Dark as Night (26 page)

              Dani took a deep breath, trying not to imagine what would have happened to Andy if they hadn’t got there when they did. ‘Do we think it was Orla or Liam who performed the sexual assaults on their victims?’

              ‘It’s impossible to say at this stage, Ma’am. That’s going to have to be one for the interviewers and the shrinks.’

             
Her
job, in other words.

              Bevan ended the call and began walking towards the interview suites, feeling as ready as she ever would be.

              ‘Ma’am?’

              Dani stopped in her tracks. By the tone of Alice’s voice she knew it wasn’t good. Bevan turned to face her detective constable. ‘What is it?’

              DC Mann’s expression was stricken. Tears were flowing unchecked down her cheeks, although her voice remained steady. ‘That was the hospital. Caitlin didn’t pull through. She passed away from her injuries a couple of hours ago, whilst we were raiding the pub.’

              Dani moved forward swiftly, taking the young detective in her arms before Alice’s legs buckled beneath her. ‘Come on, let’s get you some tea. You’ve had an awful shock.’

*

After managing to swallow down a few sips of sweet tea, Alice looked a little better. ‘She was only twenty-two.’

              ‘I know,’ Dani muttered. ‘And she was on my team. I seconded her to my division for God’s sake. I should have protected her like I would my own child.’

              Alice shook her head. ‘It happened off duty, Ma’am. Whatever Dan says, it was all Caitlin’s idea to try and flush out the killer. In the end, all we did was enjoy a couple of nights out on the piss. If Dan and Caitlin hadn’t seen Liam Hadley down that alleyway, DC Calder would be dead now. Murdered in the most horrible way imaginable.’

              ‘One day that might make me feel better, but it doesn’t yet and it won’t for a very long time to come.’

              Alice tried a thin smile. ‘You know, it was DC Hendry who cracked this case. She was the one who found out about the O’Driscolls and their travelling fairground. She was convinced that there would be a link between the fairground operators that were working on the Glasgow Green on those Saturday afternoons and the murders. Caitlin was absolutely right. According to the Tax Credit database, Liam operates the fairground rides now for the larger, independent companies. He does all the big events like the Glasgow Fair.

              Maybe he saw Nathan McLaren talking with his brother that afternoon, or he’d targeted him even earlier. Liam is good looking and charming, the temptation for Nathan McLaren to agree to meet him later that evening would have been too much to resist.’

              ‘So Liam was the bait. Don Calder must have met him when he was interviewing ex-travellers about being evicted from their sites. Then he bumped into the man again when he took his kids to the Glasgow Fair. They must have taken a moment to exchange numbers, agreed on a rendezvous later that evening, perhaps.’

              ‘But what was the motive, Ma’am? What did Orla and Liam have to gain by luring these men into their domain and then murdering them?’

              Dani stood up and straightened out her skirt. ‘It’s about time I went to find that out, Detective Constable Mann.’ The DCI set her mouth in a grim line. ‘Wish me luck.’

Chapter 56

T
he first thing that Calder saw when he opened his eyes was the Gandalf lookalike guy standing at the end of his bed. He shifted to one side and identified DCI Bevan sitting in the chair beside him, her hand resting on his arm.

              ‘How are you feeling, Andy?’

              ‘My head hurts.’

              ‘You took quite a battering. You’ve got a couple of broken ribs, but no permanent damage. Carol and Amy are in the cafeteria. They’ve been here all night. Shall I call them back in?’

              Andy shifted himself up as far as he could, the effort making him wince. ‘No. I want to hear what you guys have got to say first.’

              Dani smiled. ‘I thought you might.’

              Professor Morgan cleared his throat. ‘I hope you forgive my intrusion. Danielle asked me to sit in on the police interviews. The DCI thought I may be able to explain things to you more clearly than she could.’

              ‘Who was the woman?’ Andy demanded impatiently. ‘Did she kill Don?’

