Galbraith stood up and turned towards the officer who’d just spoken. “That's exactly what we're going to be doing next, hopefully with the help of a helicopter which should be arriving in about …” he glanced at his watch “…ten minutes. However, at this stage we aren't going to re-enter the building. The electricity is off, and we only have a limited number of torches and safety equipment. More is coming, but I don't think it’ll arrive until tomorrow morning. As soon as this meeting finishes, we’re going to split up into teams, and scan the building from the outside using thermal-imaging equipment.”
Galbraith looked across at McKenzie.
“Actually, I’m done for now.” McKenzie replied. “I think we should get right on to it. Does anyone else want to add anything? If not, please feel free to talk to me at any time. We mustn’t wait until meetings to share ideas.”
No one else wanted to add anything.
“Good, I’ll just say thanks for now. Our next scheduled meeting will be at nine tomorrow morning. I’ll see you all then. For now though, if you’ll give us a few moments, DI Brown and myself will divide you all into teams and issue instructions, and then we’ll divvy up what safety equipment we have. Please remain in the room until you hear your name called.”
The next fifteen minutes was spent organising everyone into teams, and handing out instructions and equipment. When everyone was set, they filed out of the temporary incident room, and made their way down to their start positions. If any heat traces were discovered, McKenzie was to be alerted immediately. An armed search party would then enter the building, surround it, and capture any target.
After they’d left the room, McKenzie followed them out, and blue-tacked a piece of paper to the outside of the door. The words 'Operation Blue-Building' were scrawled on it in big black letters. No doubt their computer system back at St Leonards would allocate them an ‘official’ Operation’s name in the coming days, but for now, this one seemed the most appropriate.
Turning around he looked back up at the tall tower block.
McKenzie was petrified of heights, but he knew that at some point he should go up there and take a look for himself.
Even the thought of it had his pulse racing.
Just then he heard a buzz on his radio and he raced into the room to retrieve it from his jacket.
“Boss, they’ve just started the thermal imaging, but they’ve already got two traces. You'll need to get down here quick... you need to see these for yourself!”
Chapter 4
Portobello High School
Edinburgh
23.15
McKenzie stood beside Gary Bruce, DI Brown and a PC Lynch who was operating a thermal imaging monitor. They were staring at the monitor’s screen, linked to the hand-held thermal-imaging camera which had been hoisted up on the end of a long pole carried aloft by two PCs.
The six of them were standing just inside the perimeter fence beside the long two-floor extension that jutted out at right angles to the tower block. The camera was facing into the building at the level of the second floor. They were two classrooms along from the tower block.
PC Lynch, a uniformed officer in his thirties, explained what they were looking at. “According to the plans Mr Bruce gave us, this is the RE - sorry, Religious Education - area. We've picked up two images, one stationary and one moving. The first one looks like it could be a person crawling along the floor, keeping low. It's this one here... look...” Lynch pointed to the image. “It's quite large, but to be honest, I don't think it's big enough for an adult.”
McKenzie stared at the image, the body temperature showing bright white against the black backdrop of the cold building. Whatever it was seemed to be lying on the floor.
“Can't see much detail. Could be an adult curled up, facing away.” McKenzie suggested. “We need to get in there and take a look.”
“The lack of detail’s because of the thick walls. Unfortunately, we can't reach high enough to see through the windows,” Lynch explained.
“The other image?”
“It's in the same classroom. We'll be seeing it side on, against one of the walls at right angles to this front wall. The thermal footprint is much fainter, but we can still make it out.”
Lynch called to the PCs carrying the cameras, and they walked a few metres further away.
McKenzie squinted at the image which appeared.
Brown was first to comment. “Looks like a person, upside down. Those look like feet, and that looks like a head...”
“I agree. But the image doesn't make any sense.”
“That's why I said you had to see this for yourself, Guv.” Lynch agreed.
McKenzie looked up, glancing to his left. “And what about these classrooms? Anything showing up there?”
“We've very quickly scanned along both floors, and nothing else comes up. These are the only heat signatures we found. Another team’s scanning the classrooms on the other side of this block, but so far they've found nothing either. They've moved on to the music rooms now.”
McKenzie thought for a moment.
He called Galbraith.
“Our team’s found two thermal images. I know you haven’t given us the all clear yet, but we have to go in now and see what these images are. If you agree, I’d suggest three teams, four men on each team, each team comprising two armed officers, one of my team, and one of Bruce’s staff. I’d suggest that at all times Bruce's men are in charge of our safety from a structural perspective. If they say it's too unsafe to proceed, we stop. We also maintain radio silence at all times. Everyone wears a night vision headset, and no torches are allowed. Your armed boys go first, and the rest follow.”
There was a pause while Galbraith thought about it.
“Bruce’s team are civilians. Normally they wouldn’t be allowed in, but this is a weird setup. We’re potentially in danger unless they escort us, and they’re in danger unless we escort them. Okay. But my men are in charge. What they say goes.”
