Summoning the Dead (DI Bob Valentine #3)(44)

The murder squad stared in reverent silence, at first seeming to ascertain whether the child in the picture was one of the victims. The man, who was positioned most prominently in the scene, was headless though his appearance gave odd hints to his identification.

The child was merely a boy, perhaps ten years old at the most. His face, contorted in pain, sat beneath a blond fringe, cut in a straight line. It was the kind of haircut Valentine recalled all the boys having from those days – a pudding-basin cut – and the sight of it disturbed old memories.

The man, who seemed tall even without his head, was in office attire. Blue pinstripe trousers, slackened at the waist, and a paler blue shirt with open white collars, a red paisley-print tie looped round his neck. His right hand, thrust forward and gripping the boy’s thin shoulder displayed a gold signet ring on the smallest finger. The picture would have been disturbing enough with only the boy’s agony showing on his face, but the confirmation of an adult engaged in rape made the image even more harrowing.

‘Can we take that down now?’ said DS McCormack.

Valentine nodded. ‘If you’ve all seen it.’

Heads nodded around the table. The temperature of the room seemed to have dropped.

‘As I said, I’m sorry to have to show you that,’ said Valentine.

‘Where did we get this?’ said McAlister.

‘Bernie’s team found it under the floorboards at Ardinsh. It’s just in, along with a bag of about fifty bookie’s pens matching the one we retrieved from the oil drum.’

McAlister snatched his words. ‘Well, you know what they were bloody well for!’

‘Bribing kids is my best bet,’ said Valentine.

‘Paedo bastards,’ said McAlister. He shook his head and returned the DI’s gaze.

‘OK, Ally, settle down. I know this is hard for everyone – these cases are always emotional – but we need to remain rational and logical if we’re to get a result here.’

DS Donnelly had turned over the picture again. ‘This ring’s got markings on it.’

‘I saw that,’ said Valentine.

‘I think we can get the boffins to blow that up.’

‘We’ll give it a go. I’ve asked for prints on the bookie’s pens. With any luck we’ve got Keirns’s dabs all over them. Which reminds me – he’s still downstairs. Can someone request a thirty-two-hour custody extension in light of this new evidence?’

DS McCormack nodded. ‘I’ll get on that with the chief super, sir.’

‘Thanks, Sylvia. I don’t think you’ll have any bother, Dino’s still tiptoeing around us,’ said Valentine. ‘Who’s up next then? Phil, what can you tell us about your dealings with Columba House?’

DS Donnelly strolled towards the board, dropping a blue folder on the tabletop.

‘To say this has been a nightmare would be the understatement of the century. Columba House is, as you know, no more. They ceased to be in 1989 after four convictions were upheld against the staff, including the master, Trevor Healey, and involving twenty-nine boys.’

‘Try and keep to the bare details, Phil. We’ve still to hear from Ally, and we’re on the clock, remember,’ said Valentine.

‘Yes, boss,’ said Donnelly. ‘All the press cuttings are there on the case if you want to delve into them for yourself, and I believe there’s still some with Colleen if you’re super keen. I’ve been through the lot and it makes grim reading, I can assure you. However there were one or two interesting snippets of information that I pulled out.’

‘What’s that then?’ said McAlister.

‘I’m just coming to it. Right, bear with me because it gets complicated. The initial investigator on the case was a bloke called Den Rennie from Glasgow CID. He was replaced by an assistant chief constable no less called Eric Pollock, now Sir Eric Pollock.’

Valentine interrupted. ‘Wait a minute, why was Rennie replaced?’

‘Good question, and one I’ve asked myself, but the closest I can come to an answer is he fell foul of the press.’

‘In what way?’

‘There was some kind of a stoush. I never got to the bottom of it, but it ended up with Rennie either being told to clamp it or choosing to avoid the press altogether.’

‘That would have gone down well with a case this sensitive.’

‘You better believe it. I’ll come back to Rennie in a minute. So Pollock’s parachuted in from the capital, and he wraps up the investigation in a matter of weeks.’

‘Convenient,’ said McAlister.

‘It gets better. Then Pollock promptly retires. The Columba House investigation was his last case. Now he lives in Spain and has a knighthood for services to the police force.’

Valentine put his hand in his pocket; he felt the St Christopher there. ‘And what became of Den Rennie?’

‘He went back to Glasgow CID I suppose.’

‘No, you said there was more on him.’

Donnelly pointed to the ceiling and snapped his fingers. ‘That’s right. Forgetting myself. Rennie did eventually break his silence with the press when the MP Andy Lucas committed suicide, and guess what he said?’

‘Don’t tell me he doubted it was a suicide?’ blurted Valentine.