His Bloody Project: A Historical Thriller

Roderick describes his cell in Inverness, which measures “five paces long and two wide” (37). He describes the gaoler (jailer), a silent figure who treats Roderick “with neither kindness nor contempt” (38). After the first days of his incarceration, during which he was visited by various officers of the law, he is mostly left to himself aside from visits from Sinclair. A notable exception from this routine is a visit from Dr. Munro, who asks him several questions about his state of mind and appears surprised at Roderick’s willingness to confess his crimes without seeking forgiveness.

Returning to the events leading up to his murders, Roderick recalls the evening Schoolmaster Gillies visited his house to persuade his father to allow Roderick to continue his studies. Although John is steadfast in his refusal, citing his need for Roderick’s assistance tending the croft, Roderick is grateful for Gillies’s visit. Soon after, Roderick finds work on Lord Middleton’s estate assisting the ghillie—a kind of hunt-master for the nobility. On his first day he meets Archibald Ross, a boy of roughly his age who is also employed assisting the ghillie, and Roderick immediately regards him as “the cleverest person [he] ever met” (45). Roderick is charged with carrying a large chest containing provisions for a picnic.