The Castle and The Redhead (Pt. 6)
Setting: an island off the west coast of Scotland.
Here are: Part 1: Part 2 Pt: 3 Pt: 4 Pt: 5
Jacobson returned to his office and began making a list of the different rescue services involved in the search for Rachel McDermot. He had already called the Coastguard, which would begin conducting a search and rescue operation this morning.
The waters off the coast seldom got deeper than thirty fathoms. First, he would organize a dive team and get them out onto the waters, but first, a problem to be overcome is deciding in whose jurisdiction the incident had occurred.
He would need to organize a briefing and bring together the local emergency services, Coast Guard SAR, marine police, and salvage crew. Jacobson picked up the phone and tapped the button, using the blunt end of his pencil to put him through to Jack Davidson.
“Morning, Jack. I need you to get out to the harbor and establish a unified command structure. Get all responding agencies involved in the search and rescue operation and we’ll hold a briefing at noon. We can assign duties at that time. Call around and organize the appropriate search assets and resources, including boats, divers, aircraft, and a salvage team. Get back to me, will you, Jack. Thanks.”
Jacobson put down the phone and leaned back in his chair. He’d been a detective for thirty-five years, but something about this whole thing didn’t make sense. Rachel McDermot had been remanded to prison as a flight risk, but he wasn’t sure about her guilt, even although everything pointed to her being the last person to have seen her husband. When caught a day later, she was trying to flee the country and was arrested at Glasgow Airport before boarding a flight to Spain.
Ralph McDermot was the lead singer for the hit rock band Gondwana, which once rivaled Queen for popularity. Music magazines were citing harmony issues between the five members, who had failed to get a hit record for two years and had started fighting with each other over recording complications and concert venues.
At their last concert in Edinburgh, Ralph and Rachel, the lone female band member, had an altercation on stage with Ralph, then being taken to hospital to receive twenty-two stitches to his head after Rachel had crashed a standing mic over his skull. Later, the report read that Rachel stated it was a stunt that had gone wrong, and no charges were filed.
On Tuesday last, three months after that incident, Ralph McDermot was found dead in his garage at their home, a mansion on the shores of Loch Eribol. The weapon was a six-inch screwdriver that had been plunged into the side of his neck and where, after an apparent struggle, he had bled to death.
There had been no attempt to hide the body, though thick gloves were found, bloodied at the scene. Rachel McDermot’s DNA matched that found inside those gloves. There had been no attempt at cleaning up the area. The Pathologist had determined that Ralph McDermot died at the scene in the early hours of Tuesday morning. According to security cameras, the home was isolated, and no other people than the two were at home the previous evening.
Those cameras were turned off at 5:41 a.m.
Two cars were parked in the drive where they had been left that previous evening. Rachel returned home at 7:18 p.m., followed by Jack at 1:07 a.m.
According to their housekeeper, who found the body at 8:23 a.m., the only thing she could positively identify as missing was a mountain bike.
As they left the helicopter landing pad, Aline linked arms with her brother but heard a call from behind. Gibbings was hurrying toward them.
With his cloth cap held in both hands, Gibbings said, “Mr. MacAlistair, I just wanted to personally thank you for raising my pay, sir.”
“You earned it, John. I’m impressed. Good job,” he said and offered Gibbings his hand.
Gibbings hesitated, looking at the palm of his hand, then grasped MacAlistair’s. “Thank you, sir,” he said before turning away and putting on his cap.
The two resumed their walk up the cobbled slope. “Thomas, do you think she’s… you know…?” Asked Aline.
“Aline, you’re a worry wart. Blair did not strike me as someone stupid enough to risk getting herself to the mainland,” MacAlistair answered. “I’ll get changed, and I’ll take Gibbings with me. She’s probably enjoying the isolation. There’s six hundred acres, Aline. Maybe she was rowing the boat to the far side and didn’t realize how far it was to navigate around. I’ll take Gibbings up with me; he can be an extra pair of eyes.
Part 7: Below
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