The Barbershop Seven (46 page)

'What? Look, I'm not saying he's not an eejit, but the man was definitely here, so you away and stick your heid inside an active volcano, James Strachan.'

'An active volcano? It's like that, is it? Well, away you and stick your heid inside an exploding star, Mary Strachan.'

The discussion continued, but the sharp edge of intellectual debate had been lost, and so the argument degenerated into petty name-calling and insults.

––––––––

I
t was Brother Frederick who discovered the latest body; the latest murdered monk. The corpse resting against a tree in the wood, covered in snow from the blizzard which was still raging. He shouldn't have been out at his age, that's what some of the monks thought, but Frederick was still active. He had no intention of going quietly in his bed; a man who would die on his feet, that's what he'd always thought. And he wondered now if he would die at the hands of a killer, like the rest of the monks at the monastery.

Frederick was the only one who knew about the murders of 1927, when fourteen of the monks had been poisoned in little more than a month. There had been many more of their number in those days, but fourteen had still cut into the very heart of them. And yet the police had not been called; the monks had rooted out the killer on their own, and had dealt with him summarily. God's judgement. He was now reminded of those terrible days.

When the most recent victim had not immediately appeared at breakfast, there had been no particular notice paid. This monk was frequently kept away at mealtimes, such were his duties, and the more so now. One or two might have suspected there was something wrong, but only Frederick felt it. Felt the evil as there had been seventy years previously

So he'd gone out into the cold after breakfast to search. The snow howled around in the wind, small flakes in a hyper-tensioned frenzy. Had known that he could not stay out in it for long, but reckoned that the killer would not have done so either. Therefore did not have far to search for the body.

Now he stood, one hundred and four years old, Brother Frederick, having found the latest victim of the monastery killer in the usual position. Sitting upright, legs splayed, but this time no blood. No knife or pair of scissors in the neck.

No weather for an old man to be carrying out a post-mortem, but he took a quick look. The eyes smiled in death, as with the brothers librarian, but not the mouth this time. The lips were opened and slightly distorted by something inside the mouth. He tentatively took an old frail hand from within his cloak and pushed the top lip slightly higher. Inside there was a comb, lodged against the top of the mouth and back against the tongue, forcing the tongue down the throat so that the victim would have choked on it.

Death by comb; a bitter smile came to the face of the old man. He had seen many things in his time, many horrible deaths, but never this. He let the lip go, and it stayed in the position into which it had been pushed. He took one last look at the corpse, then began his retreat through the snow back to the monastery. He did not fear that one of the men who waited inside was a killer. Prescient death awaited Brother Frederick, that he knew. He worried for his brothers, but had seen so much death in those early days that eighty years with the Lord had done nothing for his ambivalence towards it. Death, good or bad, but inevitable.

The wind in his face, cheeks frozen, lips drawn tight and purple across bared teeth, Brother Frederick struggled back to the partial warmth of the monastery. How many of those murders of '27 had it been his painful duty to report?

***

B
arney Thomson undertook what he now saw as most definitely the secondary of his two tasks. Cleaning the floors. On his hands and knees, scrubbing the stone. Had to polish next. Good upkeep was the only thing that had kept the buildings together; that was what he had been told early on. He had already worked the corridors of the third floor, and now found himself in the library. In between the shelves. Hidden from the rest of the room, but there was no one else there. He wondered why Brother Herman was not on duty. Presumed he was out bending someone's thumbs backwards or putting their testicles through a clothes press in order to discover some incontrovertible truth.

He wondered what stage the investigation into his own disappearance had reached, whether the police had discovered any of the places at which he'd stayed on his short journey across the Highlands. How soon would it be safe for him to venture back out from the monastery? He was aware of the fads of modern life; how something could dominate the news for a few weeks and then be gone as if it never existed. Could that happen to the myth of the cold serial killer, Barney Thomson?

