Chapter 39
EDINBURGH
Brodie was sitting at the dining table with a folder open, the papers spread out in front of him. They had ordered takeaway for dinner, but it wouldn’t be there for another half-hour. It was already gone six but he could wait a little while longer.
Ruth came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
‘Busy day?’ she asked.
‘You wouldn’t believe the half of it. A woman who might have been murdered, and the skeleton of a little boy found under the floorboards of a house. Poor little bastard had been tortured long before he was murdered.’
She sat down in the chair next to him, horror on her face. ‘How do you know he was tortured?’
‘He had broken bones that had healed. Ribs, clavicle and a finger. Somebody gave him the works before they killed him with a blunt instrument.’
‘Poor thing. How long was he in there?’
‘A very long time,’ Brodie said. ‘It was a nice little cottage in Arncrouch. The last place you would think a murder had taken place.’
‘Arncrouch? Are you sure?’ Ruth asked.
Brodie looked at her. ‘Of course I’m sure.’
‘Was it… was it on Castle Street?’
‘Yes. How did you know?’
Ruth sat down heavily on the couch beside him. ‘I used to live there. When I was fostered.’
‘What? You lived in the white cottage?’
‘Yes. There’s only one in the village. My foster mother was Margaret Wallace.’ She looked at him, her eyes bright with tears. ‘Is it Marcus?’
Brodie nodded. ‘We think so, but it has to be confirmed.’
‘Oh God.’ She covered her face with her hands and started crying. Brodie put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close until her sobbing subsided. She gently prised herself away from him.
‘What do you remember of Marcus?’ he asked her quietly.
Ruth composed herself. ‘I was around seven when he disappeared. I had been there for two years or so. I don’t have strong memories of him, but I remember him being there. Then one day he wasn’t.’
‘There must have been a lot going on at the time he went missing.’
She sniffed and nodded. ‘I remember a lot of policemen in the house, coming and going. Margaret was a wreck, crying all the time. Then they explained that her husband had gone to heaven. Everything seemed to happen at once.’
‘I’ll have to call Rob Cross and see if he wants me off the case now there’s a personal involvement.’
‘I’m sorry, Liam.’
‘Nothing to be sorry about. But let me ask you, did she ever raise a hand to you?’
Ruth looked away for a moment, and Brodie saw tears running down her face again. He reached over the table and put a hand on hers.
‘I know this is tough,’ he said, ‘but we need to know what we’re facing here.’
She sniffed and wiped away the tears. Her eyes were like those of a dragon, red and fiery.
‘She wasn’t physically violent to me. If she thought I was misbehaving or was late for lunch when I was out playing with my friends, she would get upset and shout at me.
I remember being terrified of her. I was there for five years and was mostly miserable. ’
‘Do you think Margaret could have been capable of killing Marcus?’
Ruth looked into his eyes and her lip started trembling before she answered. ‘Yes. If our life was anything to go by.’
‘Our life?’ Brodie asked.
‘Laura and I. She’s much older than I am, but I remember Margaret getting wired into her too.
Laura was a teenager, and I didn’t know it at the time, but she was just developing into a young woman, and maturing, but thinking about it now, Margaret didn’t like that.
She was very controlling. Laura stayed out late, past her curfew time.
And they would argue. Laura was very aggressive, getting very angry all the time.
To be honest, I was glad that I got adopted.
My new parents were so much better to live with than Margaret Wallace. ’
‘Did Laura keep in touch after you were adopted?’
‘No. I didn’t see her again until I was about eighteen and I bumped into her one day.’
Brodie looked puzzled. ‘She didn’t reach out to you after you were adopted?’
‘No. We never had any communication. I didn’t see Margaret again.
To be honest, I was glad. Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful for Margaret taking me in, but it was nice to be with a family who didn’t shout and argue all the time.
Laura was a bloody nightmare, arguing with Margaret all the time, and it got worse the older she got. ’
‘Her last name is Forrest. I’m assuming she got married.’ He looked at her. ‘I wonder what her husband is like.’
‘I have no idea, but I don’t think it would be a healthy environment when he found out what she was really like.’
‘She looks the bossy type,’ Brodie said.
Ruth sighed. ‘It isn’t really her being bossy. It was only after being a psychiatrist that I learned what was really wrong with Laura.’
Brodie looked at her, waiting for her to go on.
‘It’s called Reactive Attachment Disorder. Where a child can’t form a bond with his or her parents.’
‘You think Laura has that?’
‘I’m convinced of it. They can have mood swings, and be nice to their parents one minute, then go berserk the next.’
Brodie sat silent for a moment. ‘If I’m still on the case, I’m going back in to the home to see Margaret tomorrow. Ask her some more questions.’
‘Give her my best,’ Ruth said sarcastically.
Brodie didn’t think he would bother. He’d already heard the woman scream once and that was enough.