The Elemental (Blair Dubh Trilogy #1) (26 page)

“
Yes, I…” She frowned, recalling the figure in black staring down at her through the metal grille of the oubliette.

Before her brain had finished processing this information, Martin had spun round and whacked an oblivious Gary round the back of the head with a cosh he pulled out of his bag. He fell face forwards onto the floor with a thud.

Freya tried to rise but she was too slow and Martin grabbed her by the throat and pushed her back onto the bed. The benevolent doctor was gone, some wild eyed slobbering monster in its place, drool dripping from one corner of his mouth as both hands went around her throat and squeezed. Freya’s mouth automatically opened as she fought for breath and the next thing she knew a plastic funnel had been stuck into her mouth. When she tried to spit it out he only shoved it further down her throat, making her gag.

“
Don’t fight Freya or I’ll ram it right down inside you,” growled Martin clambering on top of her. She went still, breathing heavily through her nose because of the lump of plastic protruding from her mouth. His hands were still around her throat but had stopped squeezing.

“
I suppose you’re wondering why? That’s what they always want to know but they didn’t deserve to be told, they wouldn’t understand. But you will Freya, I know you will. However for that to work we have to go back fifteen years, to the night your mother was smothered by the earth.”

Freya was aware she should be fighting for her life but finally she was going to get the answer to the question that had tormented her for her entire life. Why did Logan kill her mum? So she just stared at him in fascination as he continued his story.

“I was much younger back then, an altar boy in the church. Father Logan always called me the son he never had. He was devoted to his God but the vow of celibacy was something he found very hard to take. Logan liked the ladies, especially your mum. But he hated himself for it and he hated Rose too, blaming her for leading him down a dark path, away from God. The night Rose died she’d told him she was pregnant.” Martin threw back his head and laughed with delight when he saw the amazement in her eyes. “You didn’t know? I thought Craig would have told you. He knew, so did his mum. I wonder why he kept it from you?”

Freya thrashed, attempting to dislodge the funnel but he shoved it harder into her mouth, the plastic tip touching the back of her throat and she gagged again.

“I meant what I said Freya, I’ll ram it right down your neck if you move again. I’ll dislocate your jaw first if I have to.”

This horrible threat was enough to make her go still.

“I saw him do it,” he went on. “I watched from the church as he led her up the road, shielding her from the wind, he could be quite the gentleman when he wanted. She thought he was leading her to the church but he pulled her into the graveyard instead. That was when she finally realised something wasn’t right. Not too quick on the uptake, your mum. When she tried to escape he punched her in the face a few times and knocked her out. He took the shovel Fred had left by the side of the church then dragged Rose by her ankles towards a spot at the back of the graveyard beneath the old oak tree, but of course, you know which spot that is. He ripped her nightgown off and threw it over his shoulder. I remember it was a pretty light material that caught in the air and floated on the breeze before settling on the ground behind him as he started to dig. He was a big strong man, it didn’t take him long to dig a shallow grave. Before he put her in he kissed her goodbye. I remember it was quite a tender gesture. Then he rolled her in and started shovelling the earth back in on her. Although I couldn’t see into the hole from where I was standing I think she must have come round because he raised the shovel over his head and brought it down three times.”

Freya
’s chest heaved and tears rolled down her face as she listened to the horror of her mother’s last moments recited so coldly.

“
It was all over with quickly. After he’d finished patting down the earth I saw his head snap round. He had the most remarkable eyes, don’t you think? They were capable of striking the fear of God into you. At first I thought he’d seen me, then I realised he was looking down the road. At you. Scared little girl that you were you screamed and ran and he chased you with the fury of hell inside him. If he’d caught you I’ve no doubt he would have killed you. To him you were just as guilty as your mother.” He touched her face, making her grimace. “And that’s why I know you’ll understand Freya, because you saw him that night, just as I did. I always felt we were kindred spirits after that. I never told him I’d seen him, I kept it entirely to myself. It was only thirteen years later when I went to see Father Logan on a home visit that it came out. He wasn’t too well by then; angina, early stage diabetes and his mind was starting to wander, but let’s face it, it had never been that stable to begin with. He would talk about your mum a lot, she seemed to haunt him. On two occasions when I visited him he spoke to her as though she was sitting next to him, reaching out to pat her knee and calling her Dear. So I told him what I saw that night. I wasn’t afraid of him any longer because I was younger and stronger. He frowned at me down his long face, as though trying to work out what I meant then he realised and he actually smiled. He called me
a
tricky wee bairn
. I asked him why he’d done it and he told me because he trusted me after I kept his secret for so long. He said Rose brought it on herself for being a wicked woman who tempted him from the straight and narrow. Apparently he decided the baby had to be disposed of. He couldn’t have the rumours and whispers behind his back as the child grew, he had a position to maintain. Being a good Catholic Rose refused to have an abortion and chastised him for suggesting it in the first place. She told him she could never kill any child of hers and she was having it whether he liked it or not. He genuinely loved her and saw her defiance as a wickedness, a wickedness he blamed on Lorna MacDiarmid, who she was close to. You see, Lorna had indulged in an affair herself with her violent husband’s brother and Logan thought she had corrupted Rose. He actually thought she was a witch and casting spells over the other women his roving eye admired to try and tempt him.” He giggled, a creepy high-pitched sound. “He read about how witches would be ducked under water so he drowned Lorna. It was meant to be a test but he got carried away and ended up killing her. That gave him a taste for murder. However he didn’t want to punish the other women, who he thought had been infected by a witch through no fault of their own. Instead he wanted to cleanse them of their sin, like a good priest. So he used a ritual he’d learnt long ago involving purification and the elements. I mean, how ridiculous, he was completely round the twist, just like his mother. Logan was the one who knew everyone’s secrets, thanks to the confessional. It was why no one could discover a link between the victims, because those few who did know about the deceased’s transgressions were hardly likely to blurt them out and destroy their good name. That’s the wonderful thing about this village, appearance and form before the truth. It was what enabled them to let you be taken away. That saved your life too because if you’d stayed Logan would have tried to finish you off, he told me so. According to him you were full of your mum’s wickedness and he was certain you’d sink into sin and depravity in your adult life. Give him his due, he was right.” She tried to mumble something but the words were muffled by the funnel still sat in her mouth. He pulled it out. “What?”

