With no energy to protest, Gus nodded as Alice made the call to Taffy, then piled a plate with rice and chilli and chucked it in the microwave, before heading out the door with a, ‘Shower first, then eat.’
Chapter 14
Bradford
Wanting to scream and yell wouldn’t do any good, so instead, Gus focussed on organising his team. ‘Compo, what have you found out about this Rory Robertson?’
Compo jumped to stand to attention, as if Gus had fired a warning bullet in his direction. The entire room was affected by his mood and he hated himself for it, but he was still too angry and too confused to rectify it just yet.
Reading from his screen, Compo supplied the pertinent details. ‘Rory Robertson, born in 1961 to Mrs Grace and Reverend Gordon Robertson. Rory was the result of a second marriage by the Reverend, who had two much older sons, by a previous wife who died of cancer in 1959. Corrine Cameron – I mean, your mum – em, Mrs M.’
Compo glanced at Gus, his face red and clearly, he would have given anything not to be in the same room as Gus at that moment. Gus forced a smile to his lips. ‘It’s OK, Compo – just give me the details.’
‘Mrs M was fostered by them between 1972 and 1973.’
Gus frowned. ‘She was only with them for a year?’ Although Gus didn’t know much about his mum’s childhood, he had known she was in foster care before she went to university and he’d always assumed she’d been with the same family all that time.
‘Well, an unfortunate event occurred.’ Compo exhaled. ‘Poor Mrs M…’
‘Compo!’
‘Oh, yes, yes. Well, it seems that Mrs Robertson committed suicide – by hanging herself. The report says she had a history of mild mental health problems. Anyway, it was Rory who found his mum.’
God, poor sod, how would a kid ever get over something like that? ‘Well that explains the drawings I suppose and possibly what landed him in a psychiatric unit.’
‘After Mrs Robertson’s death, the family couldn’t cope with Corrine, so she was fostered out. Rory was already a very talented artist at that stage and despite his morbid fascination with drawing death scenes, he grew up, apparently ‘normal’, whatever that is, and ultimately attended Edinburgh Art College. He had a very promising career as an artist – was well lauded in the Scottish art world. He graduated in 1983. Unfortunately, according to his medical records, Rory was diagnosed schizophrenic just before he graduated, but medication controlled his illness and he got married in 1987 to a Helen Read. He has an accolade of awards and prizes and big commissions to his name – everything was going well for him until, in 2006 when, seemingly out of the blue, he killed his wife and hanged her in the same way his mother had hung herself in his childhood.’
Gus hadn’t expected that. But it all tied in to their case, except for one inextricable fact that let Rory Robertson off the hook for their current crimes – Robertson now, according to Gus’s mother, resided in a psychiatric facility called Bellbrax located in South Lanarkshire, after having been found guilty by reason of insanity of his wife’s murder. Gus turned to Taffy who was liaising with officers from Police Scotland in Livingston whom Gus’s parents had managed to convince to check out Rory Robertson’s presence at the facility. ‘So, what can you tell me about Rory Robertson? Is he still incarcerated?’
Taffy nodded. ‘Unfortunately, he is. According to the officer who visited to check on your parents’ behalf, Rory is completely off the hook. He rarely communicates with anyone else, is heavily medicated, and spends his days drawing, mainly scenes like the one found at our crime scene. The officer was adamant that he couldn’t possibly be our killer. She also looked at who had access to his drawings – apparently he has sketchpad upon sketchpad of them, and she did find one sketchpad with some pages ripped out. The facility holds records of all inmate’s visitors, and Rory Roberson hasn’t had a visitor since he arrived there. They admitted the possibility that visitors to other inmates, may have had access to Rory’s books. I’ll add the Police Scotland report to our files, but it doesn’t tell us much. I’m going to obtain their visitors records, by liaising with Police Scotland and also see if I can get access to staff background checks.’
‘Good job, both of you. Somehow someone got those sketches from Bellbrax facility and sent them to my mum – and left them at the crime scene. As a priority – we need to find out who. Clearly with Robertson still apprehended in the facility and in his current mental state, he’s not our killer, however, my parents are convinced that the sketches were drawn by him.’
Chapter 15
Bellbrax Psychiatric Facility, Scotland
She’s back again. The girl with the dark hair and brown eyes. I shuffle round, put my arm round my sketch pad and huddle over it. Maybe she won’t see me. But I know she will. It’s me she’s come to see, no one else. I keep drawing, pressing my pencil harder and harder on the paper till it scores right through. Look what the bitch has made me do now.
‘Hey, there. Thought you’d be outside in the sunshine today.’
I ignore her. That’s all I can do. I don’t even let my eyes squint in her direction. She’ll go away if I don’t play her game. That’s what I did before, and it worked. A dark weight presses down on my scalp, like something’s trying to squash something out of my brain. It hurts so much; I screw my eyes tight and stop drawing. What’s going on? What’s happening to me? The pressure is increasing and tears seep from under my eyelids … then, as a thought pops into my
