‘Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. If I could have your attention.
As Skinner spoke, Alison Higgins took her place alongside him at the head of the small conference table. Ruth McConnell sat a little apart with a shorthand notebook on her lap and a pencil in her right hand. Brian Mackie, Maggie Rose, the two Sergeants and Alan Royston were ranged around the table.
I've called this meeting,' the ACC began, 'to summarise progress so far in our investigation of the murder of Michael White. Alison, bring us up to date please.'
Higgins glanced at him briefly, and began. 'The first thing that we have to say is that there are no obvious suspects within White's close circle. The man seems to have been universally popular among his acquaintances, and faithful to his wife… and she to him, beyond a doubt.
So I think we can discount any thoughts of jealous lover involvement.
I'll kick my briefing off with the two reports from the scientific people: the first on the changing room and Jacuzzi area, the second on the starter's hut, where we think that the murderer might have waited. The first location has yielded precious little. Both the changing room and the Jacuzzi cubicle are cleaned regularly, and the steward makes sure that they are spotless. So we lifted relatively few prints. Mario and Neil have been checking those that we did lift. Any other traces, hair, et cetera, we have identified as coming from White himself.
`The starter's hut, on the other hand, was a mess. The technicians lifted a whole raft of fingerprints, and again Mario and Neil have been at work identifying and eliminating their owners. The only other things that were found were dust and grass cuttings, and two cigarette ends. They're being checked out.'
She paused and looked around the table. 'All the interviews which were carried out on Sunday have been transcribed out and analysed. Everyone to whom we've spoken can account for his movements, and everyone has been accounted for by others in the course of their statements.
`So to sum up, as far as witness statements are concerned, the investigation has made zero progress. Mario, Neil, what do you have to report on your follow-up of the fingerprints?'
McGuire glanced at Mcllhenney, and picked up a sheet of paper. 'Believe it or not, ma'am,' he began, 'we've matched the lot. There isn't a single wild print left, either from the murder scene or from the starter's hut. The Jacuzzi area was easy; it had been cleaned on Saturday. The only prints there were those of White himself, Williamson the steward, and Mrs Shaw the cleaner. As you said there were a lot in the starter's hut, but they all traced back to the starter, the professional and his assistants and to painters and builders.
As far as the fag-ends are concerned, the scientists had a look at them for spit samples for DNA traces, but they found none. The only thing they found was the remnant of a brand name, showing on one of them, so they've sent it back to the manufacturers to see if they can tell us anything about it.'
`Like who bought it, for example?'
McGuire returned the Superintendent's smile. 'Hardly, ma'am, but they might be able to give us a list of local stockists,'
Higgins nodded. 'OK, all of that is good work. It doesn't take us any nearer catching our man, but it takes a lot of people out of the frame.' She turned to Skinner. 'Sir, is there anything you'd like to say at this stage?'
The ACC stood up. 'Thank you, Alison. As you will know, I've been involved in one or two interviews, principally with the Marquis and Lady Kinture, and Mrs White. From these and from my own knowledge of the dead man, I can confirm everything that Superintendent Higgins said about him when she began this briefing. Popular, friendly, and very well respected. A good, sound, family man. Not an enemy in the world… or so it seemed.
`But there's one more thing about Michael White. He always got his way. When he had a problem, he never made a fuss, he never made a threat, he just solved it.
It seems that in the lead-tip to this week's golf tournament, he had a problem with Mr Mike Morton of SSC… you remember, do you, he was there on Sunday. Mr Morton wanted to change the competitors at the event, and as the organiser he might have been able to do that.
Except that Mr White went to the principal sponsor, and the problem was solved. Now that was the second occasion on which White had crossed Morton. The first was when he and the Marquis refused to let him buy into Witches' Hill.' He paused and looked around the table.
'You all with me so far?' Five heads nodded.
