"I'm not sure how I can help, Inspector," Eliza answered looking up once more. "I haven't seen either James or Rupert for fifteen years."
"But you know them," Brackenreid pressed. "To know about Gillies in university, you must have been watching him."
Eliza lowered he eyes and sighed.
"Indeed," she nodded. "I obtained a position as a nurse at the university. I couldn't believe it when he was arrested and Mr Perry too. I thought it had to be a mistake."
"It wasn't," Brackenreid growled in reply.
"I know that now," she nodded. "I wish I hadn't gone to see him."
"You visited him in jail?" Giles asked, astounded.
"Yes, under a different name. He was so young when I left, there was no chance he could have recognised me."
"Did anyone else?" Brackenreid asked.
"It's... possible," she began hesitantly. "Why do you ask?"
"Have you heard of a priest called Father Conlan?" Brackenreid asked, with a suspicious tone.
"Why yes," she paused. "He's the priest at my church. Why?"
"Gillies - James Gillies - murdered him and used his identity to escape from jail. It's a little too much of a coincidence that he was your priest."
The news was too much for Eliza and she almost appeared to crumple in the seat. Her daughter Sarah scowled at the inspector as she placed a comforting arm around her mother.
"That was uncalled for, Inspector!" She snapped. "Can't you see how upset she is?"
"Madam, your brother has killed on numerous occasions appears to have made a conscious effort to find you," Giles began. "I suspect that your lives might be in danger. We need your help to find James Gillies. Where do you think he may go?"
Eliza looked up, pale didn't begin to cover her countenance.
"There really is only one place. He would go home. Rupert has helped him so often, it would be his first and, realistically, his only option."
oOo
Murdoch stared up,he hoped blankly. It was becoming increasingly difficult to hide his fear. Rupert Gillies had made it quite clear that, not only did they plan to kill him, but he had no intention of waiting. But the latest twist seemed to suggest he had relented and was allowing his son his entertainment. It would possibly buy him more time, but it was essential that they didn't realise it was a welcome delay.
"I..." Murdoch paused to try to ease the pain and dryness inside his mouth. "I thought there were to be no games?" He commented hoarsely.
"I have decided to indulge my son, Detective. Is that not what any father would do in this situation?"
"This situation?" Murdoch raised his eyebrows. "I'm afraid the parents I know must move in different circles. To the best of my knowledge no one I am acquainted with has abducted or murdered anyone."
Rupert Gillies smiled; Murdoch was a brave man, certainly, but this moment belonged to him, not the detective.
"The envelopes, Detective, which will you choose?"
"Of course," Murdoch continued, ignoring the question. "If not from you, I suppose James must have inherited his flair for the dramatic from his mother. Wouldn't you say, Mr Gillies?"
"My wife is dead," Gillies Senior replied abruptly. "Lost at sea."
"That isn't true, is it Mr Gillies? Your wife walked out on you fifteen years ago. That must have been embarrassing for a man of your station. Why was that do you think?"
"Father?" James Gillies turned a confused gaze towards the older man.
"Ignore him, James. He's trying to turn you against me."
"But I don't need to try, do I Gillies? Your wife watched you beat and berate your son as a small child, and when your daughter was born she refused to watch you do the same to her. Twisting her mind as you did with James."
"I didn't believe it! Even as I killed him, I didn't really believe it!"
"What are you talking about?" Rupert Gillies turned a confused expression toward his son.
Murdoch stared up taking quick shallow breaths. His plan seemed to be working - set them against each other. At least, if nothing else, it bought him more time. However, as the conversation unfolded, even he couldn't hide the horror he felt at what he heard.
"My cellmate told me he had some information worth paying for. He'd heard something that he thought he could sell and let me tell you, information comes at a high price in jail. He told me that my mother and sister were both still alive."
Gillies stared at his father, gauging his reaction only to scowl deeply when nothing was immediately denied.
