Grant was standing at the back of the cottage, halfway between the body and the house.
“What have you got?” he asked.
“A note. But I haven’t touched it. I don’t have any gloves, and I’m worried about moving it until Forensics are here.”
“They won’t be here for another couple of hours. The helicopter’s flying to Oban to fetch them as we speak.”
Taking the lead, McKenzie hurried down to where Gray’s body was. It had rolled over to the right, probably because of the wind buffeting the body. Gray’s head had rolled forward, and was resting at an angle in the purple heather surrounding the stone on which the body lay, the word’s ‘Remember Me?’ still visible across his forehead.
Grant pointed to just beneath Gray’s crotch.
“Look, there’s a note fallen between his legs. You can just make out your name on it.”
McKenzie knelt down and bent forward.
For a few seconds he struggled to control his breathing. His heart was racing in his chest, and he couldn’t stop himself from standing up and looking around the moor and the beach.
Was the killer watching him now?
Laughing at him?
McKenzie felt as if the world was closing in on him.
It was if the killer knew McKenzie’s every move. He was taunting him. Goading him. Making fun of him.
This was the fifth time that the killer had targeted him with a message. Personally.
Why?
What was his motive?
Counting to ten, and waiting for his hand to stop shaking so much, McKenzie knelt down again beside Daniel Gray’s body.
At first he was reluctant to touch the note, but he felt an urgency to pick it up.
The killer had left the note here for him to read.
Every second counted.
McKenzie needed to read what it said.
Taking out his phone he took several photographs of the body and the note in situ, then pulling on the plastic gloves he’d borrowed from the hotel kitchen, he gently pushed his fingers in between Daniel Gray’s thighs and retrieved the note.
It was an A4 piece of computer paper folded in two.
Two words were written on one side in red: ‘DCI McKenzie’.
Opening the note up so both he and Grant could read it, he revealed five lines of large computer printed text.
McKenzie shuddered as he read it.
“With thanks to you,
No longer Master of his Head,
Number Four is dead.
Although for now still alive,
GasBag will soon be number Five!”
-------------------------
Tuesday
20.30
Inside the cottage, Grant and McKenzie sat on Daniel Gray’s sofas and drank tea.
For a while they had sat in silence, each person mulling over their own thoughts in private. Grant was the first to speak.
“Who is GasBag?”
“I don’t know. That’s one of the questions I was going to ask Mr Gray. I haven’t finished the book yet, but I’m guessing she’ll be the next person to die. Were you present when he mentioned GasBag before? She was someone whom Maggie Sutherland was very jealous of. Apparently Ronald Blake seemed to fancy her, or at least Maggie thought she did.”
“It’s almost as if the killer knew you were coming.” Grant commented.
“Maybe he did.” McKenzie replied, admitting that it may be true.
“It’s rather spooky that he left the note for you. Do you think this is personal? Is there any chance you know the killer?”
“I don’t think so. But possibly. More likely, he knows I’m in charge and he’s messing with our minds.”
“Why did it say, ‘With thanks to you.’” She asked.
“I don’t know. But that part scares me.” He replied. Quietly. He’d been thinking about that.
McKenzie got up. He didn’t want to leave Grant alone, but he felt naked without coverage from his phone provider. He needed to make a million calls, and standing around here was getting him nowhere.
Almost as if Grant was reading his mind, she said, “I know you want to get back to the mainland or to the hotel, but don’t forget you can use the landline to call someone if you need to.”
McKenzie stared at her. He’d forgotten about that. Of course he could.
He wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Can you make me a strong coffee please?” he asked Grant.
Looking round the room, the laptop on the table caught his eye, and McKenzie moved over to it. Sitting down he woke it up, and found that it wasn’t locked. He was straight in.
McKenzie was wondering if the laptop could tell them anything.
What had Gray been writing about? What were the last sites he had visited on the internet?
It didn’t surprise McKenzie however when he found that the browser history had been deleted, along with all the files. Even the recycle bin was empty.
Someone had literally wiped the computer clean.
“Unless they’ve been overwritten, the files will still be there. In the memory.” Grant said, standing beside him and looking over his shoulder. She handed him his coffee.
“True. When the forensics team get here, please ask them to bag it up, and send it to the Fettes Row cyber team. I would prefer if they looked at the PC, just because they’re closer and I can visit them more easily if they come up with anything or if they can restore it all.”
McKenzie stood up, and moved across to the book case.
An idea had just occurred to him.
Did Daniel have a copy of the book?
It only took five seconds to find it.
It was on the third shelf, first book from the right.
Pulling it out, McKenzie found that it had been well used.
Flicking through the dog-eared pages, he came to the page in which Daniel Gray’s murder had been described.
A blue pen had been used to underline the paragraphs which had described his death, and several notes had been written in pencil in the margins.
One of them said, ‘Must get off the grid. Leave Scotland now and hide!’
