The kitchen stretched on for miles, miles of metal counter and machines, of stained walls, of moldy-edged, blood-red tile. Sao could feel the dampness, the gumminess of the blood. Why did the town have to favor that shade of red?

The walk-in freezer had nothing but space. Plenty of space to stiffen up a body to be more breakable, more brittle, a solid piece for sawing into.

With an electric saw, like a miniature of the chainsaw in Irving’s shed, but rust-free and terrifyingly functional, or the handsaw which looked more fitting for construction than food preparation. Or one of the many cleavers, the boning and skinning knives. The raw slab might first be cracked apart with the vicious spike-faced hammers Sao was too exhausted to remember the name of. All were already caked with blood and salt and old oil and bits of meat, who’d notice a little more?

In the corner sat an entire platform dedicated to serving a built-in oscillating blade, with the purpose of turning whole legs of cow or lamb into paper thin slices.

He saw himself, cut apart like Triad must have been.

First went the fingers - a pair of shears were tried first, but they wouldn’t close around the flesh properly and certainly wouldn’t cut bone, so out came the little curved-blade knife. And off went the fingers; a little extra time needed to take off the thumb.

A proper industrial meat cleaver went through frozen joints like butter. Knees, elbow, then the neck - cleanly separated.

For the body, well, the buzzsaw seemed like the only choice, how else was one to get to the juicy tender ribs? Stripped of those cumbersome attachments, the round lump of torso could be tossed up onto the table and run through the saw smoothly, splitting in half like a log. And what was that spilling out like hard candy, but little frozen bits of human, a tall pale sickly human, now in tiny chewed-up pieces, leached of color by stomach acid.

He woke up in his hotel room, a drab but calming square of beige walls and floor that was half wood, half carpet, with a small water stain in one of the upper corners. The bedside lamp was still on; he had dozed off after showering.

His phone was what had woken him. The familiar ping of a message. Rai had news from the forensic tests on the kitchen implements. The details swam before his eyes. His fingers hovered over the keypad, but no words seemed fit to be typed.

He hit the dialing icon and Rai picked up on the second ring.

“I don’t understand. Triad wasn’t killed in the Atrium, either?” Sao blurted.

“Hold on.” Sao heard Rai swallow, and put something down with a papery tap - probably a cup of coffee. “His hair turned up on one of the counters, and there was some blood on one of the knives and the biggest meat tenderizer. So something nasty definitely happened to him there.”

“Only one knife, though? Not the sawblade?”

“They’re double checking, but it seems like just one hammer and one knife. Of course, she might have cleaned up or got rid of some things. Or frozen him to prevent blood from spilling everywhere.”

“I suppose.” Sao pushed hair from his eyes. “So, the blood on the shears was a woman’s.”

“Probably Saki. But it’s still probably as we suspected. She tested out the shears and saw they wouldn’t do the job; accidentally cutting herself on the rust. So she took Triad to the Atrium to finish the job instead.”

“Did you manage to locate her?”

“Of course not. But the cops are all on board looking for her. We have Irving’s house under watch too.”

The walls creaked. A door slammed down the hall. Sao could hear a tap being turned on in a nearby room. It made him feel comfortable, knowing others were nearby, and alive. If he shouted, he would be heard. There were no guarantee of actions beyond that, but it was better than nothing.

“It’s looking like you were right,” Rai said. “Triad was turned into meat and mixed in with the burgers.”

A pause. Sao knew what was coming. He sank back into the bed. The robe itched slightly where it touched the scarring on his sides.

“So pretty lucky that you and Miss Skogul managed to knock the grill over, which got the party to end early.”

“I guess so.” Sao closed his eyes and tried to push a smile into his voice. “If only I had managed to aggravate her sooner. Plenty of people still wound up eating the burgers before that.”

“No kidding.” Rai’s tone was dark. “Saki practically forced one on me. I gave it to a kid before I left. I wish I had never taken it. Thinking back on it now, her insulting Tinsel’s weight was probably a way to keep her away from the burgers.”

“Which implies Tinsel didn’t know they had been altered.”

“Or Saki thought she needed reminding.” Another pause. Perhaps Rai had to galvanize himself before broaching the next subject. “I said I wouldn’t ask about you and Skogul,” Rai said, “but I need to know. What made you suspect Triad was…” Rai’s end went quiet. “Cannibalized?”

“Irving’s house.” Sao tried to focus on the stain in the corner. “I got rather unpleasantly close to the half-cooked meat at the brunch. I think I must have gotten very sensitive to the smell of meat as a result – I smelt something similar in Irving’s place when we first visited. I almost walked into the kitchen, following it.” It was true enough. The nausea that had hit him when he’d entered Irving’s living room had been an echo of what plagued him during the brunch. “At first, I just got some inkling that Triad must have been cut apart in a kitchen, since he would be too large to hide otherwise. With the smell, I thought his body was hidden in the house. When we learned Saki lived there, it made sense she’d bring him over. But I didn’t think Irving would miss such a large thing, or cover for her. And we didn’t find any part of Triad there. Then there’s what we saw at the hospital.”

“We didn’t get anything out of that trip but– wait.” Rai gagged. “All the food poisoning.”

“Right.” His breath was coming more easily now. “Triad was on multiple strong medications. I didn’t want to suggest something so grotesque, but we were already lost on where Saki might have taken Triad - with the idea he went through a kitchen - I had to consider it.”

“You were right to.”

“I’m sure there was a way I could have pursued that line of investigation without lathering myself in Irving’s trash.”

“Hey, I got some entertainment out of that.”

Sao now felt safe enough to say, “You actually looked rather concerned. I appreciated that.”

“Uh. It’s something that I can laugh at only because I know you weren’t, I don’t know, hallucinating because of a headcold.”

“You and headcolds.” Sao rolled his eyes off the stain and closed them. “I was wondering. If Triad was eaten, is it possible we’ve got shapeshifters about…?”

“I seriously doubt it. He’s kind of high profile, with a tough skillset - it would be too hard for a shifter to replace him.” Rai had audibly taken up his coffee again. He took several gulps; gave Sao a while to absorb that information. “Plus, shifters just need to take a bite for themselves. Why feed the body to so many regular people?”

“Maybe they weren’t regular people.” Sao smiled, ran his hand over his eyes. “I don’t know what I’m talking about. Maybe I really do have a cold.”

“Well, get some rest. You need it.” Rai would never go as far as to say he deserved it. “Sergant Liyu is back in for the night shift. I’ll get him up to speed and keep the search going for Saki. He’s already got a head start since he was with us last night.”

“Your new best friend. Should I be jealous?”

“Are you?”

Even when playing coy, Rai had a sledgehammer approach. Sao let the question twitch in the air between them like a live wire.

“I’ll let you know as soon as there’s any news,” Rai said. “But in the meantime, don’t let anyone into your room without telling me.”

“I do recall vampires needing an invitation in order to cross over a threshold. I’ll keep the door locked.”

“I’m not kidding.” Rai’s voice had a twinge of petulance. That itself was alarming, and what he said next kept Sao awake for the next half hour (though not much more). “I have no idea why Saki did what she did; she could easily be more dangerous than we know. I mean, she got the body off campus, back home, then back to town again, and pulled this poisoning stunt on everyone.”

“A very convoluted method of concealment.”

“And a risky one. If the point was to hide the body, why didn’t she just throw him in the river?”