              Morgan held up his hand. ‘It’s perhaps best if I start at the beginning.’ He pulled a chair up to the bedside. ‘Orla Mary O’Driscoll was born into a family of showmen travellers. She was believed to possess the ‘second sight’ and therefore given the role of fortune-teller when they set up their fairground during the summer season. Orla was a beautiful young woman and attracted much attention from the other men in their community. At only 16 years old she married another traveller called Colm Hadley, who was in his early twenties. Hadley was an entertainer and magician, although the popularity of his act was on the wane even back then, forty years ago. Orla became pregnant very quickly and gave birth to a son, Liam.

              But their marriage was not a happy one. Colm was often away, claiming that he was performing around the country at end of the Pier shows and local theatre houses, making some cash for the family. Orla was left to bring up the boy pretty much single-handed.

              The O’Driscoll’s were resident at a travellers’ community to the south of Glasgow. They’d been at the site for generations. Liam was able to attend a local school along with the other traveller children. One day, Orla was sick and she stayed behind at the camp whilst the others set off for the coast to work the fairground. Orla went to see one of her elderly aunts, who provided the community with advice and medication.

              When she returned to the caravan, Orla heard odd noises from inside. She was frightened. The woman recognised her husband’s voice and thought he was being attacked. She wrenched open the door, discovering Colm on the bed with a young man. They were both naked and performing an act together that she could not comprehend.

              Orla fled from the scene. Colm had hastily dressed and come looking for her. He told his wife that his desire for other men had no bearing upon their marriage. He said that if she wanted his support for Liam she would simply have to put up with it.

              This was exactly what Orla did for the next few years. Colm was still often away from the camp but when he showed his face, she turned a blind eye to him bringing young men back to their caravan. As time went on, it became increasingly difficult to shield Liam from his father’s lifestyle.

              Then, after five years of living with Colm’s proclivities and tolerating his adultery, there was a tragic accident.

              One of the men who Orla’s husband brought back to their caravan must have lit a candle. In their carnal reverie, they didn’t notice that the wax had melted away to nothing and the flame was licking at the wooden table top. Within a few minutes, the caravan was engulfed by fire. Both Colm and his lover were killed.

              Orla stood in front of the inferno and watched them burn. She and Liam were taken in by relatives. They struggled financially for a while. Then the widowed Orla O’Driscoll met a well-dressed businessman on the seafront at Wemyss Bay. She was still a young woman and very attractive. Michael Lomond began an affair with Orla and paid her money on a regular basis. She became pregnant by Lomond and gave birth to a little boy called Anthony, who lived with her and Liam at the travellers’ camp.

              Michael continued to support his son, but when it was clear that he and his wife would not be able to have children of their own, Lomond proposed to adopt Tony, his own flesh and blood, to bring up as their child. Orla was to receive a significant sum of money for the transaction and readily agreed. After all, it would give her youngest the chance of a decent life.’

              ‘He looked like Tony Lomond,’ Andy muttered, ‘the man who kidnapped me. He was like an older version of Lomond.’

              ‘They were only half-brothers, but the resemblance was very strong, as you say. Now, in their interviews, Orla and Liam’s stories differed. Orla claims she loved her sons and would do anything for them. She suggests that Liam’s hatred for his real father had developed at an early stage of his life. Colm was often absent, but when he did come home, matters were even worse. Liam was aware of his father’s penchant for young men and it appalled him. According to Orla, by assisting him in killing his victims, she was helping Liam to assuage his anger towards married men who were practising homosexuals.

              The first individual that Liam identified as a victim was poor Douglas Ross, a gentle man with homosexual tendencies, who had never acted upon them. Tony had told his brother the rumours about Ross. Then Liam met him on the beach at Wemyss Bay.

              Hadley sought the schoolteacher out again and began a flirtation with him. Liam was handsome and intelligent. The day that Ross claimed he was looking for precious stones on the shore, he was meeting Hadley, on the promise that their relationship would be consummated. But Orla and Liam were waiting for him. They drugged the man before taking him to their house. The pub cellar wasn’t available to them back then. This was their first kill.’

              ‘So where did Ross end up?’

