When she rang the buzzer, Magnus answered immediately, relief obvious in his voice.
‘It’s very late,’ she apologized as he ushered her in.
‘Is it?’ He looked preoccupied. The blond hair he’d worn long when first they’d met, was cut short now. Rhona remembered how he had first fitted her image of a Viking. Despite being Orcadian, given an outfit, axe and helmet, Magnus would have been an excellent participant in the Shetland Festival of Up Helly Aa. Now, beardless, shorn and agitated, he had more of the look of a soldier just returned from Afghanistan.
Magnus waved her into the sitting room. The French windows stood open, letting in the lights of Glasgow and the sound of the river beneath. It wasn’t surprising Magnus had chosen to live here. The flat might be in the centre of the city, but he was as close to a wide expanse of water as he was in Houton Bay.
His desk was covered with evidence of his attempts to make sense of Menzies’ statement. Books littered the couch, the coffee table and the floor. A digital whiteboard had been set up. It was covered with notes, questions and symbols in a variety of colours, projected from Magnus’s laptop.
‘It won’t make any sense,’ he said as she ran her eye over the notes. ‘Until I explain.’ He handed her a printout of what appeared to be the police statement.
‘Can I get you a drink or a coffee while you read it?’
‘Just water, thanks.’
Magnus headed for the kitchen. She heard the water run and the coffee machine start up. Magnus’s agitated state suggested this wouldn’t be his first cup of coffee of the evening.
Rhona glanced over the paper. The statement was short, about half a page, and read almost like a stream of consciousness. There were sentences, but they didn’t seem to string together. There were also numerical references and some formulae, which looked geometric. The number five figured a lot. And there were some poorly sketched symbols. One like a triple spiral, another like a tree.
Magnus was back with her water and a mug of coffee, the smell of which made her want one. She forced herself not to ask and drank the water instead.
‘You need to be aware of a couple of things. First of all, I don’t rate Patrick Menzies. In that, McNab and I agree.’
‘So the statement is nonsense?’
‘I don’t think these are the words of a dead person. I do think, though, that it might have bearing on the case.’
‘How?’
‘The perpetrator appears to be preoccupied by Druidism and stone circles. Both of which, I think, Menzies is also interested in. I believe the statement is his theory about what will happen next.’
‘So how did he know that Alan was dead before his body was discovered?’
‘There’s a lot about life and death we don’t understand. Premonition being one of them. People often know instinctively if a person close to them is in danger, or has just died. It seems at its most powerful if that person is your own child. Maybe Menzies picked up on a concern Mrs MacKenzie had for the welfare of her son and used it in his act.’
‘That’s cruel.’
‘No more cruel than relaying messages from the dead, such as, “Don’t worry. I’ll always be with you.”’
Rhona didn’t believe in life after death either, but she also didn’t want to think that Patrick Menzies was tricking people every time he held a service.
‘So how does his statement help?’ she said.
‘In it he mentions the sacred geometry of Scotland and the pattern of five. The spirals and tree of life are in there too – symbols associated with Druidry. I looked back at Jack’s map and, combining things, came up with this.’
Magnus went over to his laptop, which controlled the screen.
‘The numbers I think refer to the structure of a geometric shape.’
A familiar image of a man appeared, arms and legs outstretched within a circle. Lines from the head, feet and hands criss-crossed to make a five-pointed star.
‘The star symbolizes, among other things, Jesus’s death on the cross,’ Magnus said, ‘his head, pierced hands and feet being the points on the circumference. In the Christian tradition the single point must always be at the top. If inverted it’s regarded as Satanic.’
He made an adjustment. Now the figure, the star and its circle lay inside the borders of a pentagram.
‘A five-sided figure.’
‘Which looks a bit like Jack’s map,’ Rhona said.
Magnus nodded. ‘Now, if we add in a detailed map of Scotland, we get what is sometimes called the sacred pentagram of Scotland.’
It was a stunning image. The pentagram stretched as far north as Orkney, and south to just below Glasgow. Westward as far as the Outer Hebrides, eastward to Aberdeenshire.
‘The apex is Brodgar,’ Magnus said. ‘The centre point of the baseline is the Cathkin Braes circle.’
‘Is the upper right Skelmuir Hill?’ Rhona asked.
‘It’s not the only standing stone in the vicinity. We’d have to confirm with a GPS reading.’ He went on, ‘The upper left is most certainly the stone circle at Callanish. Then things change somewhat. The baseline when extended meets the island of Iona to the west, and Lindisfarne off the north-eastern coast of England. Both are sacred sites, but Christian rather than Neolithic.’
‘Another photograph has appeared online of a possible victim. A girl lying near a standing stone,’ Rhona said.
Magnus looked aghast. ‘When?’
‘Earlier tonight.’
He was already at the laptop. It took him seconds to find it. ‘I was too engrossed in the statement. I didn’t realize this had happened.’ He studied the image closely.
‘McNab thinks it’s a hoax,’ Rhona said. ‘I’m not so sure. Look at the way the hands are placed. And the stone behind her. Is there a chance it could be Skelmuir?’
‘There are single marker stones all over Scotland,’ Magnus said.
‘I asked McNab to check out Skelmuir Hill. He said he couldn’t spend money and resources on every hunch we have.’
‘He’s right. And the perpetrator knows it.’