Jimmy’s eyes moved from the laptop to Gus. ‘Did you tell Coco I’m asking for her?’
A flash of anger flicked through Gus, but he schooled his face to remain impassive. This was regular criminal diversion strategy, to put the investigator off guard. However, Gus was too experienced to be thrown by such a simple ploy. The fact that Jimmy had used it though, made Gus doubt him again. Before he could respond Jimmy averted his gaze and answered Gus’s initial question.
‘I gave Ben the catalogue. The one from Rory’s exhibition. I’d kept it all those years and then, well he wanted it. So I gave him it.’
‘You gave a boy not even in his teens a catalogue with that image in it?’ Gus deliberately injected a sneer into his tone. ‘What sort of father does that? The same sort that blames his son for a murder he committed.’
Jimmy sighed and yanked at the restraints, finally settling for placing his fisted hands on the table before him. His obvious discomfort was belied by his calm response. ‘That was only one of many images in that catalogue. I showed it to the boys often. There were sketches of Coco, of Rory, of Rory’s mum in happier times. I showed them those too. I wanted to show them something good from my past and the only damn thing that was good was Coco.’
Jimmy was right. The catalogue was filled with other sketches, the one he’d shown Jimmy was the only disturbing set in the entire pamphlet. Still, he wasn’t prepared to let Jimmy off the hook so easily.
‘You might have explained how Ben knew about those sketches, but I need a motive, Jimmy. This is your last chance to convince me.’
Seemingly unaware of his fists bouncing on the tabletop Jimmy flinched when Bernie placed a hand over his fists. ‘You need a break, Jimmy?’
Shaking his head, Jimmy moved his fists from the table and sat on them as if perhaps that would prevent him from moving them. ‘I’m grand, Bernie.’
Head bowed, Jimmy continued, ‘When I was in prison – about five or so years into my sentence, I heard tell of prossies being strangled around the docks area. A couple of the lads in Barlinnie with me were there protesting their innocence’ – he looked up a sardonic smile on his face – ‘I know, I know – they all say they’re innocent, but to me it seemed strange that two separate lads were convicted for two separate but very similar crimes. It was the strangulation that stuck in my mind. I knew what Ben had done and I chose to protect him. That didn’t mean I didn’t know deep down inside that he was…’
Jimmy paused for so long that Gus wondered if he’d lost his train of thought.
‘Different. That’s the only word I have for it. He wasn’t like John, but he was my kid. I tried not to see the enjoyment – the happiness in his face as he looked at what he’d done to his own mum. I told myself I’d imagined it.’
‘You’re telling us that when you were in Barlinnie, you think Ben started to kill prostitutes?’
Jimmy nodded. ‘Aye, that’s what I thought – and he admitted it to me too.’
‘What do you mean, he admitted it to you?’
‘Well, on my release, I got a mate to help me find my boys. They’d been adopted to separate families and I just wanted to make sure they were OK. John was doing fine – he had a girlfriend in the family way – bit young for settling down I thought, but I was happy for him, so I kept my distance, didn’t make contact with John initially. It was Ben I needed to talk to. He was happy to see me at first, thought he could play me, I suppose, but Barlinnie changes a man. You don’t come out as soft as you went in. I told him what I suspected about the prostitutes and he laughed in my face – right at me. Taunting and nasty. I almost raised my fist to him then, but I’d never hit my kids and I didn’t want to start then. I told him I’d go to the police with everything I knew if he didn’t stop.’
Jimmy rolled his shoulders and Gus realised that he was holding his own breath, waiting for Jimmy’s next words. ‘He told me I was a stupid fool and that he wouldn’t stop for me. He said if I didn’t disappear and forget he even existed then he’d make sure someone I loved got hurt. Of course, the only person I could think of that Ben could get to was John. So, I went to John telling him all about Ben and what he’d done to their mum and…’
‘He didn’t believe you.’ Carlton’s soft voice brought a nod of acknowledgement.
‘No, he didn’t believe me. Said I was frightening his girl and his folks, and he took out a restraining order. But he also contacted Ben and told him what I’d done. Ben was furious and he found me one night and knocked the hell out of me on my way home from the pub. Told me that the beating was just for starters and that if I kept an eye on the papers I’d see what my real punishment was.
‘For a couple of weeks I bought the Daily Record every day, dreading what I might find – but there was nothing until … can I have some water, Bernie?’
Bernie put a plastic beaker in front of him with an elongated straw that allowed him to drink. ‘Then one day, I picked up the paper and it was there. Rory’s picture and the article about him strangling his wife to death and trying to pass it off as a suicide…’
A stunned silence hung in the room. Gus had been
