No indication of how the victim was immobilized.
Wallet emptied of cash – no credit cards taken.
Mobile telephone stolen.
Despite 7 April being the probable date of death, FSS have yet to deliver a full report on Atkins. I am also waiting on an update to the psychological profile from Britton’s murder. Meanwhile, the focus of the inquiry team continues to concentrate on the army connection, male prostitutes, methods of contact, stranger sightings in the area and people known to the victims.
I will, of course, keep you updated as information comes in.
With kind regards,
Detective Superintendent Brian Jones
Six
ACLAND’S DECISION TO abandon further surgery in favour of a quick return to the army came as no surprise to Robert Willis. The lieutenant’s fuse had become shorter by the day since his return from London, made worse when a small operation, designed to begin the process of creating a pouch for a glass eye, showed minimal results.
He was left with an empty, misshapen eye socket, irregular migraines, persistent low-level tinnitus and a blade-shaped scar up his cheek, but as no one could guarantee that further operations would produce a significantly better result in an acceptable time-frame, he opted to live with the face he had. He was warned by Mr Galbraith that in an image-conscious world he could expect adverse reactions, but he rejected the surgeon’s advice and chose instead to confront the prejudices of the image-conscious by drawing attention to his disfigurement.
On the day of his departure, at the fag end of April, he buzz-cut his hair to half an inch, donned a black eyepatch and went in search of Robert Willis for a verdict. He found the psychiatrist in his office, deep in concentration in front of his computer.
Willis’s startled expression at the tap on his open door was as much to do with the fact that he hadn’t known anyone was there as with his lack of immediate recognition of the man in his doorway, but the response pleased Acland. Surprise and alarm were preferable to sympathy and disgust. ‘Am I disturbing you, Doc?’
‘Do you mean am I busy . . . or do I find your appearance disturbing?’
‘Both. Either.’
‘You certainly made me jump.’ Willis gestured towards a chair on the other side of the desk. ‘Take a pew while I finish this sentence.’ He shifted his gaze to his monitor and typed a few words before clicking on save. ‘So what are you hoping for?’ he asked. ‘Shock and awe? Or just shock?’
‘It’s better than pity.’
Willis stared at the lean, expressionless face that was staring back at him. Part of him could see that the image Acland had created for himself was magnificent – hard, tough and old beyond his years – but the other part saw only a tragic death of youthful innocence. There was no reconciling this implacable man with the boyish, good- looking one in photographs from before his injury.
‘You’ve nothing to fear from pity, Charles, although I can’t say the same for loneliness. You won’t make many friends looking like that . . . but I presume that’s the intention.’
Acland shrugged. ‘A glass eye won’t help me see any better . . . and the surgery will just delay my return to the army.’
‘You’re placing a lot of faith in this return.’
‘My CO’s supporting me.’
‘That’s good.’
Acland came close to smiling. ‘You might as well say it, Doc. I know you pretty well by now. The medical board won’t be as easily persuaded as my CO.’
‘No,’ said Willis with a sigh. ‘I’m afraid they’ll view your blind side as a liability and offer you a desk job instead. But that’s not what you want, is it?’
‘So I’ll have to prove the board wrong. Other people have done it. Nelson’s the greatest admiral this country ever had and he was one-eyed. If it didn’t stop him, it won’t stop me.’
‘Everything was a lot slower in Nelson’s day, Charles . . . including the ships. He had time to make decisions which isn’t given to commanders in today’s armed forces.’
‘What about Moshe Dayan? He made it to general in the Israeli army.’
Willis avoided another negative reply. ‘True . . . and a lot more contemporary. Are you hoping the eyepatch will prompt some positive memories from the board?’
‘What if I am? Will it work?’
‘I don’t know,’ Willis answered honestly, ‘but I suspect you’ll find the decision is made by computer. You’ll be asked a series of questions and your responses will trigger answers to another block of questions that you won’t be asked.’
‘Like what?’
‘Can you see to your left without turning your head? No? Then the computer will answer every other question relating to vision with a negative. For example, “Are you able to monitor a radar screen?” You’ll say yes – you might even be able to persuade an army doctor to put a tick in that box – but the program will give you an automatic no because you’ve already indicated that you have a blind side.’