He could not know the headline in that morning's Daily Record:
Barber Surgeon Blamed for Stock Exchange Debacle
. Occasionally he thought about Agnes, and assumed she was comfortably at home with her hideous soap operas. He wondered how Allan was coping with the stigma of having a brother wanted by the police. Rightly assumed that he would have changed his name.

But where could he go if he fled from his cold prison? What could he do for money? What could life possibly offer him?

He knew he had no option. He had to wait it out at the monastery of death and hope he was not farther sucked into the macabre happenings. Something might come along, or maybe time would make him less visible in the outside world. By next summer, perhaps, there would be a new hate figure. He had to keep his head down and hope that the monks did not hear news of him from the outside world. This blizzard would help that, and maybe by the time the next contact had been made, some other poor bastard would be dominating the front pages.

Head down, mouth shut, on with his work, and try not to get on the wrong side of Brother Herman. Barney Thomson scrubbed the floor a little bit harder.

A minute, then he heard footsteps, voices. Stopped scrubbing; held his breath. Was not sure if the library was out of bounds. Had only ventured in because Herman was not there to ask. He crouched against a bookcase, recognising the voices as those of the Abbot and Brother Adolphus. Quick steps, stopping as they got into the centre of the room.

'Brother Herman!' the Abbot called out. Nothing.

Barney heard the footsteps, agitatedly around the back of the desk. Wondered if he should make himself known, but something stayed him. Either a sixth sense, or that quality which allowed him to make the wrong decision in nearly every difficult circumstance.

'Goodness,' said the Abbot, 'where can the good brother be?'

'If you would tell me the reason for your agitation, Brother Abbot, perhaps I could be of some comfort to you. You appear most distressed.'

You appear most distressed
, mumbled Barney to himself. Creep.

'There has been another murder, Brother!' said the Abbot.

A strangled gasp from Adolphus, then, 'In the Lord's name, who is it this time?'

No immediate reply. Barney stared at the cold, dark ceiling. Another death amongst them. He tried to think who had not been at breakfast, but there were a few. There were always some who chose to go without.

'It is dear Brother Babel. Brother Frederick found his body at the edge of the forest, not ten minutes ago.'

'Brother Babel!'

Brother Babel. Fifty-three, surprisingly corpulent of build, balding and warm-hearted. Friend to them all, enemy to none. A pure and honest man, one of the few at the monastery with genuine motive. Had been a fine left-back. In the wrong place at the wrong time.

There was nothing else immediately said, while the Abbot wrung his hands and Brother Adolphus digested the news. That was, if he didn't already know it, thought Barney Thomson, for one of these monks must be the killer.

'I need to find Brother Herman. It is his investigation. There's little chance of the police managing to find a way up here, or of us getting out to them. Not with this blizzard. We are trapped in our own prison, Brother Adolphus, with a killer on the loose. I should not have allowed myself to be guided by Herman. I should have had the police in here five days ago. This is a terrible business. Terrible.'

Brother Babel. Barney continued to stare at the ceiling. He hadn't spoken to the man. He'd had a Brother Cadfael haircut, albeit one administered by the wayward hand of Adolphus; had obviously eaten a little too many doughnuts. What else? Nothing, nothing at all. Just another man he had hardly known, and who was now dead.

How had he managed to be so foolish as to come to this place? But then, how could he have known? He had read an article about the monks and their solitary existence, cut off from the world, in the Herald the previous spring. It had seemed such a natural place to hide when the whole of the Western world was looking for him. But as soon as he'd arrived...

Could he have brought some evil with him? Some malign spirit?

'How was he killed, Brother Abbot?' asked Adolphus. He had not been part of the previous investigations, but had heard the rumours of stabbing, as had all the others.

'With a comb,' said the Abbot.

Barney heard the gasp of Adolphus. Only just managed to contain his own gasp.

'He was combed to death?' said Adolphus, having never heard of such a thing.

'The comb had been rammed into his mouth, forcing his tongue back down his throat, so that he choked on it. That is what dear Brother Frederick seems to think.'

