Chapter 49
FIFE
Ruth was standing outside the cottage when Brodie pulled up. And still he hadn’t eaten. He got out and walked over to her and saw the tears streaming down her face. She barely noticed as he stopped and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him and started sobbing.
After a few moments, she sniffed and stopped, gently pulling away from him.
‘Bittersweet,’ she said.
‘Good memories and bad?’ he said, as she took a paper hanky out of her pocket and wiped her eyes with it.
‘Yes. I was five when I arrived forty years ago, and I can still remember some of the details. Mr Wallace was tall and skinny, and he looked like a giant. Laura was fourteen at the time. Big and mean-looking. I remember how she couldn’t care less that I was there. I hated being here.’
They walked towards the door where a patrol car sat. The forensics van was there. A Uniform stepped out of the car as they approached, and Brodie took his warrant card out.
‘We need to see the crime scene,’ he said.
‘No problem, sir. Let me know if you need anything.’
‘Will do.’
Brodie stayed behind Ruth as she stepped through the open doorway.
‘Nothing much has changed,’ she said, looking around. She stopped and turned to look at him. ‘You know when you go into a house, and it has a unique smell? My adoptive grandmother’s house was like that. Not smelly, but like somebody wearing cologne. You just associate it with that person.’
‘I know what you mean. My grandmother’s house smelled exactly like that. Most of the time, there was also the aroma of her baking biscuits or rolls. My grandfather was a baker, so it was great.’
Ruth ventured further in, and a pair of figures in white suits came into view before disappearing again.
‘What are they doing?’ Ruth asked.
‘Looking for other evidence. They’ll pull up other floorboards too.’
‘Which room was Marcus in?’ Ruth said, her voice slightly hoarse from the crying.
‘It’s along to the left,’ Brodie said.
Ruth knew where she was going and walked slowly along the hallway and saw where the men and women were concentrating their efforts on.
‘Laura’s room,’ she said simply.
‘I spoke to Margaret and Rory Farmington.’
Ruth turned to look at him. ‘How did that go?’
‘She seems like a tough old bird.’
Ruth shook her head. ‘That’s her alright. She is one scary lady. I haven’t seen her since I left when I was ten. I did not like her at all. One minute she was happy, the next, going off her head at something. Always lashing out at her husband. No wonder he was a drunk.’
‘I wonder why he didn’t just leave instead of taking his own life.’
‘I hate to say this, but some people see committing suicide as a permanent way out. They won’t ever have to see their aggressor again.
If they just left, they would always wonder if that person was going to show up in their life again.
It was a classic move by Mr Wallace.’ She locked eyes with him. ‘Unless somebody helped him along.’
‘The post-mortem showed pills and alcohol in his system,’ Brodie said.
‘You’re a detective. You know, some killers can make a death appear as a suicide. I’m not suggesting that occurred in this instance, but considering someone murdered Marcus and concealed it, then it would have been quite easy for Mr Wallace’s death to seem like suicide. Just saying.’
Brodie knew she had a good point.
‘Do you feel better coming to see where Marcus was buried?’ he asked her. She poked her head into the room and saw the lifted floorboards and bricks scattered, broken off from the big lump that was the chimney.
‘I wouldn’t say better. I can’t even say I’ve found closure, as the Americans would say. But to think I lived here for five years and didn’t know Marcus was buried under there. I can’t get my head around it.’
‘You were five when you got here, and Marcus was six. Laura was fourteen, is that right? In 1985.’
‘Yes,’ Ruth said.
‘He went missing in 1987, so you would be seven, Marcus eight and Laura sixteen at the time,’ Brodie said.
Ruth simply nodded.
They turned and walked back out into the sunshine to find the next-door neighbour standing with his hands on his hips. Ted Carr. With his wife Penny behind him.
‘When is this going to be finished?’ he demanded.
‘When is what going to be finished?’ Brodie said.
‘This… mess!’ Ted said.
‘Yes, this mess,’ Penny said, poking her head round her husband then withdrawing it back.
‘This sort of thing takes time, Mr Carr,’ Ruth said. ‘Do you remember me?’