"Imagine my surprise when I discovered I had a sister! At first I didn't believe it, but slowly I found out more and more details. I had people gather information for me. Well, I was shocked when I discovered that she was Catholic. Eventually I found out the name of her church. When I asked for a priest, I chose her priest, Father Conlan. The only way to be sure that I hadn't been lied to by everyone was to ask him. At first, I played the dutiful son, wanting desperately to contact her, but he denied even knowing her. In fact, even drugged and tortured he went to his death denying any knowledge of her. I truly believed I'd been lied to when all along it was you!"
Gillies advanced on his father, pointing an accusatory finger.
"You told me she was dead!"
"She is dead!" Gillies Senior snapped harshly.
"No, she isn't," Murdoch pressed the advantage despite the terrible news of the priest's death. "I spoke with her. When your son was sentenced to hang, she came to the station house. She tried to plead for his life but it was too late. She gave me the details of his upbringing, of your cruelty. She said that you should hang instead. You were the one who made him. I believe she used the phrase: 'In your own twisted image.'"
"So what if she is still alive? She's dead to me!" He screamed in reply.
A rage had built in Rupert Gillies eyes, such as Murdoch had never before witnessed. Bracing himself for the release of all that aggression, Murdoch pressed himself back against the wall as the older man launched himself toward him.
A loud cracking sound filled the air, the noise bouncing off every wall. The heavy silence that filled the cellar immediately after was thick with tension. In the smallest fraction of a second that followed the noise, Gillies Senior had crumpled to the floor, and Murdoch had, on instinct, pulled his legs out of the way to avoid being crushed under the weight of the falling body. Standing over them both, James Gillies held the small handgun awkwardly in his left hand, barrel still smoking and still pointed at his father.
Having hoped to elicit a heated and distracting exchange between the two men, Murdoch was still shocked to see the body of one of his captors lying at his feet, his blood oozing freely from the gaping wound in his abdomen, running in rivulets in all directions.
Taking slow deep breaths, James Gillies' stare remained on his father's body until the sound of the cellar door opening tore his attention away.
"Mr Gillies! Sir! Are you...?" Heath, the butler stared down at the scene before him uncertain how to react. His employer lay dead, his son James standing over him and a man was seated on the floor, chained to the wall. This man he had seen before. He had been to the house on a previous occasion. Most likely the man the two constables were looking for.
"Master James?"
James Gillies sighed before looking up, turning and firing a second shot. Murdoch's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the butler appearing to fold before falling to the bottom of the staircase. The shooting of Rupert Gillies, he was prepared to believe was one of uncontrolled anger. But the ease with which Gillies had chosen to murder the butler was frightening. Turning his eyes back towards the helpless detective, Gillies offered an impassive stare.
"I'm going to have to rethink your fate, detective. None of my previous ideas are sufficient now. You deserve a new level of suffering. And I think I know how to start."
Walking slowly over to the chair on which Murdoch's jacket was draped, Gillies fished in the pockets until he found the tools for picking locks. Carefully pacing out the furthest distance that Murdoch could reach, he placed the kit on the floor.
"If you can escape, Detective, I will gladly give myself up, otherwise, you lose your life. But not before everyone you care for has lost theirs. Do you understand?"
"Gillies, give yourself up now, you can't hope to achieve anything from this."
"Oh, but I will, Detective, I promise you. Before the last of your friends dies, you will give me the location of my mother and sister. I want to know how she saw fit to abandon me."
Murdoch reeled at the response. His idea had backfired horribly. Not only was he now in a worse position, but two men were dead and more people, including those he cared most about, were now also at risk.
"I'll leave you to think on that, Detective," Gillies gave a light laugh and waved his hand in a flamboyant farewell. Stepping over the body of the butler, Gillies headed back upstairs, the spring in his step as light as when he had descended.
Murdoch looked with desperation at the lock picking kit. He had to find a way to reach it before anyone else got hurt.
oOo
Doctors Ogden and Grace ran the short distance from the morgue; raising their skirts in order to move quickly, they solicited more than one set of raised eyebrows and disapproving stares as they passed.
"Doctor Ogden, Doctor Grace! Is anything wrong? Can I help you?" Constable Jackson asked stepping out from behind the front desk as the two women rushed in. "Are you all right, ladies?"
"We must speak to Inspector Brackenreid immediately," Dr Ogden explained hurriedly.
