Almost Lost

The small town of Aviemore is only about thirty miles south of Inverness, an easy drive down the A9. A few miles north of the town a police car, with blue light flashing, was parked where a section of the old A9 looped off of the new main road. A constable waved Jock to a halt as he turned in. Recognizing the superintendent, he pointed along the old road. 'Just down there sir, it's not nice at all sir: a right messy one sir.' Jock nodded and drove on. The loop was short, no more than quarter of a mile, and almost halfway round another police car was parked. Two officers were standing by the vehicle and one approached Jock's Discovery as he pulled up behind the squad car.

The policeman spoke through Jock's open window. 'A messy one sir.'

'Aye, Constable, so everyone keeps telling me. Let's  have a look.' 

Another car, a large, silver Mercedes, was by the roadside twenty yards beyond the police car. As he approached he saw that both front doors of the car were wide open, and that there was something on the ground visible below the passenger door. As he got nearer he could see that it was a head: a blood stained head, and on the tarmac below was a large pool of blood. As he continued, keeping to the centre of the old road, the scene unfolded: an old woman was hanging head down, half out of the car. 

Jock turned to the policeman who'd followed close behind him. ‘I take it she's dead; you've checked?'

The constable nodded. 'I didn't check – but he did.’ He indicated a man standing by a car further along the road from the Mercedes. 'He found them: he's a doctor, sir. Better qualified than me, eh?'

Jock looked at the constable. 'You said them? There's another one? Another dead body?’

‘Aye sir. Follow me.’

Careful to keep clear of the crime scene, the men skirted the Mercedes. Stopping on the tarmac a few yards further along the road, the constable turned and pointed. Lying among the heather some yards from the road lay the second body. From where he stood Jock could see it was that of an  elderly man: he was lying curled in a foetal position with his hands over his blood-covered head..        Jock turned as he was joined by DCI Bob McLean. 'As the man said, Bob, it really is a messy one – a very messy one.'

He nudged Bob. The man seen standing by the other car was heading up the road towards them. Jock greeted him and introduced himself and DCI McLean. The man told them he was Dr Alan Greenshaw, a GP from Glasgow.

Jock indicated the bodies. 'So you found them sir. If you don't mind I need to ask you a few questions.' Jock nodded towards the doctor's car and they walked the few yards in its direction. In the front passenger's seat was a pale-faced woman who gave Jock a brief nod of acknowledgement. 

The doctor smiled grimly. 'My wife Superintendent. She's not used to this kind of thing.’ The doctor ran his hand through his thinning grey hair. 'For that matter, neither am I.'

Jock nodded in understanding. 'Can you tell me what happened − from the beginning please?'

The doctor sat back against the bonnet of his car. 'We were heading for Inverness; we’re meeting some friends for a couple of days of golf. We come up here quite a lot, and we often use this wee bit of road. It's not an official lay-by but a handy place if you need to relieve yourself or have a wee picnic. Anyway, I'd had a large shandy with lunch in Pitlochry and was needing to get rid of some of it so I pulled in here. It's a popular place for picnickers so I wasn't surprised to see another car, but we parked at a discreet distance behind it. I was bursting so I didn't pay it any heed; just dashed into these bushes over there behind us. It was my wife who thought there was something strange. She could see that there was someone leaning out of the passenger seat; when there was no movement she was concerned and sent me along to have a look. When I found the body of the woman I just confirmed that she was dead and called the police, then went back and waited in the car. I'd not noticed the body of the man over there; the constable found that and asked me to look at the body. Very dead Superintendent – very, very dead. I could see at a glance that the man had been horribly beaten.' The doctor pulled out a packet of cigarettes. He smiled at Jock. 'Doctors shouldn't do this, should they?' He lit up and inhaled deeply.' The bodies are still a bit warm Superintendent; not very long dead.'

Jock asked if he'd any idea how long they'd been dead. 

The doctor shook his head. 'I'm just a GP Superintendent; not my field, I'm afraid.'

Jock turned and looked back up the road. Other police vehicles were arriving.  'And you saw no-one sir; there was only the one car.'

'That's right Superintendent; no-one else was around.'

Jock thanked the doctor,  heaved a sigh, shook his head sadly and headed back to the crime scene.