Pausing to take a sip of sparkling water, Carlton tilted his head to one side. His face was lit up. The man was clearly in his element. Gus smiled, realising that perhaps he and Carlton weren’t so very different. They both enjoyed the puzzle – finding out how complex pieces fit together to make a conceivable whole. It was just their methods of reaching the conclusions that differed. While Carlton put all his efforts into untangling indicators from people’s minds, Gus preferred the hard facts of police work. Analysing the facts, checking their veracity, and following the clues.
Placing his glass carefully on the paper coaster supplied by the hotel, Carlton proceeded. ‘I also noticed a slight hesitation on some of the misogynistic phrases he used. Eventually I realised that, if he directed misogynistic comments generally and not towards a specific person, they flowed more easily off the tongue. However, when he referred to his wife, or John’s wife, or Corrine, he stumbled a little over the phrases – I’m still working on it, but my feeling is that we have a lot to learn from Jimmy Cameron.’
‘Well, all the more reason for you two to remain in Scotland for now. What are your next plans, Gus?’
‘I’m going to trawl through the files from Rory’s mum’s suicide, his wife’s death, and Jimmy’s daughter-in-law’s death. I’m hoping that something in those files will either repudiate or confirm Jimmy’s statements once and for all.’
Nancy directed her next words to Gus. ‘And how is your mum, Gus?’
‘You know my mum. She’s still determined to see Jimmy face to face – but Dr Mara, to date, is not allowing that. Her visit with Rory went well. She’s exhausted. Sadia agreed to stay overnight with her and visit Rory again tomorrow. Apparently, my dad has managed to re-jig things at his end and is catching a flight up to Edinburgh tomorrow. We’re hoping Jimmy will be up to another chat tomorrow.’
‘OK, that’s grand,’ said Nancy. ‘See you all soon.’ And with that the screen went blank, leaving Carlton and Gus gawping at each other.
The professor got to his feet. ‘Well, seems like Nancy’s too busy for chit chat, so I’ll retire to my room and listen to more of Jimmy’s consultations with his psychiatrist. Night night.’
Once Carlton had gone to listen to Jimmy’s weekly interviews with Dr Mara, Gus brought up the documents Sadia had obtained from the four cold cases that linked to Rory and Jimmy.
Rory’s mum’s case file was slim, because it had been considered a suicide. The paper file had been scanned and sent to Gus. In fact, the only digital case files were the two most recent. Gus elected to go through the documents in order. Rory had only been a kid when, on his return from school he’d discovered the body of his mum hanging from a makeshift hook in the ceiling. According to the physician’s report, Rory had gone into shock and remained that way for over a week. The death had been deemed suicide, mainly because Grace Robertson had, according to her GP, suffered from depression. In addition, she’d left a note which said, ‘I love you all, but I can’t go on and the voices won’t stop.’
It saddened Gus to think how circumstances had conspired to cause a young mother to take her own life which, in turn, caused deep rooted trauma to the son she was desperate to protect and resulted in another child being once more forced to uproot herself. He could see nothing in the report that indicated anything other than a tragic suicide. Yet, that wasn’t the full story. Many people were affected by Grace Robertson’s death. Her child, her foster child, her stepchildren, her husband, and her family as well as the parishioners in the close-knit community. Gus sat for a moment, considering the reports he’d read. Then, he remembered Jimmy telling him about the art show he’d gone to at the Art College in Edinburgh. The one where Rory had displayed a series of sketches called – what was it? Torture?
Gus opened a new tab and began a search. Eventually he managed to find reference to the art show, which corresponded with the details Jimmy had provided. Picking up his phone he rang Compo. ‘Comps, I’m going to send you some details about an art show Rory Robertson displayed at. I wonder, can you find as much as you can about Rory’s artwork. What works he exhibited, where he exhibited them, and who bought them. I’d like to see as much of his work as possible. I’m particularly interested in a series of sketches he exhibited as part of his final degree show. The series was entitled Torture of the Mind.’
While waiting for Compo’s report. Gus opened the next file, which came from Glasgow police and consisted of scanned documents from the case files dated May 1996.
Initially, as Gus already knew, Jude Cameron’s murder had been deemed a suicide, but then the post-mortem reports had shown that rather than dying as the result of hanging, Jude had been manually strangled first. Gus looked closely at first the crime scene images and then the post-mortem ones. The crime scene had been well set up. Jimmy’s attention to detail at Rory’s art exhibition had apparently paid off. All the usual indicators of a suicide were visible – the toppled chair, the hook in the ceiling – it all, at first glance, pointed to a suicide, despite the lack of a note. Gus would have kept his options open and scrutinised Jimmy a bit more closely, but from the case files he gleaned the information that with Jude’s reputation as a drug addict and prostitute, rather than treat Jimmy as a suspect, they initially sympathised with him.
After a quick glance at the PM report and images, Gus opened