In that moment McKenzie understood why Daniel Gray was living on Coll, miles away from civilisation. Somewhere where no one could find him.
Then, a shudder ran down his spine, as out of the blue, McKenzie recalled the last words that Daniel had said to him as they were leaving the cottage the last time they were here: “How did you find me here, by the way?” Mr Gray had asked.
McKenzie swore aloud and suddenly felt dizzy.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” he swore again in quick succession.
“What’s the matter, Guv. What’s happened!”
“Daniel Gray is dead because of me. It’s my fault. The killer followed me here. Gray was in hiding. He was worried that one day someone might come after him, so he’d got off the grid and gone into hiding.” McKenzie swore again and hit the wall with his fist. “The killer used me to find Daniel. It only took us a few minutes to track him down on our computers, but the killer could never get access to that information. We led him right to Daniel!”
“But how?” Grant asked, not understanding.
For a moment McKenzie just stared at Grant, his face blank. Then he moved quickly across to the landline phone and picked it up.
Reading it from his mobile, he dialled the number belonging to McLeish.
McLeish picked up almost immediately and went into overdrive, speaking far too fast and too loudly.
“Calm down, and start again.” McKenzie instructed him. “I never understood a word.”
“I’ve been trying to call you. We’ve all been trying to call you! You’re not answering… ”
“I’m off the grid. There’s no mobile phone coverage here. I’m on Daniel Gray’s landline just now.”
“How is he? Did you arrest him?” McLeish asked.
“No. He’s dead. He was number four.”
“How? How did he die?
”
“The Headmaster lost his head. He was decapitated.”
“Fuck… ”
“Exactly.” McKenzie agreed. “And I think I led the killer straight to him.”
McLeish paused.
“Guv, the reason why I was trying to reach you,… you got my messages right?... Well, the reason I was trying to contact you was to let you know that you were right. The guys in Fettes scanned your car and found two bugs. A tracker and a microphone.”
“What?” Another chill coursed its way down McKenzie’s spine. “Where?”
“The guys in Fettes were impressed. The microphone had an inbuilt recorder and a memory chip. It can record hours of conversation and stores it until the person who controls the recording device drives by within a hundred metres and sends a signal to the recorder. The microphone then downloads all the recorded conversations via Bluetooth to the person managing the device. Then the person drives off, or walks away, completely undetected. Apparently it’s a really professional device. And was really well installed. And the tracker tells you where your car is, as well as where to go to download the voice recordings. It’s brilliant!”
“What do you mean brilliant? Thanks to that, the killer was probably listening when I told DCS Wilkinson exactly where I was going on Coll, and when I briefed the helicopter crew where I wanted them to take me!”
“Sorry, Guv, I didn’t mean… ”
“Where was it hidden?”
“It was part of your flip-down visor on the passenger side. You know, when the sun’s too bright, you use it to shield your eyes. Or when your wife wants to put on make-up. The electronics and the battery were behind the mirror, but apparently when you install them you just replace the whole visor unit. It comes as a unit. All ready to go.”
“That means we’re dealing with a real professional here then. Someone with communications experience.”
“Maybe Guv, or maybe not. Apparently you can buy these things easily off the internet. You just name the type of car you’ve got and its year, and it tells you which one to buy. The guy in Fettes row told me lots of stories about the types of people who use them or what they use them for. I couldn’t believe it!”
“And the tracker?”
“Inside your wheel arch, above the wheel, front passenger side. It can last up to three months. Pinpoints your location exactly to anyone using the software that comes with it. It bounces its signal off a satellite. They’re illegal in the UK.”
“The guys a serial killer. I don’t think he’s bothered about that.” McKenzie quipped.
“They’ve taken them out. And they’re doing what they can to find out what they can tell us about… ”
“Tell them to put the things back as soon as they’re finished learning everything they can from them. I don’t want the killer to know we’re on to him yet. Maybe we can use this to our advantage. Somehow.” McKenzie interrupted him.
“Good thinking, Guv. Maybe we can spring some sort of trap for him.”
“Possibly. But it would be good to have that in our back-pocket. Just in case. Good work, McLeish. Don’t forget, update PC Jordon on this. Who else did you say wanted to talk with me?”
“Probably everyone. When are you coming back?”
“Hopefully tonight, but I don’t know yet. Can you get hold of DI Brown and tell her to call me on this number urgently?” McKenzie instructed.
Then he hung up and told Grant what he’d just learned.
“The killer’s being listening in to everything I’ve said in the car, and has been following me wherever I go. That confirms that it was me who gave away Daniel’s location. I told the helicopter where you were to meet me, and why. The killer was listening. In spite of everything Gray did to protect himself, I led the killer right up his garden path and handed him over to be slaughtered without even knowing it. Daniel Gray died because of me. It’s my fault!”
