Why’s he brilliant, boss?”
    Craig beckoned him across and brought him up to speed with the blade and Davy’s theory that Eileen Carragher had to have been anaesthetised as they cut. Liam shook his head.
    “It wouldn’t have been a punishment then, lad. And these bastards wanted her to suffer.”
    “But s…she’d have blacked out from the pain.”
    “He’s right, Liam she would. Unless…”
    They gazed at Craig. He contemplated drawing out his explanation to make himself look good then decided against it.
    “Davy’s right. The only way that Eileen Carragher would have been awake for long enough to suffer was if, either she was anaesthetised locally in each area while they cut her…”
    Liam shook his head. “Too kind.”
    “Too kind to make you w…watch while they hacked away bits of you one by one! I’d hate to be your enemy, Liam!”
    Craig pushed on. “Or if they didn’t anaesthetise her but let her black out, then revived her again.”
    “They w…would have had to resuscitate her, chief. The risks of cardiac arrest would have been very high.”
    “Good thinking. So either she passed out or she arrested, but either way they resuscitated her every time. That means they had equipment and the location to do it in.”
    “A hospital? Clinic?”
    Craig shook his head. “They aren’t medical. John said the cuts showed they had a limited knowledge of anatomy. Besides, everyone’s seen people being resuscitated on TV. They could have bought everything they needed over the internet. All they needed was enough space and privacy so that no-one heard her scream.”
    He leaned in and typed a few words on Davy’s keyboard. The lab report from John’s eye-drops popped up.
    “John says her eyes were lubricated regularly using these. Can you run them through the usual databases, Davy? John says they’re common so he doesn’t hold out much hope they’ll give us a lead, but you never know.”
    Liam pulled up a chair and sat down, resting his long legs up on a nearby desk. “So let me get this right, boss. They kidnapped her sometime between Saturday and Sunday and cut off her eyelids so she was forced to watch everything they did to her. Then they chopped her up while she was awake and feeling everything, and resuscitated her each time she collapsed?”
    “Until they were ready to let her die, then they cut her throat. Yes.”
    Liam puffed out his cheeks, deep in thought, and Craig smiled as Davy unconsciously mimicked the look and wrinkled his brow. Davy secretly fancied himself as a detective but every time Craig raised the idea of training for the police, the thorny question of physical danger popped up and Day decided that he preferred his desk. Instead he lived vicariously through their adventures.
    Liam dropped his feet to the floor with a thud and exclaimed. “BDSM!”
    Craig’s automatic response was to crack a joke. “Not just at the moment, thanks.” Then he wrinkled his brow in thought. Liam was right. Just then Annette and Jake arrived, looking puzzled. They’d heard Liam’s shout all the way from the hall so Annette asked the obvious question.
    “What’s BSDM when it’s at home?”
    Liam gave