Ken McClure - Eye of the raven

Grant shook his head again as if trying to clear his head of what he hoped might still turn out to be a bad dream. ‘But who would do such a thing? he asked. ‘And why?’

‘ A man with a grudge against your ex-son-in-law,’ said Steven. ‘His name is John Merton; he was working in the police forensic lab at the time. That’s how he had access to Julie Summers’ body. The police are trying to find him as we speak but it won’t be easy.’

‘ Will Charlotte have to see David?’ asked Grant, his mind wandering to other things.

‘ That’s entirely up to her,’ said Steven. ‘It’s been such a long time. Apart from that, he’s very ill.’

‘ What’s wrong with him?’

Steven took a deep breath before saying, ‘Well, that’s another thing… He has full-blown AIDS.’

Grant’s eyes opened wide as if his senses were reeling. His lips quivered as he tried to find words. ‘How?’ he murmured.

‘ He was the victim of rape in his early days in prison.’

Grant rose out of his chair and put a hand to his forehead as he turned his back on Steven and shuffled over to look out of the windows. After almost a minute of complete silence he turned round and said, ‘I really… I really… I re…’

Steven saw that Grant was about to faint and rushed forward to break his fall, realising that the ceramic tiles on the floor would be less than kind to his head. The contents of Steven’s pockets scattered out on the floor as he threw himself forward but he managed to grab hold of Grant’s shoulders and lower him the last foot or so to the floor. He loosened Grant’s tie and put him in the recovery position while he examined the damage to his own knee, which he’d hit on the unforgiving tiles. It was nothing that a good rub wouldn’t heal.

Grant came round and was hugely embarrassed at what he saw as his ‘girlish’ behaviour. ‘Don’t know what came over me,’ he said.

Steven helped him to his feet and settled him in a cane armchair while he picked up his own belongings from the floor. ‘You had a severe shock,’ he said.

‘ That photograph,’ said Grant coldly.

In his hand Steven was holding the photograph of John Merton that McClintock had given him. ‘This is John Merton,’ he said, showing it properly to Grant. ‘The man responsible for David Little’s arrest and conviction.

‘ No it isn’t,’ said Grant, sounding bemused. ‘That man is John Mission.’

For a few moments Steven felt like a man who had just awoken from a nightmare to find that it was all true.

‘ The photograph was taken some years ago,’ he said, hoping that Grant might be mistaken.

‘ This is John Mission,’ said Grant. ‘I’m hardly liable to forget him. Damn the man.’

‘ Then you are telling me that the man who engineered David Little’s false conviction and who subsequently treated your daughter so badly are one and the same?’ said Steven.

Grant continued to stare at the photograph, his face reflecting the anguish of painful memory.

‘ His grudge must have extended to your daughter too,’ said Steven. ‘Merton held Little responsible for having ruined his career and for the fact that the girl he planned to marry left him. Putting Charlotte through hell must have been part of the plan.’

‘ What kind of man thinks like that?’ murmured Grant.

‘ Merton’s a psychopath,’ said Steven.

‘ I don’t know how I’m going to tell Lotty all this,’ said Grant, looking as if he’d aged ten years in the past half-hour.

‘ You don’t have to; I will,’ said Steven. ‘Perhaps you could tell your wife while I’m doing it?’

Grant nodded. ‘God, I need a drink,’ he said. ‘Will you join me?’

Steven said not but encouraged Grant to go ahead. He said that he had some calls to make in the light of what he’d just learned. Grant invited him to use the house phone and said that he’d leave him alone until he’d finished. Steven called Sci-Med first and then McClintock in Edinburgh.

‘ Mission?’ exclaimed McClintock. ‘Freudian or what?’

‘ Quite so,’ agreed Steven. ‘I haven’t spoken to Charlotte yet but there’s a chance she might be able to give us some clue as to his whereabouts. I’ll get back to you if I make progress.’

‘ In the meantime I’ll start the ball rolling with an alert for Mission as well as Merton.’

‘ Any progress with the video girls?’

‘ Not yet,’ sighed McClintock. ‘I’m beginning to think that these particular films weren’t made in the local studios. ‘There are just too many people pleading ignorance. Even Verdi seems confident we’re not going to pin these murders on him.’

‘ But they were local girls?’ said Steven.

‘ We’ve established that one of them, a lassie named Sharon Duthie, worked in one of Verdi’s saunas at one time and that two other girls were friends of hers. Our thinking at the moment is that Verdi recruited Sharon for a film and she brought in two of her pals but after that the trail goes cold. None of the people that Tracy listed as being in on the making of the films would admit to ever coming across the three girls.’

‘ Nothing’s ever easy,’ said Steven.

‘ I think you should know that the papers are on to the Little situation,’ said McClintock. He was transferred to a specialised AIDS unit in a hospital in Edinburgh last night. Word is they’ll probably run with the story tomorrow. Little’s already got himself a lawyer who’s talking seven figure compensation sums.’

‘ Que sera sera,’ said Steven.

‘ The civil liberties crowd have been shouting the odds on the phone this morning as have the prison reform lot and half a dozen other groups with axes to grind. You can bet your buns that politicians will be polishing up their outrage as we speak, ready to call for a “full public inquiry”. That’s all some of these buggers ever seem to do.’

Steven looked at his watch and said, ‘Charlotte and her mother should be back in half an hour or so. I’ll call you if I find out anything.’

Steven could see James Grant standing out in the garden. He went out to tell him that he he’d finished making calls.

‘ You know,’ said Grant, still gazing out towards the sea. ‘I have never ever felt so guilty about anything in my entire life. I was absolutely convinced that David Little was guilty. I didn’t even consider the possibility that a mistake might have been made. I know what you said about the strength of the evidence against him but I still feel awful.’

‘ Guilt never sees the circumstances,’ said Steven.

‘ A cross to bear for all of us,’ said Grant. ‘God forgive us.’

Steven put a hand on Grant’s shoulder.

Grant glanced to his right and said, ‘That’s Lotty’s car coming up the hill.’

Steven went back into the conservatory while Grant walked round to the front door to meet his returning wife and daughter. Steven sat and waited while Grant told them of his presence and then stood up when Charlotte appeared in the doorway.

‘ Not more questions about filth on the computer,’ she said, sounding exasperated. ‘What does it matter now, anyway?’

‘ It’s not about that,’ Steven assured her. ‘I think you’d better sit down.’

Steven broke the news to her about Little’s innocence to her as gently as he could, constantly stressing that she was in no way to blame for having believed him to be guilty. John Merton, with his forensic expertise had made sure that there had been no other possible interpretation of the evidence.’

Charlotte’s face paled with the shock she was feeling.

‘ I’m afraid there’s more,’ said Steven. ‘Perhaps you’d like a brandy? A glass of water?’