by Lin Anderson
‘When Gavin calls in, I need to speak to him.’
Edward was suddenly all ears.
‘This Gavin MacLean. He was the man Rhona said she’d met here in the car park. He was the one she’d seen with my son. I thought she’d made a mistake. I checked at reception and they seemed to confirm what he said. But Rhona had seen something at his flat that suggested he might be involved with Jonathan in some way.’
‘Go on.’
‘It was an email from someone called Caligula. A Jonathan was mentioned. But she reckoned that MacLean working for you explained it.’
Bill listened grimly. He left Stewart and dispatched a Constable to check. At least if MacLean’s story was genuine the hospital would have his sister’s address.
The Constable was soon back with the news that there had been an appendix the previous night and the mother was at her son’s bedside.
‘His mother?’
‘Yes, Sir. She came with him in the ambulance. A tall, fair-haired man was seen near the waiting room. No one saw him after that.’
‘And the mother. What did she have to say?’
‘Never heard of any Gavin MacLean.’
‘Contact the Station. I need a search warrant for Gavin MacLean’s house and I want the Stewarts’ house searched thoroughly too.’
‘Have we got Mr Stewart’s permission to do that, Sir?’
‘We will have, Constable. Count on it.’
Chapter 39
Rhona was going to be sick. It was like a nightmare fairground ride. She bounced between the metal walls of the boot, bashing her against one, then the other. She willed the contents of her stomach to stay where they belonged.
She was losing the battle when the car began to slow down, throwing her abruptly against the boot door; then it accelerated again, but not as fast now. The road wasn’t as good as before. It felt as if they had been travelling for about an hour. They could be anywhere within a sixty-mile radius of Glasgow.
Rhona braced herself for the next turn, forcing her cramped legs against one side. The car suddenly swung abruptly and she struck her head on the jack. She bit hard down on the gag.
Rhona had barely been asleep an hour when the phone had woken her. Chrissy got there first.
Rhona hurried out.
‘Neil?’
Chrissy shook her head.
‘They want you down at the Station right away. They’ve sent an unmarked car. It’ll be waiting at the end of the street,’ Chrissy told her.
‘Right.’
Rhona got dressed, stuffed more money into her pocket and headed for the door.
‘Don’t worry,’ she called into the kitchen. ‘Neil will be back soon.’
Chrissy nodded, unconvinced.
The cloudless morning sky promised of a warm day. Rhona walked briskly towards the corner. Bill would get this cleared up. She would support Neil’s story. She would tell them everything, and to hell with Edward. Jonathan would be safe.
She hurried over to the waiting car. As the driver got out she called ‘Good Morning’, thinking it would be someone she knew.
It was.
Gavin MacLean was still smiling when Rhona felt the car jack hit her head.
When she first opened her eyes in the suffocating darkness, Rhona thought she had been buried alive and adrenalin filled her body. Her hands were tied behind her back. In blind panic, she kicked wildly at the metal walls.
Once she realised she was in the boot of a car, she calmed down slightly. So often she had arrived at a murder scene, to find a body trussed up just as she was now. She had taken blood samples, urine, semen. She had swabbed the victim’s fear and carried it back with her to the laboratory. For her it was a puzzle to be solved. This time it would be Tony carrying the swabs back to the lab. Tony who would ask Chrissy to carry out the tests.
No! She would not think like that. If Gavin had wanted to kill her, he could have done it many times before now. He was going to dump her somewhere, give himself time to get away. She just had to be calm, think straight. And she must not be sick. She could not be sick with this gag in her mouth. She had to find a way to take her mind off the nausea.
Then she remembered. When she was pregnant and feeling sick, she had found a way to cope. Whenever the nausea rolled over her, she would hum a tune, concentrating on every simple note.
Rhona began to hum through the gag. She managed the first few notes, then the next few. She got to the end and began again. Then again. The third time through, she realised what it was. It was the tune Sean was playing when she first saw him. She could almost hear the tender notes he always coaxed from his sax.