Ted looked Puzzled. ‘No. Should I?’
‘I lived here forty years ago. I’m Ruth.’ She smiled at him.
‘Yes, of course! Young Ruth. Look, Penny, it’s little Ruth.’
Penny shuffled sideways. ‘Hello, Ruth. Look at you, all grown up.’
‘How are you both doing?’ she asked, holding her hand out for Ted to shake.
‘We’re doing fine, Ruth.’ He let her hand go, and stood looking at her. ‘We heard on the news that a skeleton was found under the floorboards,’ he said. Penny looked down at the ground.
Ruth nodded but Brodie cut in. ‘We can’t speculate any further on that matter,’ he said.
‘And who are you?’ Ted asked.
‘DCI Brodie. I’m Ruth’s partner.’
‘You’re a police officer?’ Ted asked Ruth.
‘No, he meant partner, as in boyfriend.’
‘Oh, you’re not married.’
‘I was, but I got divorced years ago.’
‘Ah, I see. What is it you do nowadays?’
‘I’m a psychiatrist.’
‘She’s Dr Ruth Campbell,’ Brodie said.
‘Well, that’s wonderful, Ruth. I’m proud of you,’ Ted said.
‘Thank you. What do you do yourself these days?’
‘I’m retired. I was an accountant.’
‘Terrific. Peace and quiet now,’ Ruth said. ‘It’s a beautiful place to live.’
Ted drew in a breath and let it out slowly.
‘That’s what we thought. Until your foster mother moved in with her husband.
I told the other two detectives who were here that the peace was shattered when they moved in.
Her husband was a drunk. I didn’t like him at all.
And their daughter. Good Lord, they couldn’t keep her under control at all. ’
‘I remember Laura. I haven’t seen her in a very long time.’
‘She still lived there,’ Ted said, nodding at the cottage.
‘Where did she move to when the chimney fell?’ Brodie asked.
‘I have no idea. Margaret was already in the nursing home, and Laura stayed near it, I think. Don’t quote me on that, but the best thing that’s ever happened is that place is about to be put on the market. I might buy it myself, just to control who lives there.’
‘It might be worth the investment, right enough,’ Ruth said.
‘Would you both like to come in for a cup of tea?’ Penny asked.
‘Thank you, no,’ Ruth said. ‘I have to get back to work.’
‘Me too,’ Brodie said, ‘but thanks anyway.’
‘Okay. Take care, Ruth. Good seeing you again,’ Ted said. Penny waved as she followed her husband back into the house.
‘They seem nice,’ Brodie said.
‘I have memories of them but a bit vague now. I remember him having a missing finger on his left hand. It used to creep me out.’
They walked back to her car.
‘Have you heard from Moira by any chance?’ he asked her.
Ruth shook her head. ‘No.’
‘She’s having some holiday time to sort out her marriage, so maybe she was just having a lie-in. But mum can’t get a hold of her, and you know what she’s like when she can’t get a hold of her bairns.’ He smiled.
‘Mother hen. I would be the same.’ She unlocked the car and opened the driver’s door. ‘Are you going to see Eric later?’
‘I’ll call him.’ He held the door for her as she climbed into the driver’s seat. ‘Are you really going back to work?’ he asked.
She shook her head as she started the car. ‘I was just being polite.’
‘Lucky you. I had a call from Lucy earlier; they found more bodies under gravestones, right next to the other one in the cemetery.’
‘Oh, no.’
‘We think it’s a copycat. I’m going to Edinburgh now too. See you at home?’ Brodie said.
‘Yes.’ Ruth shivered, even though it was warm outside.
She wished that seeing the place would bring back memories of that time, but they were vague.
A young boy, older than her, was laughing.
An older girl who was mean to her. Those were the memories she had, like seeing somebody through an opaque window.
She felt empty inside to think that somebody had killed Marcus and buried him under the floorboards like a piece of rubbish.
Her heart felt heavy at the thought. She still couldn’t believe that she had lived in that house for another three years before being adopted, with a dead body there.