“
Ether,” she gasped, “the fifth element. He killed a fifth victim, didn’t he?”

Pleasure once more filled Martin
’s eyes. “No. He
was
the fifth victim.”

“
You killed Logan?”

“
Oh yes. Well, it was more euthanasia really. His faith never wavered and he was convinced he was going to God, despite the lives he’d taken. He was tired and wanted to be with Rose again and being Catholic he couldn’t do it himself. So I did what he asked me to do, I gave him an ether overdose. With a medical history like his no one thought his death unusual. That was my first.”

“
Were there others between Logan and Catriona?”

The smirk fell and tears filled his eyes.
“No. It’s all your fault,” he yelled in her face. His hand pressed down on her injured wrist, grating the broken bones together, making her scream. “I’d managed to put what I did to Logan behind me but I wanted to repeat the experience. Taking someone’s life is such a rush. We can all be gods should we so choose but there are few of us who seize the chance. That’s what Catriona did when she killed our baby.”

“
Your baby?” she managed to whisper, shaking with pain, her wrist agony.

“
It’s amazing how closely my life has followed the path of Logan’s. A highly respected member of the community with a reputation to protect. We’d been seeing each other quietly for two years. I loved her. Then she betrayed me, aborted our baby before she even told me she was pregnant. If I hadn’t been her GP I wouldn’t have found out at all but she caught an infection and came to me for treatment. She tried to pretend it was just some random infection but I’m not stupid and she confessed. All my life I’ve wanted to be a father and she took that from me, destroyed what was mine without even pausing to consider whether I had a say. She told me it was her body and her decision and she was too old to be a mum, it wasn’t what
she
wanted.” He glared down at Freya. “What about what I fucking wanted? Suddenly Logan’s words about the sin of women made sense. Catriona was just like them and I wanted to punish her. We used to meet in private at her cottage three afternoons a week. She thought I was over the baby, that we were okay. When I suggested we take a bath together she was all too eager. I used the water to cleanse her of her sin, just like Father Logan did, so she could meet God with a clear conscience. She fought hard, she wanted to live but I was too strong for her. However killing her wasn’t enough, it was like something had been woken in me, something that could only be satisfied by murder. I recalled how Father Logan used to preach about the sin of women leading to all the evils in the world, so I chose the other women who had committed the same sin…”

“
Abortion.”

“
Thank you for registering with my practice Freya. It was thanks to you I got the idea in the first place. Of course I was curious to learn where you’d been for the past fifteen years and when I read about what you did when you were sixteen the plan just fell into place. A way to punish Catriona and others like her and fulfil Father Logan’s dying wish; the death of the one person who could testify to his own sin. How poetic that person is also the daughter of Rose McAllister.”

Behind Martin she saw Gary shift slightly, as though he was starting to come round. All she had to do was keep him talking until then.
“Wait a minute, are you seriously suggesting Claire Logan had an abortion?” she said, wishing the throbbing in her wrist would abate, it was making her feel very sick.

“
Oh yes, many years ago of course. A little indiscretion a few months after her husband died. Logan never knew but I was so fascinated with his family’s history I just had to look back through the medical records left from old Doctor Booth’s time. It surprised me as much as you. I told Logan just before I killed him and he was furious. He said she needed to be purified for her sin to protect her immortal soul and I promised to do that for him. The thing is, Claire was so round the bend she thought
I
was Logan, returned from the dead. I just put on the robes and spouted some old Latin and she started to believe her precious son had returned. When I gave her the gold cross I took from the Sacristy I had her in the palm of my hand. I poured petrol on her and she lay down on the fire willingly because it was what I - or rather what Logan - wanted, so technically I didn’t kill her. She would have done anything for her darling son.” A string of drool dangled from his lower lip and Freya tilted her head slightly so it wouldn’t land on her face. “She was screaming in agony but I told her she had to tolerate it if she wanted her soul to be saved, so she flung out her arms and called on Christ to help her. Her will was so strong she managed to endure and didn’t get up and run around the room screaming. I quite admired that. Took me ages to get the stink of her out of Logan’s old robes, the ones he’d committed his own murders in. I kept them at the church because if anyone had found them in my house they would have realised what I’d done. Then your stupid boyfriend took them.”

“
Claire must have been as insane as her son. Why did you burn the study?”

“
Logan had photos of his victim’s bodies as well as notes about their sins hidden in folders among the minutes of the parish meetings. I mean that stuff was so boring it was unlikely anyone would ever look through it. I enjoyed sitting at his desk and looking at the photos when Claire let me in. When I saw Craig and one of his pet poodles going up to the house to speak to Claire I knew the fun was over and I had to dispose of both her and the contents of the study as quickly as possible.”

“
He had photos of my mum?” she said, tears fuelled by pain and anger filling her eyes.

“
Oh yes, naked and unconscious in that hole. He got off on looking through them and he liked to look out of his study window at their graves. Sshh, it’s alright,” he soothed when she started to cry. “She’s with God now, cleansed and reborn. You should be grateful to Logan.”