A Dark Shadow Falls (25 page)

   She jogged up the stairs two at time. Jamie was standing in his doorway, his face all flushed. ‘I don’t feel well, Mum,’ he said, his voice sounding small and weak.

   Louise scooped him up in her arms, feeling his forehead. ‘You’ve got a bit of a temperature sweetheart. I’ll give you a spoonful of the purple stuff then you can go back to sleep.’ They went into the bathroom and Louise lifted the medicine bottle down from a shelf. Jamie swallowed it with a grimace.         A crash came from downstairs.

   ‘What was that?’ The boy asked, looking alarmed. ‘Is Dad back?’

    ‘No, it’s nothing sweetie. Off to bed.’ Louise shuffled her son into his room and tucked him back in. ‘Now, I want you to go straight to sleep, okay? If you want anything, give me a call, but under no circumstances are you to come down the stairs, understand?’

   He nodded.

   ‘Good. Sweet dreams, darling.’ His mum pulled the bedroom door to, so that it was very nearly closed. As she passed Ben’s room, she shut his completely.

   Louise crept slowly back down, thinking that the ground floor seemed much darker than when she’d left it ten minutes ago. When she reached the living room Louise could see why, the kitchen light was off. Maybe the bulb had gone. Her eyes scanned the back garden for a sign of Davy. Hopefully, he would be sitting obediently in a garden chair, waiting for her to be ready to let him in.

   For some reason, her gaze was drawn through the kitchen window to the new extension beyond. Louise’s hand flew up to her mouth. It must have been a kind of optical illusion but it looked from her position as if somebody was standing in the centre of the room. This person was huge and dressed all in black.

   Suddenly, this hideous figure started to move. It was progressing at speed towards the sitting room. Louise’s first instinct was to head for the stairs. She had to cut him off and protect her boys. She belted for the bottom step, seeing that terrifying dark shadow, shifting at a horrifying pace, from out of the corner of her eye.

   Before Louise could get any further, she was brought to the ground, her chin hitting the skirting board with a painful thump. She wriggled as much as she could, but the weight on top of her was just too great.

   Louise felt the cold, sharp edge of a blade, pressing against the soft skin of her neck. She closed her eyes tight shut, praying that the only target for this monster was her. She pleaded with some sort of faceless deity that this man would spare her babies.

   Bracing herself for the worst, Louise felt the knife suddenly loosen in her attacker’s grasp. If anything, the weight bearing down upon her became even greater.

   ‘Louise! Louise! Are you okay?’

   She managed to twist herself around and help Davy to shift this horrible thing off her. When she was able to free herself, Louise leapt up into the young man’s arms.

                 ‘Oh my God, oh my God! I thought he was going to kill me!’

   ‘He can’t hurt you now my darling, I promise.’

   ‘What did you do?’

   ‘He was about to slit your throat Louise, I didn’t have any choice.’

   ‘What did you do to him, Davy?’

   ‘I took a knife from the kitchen drawer and I put it in his back.’

Chapter 47

‘I
s he dead?’ Dani stood over the body, her mouth set in a grim line.

   The paramedic shook his head. ‘There’s a weak pulse.’

   ‘Then let’s get him in the ambulance. I want this bastard alive.’

   DCI Bevan glanced around her. Louise Keene was sitting in the back of a squad car. The woman’s two sons were wrapped in blankets and nestled in her arms. She hoped someone had called Joy and Bill. They’d want to be here as soon as possible.

   A youngish man with shaggy brown hair was sitting on the front step of the house, with a plain clothed policeman asking him questions. Dani walked over to join them.

                 ‘This is David Burns. He was the one who knifed the attacker.’

  ‘Thank you detective, I’ll handle this.’

   The policeman nodded and left them to it.

   Dani squatted down on the step next to him. She noticed the man was shivering.

   ‘I had to do it,’ he said through chattering teeth. ‘The guy was on top of her. He was about to cut her throat.’

   Bevan laid a hand on his arm. ‘I know you did. The person who attacked Mrs Keene is very dangerous. Once he’d killed Louise, he would have moved on to her children. But I need to ask you what you were doing there. How were you able to come to her aid so quickly?’