"Ma'am, he's with Chief..."
"It's regarding Detective Murdoch. It's most urgent."
"Ma'am," Jackson nodded. "I'll take you both through."
Jackson wasn't happy about the idea of being yelled at again, but he hoped that the inspector would be more tolerant of the interruption this time. Leading the women through to the Inspector's office, Jackson knocked politely before opening the door.
"Sirs..." Was all he managed to say.
"Come in."
Brackenreid waved them in with a quick motion of his hand and arm. Somewhat relieved, Jackson opened the door and stood back as the two doctors entered the office.
"Gentlemen," Dr Ogden began in a confident, assertive tone, "I believe we have some insight into Detective Murdoch's abduction."
Giles' reaction was an expression that seemed surprising mixture of curiosity and scepticism. Brackenreid was first to react, stepping forward and ushering the two doctors further inside the office.
"Thank you, Jackson," he nodded, patting the constable's shoulder on his way out. "Good lad," he added his approval. "So, Doctors, what have you found?"
"Using my knowledge of psychiatry," Doctor Ogden began, only to see Giles take a deep, undisguised breath. "And my personal knowledge of Gillies," she added more forcefully, almost demanding attention, "we have deduced that..."
"Deduced?" Giles would have sounded mocking if he didn't obviously disapprove. "You're starting to sound like Murdoch."
"I think at least one of us should, don't you agree?" She retorted immediately. "As I was saying," she continued without pausing for a response. "Gillies' repeated escapes and elaborate plans rely on another party to assist him. Originally he had Robert Perry to assist him but since then he has escaped and conjured ever more elaborate plans to exact his revenge on Detective Murdoch. I believe that to accomplish all this, he must have an accomplice. Someone he can rely on implicitly with the skills and intelligence to assist him. Inspector, Chief Constable, I believe that man is Gillies' father."
Giles' brow creased noticeably at the idea and a deep frown formed. Looking toward Brackenreid, he tilted his head. He knew that Rupert Gillies had always been quite vocally appalled by his son's behaviour and keen to assist the police, but Giles had a keen policing mind and knew what an ideal cover that would be.
"Brackenreid, what do you think? You have most experience with him, is Rupert Gillies capable of maintaining such a pretence over so long a period, would you say?"
Brackenreid pondered the question before nodding, slowly at first, then more decisively.
"If we're saying 'like father like son' then, yes. He could quite easily be just as big a bastard as that son of his! Oh... Er, excuse me, doctors," he added, his eyes giving away his discomfort at the stern glare from his superior.
"That's quite all right, Inspector," Dr Ogden replied, with Dr Grace nodding her agreement with a polite smile. " There is one other thing to consider, gentlemen. As I'm sure you'll agree, Detective Murdoch has always told me that there is no such thing as a motiveless crime. Therefore, I believe that if my theory is correct, there will be some connection between Rupert Gillies and Professor Bennett. Perhaps some deeply held grudge or, in all honesty, depending on the severity of the psychosis, it could even be as small as a personal slight."
"Inspector?" Giles prompted. "Can you add anything?"
"Well, he told me after his son's trial that Bennett had been an objectionable man," Brackenreid frowned, raising his hand, pointing at the air as the memory returned to him. "That he confronted him one day about some supposed transgression James had made in his class and that Bennett had told him to stay out of class matters. I believe he said that Bennett had told him that it didn't concern him. That he was biased and almost certainly ill-equipped intellectually to understand the details of what had taken place. I remember thinking at the time that it must have been a blazing row that the pair had because it didn't square with everyone else's recollection of Professor Bennett as being well-mannered and, while tough on his students, a pleasant, likeable man."
Doctor Ogden nodded. "My guess would be that Bennett may have humiliated James Gillies in some way, perhaps unintentionally. For a personality such as his, even being informed publicly that he was wrong about something might have been enough."
"And Rupert Gillies presumably stepped in to defend him aggressively but Bennett stood his ground. A position that clearly infuriated him." Giles nodded thoughtfully before asking what none of them could answer for certain. "The question now becomes, if both Gillies men do have Murdoch, where are they holding him?"