She took a deep breath.
She would not die. Chrissy would come looking for her, Chrissy and Neil and the police. Bill Wilson would find her. She was going to stay alive and she was going to keep Jonathan alive.
Rhona realised she hadn’t heard the boy now for several minutes. At first she had heard him crying, the heartrending sound seeping down through the back seat and into the boot. She had tried to call to him, to let him know she was there, but the gag completely muffled the sound. All she could do was to go on humming her tune, and praying.
The past five minutes they had been travelling over a dirt track. The car had been rising and falling, throwing Rhona heavily against the roof and floor of her prison. She braced herself as the vehicle drew to a halt. It seemed an age till the boot opened. She could smell water.
She was so dazzled after being in the dark that she couldn’t focus as she was dragged from the boot.
‘Come on, Dr MacLeod. Come and see your holiday cottage.’
Gavin prodded her along a path and into a low white cottage. After the bright daylight, her eyes now had to adjust to the dim hallway. She felt the stairs before she saw them and tripped forwards, knocking her shin. Irritated by her clumsiness, Gavin pushed in front of her and began to haul her up behind him. Then, as they turned on a landing, she was in full light again. He didn’t look at her as he went on pulling her along a low-ceilinged corridor. He stopped at the first door and thrust her inside.
As she lay on the bare floorboards, he grabbed her hair. He propelled her towards the far wall and shoved her hard against it. Her head hit off the plaster. The exploding pain disorientated her completely. He suddenly released his hold and her legs gave way. She found herself sinking to her knees in front of him, with horror she realised her face was level her face was level with his crotch. He wrenched off the gag and looked down at her speculatively blocking her efforts to draw back.
He had her trapped between himself and the wall. He grabbed her hair again and yanked her against him. She boaked as her face met the bulge of his erection.
‘It’s all your fault. I was only going to the hospital to remind our young friend to keep his mouth shut.’
He jerked her face upwards.
‘Then I met you. You don’t hide as much as you’d like to think. I asked myself. Why would sweet little Rhona be frightened of me? And I remembered the other time you looked at me like that. The night I found your son on that list.’
‘I wasn’t frightened.’
He looked down at her pityingly. ‘You’re a bad liar, Rhona. I always know when you’re lying. All that crap about Sean, when you really wanted me to fuck you. Well your luck may be in there. But let’s not hurry things. It was fun always watching you. And finding children is my speciality.’
The thrust of his words was dreadful.
Liam. Had she led him to Liam? And all those other vulnerable young people. Children that Gavin only knew about because of her.
‘What have you done with Jonathan?’
A smile crossed Gavin’s face. ‘Jonathan is downstairs. I mustn’t be too long. He’s waiting for me.’
His strangely vacant expression terrified her.
‘Gavin you could just leave us tied up. We won’t be able to get away. We won’t tell anyone about this.’
‘I can’t do that. I have plans for Jo
nathan.’
‘If you stay, they’ll find you. Neil knows who you are. Neil will tell them where to come.’
Gavin gave an ugly laugh.
‘Don’t you know? The rent boy’s dead.’
‘No.’
‘He was very pretty. But he crossed some people you just don’t cross. They had to teach him a lesson. And he still didn’t know when to shut up.’
He reached for his zip. His breath was coming in short sharp gasps.
‘My friends like boys. But they’re busy men. So I find them what they want.’
‘You killed the student.’
Gavin ran his tongue over his lips. ‘We don’t kill during sex. Not on purpose. Certain…routines… can heighten sexual pleasure. The boys all know the risks. We pay them enough.’
‘Enough to die?’
‘People die all the time.’ He pulled his cock free of his trousers. ‘They come looking for it. Jonathan came looking for it. I only gave him what he wanted.’
She tried to keep him talking.
‘He was a child.’