“Agreed.” McKenzie smiled.
It was the result he needed.
-------------------------
Portobello High School
Staircase A
Edinburgh
Saturday
00.15
Led by the armed police-officers and the demolition expert, McKenzie followed the two teams up staircase A. There wasn't much moonlight tonight, and there were a lot of clouds. Outside it was dark. Inside it was almost pitch black. In this environment, the night vision goggles they were all wearing were invaluable. With them, they could almost see clearly. Assuming anyone hiding in the classrooms would not be similarly equipped, they would be at a severe disadvantage to the approaching police team. However, thanks to the internet where it was possible to buy almost anything, that assumption could easily prove to be false.
Anderson hadn't been joking when he'd said that the place stunk to high heaven, or that the risk from stepping on used needles was severe. The stench of stale urine and excrement, probably human, caught in the back of McKenzie’s throat and almost made him gag. Through his night-vision goggles, the needles on the floor glistened occasionally in the torch beams. It was unlikely that they would penetrate the heavy shoes they were all now wearing, but it wasn’t a risk they could take.
The simple broom which McKenzie carried quickly proved to be worth its weight in gold, and where necessary he forcibly widened the existing path through the rubbish and drug debris which had already been made earlier that evening.
When they got to the first floor, Galbraith waved one of the teams along the extension from the tower block, then carried on up to the second floor. Several times Galbraith indicated for everyone to pause, and they stood still, listening to the sound of the building creaking and settling. There were no other sounds, and the team carried on.
They soon came to the junction on the second floor where the corridor ran between the classrooms in the main tower block and the other corridor branched off into the extension.
With a wave of his arm indicating to move on, Galbraith set off down the corridor into the extension. McKenzie and his team followed.
At the first classroom, they paused at the door and discovered it was closed. Not wanting to try the door lest it made a noise and gave away their presence, they moved past it to the RE classroom where the thermal images had been seen from outside the building.
They took up positions on either side of the door, which was half-open, and then paused again. Listening.
Apart from sounds of the building settling, there was silence.
Galbraith gave an 'OK' signal to the other men in the team, and when they all replied in kind, he pointed into the classroom.
The next few moments passed very quickly.
First, Galbraith gently pushed the door fully open.
The armed police-officers rushed into the room, their weapons raised and searching, fingers poised on their triggers. Galbraith took a stance in the middle of the room. The others followed behind, going down into kneeling positions at the sides of the room and poised for a response from the two images they were investigating.
Almost immediately the form lying on the floor sprung up and rushed straight at them.
Seeing it just in time, Galbraith relaxed his finger on the trigger and swept the barrel of his rifle away from his body, aiming to hit the oncoming shape in the head, but missing it by centimetres.
The fox swept past them through their legs and disappeared into the darkness.
The team's attention turned to the far wall.
It was immediately obvious there was no further threat to the team.
Stepping closer to the far wall, the team removed their night vision goggles, switched on their torches and stared at the naked body of the man in front of them.
Upside down.
Gagged and blindfolded.
Wrist and ankles nailed to a wooden cross in the shape of an 'X' attached to the middle of the wall.
As McKenzie took in the sight that befell him, he experienced a strange mixture of emotions.
Shock.
Confusion.
Disgust.
Revulsion.
And curiosity.
How had this been done?
Who had done it?
And how had someone done it without being spotted?
McKenzie walked forward and checked for a pulse on the victim's neck, already knowing the answer.
The man was dead. The body was cold, but still warmer than its surroundings. If they had found him several hours earlier, perhaps he would still be alive.
As it was, however, he had died a gruesome and slow death, either bleeding out as the blood slowly drained out of the violent wounds in his limbs, or asphyxiating on his own vomit and bodily floods.
McKenzie swore loudly.
He pulled out his phone and texted the rest of the search party groups:
'High alert! Just discovered another body. Assume killer may still be in the building!'
For a moment McKenzie stood quietly, deciding what to do next.
His immediate urge was to take the cross off the wall and lay it and the man’s body on the floor in an attempt to give the dead man some respect. But the correct thing to do was to leave both alone, cordon off the area and let the forensic team get the body to speak to them in ways that the man himself no longer could.
From experience McKenzie knew that the expression 'Dead men tell no tales' was completely wrong. On the contrary, in the hands of the right forensics’ expert, dead men often gave up their secrets, chapter and verse.
McKenzie was also confident that Police Scotland had some of the best forensic experts in the world.
Backing away from the wall, he put his night vision goggles on and gestured for the others to do the same and follow him.
Whoever did this was probably still at large in the building, and McKenzie was going to find the bastard.
Stepping in front of the armed officers he headed back into the corridor.
“Sorry, Guv, I still have to go first...” Galbraith insisted.
