‘How’s Jules?’ Gus asked.
‘Well, that’s been a blessing in disguise for us – not that I’d have wished for Jules to be hurt like that, but, it did make us focus on the hole in the ceiling, which drew our attention to the attic space. We reckon that the killer located the joists by entering the attic – hence the fact that there were no practice drill marks in the plasterwork. He knew where he was going to drill because he’d been in the attic in order to make sure he hit the joist. The CSIs are processing all three attic spaces as we speak and anything they find will get sent to the lab.’
She shrugged. ‘We might get nothing, but maybe he’ll have been a little more careless in the attics than he was in the houses. In terms of the PM, same old same old – ketamine in her system, same manual strangulation, and corresponding bruises, followed by the pulley. All the candles, toenail polish, lavender etc. are the same as before. The sketch is slightly different but is still of Rory’s mum – or his wife perhaps. We are now, as Professor Carlton expected, onto verse three of the nursery rhyme.’
Gus nodded. ‘You want us to come back – we can travel down tonight and be ready to help-out tomorrow.’
Nancy leant forward, so her face took up the entire screen. ‘No, no. We’ve got things under control here, Gus. You should find out everything you can from Jimmy and Rory – that will be the best use of your time at the moment.’ She paused and bit her lip. ‘How clear is Jimmy about the whereabouts of his sons?’
Carlton coughed. ‘Ah, that’s the million-dollar question. We can’t ascertain the veracity of his statement at this point. He’s on medication, he’s a convicted murderer, and his psychiatrist is reluctant to accept the assertions he’s making as being accurate. It’s a tough one. Why do you ask?’
‘Well, there’s no record of John Cameron existing after 2006 – nothing – no employment records, no death certificate, no passport – nothing. On the other hand, Ben Cameron moved to Australia – all the paperwork indicates that, yet when we try to locate him there, we can’t. It’s as if he’s laid a false trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow.’
‘We don’t even have reliable images of either son,’ Alice’s frustration was clear by the way she wafted her hands around. ‘Did you get anything from the photographic visitor IDs from Bellbrax, Gus?’
Sympathising with Alice’s feelings, Gus snorted. ‘If, and I repeat if – Jimmy’s visitor is one or other of his sons – Jimmy insists it was Ben, the older son, then the bastard was savvy enough to disguise himself – beard, glasses, unkempt hair, and a baseball cap. They only just sent the images to me, but I’ll forward them to Compo and maybe some of the facial recognition programmes he has will be able to make something of them. Sadia has got her colleagues attempting to locate this visitor. The guy signed himself in as Douglas McCarthy. He had all the relevant documentation and had gone through the necessary security application to gain visitor’s rights, however, it seems he too has left a cold trail.’
Nancy gathered her skirt round her legs, crumpling the fabric and stuffing it between her knees. Gus recognised the action. This was Nancy’s way of clamping down on her annoyance. In this instance, she wasn’t wholly successful. ‘This just gets more and more suspicious. Jimmy could be working with his mysterious visitor. Jimmy and Rory could be working with the mysterious visitor. The mysterious visitor may or may not be one of Jimmy’s sons and the only person who can confirm that is an unreliable witness. Meanwhile, we’ve got pregnant women being killed off willy nilly. This is not on. It’s just not bloody on. We need to get a handle on this. All we seem to be doing is treading water.’
This was exactly how Gus felt, although he would equate it more with hiking through quicksand. He was angry that every turn they took seemed to lead to a dead end. The usual means of gaining information; witness statements, CCTV, neighbourhood watch, snitches on the ground, and forensic evidence had all drawn a blank so far. He didn’t share Alice’s hope that the forensic teams would gain anything more from processing the attics at the three hanging crime scenes, but experience made him believe that at some point this son of a bitch would mess up – they always did. He just hoped it was before anyone else lost their life.
Nancy was speaking again, her clipped tones emphasising her fury. ‘The more you can get from Jimmy, the better. What do you think of him, Sebastian?’
Sitting behind Nancy, and keen to lighten the mood a little, Alice winked at Gus and made a love heart sign with her hands at Nancy’s use of the professor’s first name. Trying to keep his face straight Gus shook his head. A quick glance at Carlton told him the professor had also missed Alice’s byplay.
‘Well, my dear, Nancy, I find myself rather drawn, from a professional point of view, to Jimmy Cameron. Corrine still insists her brother is innocent of murder and I’m inclining a little more in that direction myself after our unfortunately brief discussion today. I spent the afternoon studying Jimmy’s records, having gained his permission, including his psychiatric notes by Dr Mara. I’ve listened to his recorded consultations with Dr Mara and find them very repetitive – almost rote-like. Now, that