`Right; well this is where it gets interesting. Our friends in the FBI have come up with some family background on Mike Morton. He is the son of a man rumoured to be connected with organised crime. His business face is outwardly respectable, except for the fact that as he was on his way up the ladder, a few people seem to have fallen off. I saw the other side of Morton for myself last night. There's an undercurrent of dispute in the world of international golf management at the moment, and it led to an altercation between Morton and Bill Masur, who was also at Witches' Hill on Sunday. On the basis of that, I'd say that the FBI are right. The guy is capable.'
He paused again. Now we all know that Morton couldn't have murdered White himself. He's accounted for at the time the deed was being done. But that doesn't mean that he knows nothing about it. I've asked Joe Doherty, who's here this morning… you can't miss him, Brian, he's the strange wee guy in your office… to go back to the Bureau and run a check on all the senior people in his business and on other 'known associates'. When he comes up with something, you might want to take it further, Alison.' He sat down again on his straight-backed chair.
`Thank you, sir.' Higgins glanced at Mackie. 'Brian, since Mr Doherty's on your network, so to speak, perhaps you could follow up any information he brings us. See if you can establish the whereabouts of all of Morton's close associates. Most important of all, see if there are some whose movements can't be accounted for. But do it quietly. The Morton connection may be a tenuous line of enquiry, but it's the only one we have at the moment, so let's not alert him if we can avoid it.'
Maggie Rose coughed. 'Excuse me, Superintendent, but there is another line of enquiry.'
Higgins looked around, surprised for a second, before her face cleared. Ah yes, the Scotsman letter, and the tape. Mr Skinner said you were looking into them. How have you got on so far?'
I've covered a lot of ground, at least,' said Rose, 'and had a few surprises. One interesting thing is that the story on the tape has never been published, other than in fragmented form over a hundred years ago. It wasn't selected for inclusion in the Jubilee Project that the schools were working on, and no other member of the Soutar family knows anything of it.
The great-grandmother who's mentioned on the tape seems to have been, as Mr Wills at the University described it, some sort of keeper of family legends, and she seems, according to Lisa Soutar's brother, Davie, who's one of ours…' she glanced at McGuire, who smiled `.. to have passed the lot on to the girl.'
Higgins interrupted, with more than a hint of impatience. `Where's the relevance in all that?
Where does it take us?'
Rose bridled, visibly. 'It doesn't take us anywhere yet, because my enquiries can't go any further until I talk to Lisa Soutar, and according to her brother she's married and living in Germany. I went back out to Longniddry last night and spoke to a couple of local historians that Sergeant Soutar mentioned. Neither of them had ever heard the story of the Witch's Curse. I also spoke to a couple of people who were in Lisa's class. They had no recollection of the story.
If you'd like me to sum up the direction in which I'm heading, it's that we have a family in possession of a secret story about a curse on anyone who desecrates the Witches' Hill, that a potential desecrator is killed in exactly the way described in the story, and that public attention has been drawn to the fact by the Scotsman's anonymous letter. As I see it, we have to take an interest in whoever wrote that note.
I know it sounds like a load of old cobblers, and that the Morton connection is probably a hell of a lot more likely to show a result, but this is a legitimate line of enquiry and we must..' she slapped the table as she emphasised the word.. see it to its conclusion. If Lisa Soutar's in Germany, and couldn't have written that letter, we have to find out who did, if only to confirm that that person is a harmless nutter and to eliminate them from our enquiries.' She leaned back, her cheeks reddening slightly. I'm sorry to be so blunt, ma'am, but that's how I see it.'
Higgins shook her head. 'No, Maggie, you're dead right. If we didn't follow things up just because they sounded a bit daft, half our investigations would never succeed.' She looked round at Skinner. 'What d'you think the next step should be, sir?'
The ACC shrugged his shoulders. 'Don't see we've got much choice. Maggie, you'd better go to Germany to interview the woman. I'll approve the cost. There's something else we should be doing too. Let's make some enquiries locally. Farfetched it might be, but Alison, I want you to ask Andy Martin to set all of his people to asking around, to see whether there might actually be a latter-day coven in East Lothian.' He caught McGuire's sceptical
