Cam looked over to his Sergeant checking his reaction before replying, “If you’re sure you can carry it off Professor, it’s worth a try. We need him separated from the group before we attempt an arrest.”
The rain had finally let up as they pulled into the Welcome Centre parking area to find Jameson and the rest of the team exited the building from a break. Cam looked back at the man in the backseat, “Follow my lead, Professor. If he asks, tell him we’ve brought in Charlie Hopwood and are in the process of charging him, and we needed you to identify him as the man you saw with Ali at the coffee shop.”
As Cam climbed out of the front seat and opened the back door for Professor Henderson to exit the car, Michael Jameson approached the vehicle. Reaching his hand out and firmly grasping the Professor’s outstretched hand, Cam smiled and shaking his hand, loudly thanked him, “Thank you for coming in and helping us with our inquiries, Professor. Looks like this case will be wrapped up very quickly now, and we won’t have to disturb your work here again.”
As Cam climbed back into the front passenger seat and waved goodbye before driving away, Professor Henderson walked over to stand beside young Jameson.
“Is everything alright, Professor?” asked the gaunt-faced, young man.
“Yes, it looks like that young man who I saw talking to the victim at the coffee shop has been charged with her murder. What in the world would make someone take another person’s life? Such a terrible waste.”
As they walked back towards the dig, Professor Henderson glanced sideways at the young man, who he now knew to be his son, to see if he could glimpse any sign of remorse on his face. There was none. He knew now that he had no choice.
Chapter 23
The team was busy working in the moats by the time the estranged father and son returned to the site. As soon as Michael climbed down the ladder into the moat to join his group of students, the Professor made his way across the bridge over the moat and slowly made his way up the narrow stone stairway. As he climbed up, the Professor felt the weight of the world on his shoulders as he thought of all the years he had missed when his son was growing up. He couldn’t help but wonder if he had known about his existence and shared in raising him if things would have turned out differently. Shaking his head, Henderson realized that all the “what-ifs” in the world wouldn’t change today’s outcome. Today, the son he’d never known was going to be arrested and charged with three counts of murder, and there was nothing he could do to change this.
Back on the exit road, hidden out of sight, Cam was dispensing his men in the woods surrounding the castle and the fields beyond. As soon as Professor Henderson gave the signal, they would move in.
Crouching behind a tree, Sergeant Roberts broke the uneasy silence, “Do you think the Professor can pull it off, Sir.”
“I hope so, but right now our main concern is getting any potential hostages clear of the area. There have already been too many lives lost.”
Professor Henderson stared down at the mote below him where Jameson stood smiling and easily chatting with the students on his team. He still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that this soft-spoken young man could have murdered these girls, and then pushed that young man to his death off this very castle wall. Feeling the wind on his face as the sky darkened and a cloud covered the sun, the Professor cupped his hands to his mouth and called out, “Jameson, come up here and have a look at this. I think I’ve discovered something.”
Turning and looking up, the young man smiled and waved back, “I’ll be right up, Professor.”
Professor Henderson waited until Jameson joined him on the outer wall before shielding his eyes and pointing down towards the moat, giving Cam the signal he was waiting for. Within minutes, police were swarming the area rounding up the students and moving them out of harms- way. It was only then that Cam approached the castle and called out, “Michael Jameson, I’m Chief Inspector Fergus with West Mercia Police, the area is surrounded. We’ll need you to come down and come with us.”
The young man’s eyes grew wide as he looked around for any possible avenue of escape. There was none, and he knew in an instant that was precisely why he had been drawn up to the castle wall.
Turning on the Professor, he sneered, “You did this to me. You set me up.”
Reaching out a hand and placing it on Jameson’s arm, the older man, tears streaming down his cheeks, could only reply, “I’m so sorry, son. It’s over. It’s time to go down.”
Slapping the Professor’s hand away, “So, you know, do you? I couldn’t believe that all these years we worked together so closely, and you never figured it out. Even with all the hints, I dropped. I guess Mother was right about you being book smart because you sure do suck at real life. You don’t have a clue what it was like for me growing up…the beatings from my drunken mother, the abuse from every man she took up with and believe me, there were a lot of them, and the bullying at school.”
