Chapter 20 #2
‘That day you were in the bookshop in Newington, Ivy was working. We saw her on the camera. Did you interact with her the day she went missing?’ Lucy said.
‘I interacted with Ivy on quite a few occasions. She was one of my patients, which you no doubt already know. She was very funny. To be honest, I think she had a thing for me. I could tell. Sexual transference, it’s called, when a patient redirects romantic feelings to a therapist.’ He stared at Lucy and smiled.
‘Don’t worry, doctor, I certainly don’t have a thing for you.’
‘Of course you don’t.’
‘Let’s just stick to Ivy,’ Brodie said, jumping in. ‘Did you kill her?’
‘That’s not how we play this game, DCI Brodie. That would be a crude way of having this conversation. I mean, it is a conversation, isn’t it? It’s not one of those sessions when you threaten me and throw me around the room after you’ve switched the cameras off?’
‘You’d soon know if he threw you around the room,’ Cross said. ‘You’d be talking in a high voice.’
‘Your penchant for violence, detective, is mind-boggling. It would seem that you would have been better suited to policing in a different era. Maybe you were transported from the 1970s? Where using physical force with prisoners was, if not quite tolerated, then a blind eye was certainly turned.’
‘Blah blah,’ Cross said. ‘Stop trying to change the subject.’
‘Do you realise that I could simply stand up, knock on that door, and the orderlies would take me back to my room?’ Kane said with a smile.
‘And that would be the last time you enjoyed a room with a window. You wouldn’t be able to look out into the outside world, albeit a limited one through bulletproof glass, but a view nonetheless,’ Brodie said.
‘Det Supt Cross there would make a phone call, right up the chain of command, and up there, somebody would make a phone call and within an hour you would be moved to a room without a view, without any TV, or subscription services. Oh, and without your books. There would be no keeping your books in your room, or borrowing any from the mobile library.’
Cross looked at Kane with a smile. ‘You’re free to leave any time you want, Gabriel.’ Use his first name, throw him off.
The three detectives waited for an answer or a movement. Kane went for the former.
‘I was just saying, that’s all. Of course I’m not going to get up.
’ He smiled as if this had all been a joke.
‘Where were we? Oh, yes, Ivy Jack. As I said, we got on well when she was working in the shop, and I got to know her innermost feelings when we were in session and I saw her as a perfect target.’ He kept the smile but slightly narrowed his eyes.
Brodie had no doubt the man would slice Cross’s throat given half the chance.
‘Anyway, I took Ivy out on a few dates and we got to know each other.’
Brodie sat forward. ‘Why don’t you tell us the truth? There was no dating, no taking her out or having a laugh, was there? You just killed her.’
Kane’s smile vanished as if it had been wiped away.
‘There was laughter and joking around in the shop, but you’re right, I clearly embellished it to humanise the story more.
I waited for her one day when she finished her shift and followed her home.
Ivy wasn’t old, but she wasn’t young either.
She was at the perfect age, not na?ve but trusting.
One day, she was at the bus stop, alone, in the rain.
I stopped my car and offered her a lift, making an excuse of having to go somewhere, but I could drop her off if she wanted to come with me.
Then we could get a coffee. She seemed pleased by that.
I drove to a quiet park, telling her that my dog walker was sick and I was there to get my dog.
She was excited to see the fictitious animal.
We got out and walked over to the treeline and I made sure that nobody else was around, which they weren’t as it was still raining, and not a large park.
I stabbed her in the ribs, ramming the knife up high and hard.
She gasped and looked at me but by then it was all over.
I walked back to my car and drove it over, put her in the boot and drove her down to the cemetery.
I placed the Bible on her chest before toppling the gravestone. ’
‘Where did she live?’ Lucy.
‘Comiston.’
‘What day of the week did you pick her up?’ Brodie.
‘Wednesday.’
‘What car did you drive?’ Cross.
‘Same one I drove when you arrested me. Where is that, by the way?’ Kane asked.
‘What was she wearing?’ Brodie.
‘Same as what she was wearing yesterday when you discovered her lying in the cemetery: a yellow dress.’
‘What about Marianne Taylor?’ Brodie asked. ‘She went missing around the same time as Ivy. Did you kill them around the same time?’
‘Not far apart. I talked to Marianne. She was a regular in there, just like me. I followed her and found out where she lived.’
‘Where did she live?’ Cross.
‘Leith Walk,’ Kane answered.
‘Who did she live with?’ Lucy.
‘By herself.’
‘Were you in her flat?’ Brodie.
‘Nope. I stood across the road and waited.’
‘Waited for what?’ Cross.
‘To see if she would come out again.’
‘And did she?’ Lucy.
‘Of course she did.’
‘Where did you kill her?’ Cross.
Kane looked at them all for a second. ‘You know the rules. I gave you a victim on the anniversary of Liam’s stabbing. Come back next year and I’ll show you where she is.’
Brodie laughed. ‘I don’t think so, Gabriel. When you identified Marianne Taylor in the cemetery and got it wrong, you piqued our interest. Now we’re not going to let it go.’
‘You may have to, Liam. That’s the way we play this game.’
‘How about we change the rules?’
‘How about we don’t?’
Brodie nodded over to Cross, who took out his phone and dialled a number.
‘Hello. This is Det Supt Rob Cross. Put me through to the assistant chief, please.’ Cross waited a moment.
‘Hello, ma’am. Sorry to bother you, but I need you to make a phone call to the chief.
We need Dr Gabriel Kane moved to solitary confinement, and all his privileges removed, with immediate effect. ’ He listened again.
‘Wait,’ Kane said, tutting. ‘I’ll tell you what you want to know.’
‘Ma’am, there’s been a development. Sorry for the inconvenience. I’ll update you later. Thank you.’ Cross hung up. ‘She knows what you’re like and she’s getting pissed off with this lark, Dr Kane.’
‘The thing is, and I promise you that I’m not pulling your chain, but my mind is actually a little fuzzy.
I’ll have to go away and think about this, Liam.
’ Kane stood up. ‘I’m feeling a little unwell.
I’d like to be seen by the doctor and then retire to my room.
It will help me think a little more clearly. I’ll be in touch, gentlemen. Lady.’
Kane walked forward and stood a few feet from the door, facing it. Brodie got up and knocked on the door and, a second later, it opened.
‘Dr Kane needs medical attention,’ he told the orderlies. ‘Make sure he sees the doctor.’
One of the men nodded, and then Kane was gone, the door closed behind him.
‘What the fuck do you make of that?’ Cross said, taking his cigarettes out and toying with the packet.
‘I told you yesterday, he didn’t know that was possibly Ivy Jack in there. If it is indeed her. For some reason, he was convinced it was Marianne Taylor,’ Brodie said. ‘We’ll check the details, but I think he got the details wrong. Or he’s yanking our chain.’
‘Do you think he’s killed so many women that he can’t remember who was buried where?’ Lucy said.
‘That’s a possibility. But he got all the answers correct about Marianne. I’ve no doubt he killed her. But he was a bit more vague about Ivy.’
‘Maybe it was because they were both in the bookshop at the same time, Ivy working and Marianne as a customer.’
‘Now we just have to find out where Marianne is buried,’ Brodie said.