‘Poor misunderstood little Jonathan. His parents didn’t want him.’ He stopped and gave her a hard look. ‘But you would know all about that, Rhona. You gave your own child away.’
He was playing with himself.
‘Caligula tells me he thinks we should kill you both. But that’s rather extreme.’ He paused. ‘Caligula likes death.’ Here he smiled, ‘but I keep him under control.’
‘Don’t talk as if he’s another person, Gavin. I know it’s you.’
He sighed.
‘Caligula is me and I am Caligula.’
He pressed closer. Her nostrils filled with the sour smell of urine and sweat, overlaid with a hint of exoensive cologne.
‘My friends have asked me to find out exactly what you know.’
He placed his hands round her neck like a steel butterfly. The pressure drove her mouth open. She gasped for breath.
‘Who else knows about me Rhona?’
She shook her head. ‘No one.’
The pressure on her larynx was becoming unbearable.
‘If you don’t tell me the truth I’ll let Caligula do what he wants with you.’
Lack of oxygen was making her brain turn black. Her muscles began to go into spasm. Involuntarily her bladder released. With a flood of shame she felt the hot liquid run down her legs making a pool on the floor.
‘Who else knows about me?’
Her fear was exciting him more than he expected. He had plans for her.
The sudden drill of his mobile shattered his concentration.
He released her neck and she keeled over.
Gavin glanced down at Rhona, his face expressionless. Without a word he left the room and went downstairs. Rhona pulled herself up. There was some slack in the cord. With a large effort, she freed her right hand from its bonds round her wrist. In his preoccupation with the call, Gavin had left the door open. This was her chance.
She stood on the landing, gripping the stair post, listening.
Jonathan lay spreadeagled, hands and feet secured to the corners of the bed. Simon was outside talking on his mobile. He’s coming for me, thought Jonathan and he twisted his body in a desperate futile last effort to get free.
Gavin had finished his conversation and was coming back inside. He started up the stairs. Rhona froze. Suddenly, he stopped as if something had occurred to him, and went back down.
‘I was going to keep you all to myself. We were going to have a little weekend up here on our own. Good food, good wine and all the time in the world for games.’
Simon’s smile made Jonathan’s skin crawl.
Then the smile vanished.
‘And now you’ve spoiled it.’
‘Don’t look at me. I don’t want you to look at me.’
Simon sighed. ‘I don’t want to look at you. And neither will any of the girls, once they find out what you’ve been up to.’
‘Shut up!’
‘Shut up?’ Simon’s face was a mask of distaste. ‘I don’t think so. I say what goes. I’ll say whatever I like… and do whatever I like.’
‘Don’t you fucking touch me.’
Simon smiled. ‘Caligula was right. You’re not my type.’
Chapter 40
The glass door opened and Janice came out of the cubicle. Bill Wilson looked up hopefully. She shook her head.
‘He’s still unconscious, Sir.’
Bill looked through the glass panel at Chrissy’s worried back.
‘The Doctor says he’s lucky to be alive, Sir. They nearly beat the life out of him.’
‘How did Connelly find him?’
‘Neil phoned, said he was meeting someone in the park near the bandstand. Someone Connelly should see. Connelly got there late and found him. Neil was trying to tell him something before he passed out. Something about a loch. They’re at the loch, he said.’
‘They’re at the loch?’
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘We’re not short of lochs round here,’ Bill snapped.
‘The Trossachs, Loch Long, Loch Lomond. Spoiled for choice.’
‘Have you asked Chrissy what she thinks?’
Janice shook her head.
As Bill pushed the door open Chrissy looked up at him defensively. She wasn’t going to let him try and question Neil, that was for sure.
Bill pulled a chair up beside her. She was holding Neil’s hand.
‘His mother wasn’t in,’ she said quietly. ‘It was his father that answered the phone. I told him Neil was in hospital,’ she paused. ‘He said he didn’t have a son called Neil.’
Chrissy fell silent.
