scarcely believe that the mutilated mess on the floor had
once been a human being. What had until recently been
Alex Greenway was nothing more than globs of raw meat
and exposed muscle and bone.
The policeman spoke once more. "Seen my share
of weird things, you know? But this?. The guy was a real
nutter, eh? Looks like he tried to skin himself alive."
"That's exactly what he tried to do.” Usher moved
forward to gingerly examine the strips of flayed skin which
lay in a neat pile beside the glistening, oozing corpse of his
former patient.
The policeman shuddered. "Horrible and painful
way to die. Horrible for the wife, too. Imagine her finding
him like that. She'd just come home from a dermatologist
appointment, walked into her husband's study and
found...this."
Usher looked at the policeman, frowning.
Dermatologist?
"Anyway," the cop continued, "what I want to
know is why this guy wasn't in a mental hospital, you
know? I mean, he was obviously unstable."
"I tried to persuade him to sign himself in for
treatment, but he refused. When he left my office I started
the paperwork to have him committed for a psychiatric
assessment. But then... I received the call from you..."
The cop whistled softly and shook his head. "Yeah,
well…the wife seems remarkably calm. Probably numb
from shock. It hasn't really hit her yet. She asked us to call
you. Said you'd understand.
28
"Well, Doc – if you've finished viewing the