Chapter 18
EDINBURGH
Tuesday
Brodie slept longer than he intended. Ruth didn’t, but she hadn’t been drinking the night before.
He showered, shaved and had coffee while sitting at the small dining table, watching TV.
The morning news reported on Kane’s little jolly from the hospital, but none of the segments featured DVD or photos of the cemetery.
That evening, the interview with Kane was going to be aired.
Brodie ran the contents of the DVD through his mind again, picking away at it, frame by frame almost. He’d watched it dozens of times, each time stopping it when Kane put the book back on the shelf.
The other customers. The woman going to the counter.
The man standing behind her. Both of them paying for their book and leaving.
He made a mental note to go to the bookshop later on. It was still there, the last time he looked. But it wouldn’t surprise him if the place had been turned into a café selling expensive coffee or the building torn down for student housing.
He would call up first.
The day had started off sunny with a forecast for rain in the afternoon. This being Scotland, that would probably follow with snow in the evening.
‘You feeling okay this morning?’ Ruth said, coming into the living room and picking up the TV remote.
‘I’m fine.’
‘Not hungover?’ She smiled at him.
‘I’m not one of your patients,’ he said, and immediately regretted it. ‘I’m sorry. I apologise. That was uncalled for.’
‘You don’t have to apologise, Liam. You’re under a lot of stress. I’ll just make you beg for sex the next time you’re feeling horny.’
She wasn’t smiling now, he noticed. Just a little smirk playing around on her lips. ‘Yeah, right. Just wait until you’re begging for me, and maybe I’ll say no to you,’ he said.
‘I would have you eating out of my hand.’
He looked at her and drank some coffee. ‘I give in.’
‘See?’ She laughed at him and channel-hopped until she found a rerun of Frasier. ‘I love Eddie on this show,’ she said, pointing to the little dog.
He nodded in agreement, and they watched the show for a few minutes before Brodie cut in. ‘You’ve watched the DVD with me plenty of times.’
She hit the mute button. ‘Yes.’
‘Do you ever get the feeling that there’s something on that DVD that’s staring us in the face and we can’t quite grasp it? Like trying to hold a wriggling, wet fish.’
She looked at him and nodded. ‘Yes. Every time. It all looks innocent enough, but there’s something there. Almost like Kane’s looking at the camera, taunting the police to find him.’
‘It’s a little bookshop, the owner, Sylvia Green, is the only one who works there, and those three were the only customers that day.’ The DVD was from two weeks before Kane was arrested. Two weeks before Brodie was stabbed, three years ago.
‘You interviewed her, Liam?’ Ruth said, shifting forward quickly on the couch. ‘The owner?’
He nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘And she told you she’s the only one who worked there at the time?’
‘Yes.’
‘She’s lying to you.’ Ruth grabbed the DVD player remote and turned it on. The disc was still in from the night before. ‘Come and sit next to me. I’ll show you why.’
He sat down, Frasier and his father’s dog gone for the moment.
Ruth started the DVD from the beginning and let it play, and then, when Kane looked up at the camera, she paused it.
The female customer was at the counter, talking to the owner.
The man was behind. The camera showed part of the owner, just the right-hand side of her as she faced the woman.
The bookcase was right up to the counter where the owner was standing.
‘There!’ Ruth suddenly shouted, and Brodie jerked. ‘Did you see it?’
‘See what?’ he asked.
‘Nope. It is just there for a fleeting second. If you blink, you miss it. Let me rewind.’ She rewound the DVD and tried frame by frame, making Brodie wish he had pulled the trigger on buying the old VCR on eBay.
He was sure it wouldn’t have taken this long to find whatever it was Ruth was looking for.
‘Here, watch this,’ she said, and the DVD moved slowly this time.
‘What am I looking for?’ Brodie said, trying to keep the agitation out of his voice.
‘The owner’s right arm. She’s standing looking at the customer and then she reaches under the counter for a bag to put the book in. As she moves, ever so slightly, it creates a gap between her arm and the end of the bookcase, giving us a glimpse of what’s behind her.’
Brodie stared intently, and watched as the owner’s arm moved slightly, showing yellow. Ruth paused the DVD. Then played it again, still moving slowly, and when the owner moved again, the yellow was gone.
‘Look closely,’ Ruth said. ‘The yellow has a pattern on it. Like it’s a dress. Like the one the victim was wearing in the cemetery.’
‘Jesus,’ Brodie said. ‘There was somebody else there that day.’ He looked at Ruth. ‘The owner kept that quiet.’
‘I wonder why?’
‘She’s got something to hide.’
Brodie got up off the couch and called DI Lucy Warren.