Galbraith, McKenzie and his officers moved into the corridor, Galbraith indicating that they would move back to the start of the corridor and check each classroom in turn.
McKenzie cleared his mind and tried to think. Whoever was behind both of the murders should not be underestimated. These were unlike the typical killings he normally encountered.
The person - or persons - who had committed them, had done so knowing full well that the site was being watched by the public, guarded and under observation of the police.
In spite of CCTV, the perimeter fencing, guard dogs and regular patrols, someone had managed to get two victims onto the campus - along with a full size cross - and commit two gruesome murders, without being seen or heard.
McKenzie had two questions:
How?
And why?
He was a long way from knowing the answers but was certain about one thing: he was going to find out.
Chapter 5
Portobello High School
Edinburgh
'Operation Blue-Building'
Incident Room
Saturday
03.00
McKenzie waited patiently for the last of the remaining DS's and uniformed officers to file into the room. The mood was sombre, and everyone was exhausted.
“I'll get straight to the point. The body of a second person was found a few hours ago. A man. The body was found, for want of a better description, crucified to a cross, upside down. Credit cards found on the body and a LinkedIn search indicate that he’s Ronald Blake, a Religious Education teacher who, like David Weir, taught at Portobello High School for most of his career. We're still to contact the next of kin, and get a formal identification, but I'm confident he is who we believe him to be. It's worth noting that Mr Blake's body was found in a classroom which used to be given over to the Religious Education Department. When we couple that with another fresh piece of news, namely that we now know that Mr Weir was a geography teacher, and the top floor of the old school was given over to the geography department, I think we can see that these deaths are linked. Two deaths. Two teachers. Both killed in or near to the departments where they taught.”
McKenzie wandered across the front of the portacabin, letting the news settle in properly. The assembled team began to talk amongst themselves. McKenzie gave them a few moments then continued.
“Now, since discovering the second victim, the armed response team has completed their inspection of all the rooms in the building. There are a lot, spread out across the campus and up there,” McKenzie gestured at the hulk of the building outside the portacabin behind him, “and there’s the distinct possibility a cupboard or a toilet has been missed somewhere, but Galbraith has informed me that the building has been searched to the best of their ability, and no threats and no other victims have been found. With their search now complete, the armed response team is handing the site over to us. I’m formally in charge of the investigation from now on. Before continuing, I’d just like to thank Galbraith and his team.”
McKenzie nodded at the Sergeant and smiled.
“Anyway, given the late hour, I'm going to dismiss you all and send you home to your beds. I've spoken with DCS Helen Wilkinson and she’s allocated extra resource to this investigation. Consequently, reporting to me, Detective Inspector Euan Mather will be arriving in the next twenty minutes with a fresh team to take over during the rest of the evening, and we'll all reconvene later today at eleven. I know some of you will have other plans, but if you can, cancel them. I need you here.”
McKenzie turned to Brown, who he caught in the act of yawning with her hand over her mouth, “DI Brown, do you have anything to add?”
“A couple of matters, sir. The first is something I want to establish as soon as possible: when was the second victim actually crucified? How long has he been in the building? And how the hell did someone get a full-grown man and a huge wooden cr
oss into the building without being spotted? I'll brief DI Mather as soon as he arrives and hand over to his team, but one of the questions raised earlier was just how much planning was involved in this. I’m of the opinion that these murders were timed and planned for maximum visibility and attention. Whoever’s behind this is not only clever, but also bold. And my fear is that although we've already got two victims, we can’t be sure that's where it stops. Lastly, walking around the inside of the building with all the rubbish and used needles I couldn’t help wondering how so many people have already had access to the site when we can’t find a way in. Does that tell us something?”
McKenzie nodded. “Good questions. And there's going to be a lot more. On the latter, I’ve already discussed that with Bruce. Apparently, what you see inside the building is mainly there from before. Bruce demolition put up their new fencing only three weeks ago. Before that, the old fencing had several gaps where people broke through and could get in. Which is why the perimeter was redone and reinforced.”
Brown nodded, and a few people whispered something to their nearest neighbours. Obviously, Brown wasn’t the only person to have had that question.
“Good. Enough for tonight. I want you all to go home, sleep, and come back with your own thoughts later today. In the meantime, I don't want anyone else going back into any of the buildings on the campus, and the replacement shift of officers will be redoubling all efforts to make sure the perimeters are secure and no one can enter or leave the site without permission.”
McKenzie scanned the room full of tired faces and finished the first day of Operation Blue-Building by clapping his hands along with the words, “Dismissed.”
Thirty minutes later McKenzie and Brown left the portacabin, having fully briefed DI Mather, and given him a long list of actions to get underway.
After Brown had driven off alone in her car, McKenzie waited for a taxi to arrive. Standing on the side of the road, he looked up at the dark building towering above him, and felt a cold shiver run up and down his spine.
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