'Good heavens, Brother! A comb. But there would be only one brother in our midst with a comb.'

'Exactly. Brother Jacob. Oh dear, oh dear. I really shouldn't have insisted that Herman be so easy on him after the murder of Brother Morgan with his scissors. It appears that it all ties up. These deaths did not start until Jacob came among us, and within a few short days of his being here, three of our number have been killed. Now a second with an implement under Jacob's control. We must find the wretched brother, and we must find Brother Herman. God help us if anything should have happened to him.'

'This is indeed a most wretched business, Brother. Is there no way we could get a message to the outside?'

'Listen,' said the Abbot. And Brother Adolphus listened to the winds of the blizzard batter against the side of the monastery. 'We are trapped, Brother, only ourselves and our Lord to protect us. I shall put it around the monks, see if there is one of the younger ones brave enough to go out into the storm, but it is hardly something I can ask.'

Because it would appear that we cannot rely on our Lord
, thought the Abbot, something he did not dare voice. Wondered why they had been deserted, and why this evil had come to them.

'Come, Brother Adolphus, we must find Brother Herman and tell him this most grievous news. Then we must apprehend Jacob. And the body of dear Babel, he must be brought in from the cold. By God, this is a most heinous day.'

The footsteps receded quickly from the library, the heavy door closed and the sound vanished behind the heavy oak. Silence.

Barney Thomson still stared at the ceiling. In a trance. Suspected of murders which he hadn't committed. And yet, could he be a schizophrenic? Did he lose himself sometimes in his sleep? All the murders had been at night. And for all his trouble drifting off, once he'd gone off he slept soundly. Not even dreams. Perhaps he sleepwalked; sleep-murdered. Disposed of the bodies, then slipped back into bed. Murder committed and none the wiser. He'd heard of it happening.

And if not that, was someone trying to frame him, because he was the newest monk and the obvious suspect? Brother Martin perhaps? Or even Brother Herman himself? That was a possibility, he thought, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had no defence, and he was the outsider. There was no reason why he would get a fair trial from these people. He knew how dangerous religious fanaticism could be. He'd read books, discussed it over many a pint with Bill Taylor. But there was no getting out; no escaping the monastery. He would be a fool to head off into the hills in this weather; as certain a suicide as putting a gun to his head. He had to find some hiding place in the monastery, then wait out the storm. Go on the run when the weather had broken, before they could get in the outside agencies of the law. Once the police had been called, he was done. Barney Thomson dropped his eyes from the ceiling to the floor. There were no answers to be found, but he had to move quickly. His temporary respite had gone; he was once again a fugitive. Perhaps he ought to make himself known to the Abbot, to defend himself. By running he would be implicated beyond any doubt in their eyes. But he could not believe that he would be judged fairly. He'd heard the Abbot's own words, and they'd sounded like those of a man whose mind was already made up.

And so, just like he had when he'd accidentally killed Wullie Henderson eight and a half months previously, he would once again avoid confrontation with the authorities for as long as he could.

He stood up, leaned against the shelving. He felt weak, but knew he must hide quickly. As he considered the monastery buildings and whether he could find somewhere to hide where he wouldn't die of cold, he wondered if outside there might be some part of these islands where the name Barney Thomson would not be considered evil, where someone called Barney Thomson might walk a free man. He was not to know the headline in that morning's Scotsman:
Bring Me the Head of Barney Thomson, Screams First Minister.

––––––––

'A
ye, aye, it's a long time since we had one of you lot up from Glasgow, and a' that, you know,' said Big Davie.

The snowplough ground slowly towards Durness. Mulholland, Sheep Dip and Proudfoot were squeezed into the cab, thighs pressed against thighs. Sheep Dip took large bites from a small chocolate bar, and Mulholland could feel himself resenting every mouthful, as if it reduced his space by some infinitesimal amount. A doppelgänger for his annoyance at not getting to press his legs against Proudfoot.

'You're from Glasgow yourself, then?' said Proudfoot.