Chapter 42
Tuesday
Island of Coll
Above Port na Luing Cottage
21.15
“I’m sorry to call you so late, Mr Booth. But it’s absolutely imperative that you tell me everything that you’ve learned about the book and its author. I just checked and read your email telling me to call you on this number. Please call me back immediately.” McKenzie said, leaving a voice message for the Director of Amazon KDP in the UK along with Daniel Gray’s telephone number.
Frustrated that he hadn’t been able to get his messages on his phone, and realising that he’d heard nothing from Amazon, he used Gray’s laptop to connect to the internet and log on to his email.
Thankfully, there was an email from the Director at Amazon but when he opened it up, it had just said to call him. No details. Nothing.
McKenzie was furious.
He was just planning how he could personally destroy Amazon in revenge, when the phone rang.
“DCI McKenzie? Gavin Booth here. My sincere apologies, Sir, but I have been trying to reach you and couldn’t.”
“I told you I was going to be offline and asked you to send me everything by email.”
“I haven’t received your email yet, confirming who you are. I’ve got the information you want, but until… ”
“I sent it. Have you checked your junk folder?”
There was a moment’s hesitation. McKenzie could hear the man tapping away on his keyboard at the other end.
“Ouch… sorry. Yes, here it is… sorry. Just one second please while I read it.”
McKenzie could hear the director at the other end mouthing the words aloud as he quickly read and digested the small email he’d sent.
“Okay, thanks. That’s good enough for me. If you give me a moment, I’ll send you the report I’ve put together for you. I’ve also got the original files and copies the author uploaded to CreateSpace. They may help in some way. The author made quite a few changes before the book was finally published.”
“Good. Please send me that immediately, but while I’ve got you on the phone, please give me the basics now. For example, who published the book, and how many copies were printed?”
“The name of the original author was a Maggie Sutherland.” The Director started reading from the report on his screen. “She printed only six copies.”
The number startled McKenzie. It was totally unexpected.
“Only six copies?”
“Yes. After they were printed, the book was withdrawn from the website. No one else was ever able to access it.”
“Did six people buy it from the website?”
“No, only she did. She ordered six copies and had them sent to her home. The delivery address is in the report I’m just sending you as we speak. There… it’s gone. You should have it in the next few seconds.”
“Have you got her credit card number?”
“Yes. It’s in the report. Including the date the books were first printed, shipped and delivered.”
“And when was that?”
The Director then told McKenzie the date of publication of the book. The date was immediately significant. According to the other information they now had, Maggie Sutherland was still alive then. It was two years before she committed suicide.
McKenzie thanked the Director.
“I’m going to read your file as soon as I get it. I may need to call you back. Please can you keep an eye out for any calls from me over the next few days? If I need to contact you, it may be urgent.”
“I’m sorry it’s taken so long. I hope it helps to save someone’s life.”
McKenzie thought about telling the Director about Daniel Gray’s death, but it occurred to him that the news could traumatise the Director who may worry for the rest of his life that by not responding soon enough or quicker, he’d been partly responsible for Gray’s death.
That wouldn’t be true.
McKenzie knew that Gray’s death was entirely down to him.
It was McKenzie’s fault.
Putting the phone down he turned to Grant and e
xcused himself. He needed to go for a walk and take a moment to think.
Stepping out the back door, he walked across the moor, and then turned left and head down to the beach.
Taking his shoes and socks off, he left them on a rock, and wandered over to the water’s edge.
The water was cold. But not freezing.
It was refreshing.
Rolling his trousers up, he wandered into the water, until it was up to his calves. He then closed his eyes, stood still and listened to the sound of the water gently lapping the sea shore around him.
Only six copies of the book were printed.
What did that tell him?
Who else had been sent one?
If McKenzie could only tell who else had been sent the book, he might be able to warn them about a possible threat, or that they might be in danger.
Or he could call them in for questioning and see if they knew of any obvious reason they could be connected to the sequence of events which were currently unfolding.
Just working through the maths, and knowing now that Daniel Grant was a victim and that he had also received a copy of the book, that meant only two books were left over.
So, who had been sent the other copies?
If Gasbag, whoever she was, was going to be the next victim, then given that all the other victims had been sent a book, it was highly likely that she’d been sent a copy too.
And then a copy which Maggie Sutherland might herself have kept?
Or was one of the six books, a copy that the killer was using?
But, if Maggie Sutherland had kept a copy, and another one had gone to Gasbag, was it at all possible that the killer had never seen the book? After all, Maggie published the book and had seemingly sent the book to the victims before she’d committed suicide.
So, what did that tell them?
Had Maggie Sutherland commissioned someone to kill the others after her death?
Or was the killer someone else entirely that came along afterwards, that knew about the role these people had played in Maggie’s life, but who did not know anything about the book?
Did McKenzie’s awareness of the book give him any possible advantage in tracking down the killer or predicting the next death, anticipating it and preventing it?
Remember Me 2 Page 17
