Chapter 8
Penny watched Fraser work the blade with the precision of a surgeon and the delicacy of a lover. She’d never seen such a large animal skinned before, and was both squeamish and fascinated. It made no difference to the stag whether Fraser mounted its head or not, destined as it had always been for the butcher. But vegetarian Penny was still sad for its death, for its once graceful body now dangling from the gallows. She was still shocked when, after flaying down as far as he could, Fraser severed the stag’s head with a meat saw. He used the antlers as handles, struggling to thump his gory prize onto the workbench. The deer had been dead long enough for rigor mortis to stem the free flow of blood, though it still congealed in occasional resinous pools. Fraser idly scraped them awa