‘There’s something you might be able to help me with. Connelly heard Neil say the word loch before he passed out. Do you know what he meant?’
She looked at him puzzled, and then realisation suddenly dawned.
‘Yes,’ she said triumphantly. ‘I think I know where he meant.’
Chapter 41
Jonathan felt the sweat prickling the side of his face.
Simon had stopped talking to him.
Now he was muttering quietly to himself.
Jonathan lay very still.
Simon looked at him as if he had suddenly remembered he was there.
He went over and opened a bag, lying in the corner. Jonathan saw the leather straps and a whimper escaped his lips.
‘This is what you came for. This is what you like, isn’t it Jonathan?’
Simon was coming towards him, saying his name over and over again.
Jonathan’s long cry propelled Rhona downwards, even though she didn’t know what she would do when she reached the bottom. The cry abruptly ended in an ominous silence. Rhona stopped dead. It seemed an age until she heard another sound. Relief flooded over her. Jonathan’s weeping meant he was alive.
She could hear Jonathan moaning, a pitiful searing sound. Rhona couldn’t bear it. She had to get Gavin away from the boy, even if it meant bringing his attention back to her. Her eyes darted round the hall. The front door still stood ajar. There was a chance that, if she hid behind it, she would be out of his line of sight.
She shut the front door and opened it again, then slipped behind.
She heard footsteps. If he went upstairs, she was sunk.
She stopped breathing as Gavin passed her and went outside.
Rhona immediately threw her whole weight behind the door and slammed it shut. The bolt slid home with a defiant rasp.
****
Jonathan looked half crazy.
‘Who are you?’
‘A friend.’
Rhona tugged at the cord that tied his feet to the metal bed. Her bruised hands fumbled, her fingers swollen and clumsy. Then she caught sight of the kitchen knife on the floor beside the bed, but the end of the blade was too thick to slip between the boy’s ankle and the cord. She would have to slice in the other direction.
‘Stay as still as you can.’
She saw
ed at the cord. Its disintegration was achingly slow. But at last Jonathan wrestled his feet free. The leather strap binding his hands was easier. He sat up and wrenched off the tasselled cord from his neck, revealing a brutal welt.
‘Did he take your mobile?’Rhona asked urgently.
‘It was in my pocket.’
He pointed at a jacket behind the door.
Rhona started frenziedly to go through the pockets.
She was on the last one when she heard a window smash.
Jonathan threw her a look of panic.
Rhona had found the mobile. She thrust it towards him.
‘If you can get a signal, call 999. They’ll trace us.’
Jonathan nodded. ‘Where are you going?’
‘To make sure he doesn’t get back inside.’
Rhona picked up the knife and slipped it under her belt. She grabbed the poker from the fireplace.
In the hall, she could smell smoke. Rhona thought it seemed to be coming from a room at the back. The bastard is trying to burn us alive, she thought. She ran over and flung open the door. The smell of petrol was overpowering. Fire was already licking its way along the floor beneath the broken window. She might be able to smother it with the curtains. She made a move forward, then dashed back towards the hall. Behind her, the room burst into a sea of flames.
****
They were a mile outside Arrochar, when the radio buzzed in the police car. The driver answered it. A fisherman taking full advantage of the long Scottish day, had seen smoke coming from a holiday cottage on the far side of the loch and used his mobile to call the fire brigade.
‘The brigade are on their way, Sir.’
DI Wilson ordered the driver to turn on the siren and get a move on.
****
The hands that circled Rhona’s neck came from nowhere.
‘You never give up, do you?’ Gavin’s voice was a devilish hiss.
Rhona dropped the poker and grabbed at his fingers, trying to prize them apart. He leaned back, lifting her bodily from the floor. Her neck was ready to snap.
She scrabbled in mid air, grabbing at nothing. Then her right hand touched metal. The knife. She pulled it free and swung it sharply over her left shoulder.
Everything happened in slow motion.