Ken McClure - White death

Steven had to decide if there was a possibility that Scott Haldane had been murdered and perhaps more importantly from Sci-Med’s point of view, for the reason that his wife was suggesting — that it had had something to do with one of his patients. He would have to talk to Haldane’s wife to get a feel for what value could be put on her allegations. Was she just a grieving widow who couldn’t live with the knowledge that her husband had taken his own life or did she have some good reason for saying the things she was saying?

Using the information contained in the Sci-Med file, Steven rang Linda Haldane as soon as he got back to Fraoch House. The conversation was brief.

‘Look, I’m in the middle of bathing the children. Can you call back later?’

Steven called back in an hour and explained who he was. ‘I was wondering if we could meet. I’d like to speak to you about your husband and what happened to him.’

‘Is there any point?’ asked Linda. ‘Everyone’s made up their minds. He took his own life.’

‘I haven’t.’

After a sigh and a pause Linda Haldane said, ‘All right, come round tomorrow morning when the children will be at school and in the nursery… about ten thirty.’

Steven took a note of the address and went out to eat. He chose an Italian restaurant: he felt like having noise and bustle around him. This city held a lot of ghosts for him.

Steven left Fraoch House immediately after breakfast and chose once again to walk across the city on a bright, sunny morning which showed Princes Street and the castle, high on its rock, to best advantage. Linda Haldane lived in what she described as a ‘lodge house’ in the Grange district of the city — a bit further south than Bruntsfield and one of the most desirable areas of the city with its avenues of mansion houses nestling behind high stone walls and towering trees. He found the Haldane home without difficulty and announced himself at the entry-phone at the side of the iron gates, which responded to electronic command and gave a slight shudder as an electric relay released the lock.

Linda Haldane appeared at the side door to the cottage, just inside the gates, and moved a child’s tricycle to one side before inviting Steven inside. ‘We can talk in the kitchen,’ she said.

Steven took a seat at the pine kitchen table and noted the children’s breakfast dishes on the draining board. Thomas the Tank Engine was the recurring theme. ‘Two boys?’ he asked.

Linda followed his gaze to the plastic dishes and smiled. ‘Well done… but you are some kind of detective. I’m sorry, who are the Sci-Med Inspectorate exactly?’

Steven offered a little more detail.

Linda nodded and said, ‘Makes sense. So Scott’s death falls within your remit?’

Steven gave a non-committal shrug. ‘Possibly.’

‘How can I help?’

‘We located a newspaper report in which you said that you believed your husband was murdered.’

‘I do,’ said Linda with more than a trace of defiance. ‘There’s no way that Scott committed suicide.’

‘You also told the police that you thought his death was in some way connected with a patient he was treating, a child named Trish Lyons.’

‘And you’ve come here to tell me to shut up and stop rocking the boat?’

‘No, I’ve come here to establish the truth.’

Linda looked at Steven as if she wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not. ‘And how will you do that?’ she asked.

‘What I’m doing right now, talking to people, asking questions.’

‘Ask away.’

‘I need to know why you think your husband was murdered and why you think it had something to do with a thirteen-year-old girl patient.’

‘If you’d known Scott, you wouldn’t even consider for a moment that he took his own life,’ said Linda with a rueful smile. ‘It’s ridiculous. He would have been the last person on earth to ever contemplate suicide. He was the most positive person I’ve ever known.’

Steven’s look suggested that this wasn’t enough.

‘We were happy,’ insisted Linda. ‘We had everything going for us. Scott had a job he loved, we have two beautiful children, we live in a lovely city. We loved each other dearly… what more do you need?’

When she saw that Steven was still unconvinced, she added, ‘Apart from anything else, Scott was a committed Christian; he spent three years doing voluntary work in Africa before becoming a GP. You really have to be an optimist to do something like that. Talk about lighting a candle being better than cursing the darkness… Suicide was against everything he stood for.’

‘Lives can change in an instant,’ said Steven, although not unkindly. ‘There’s been a suggestion that he might have made a mistake over a young patient which led to her injuring herself. You don’t think this could have led to feelings of guilt?’

Linda shook her head. ‘No way,’ she said. ‘I know all about what happened to Trish Lyons. Scott would have been the first to admit to making any kind of mistake if he had made one but he didn’t. He didn’t believe for a moment that the girl’s injuries had been self-inflicted. He was sure it had been an accident and that her mother had come up with the self-harming claim to get her own back on the medical profession who she felt had been less than understanding about her daughter’s problems. I’m sure the girl herself will confirm this when she recovers.’

‘If she recovers,’ said Steven. ‘She’s very ill.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Steven asked the obvious question. ‘So, if there was no conceivable reason for your husband to commit suicide, Mrs Haldane… what possible reason was there for anyone to murder him?’

‘I have no idea,’ said Linda through gritted teeth. ‘I only know that Scott was found with his wrists cut and he didn’t do it — someone else did.’

For a moment Steven saw despair appear in Linda Haldane’s eyes along with the grief that was already in residence. ‘Look…’ she began, ‘I know how ridiculous this must sound to you and people can be forgiven for thinking I’m just a silly woman who can’t cope with her husband’s suicide… but I am absolutely certain Scott didn’t take his own life.’

Steven could see that this was beyond question. ‘I’m sorry, I’m afraid I need more than your certainty,’ he said. ‘I need a motive for his murder. I need to know why you told the police you thought his death was connected in some way to Trish Lyons.’ He knew it sounded cold but it was also true.

‘Although Scott was convinced that Patricia Lyons’ scalding had been an accident, he had some theory about her condition that he couldn’t pursue because of obstacles he claimed were being put in his way. He got very angry and upset about it. Scott hardly ever used bad language but I heard him on one occasion calling it “a bloody conspiracy”.’

Steven said, ‘I understand the girl was one of a group of children being monitored centrally by Public Health people so he might have had difficulty in accessing her medical records?’

‘It wasn’t just that,’ said Linda, ‘although he was annoyed about that too. He kept making phone-calls to people who either wouldn’t speak to him or wouldn’t give him the information he was looking for.’

‘What sort of information?’

‘Scott wouldn’t tell me. He said it was something he would have to be absolutely sure about before he could say anything to anyone.’

‘But if it was upsetting him so much, you must have asked him about it on more than one occasion?’

‘Of course, but he refused point blank to tell me.’

‘Not even you, his wife?’

‘Not even me,’ agreed Linda with a sad smile, taking the point Steven was making.