Off the Rails Read Online Free PDF

false teeth.
    ‘Okay. His name. I’ve bagged one of the notes you might find interesting, some research about a dodgy pub that used to exist nearby called “The Fox at Bay.” Your killer’s clearly a local lad, born in one of the surrounding streets. Maybe he took his name from the pub. He won’t have become friendly with anyone else in the building, but maybe someone knew his old man. I think at some point your Mr Fox lost contact with his family, maybe when his folks split up. He cuts his own hair, is capable of changing his appearance quickly. But he’s cleaned his electric clippersso that there’s not so much as a single bristle left behind. He’s bleached everything. He left home fully prepared to travel, because there’s nothing of value here, only the two changes of clothes and one pair of knackered old shoes. No-one else’s fingerprints but his own, and he hasn’t got a criminal record so we can’t match them. No foreign fibres so far, nothing to link him to the murders beyond what we already have. We could try the National DNA Database, but less than eight percent of the population is recorded on it, so if he’s managed to keep himself out of trouble and away from hospitals, it’s of no use. He keeps his dirty work off the premises. Hair dye in the bathroom cabinet, and a pair of steel-rimmed spectacles with plain glass in them. Not exactly a master of disguise, but you do feel he enjoys the power that accompanies deception. No sign of a woman anywhere. He’s the kind of man who visits prostitutes. He can’t risk getting close to anyone. He wouldn’t trust them.’
    ‘Well, I’m disappointed,’ Bryant complained. ‘I thought you were going to provide me with some genuine revelations instead of a load of old guesswork.’
    Banbury blew out his cheeks in dismay. ‘Blimey, Mr Bryant, I thought I was doing quite well.’
    ‘Let me tell you something about this man. He doesn’t see himself as damaged. The cities are our new frontiers; it’s here that the battles of the future will be fought, and he’s already preparing himself for them. He knows that the first thing you have to do is chuck out conventional notions of sentiment, nostalgia, spirituality, morality. There’s no point in believing that faith, hope and charity can help you in a society that only wants to sell you as much as it can before you die. Mr Fox has divested himself of his family and friends, and he’s taking his first steps into uncharted territory. He considers himself as much of a pioneer as … oh, Beddoes or Edison.’
    Banbury stared in bewildered discomfort at Bryant, who was cheerfully sucking his sweet as he considered the prospect.
    ‘You think he’s some kind of genius? Sounds like you admire him.’
    ‘No, I’m just interested in the way people protect themselves in order to survive. It’s an instinct, but Mr Fox has turned it into an art. And this solipsism ultimately blinds him. Ever had dinner with an actor?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Don’t. All they ever talk about is themselves. They never ask questions, never bother to find out who you are. They’re not interested in anything but getting to the truth of their characters. And in most cases there isn’t any truth, just an empty, dark, faintly whistling void. The serial killer Dennis Nilsen was so incredibly boring that he actually sent his victims to sleep.’
    ‘Blimey.’
    ‘I had an aunt once who appeared in drawing room comedies. She was doing a Noel Coward at Richmond Theatre,
Hay Fever,
I think, when a man in the front row dropped dead. She was very put out, because there was a practical meal in the second act and she was starving. They had to halt the show while the St John’s Ambulance Brigade carried the corpse out, and she complained to the house manager that her food had got cold. Heartless and selfish, you see. Do you want a gummy bear? They’re a bit past their sell-by date but that just improves the flavour.’ He seductively waved a paper