Wishing he was there with Alice to follow up on things, Gus marched to his room and downloaded the attachments Compo had sent. The first was a close up of Rory Robertson’s signature on the bottom of one of his paintings. As well as an ornate R with loops and curls, Rory had drawn a sprig of lavender under his name. Gus, heart pounding, was even more sure that things were coming together now, and he quickly opened the next attachment. It was an image of a group of paintings and Gus immediately realised they were the ones described by Jimmy the previous day. A long slender rectangular sketch was central to the grouping, immediately drawing the eyes to it. It was of a naked woman, her face and privates blurred in charcoal as if offering some degree of privacy. She hung from a rope, her hands gripping the rope and like Jimmy had described, it seemed that the image was in perpetual motion.
Around this was a series of often smaller more detailed close-up images of parts of the original drawing: her feet, toe nails painted red, a crumbly biscuit with a single bite taken from it and discarded just outside a pool of murky liquid, her hands grappling for the rope, the rope round her neck, bruises and welts present. In each of the drawings was a sprig of lavender and as Jimmy had said, the series was called The Torment of the Mind.
Sadness engulfed Gus as he studied the images. Rory at that point had had his entire life ahead of him. He had a girlfriend whom he would marry, and he very nearly had his own little family. Gus couldn’t work out if this study was an indication of Rory’s tormented mind or Rory’s mum’s. Was it a cry for help or a cathartic release? Selecting the final attachment, Gus settled down to read. This was a paragraph written by Rory in his catalogue of artworks submitted for his final degree show.
Torment of the Mind was the hardest and yet the most satisfying of all my degree work to complete. For many years, I smothered the memory, not only of my mother’s suicide, but of my mother. Thanks to my beautiful sister, Coco, I’ve been able to revisit this memory in all its pain and horror and confusion and, through these drawings I’ve paid tribute to the anguish that my beautiful mother suffered through. While Torment of the Mind signifies one way in which our mind can influence our actions, I’d ask you to look also at my other series: Joy of the Heart which pays tribute to the mother whose heart was pure and filled with love and beauty.
Gus opened the final attachment which showed a similar grouping to Torment of the Mind, however while the former was dark with few splashes of colour, this series was filled with bright colours reflecting their title. The elongated rectangle showed Grace Robertson standing looking directly at the artist, the sun in the distance casting shadows. Her smile was bright and warm, and her eyes were full of love. Gus couldn’t help but smile. The smaller surrounding images were vitally alive. Rory had drawn himself in a few and Gus recognised his own mum in three of them too. Family picnics, outside the church, in their garden, with, who Gus assumed were, Grace’s older two stepsons and her husband. Looking at these images, you would never be prepared for them to be replaced by the images that would dominate the young artist’s mind a mere month or so later.
Chapter 70
Bellbrax Psychiatric Facility, Scotland
Jimmy Cameron looked better today. His pinched face was less gaunt, his eyes a little clearer as if the revelations of the previous day had agreed with him – perhaps even calmed him. Gus had asked that they meet in a private room and Dr Mara had agreed and expressed the desire to be present for the second interview after listening to the recording from the previous day. Bernie sat next to Jimmy, who was in the loose restraints again today and Gus was pleased to note that the bruises on the older man’s face were fading. Sebastian and Gus sat side by side on the opposite side of the table and Dr Mara had taken a seat in the corner of the room to observe the proceedings.
Like the previous day, Gus set his phone to record and then introduced those present, in the same way he would if this were a formal interview. He and Carlton had discussed the best way to move forward with Jimmy and Carlton had agreed that time was of the essence. They were aware that at least two other pregnant women had a target on their backs and possibly, even some other targets linked to their investigation. Gus wanted to get as much information as possible before they hotfooted it home. They could always come back and re-interview at their leisure later on.
Gus opened his laptop, pulled up the image he wanted and turned it to Jimmy. Eyes raking over the image, a sad smile on his lips, Jimmy tried to touch the screen, but his restraints restricted his movement. ‘He’s so talented, isn’t he?’
‘You recognise these sketches, Jimmy?’
‘Course I do. They’re some of the ones from his degree show. The one I told you about yesterday. ‘Torture of the Mind’ it was called.’
‘Yesterday you said that you staged your wife’s death like that in order to cover-up for your son, Ben. Later on, you told us you suspected Ben killed Rory’s wife – how could that even be possible? If you weren’t born when Grace Robertson killed herself, then Ben certainly wasn’t born then even though, according to you, he may have seen a woman hung in that fashion, none of this pans out.’ Gus tapped the screen. ‘You’ll have to forgive me for doubting your word. What possible link could Ben have to Rory and more to