   Davy glanced towards the woman sitting in the police car. ‘Louise and I have been having an affair. We met when I was building their extension. Mr Keene doesn’t know anything about it. He’s away this weekend, so I insisted that I come over after the boys were in bed. I knew that Lou didn’t really want me to. I was running a bit late. When I reached the back window I saw this monster on top of Louise. I kicked the back door in and grabbed a knife from the cutlery drawer. I swear I hardly thought about what I was doing.’

   ‘You struck him once, Davy. That’s self-defence. I’ve got a sense he’s going to pull through anyway.’

   The young man turned to look at her, his handsome face illuminated by the streetlights. ‘For some reason, that doesn’t actually make me feel better.’

*

There were two policemen on guard outside the door of the hospital room. Dani was sitting on one of the plastic chairs opposite as Andy Calder carried two cups of coffee along the silent corridor.

   ‘Thanks,’ she said quietly.

   Andy dropped down into the seat beside her. ‘Any news?’

   ‘He’s out of danger. The knife did penetrate his heart but the surgeon who operated on it thinks they’ve managed to stabilize the wound.’

   ‘It’s funny how none of his victims had the same luck.’

   ‘I don’t think that funny is the word I’d use.’

   ‘How did you work out it was him?’

   ‘When I went to the Dundee headquarters, I was sitting at Gordon’s desk. He had photos of his wife and kids out on display. One was obviously taken in the garden of their home. In the background were hills of the Trossachs National Park. I still didn’t know then that it was him, but it prompted me to give DC Webber a call. I asked him to find out everything there was to know about Detective Inspector Gordon Alexander.’

   ‘What did Webber discover?’

   ‘After the crash that killed his wife and daughters, Gordon spent several months in a psychiatric unit near Stirling. He simply had a total breakdown. But a year later, he was back on the force. According to Webber, Gordon’s father was an officer in the Black Watch. He’d served his country in the Korean War. Phil said that Gordon’s father had wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, but he’d chosen the police force instead. And look what happened as a result of going against his father’s wishes? His whole family got wiped out.’

   ‘But that had nothing to do with Gordon deciding on the police over the army. It’s just one of those things – a random tragedy.’ Andy sipped his milky drink.

   ‘Yes, to us. But Gordon Alexander was completely devastated by his wife’s accident. I think it distorted his entire world view. He decided to make amends to the memory of his dad by destroying all those who were responsible for undoing his father’s work. He wanted to obliterate the descendants of the clans who were disloyal to the Union - and the army who were given the job of protecting it.

                  For a long time, this desire would have just been fantasy. Then, one day, he spotted a newspaper article. He saw three generations of traitors – Wheelans and Fishers. For reasons known only to him, this was when he decided to turn fantasy into reality.

                  It turns out that the Alexander family home wasn’t far from Dunblane. It’s a remote country house that Webber says DI Alexander never sold. The man has a rented flat in the centre of Dundee, but I reckon Gordon must have been using the house as his real base. City and Borders are sending a couple of squad cars up there with a warrant to take a look around. I’d be interested to hear what they find there. Perhaps that’s where Gordon kept the gear he used for the murders, or maybe the house is simply some kind of mausoleum to his wife and daughters. I can imagine the latter being the case. I believe that first and foremost, Gordon Alexander had been a devoted family man. When his family were so cruelly taken from him, Alexander was utterly broken. His destructive fantasy about preserving the Union crept in to take the place of the terrible grief and guilt he felt - not that I’m trying to excuse the things he did.’                  

                   ‘It makes the murder of the two wee Fisher twins more difficult to comprehend – why did he have to kill them?’

    ‘He was setting out to destroy all the descendants of the clan, including future generations. But I don’t think Gordon could quite bring himself to use the knife on the twins. They were the same age as his youngest daughter had been when she died. All Gordon could do was to hold their heads under the water until they stopped breathing. He took all his rage out on Peggy, Callum and Eric.’

    ‘We know from Fisher’s letter to his lawyer that Gordon forced him to plunge a knife into his wife and son. This helped to distort the forensic evidence. But Eric’s account never seemed to fit with the times of death recorded by the pathologist. How did Gordon manufacture that?’

