‘I went straight out there. As I approached the car I realized there was a struggle going on inside. His hands were round her throat. The doors were locked. I couldn’t open them. Then came the blood. It splattered the window and he went limp. Karen unlocked her door and I got her out and brought her inside,’ he said. ‘Where I called 999.’

‘So she was defending herself when she stuck the knife in him?’

‘Without a doubt. Had she not done so, I couldn’t have got into the car in time and Karen Marshall would be dead.’

He didn’t add, ‘just like Mary McIntyre’, but it hung there between them nevertheless.

It was a good story, and Jimmy McCreadie would stick to it. Who wouldn’t take the word of a former detective inspector and famous crime writer? Especially the detective who had served on the original case.

‘I assume,’ McCreadie said, ‘when you told me you planned to arrest him that you have proof he was implicated in Mary’s death?’

McNab didn’t answer. He felt that to be the case, but now that they had Jackson and his DNA, the forensic evidence would tell them the truth.

‘There’s stuff Karen’s still not telling us,’ McNab said.

‘She will, though,’ McCreadie said. ‘I’m sure of that. When she’s fully recovered, that is. The doctor’s been,’ he added. ‘Karen’s still running a high temperature. That might account for the delirium, he says.’

‘So she’s not doolally after all?’ McNab said.

‘Only time and her recovery will tell.’ McCreadie gave him a half-smile.

67

Written evidence relating to the abduction and murder of Mary McIntyre

The handwritten note found by Karen Johnston in the hall at Rowan Cottage read, I know who you are. This note is believed to have been written by the accused, Eric Jackson.

The following is the letter found by Eleanor Jackson, sister of Karen Johnston (née Marshall), in her bathroom after Karen left the house to be driven back to Stirling by Eric Jackson on the night in question.

Eric told me it was our secret. That he would never tell anyone and neither should I. He said it was normal. He did it to my big sister and she liked it.

After Mary disappeared, he said that if I told anyone, he would kill my sister. They were going to be married, so it would be easy.

My father told me we had to protect the innocent, so I did.

Statement by Karen Johnston (formerly Karen Marshall):

What I told Detective Sergeant McNab about that day was almost the whole truth. Mary wasn’t there when I returned to the den, so I changed back into my own clothes, folded the dress and veil and carefully put them in the bag with the shoes. Later when I returned I found Mary’s jumper in the nearby woods.

I had told Mary what Eric had been doing to me. I knew I had committed a sin. She tried to console me. She told me if I went to the chapel wearing her dress, I would be absolved of my sins. She was very angry about Eric.