The Harlequin
Page 24
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When Russell walked into his living room, dawn was breaking on the second of April. He was emotionally drained and physically exhausted by all that had happened. He noticed that the light was flashing on his home phone to tell him he had a message.
He thought about leaving it, expecting it to be some eager journalist but instead he pressed play.
“Tom, it’s Eddie. Ah’m sorry aboot Karen, that wis tough. Jist tae let ye know Ah’m in Glesga and Ah’m gonnae hand masel’ in the morra. You shouldnae huv tae be punished fur ma mistakes.”
Russell deleted the message and went to bed, not convinced that Eddie would save him a visit from the Dundee detectives the following day. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t care any more.
EPILOGUE
Surprisingly, Eddie was as good as his word and confessed to the murder of the two Serbs but claimed self-defence. Russell made sure that the best possible lawyer represented him. Eddie said that he had gone to try to make a deal over the debt. He admitted taking a gun to the meeting and that he killed them when they had threatened him. He claimed to know nothing about the guns that were found in the boot of the car. The Fiscal accepted his plea, not wanting to stretch the case out and partially because she wanted to spare Tom Russell any more grief. The judge sentenced Eddie to ten years in prison. Eddie accepted that his lifestyle had led him to his fate, and when Tom visited he told his brother not to worry, that he would be safer in Barlinnie than he was outside. He convinced Tom that it would be a turning point and that he would be a better man when he got out. Tom’s guilt at his brother’s fate was tempered by all that he had gone through on his behalf, and the fact that he had more than enough guilt associated with Karen’s death to last a lifetime.
Dent died three days before his trial was due to start and never faced justice, while Pettersen was jailed for life. At no point did he express any remorse for what happened, it had all been a laugh for him and his only regret was that he had been caught.
Karen Russell was buried on a bright sunny day in late April. Russell was used to attending the funeral of murder victims - it was something he did to keep himself rooted in why he did the job in the first place - but this was different. He stood closer to the graveside than he would for any other victim, Karen’s mother at his side. Their relationship had never been a good one, even during Karen’s captivity, she hadn’t bothered to call him. There was some doubt that she would allow him to be involved in the service but she relented in memory of her daughter, although it was still very strained between the two of them. The lowering of Karen’s coffin into the grave was a weight that he found difficult to bear, not physically but emotionally. He went straight home and took no calls from anyone for a while.
Unable to push aside his grief and guilt, he decided to take sick leave rather than face the daily grind of bodies, pain and heartbreak. At one point Alex thought that he wouldn’t be back and there was talk of her being moved out of the Major Incident Team to head up a group in the Specialised Crime division but she resisted. She wanted to work with Russell again, a man she admired greatly. She was delighted when he decided to return to work six months after the Harlequin had been captured.
On that first day, she offered him a brief hug of welcome, there was no mention of what had happened, Russell held his emotions in check and then they got back to doing what they did best.
About The Author
Sinclair Macleod was born and raised in Glasgow. He worked in the railway industry for 23 years, the majority of which were in IT.
A lifelong love of mystery novels, including the classic American detectives of Hammett, Chandler and Ross Macdonald, inspired him to write his first novel, ‘The Reluctant Detective’ featuring Craig Campbell. There are two further Reluctant Detective novels, ‘The Good Girl and ‘The Killer Performer as well as the short story, The Island Murder.
There are two other Russell and Menzies novels, ‘Soulseeker’ and ‘Inheritance’.
Sinclair lives in Bishopbriggs, just outside his native city with his wife, Kim and daughter, Kirsten.