   ‘Gordon Alexander is a senior policeman. He knows how a crime scene is worked. He could easily have restrained Peggy Fisher and come back for her later, after he’d killed Callum. All he had to do was confuse Eric, so that his version would be contradictory and he would get the blame for the murders.’

   ‘So in the case of the Fishers, Gordon was hoping to place the blame on somebody else.’

   ‘Yes, he wanted to avoid detection so that he could keep on with his grisly task. In each case, he’s skilfully thrown us off the trail, because he’s so forensically aware. But he must have been concerned after Eric Fisher was released. The man would have stopped at nothing to track down the butcher of his family.’

   One of the policemen turned to glance through the window of the hospital room. ‘He’s shifting about, Ma’am. I think he might be waking up.’

   ‘Andy, go and call a nurse. I’m going in.’

Gordon Alexander had been placed on his front, his head turned to one side. A thick bandage was taped across his broad back. Those big, strong hands were positioned by his sides.

    Dani walked along the bed, stopping when she could see his face. The man’s eyes were open.

    ‘You’ve been in surgery. The doctors think you’ll make a full recovery.’

    Gordon grunted an acknowledgement.

    Dani stared hard at his expressionless face, which she’d once thought so kind and compassionate. The detective pulled across a chair and sat down, leaning in closer. ‘Tell me Gordon. What had Louise Keene, Callum Fisher or Morna Murphy ever done to you? Or all the others for that matter?’

    The man did not respond.

    ‘Those poor little children. The girls in the bath. That must have been really tough. I bet you had second thoughts then?’

    Dani noticed his eyes flicker back and forth. She’d hit a nerve. ‘Did Kyla and Skye remind you of your own little girls – as they looked up at you with their innocent, wide eyes?’

    Gordon Alexander suddenly reared up, nearly dislodging the drip attached to his arm. Dani stumbled backwards, just out of his reach.

    At this moment, the police guards charged in, followed by the doctor, who shot the detective a suspicious glance. ‘I hope you’ve not been upsetting my patient? He’s a very ill man.’

   Dani placed her hands in the air and strode confidently towards the door. ‘Don’t worry, I’ve said my piece. I shan’t be bothering him again.’

Chapter 48

‘T
his is a bloody embarrassment for the police force.’ DCS Angus Nicholson paced up and down the carpet in front of Dani Bevan’s desk.

    ‘It would be worse if DI Alexander were still out there, slaughtering people undetected.’

    ‘Yes, of course.’ Nicholson glanced in her direction. ‘Well done for your part in this. It will be duly noted upstairs. You’ve managed to steer us clear of quite a few cock-ups in the process of this investigation. Thank you, Danielle.’

   Dani dipped her head in acknowledgement.

   ‘You realise that if you were to pursue a promotion at this point in time, your performance in this case would mean it was looked upon favourably.’

   ‘What sort of promotion?’

   ‘I hear that Urquhart might be retiring, in which case, they will be looking for a new superintendent at City and Borders.’

   ‘
Edinburgh
?’ Dani immediately thought about James.

   Nicholson let out one of his rare chuckles. ‘You make it sound like I’m proposing a move to Vladivostok. It isn’t actually that bad. My wife hails from the east coast, you know.’

   ‘It isn’t that. It’s just the idea of the change. I’d miss the team and working in the field.’

   The DCS nodded. ‘It’s something to think about. Discuss it with your father, he’ll provide you with good counsel I’m sure.’

   Nicholson swept from the room, leaving Dani to her own meditations. She barely even noticed Phil and Andy slipping into the office after their superior had gone. Phil Boag collapsed onto the sofa whilst Andy remained standing.

    ‘I keep running through all the times I spent with Gordon at the training academy. I simply cannot see how the man I knew back then could have turned into a serial killer.’

  ‘It wasn’t the same man, not really. The death of his wife and children sent him quite mad. He now lives in a delusional world of his own making,’ Dani replied evenly. ‘Much as I want to see Alexander punished properly for all the terrible things he’s done, I also believe it should be recognised that the man is very probably mentally ill. The officers from City and Borders who went to the Alexander house on the edge of the Trossachs National Park said the place was horribly creepy. The girls’ bedrooms had been left as if they were about to return at any moment. There were even wrapped gifts deposited about the place for them, with little handwritten labels attached.’