In barely a whisper he continued, ‘Of course, I approached Ben again, told him it had to stop and well … he initiated a restraining order against me too. Who would believe a convicted murderer’s word against that of a well-spoken young man? Ben promised me that I’d just signed another death warrant and within a couple of months Tracie was dead and I was blamed and I did the only thing I could, I pretended to be insane…’
Jimmy leant forwards, rested his brow on his arms and wept. It was as if the dam that he’d kept so tightly in place for so long had erupted and demolished every semblance of the fortitude Jimmy Cameron had maintained for so long.
Dr Mara threw an ‘aw shit’ look at Carlton. No doubt wondering why her skills hadn’t led her to conclude that Jimmy was hoaxing everybody. How could a rational person pretend to be such a different person for so long and not be affected by it? Jimmy was guilty of many things – perverting the course of justice, interfering with a crime scene, aiding and abetting a criminal, and that was just a few of his crimes. But he had been incarcerated first in Barlinnie Prison and then in Bellbrax for most of his adult life. Would he be released? Would he be able to function in the real world after all this?
Gus empathised with him, of course he did, but at the same time, Jimmy had covered up many deaths and if Gus’s supposition was right, he was indirectly responsible for the current spate of killings in Bradford.
‘Where is he, Jimmy? Where is your Ben now?’
‘You know where he is – he’s in Bradford. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? That’s why that woman has been in talking to Rory. I heard the news report, he’s done something else, hasn’t he?’
‘Did he take any of Rory’s drawings?’
‘Not to my knowledge, but some are missing. I see Rory counting them again and again, saying they’ve been stolen. He had opportunity. He’s clever, my lad.’
Despite the horror of his son’s crimes, a note of pride entered Jimmy’s voice. ‘He can hack anything, can find out anything he needs to. He’ll know everything he needs to about you and Corrine and everyone you have anything to do with. He’s been going on about Corrine every time he visits. He asks Rory about her. Asks me about her. He blames her. Thinks if she’d not deserted me, things would be different. There’s no rationalising with him.
All the time they’d been talking, Gus had felt the repeated vibrations from his phone, and feeling he’d got as much as he could from Jimmy for now, he motioned to Carlton and they left the room. Whoever was texting and phoning him was insistent. He only hoped it wasn’t more bad news.
Chapter 71
Scotland
By the time Gus and Carlton were brought up to speed on Dr Mahmood’s death, Gus’s dad had arrived. Gus and Carlton agreed that having Corrine and Fergus in Scotland made them safer, and had decided that for now, they would keep Dr Mahmood’s death from them. Gus was sure if his mum heard about it, she’d be devastated, and her guilt would make her want to high tail it back home. Besides, neither of his parents seemed to think twice about keeping secrets from him. So, using the excuse of the team needing them, Carlton and Gus were taking Corrine’s car and heading down south, leaving Corrine and Fergus to reconnect more with Rory.
‘So, there’s no real reason for me not to see Jimmy, is there, Angus?’
Corrine McGuire had listened as Carlton recounted all the revelations Jimmy had made. By the end, she wept a little, then stoically, straightened her spine and looked at Gus, daring him to refuse her request.
‘Look, all this has to be verified. He needs to have more psychiatric evaluations…’
Corrine humphed. ‘And a lot of good all those psychiatric evaluations did him in the past.’
Gus had to agree that she had a point, but that didn’t mean that Jimmy Cameron was completely benign. He’d seen flashes of the hardened criminal in him during the interviews. Besides, he was complicit in many crimes. However, despite his persuasive arguments, Corrine had dug her heels in, booked extra nights in the hotel and refused to leave Scotland till she’d had adequate time to visit both her foster brother Rory and her half-brother Jimmy.
Corrine was adamant and Gus suspected it would be more than he was able to do to convince her not to meet with him, so he left that particular ball in Dr Mara and his father’s court. He had more pressing matters to deal with.
They had a main suspect now – although they couldn’t physically identify him, Gus was determined to catch him before he killed anyone else. Huddled together like a group of holiday makers taking their leave from each other, Gus, Carlton, Corrine, and Sadia chatted in low voices about their discoveries. Sadia was waiting for a lift to take her back to her home in Livingston and Gus was curious to put a name to the person she’d declared her love for on the car journey from Bradford.
Each time he looked at Sadia a pang of regret contracted his heart. They had been good together … until they hadn’t. A suave silver Merc glided into the car park, its tyres sending a slight flurry of pebbles into the air. It parked up and a tall man got out, leaning on the roof, he waved. ‘Sadia, come on. Let’s be having you.’
Sadia turned, her face broke into a