              ‘He’s at the bottom of the Crawhin Reservoir, just like Alice Mann predicted. We’ve sent the divers down today,’ Dani volunteered.

              ‘Which leaves Don next.’ Andy blinked his eyes, not sure whether or not he really wanted to hear. ‘Go on then, tell me what happened.’

Chapter 57

‘S
adly, we believe now there were others in between.’ Dani looked serious. ‘We’re gradually getting all the information out of Orla and Liam. We are trying to give them the impression we know about all the murders. But it’s a slow process.’

              ‘In the case of your uncle,’ Morgan carried on, ‘the pattern was slightly different to the others. Donald Calder had been investigating the fire that broke out at the traveller encampment near Paisley. This caused him to look at similar incidents amongst the showmen community. Through his research, he came across the tragic case of Colm Hadley in the late seventies. Liam’s name was mentioned in the newspaper reports. Don got his address from a contact on the council.

              As soon as Liam met Don, he knew the man was attracted to him. Like Ross, your uncle had been battling to suppress his sexuality for years. Liam noted the wedding ring, as he always did, and identified him as a target.

              Liam Hadley was working one of the fairground rides at the Glasgow Fair in 2005, when Coco’s was still in operation. He bumped into Don that afternoon, when he was there with his children. They arranged to meet later on that night. The fact that Don’s wife had a migraine provided him with the perfect cover.

              By this stage, Orla was working at the pub on Neilston Green and having a relationship with the manager. DCI Bevan’s team are in the course of tracking him down.’ Morgan sighed. ‘We believe that the basement where you were held was the place in which Don was killed.’

              Andy closed his eyes, but the tears leaked out nonetheless. ‘Tell me about McLaren.’

              ‘Liam met Nathan McLaren though his brother. Tony wasn’t aware of it but Liam often watched his younger brother when he was out on the gay scene. I suppose it was a way for him to procure his victims. McLaren was an obvious target for the pair, middle aged and clearly new to the lifestyle. We know from Paul Black’s testimony, that McLaren had met Liam at the Oyster Bar a couple of weeks earlier.

              On the day of the Glasgow Fair, Liam was working the fairground once again, this time cash-in-hand. Whilst Nathan was wandering around on his own he was intercepted by Hadley, who arranged to meet him by the Balgray Reservoir that evening.               According to Orla, they had transport problems on that particular occasion. Their old car had broken down. McLaren had to make his own way to the rendezvous point by taxi cab. Nathan was killed out there in the country park, down an embankment by the railway bridge, beaten, assaulted and suffocated with whatever was to hand. His body was stuffed into a plastic bin bag, no time to weight it properly, as the trains were still running, carrying passengers home from the city.’

              ‘So the McLaren killing was a botched job?’ Andy had regained his composure slightly.

              ‘Yes, they were fairly sure the body would be discovered, sooner or later. In all the other murders the men had never been found. No one was even looking for a killer. But from now on, they knew they’d need to be more careful.’

              ‘Making them dump the trophies that they’d taken from the other victims?’

              ‘That’s right. Hadley came back later on, when he had some transport. Liam didn’t know there was a mesh barrier downstream at the weir. He wasn’t aware that the evidence had been found until he saw the items on Crime Scotland.’

              ‘That must have been an unpleasant surprise.’ Andy glanced at each of his visitors in turn. ‘Which one of those two bastards carried out the torture of the victims - the forcing of the men to swallow their own wedding ring and the penetration with objects?’

              Professor Morgan decided to answer. ‘At this point, our killers are both blaming each other. Orla claims that Liam is the person who needs to brutalize these men, to find an outlet for his rage against the father who betrayed both him and his mother.

              Liam tells a different story. He admits that he beats the victims, but his version is that Orla is behind it all. She harbours a deep-seated hatred for men who marry women knowing they are homosexuals. She despises their lifestyle and the lies and pain they inflict on their families. Liam says it’s her who tortures their victims, taking pleasure as she watches them choke on their wedding bands, heartlessly ordering her son to finish them off.’