Perhaps it was just the cloak of mist that had suddenly shrouded the castle, or perhaps it was his mind playing tricks on him, but as he stared into the terrified eyes of his trapped son, he saw the image of a young child cowering in the corner. Perhaps that’s what made him step forward to try to comfort him and attempt to embrace the son he could no longer shelter and protect. Whatever it was, we will never know.
As the grieving father stepped forward, Michael suddenly turned away, and the older man lost his balance on the wet stones. The next few seconds seemed a lifetime as Cam stood watching and helpless to do anything to stop the inevitable, as the Professor’s body landed with a sickening thud on the castle floor below. After a few seconds of silence, the only sound that could be heard through the mist was the anguished cry of “Father’ from the castle wall.
As Sergeant Roberts called for Emergency Services, Cam raced across the wooden, timber bridge over the moat into the castle. When he reached the spot where the twisted body of the Professor lay, he found Michael Jameson gently cradling his father’s head in his lap as he softly talked to him and tried desperately to wipe away the blood still streaming from his father’s face. Slowly approaching, Cam squatted beside the Professor’s still body and placed his fingertips to his neck, hoping to feel any evidence of a pulse. There was none.
At the sound of his sergeant’s footsteps racing toward the horrific scene, Cam held up his hand to stop him, “Give him a few minutes with his father.” At that very moment, Cam saw the young man through the eyes of his grieving father. He no longer saw a vicious murderer but a lost, little boy grieving for the father that he had never really known and now…never would.
When Michael Jameson was led away to the waiting police cars, the hunted murderer had vanished, never to return, and in his place was a shy, abused child crying for his father.
Epilogue
“What will happen to him now?” asked Mary as she sat in Cam and Helen’s kitchen two weeks later.
Mary had been very quiet during the first dinner that she shared with her friends since Professor Henderson’s funeral. It had been a big affair attended by hundreds, as the entire faculty and hordes of students came out to pay their respects. It amazed Mary that Jim could have been so lonely while surrounded by people that obviously respected and cared for him, but in so many ways he was.
Between mouthfuls of roast lamb, Cam replied, “Well, the preliminary reports have come in from the psychiatrists, and as long as the rest of the tests concur with their findings, the Professor’s son will never come to trial.”
Mary nodded, “What will become of him?”
“He will in all likelihood be confined to a secure psychiatric facility for the rest of his life or until they are sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he’s no longer a threat to himself or anyone else. To be honest with you, Mary, I will be stunned if that ever occurs.”
Helen had remained silent, determined not to say anything to further upset her dear friend, but finally said, “I suppose that will be some
consolation for the victim’s families.”
Mary nodded again, and this time as she spoke, her hands began to shake, “I spoke with the parents of the two sisters when their remains were finally released. Did you know that the father is actually a psychiatrist himself? Of course, he has been following the case, and he said that he and his wife were hoping that Jim’s son would not go to prison but to a mental hospital.”
Helen reached across the table for her friend’s hand, “I guess, we will never know why he killed the girls, or why he set up a dig at the castle and led his team to exactly the spot he had buried them.”
“I can’t answer why he committed the murders, but I think that he buried Ali with her sister during a period of remorse, and then chose the location for the dig during a brief window of sanity. I honestly believe that he felt himself slipping farther and farther into insanity and wanted the bodies found.”
What Mary said next stunned both Helen and Cam, “Do you think the officials at the institution will allow me to visit Jim’s son?’
Cam’s brow furrowed as he asked, “Do you think that’s wise, Mary? Do you really want to do that?”
Gazing across the table at Cam, Mary replied, “If Jim had lived, I have no doubt that he would have visited him. It’s the least I can do for my old friend.”
Cam had his doubts about the prudence of the planned visits, but all concerns were lifted as Christmas approached, and Mary seemed to have shaken off the depression that had plagued her since her friend’s untimely death. In her free time, Mary volunteered at the hospital where she was known as the “animal lady” for bringing every imaginable breed of livestock to visit the patients confined there. She could often be seen walking the grounds and talking with her friend’s son.
As for Michael Jameson, the doctors at the institution diagnosed him with having the mind of a nine-year-old child, brought on most likely by childhood abuse and the trauma of his father’s death. Michael exhibited no awareness of the brutal murders he had committed or the tragic death of his father. He remained a shy, timid child trapped in the body of a grown man, but with medication and treatment, he was finally happy now, and no longer the frightened, abused child of his youth.
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