The third Friday

The third Friday is the recurring monthly date John Rebus infers for the private gatherings recorded in James Carew’s diary. It gives the activity a regular schedule, while Rebus’s reconstruction makes clear that important parts of what happened there remain uncertain.

The Recurring Schedule

Reading James Carew’s diary, Rebus judges that the gatherings took place on the third Friday of each month. The date is presented as a deduction from the diary, not as an independently confirmed timetable. In Rebus’s account, boys were brought back from Calton Hill to serve the clients; the evidence identifies this as part of the gatherings without detailing what took place.

Significance to the Investigation

The recurring date helps Rebus connect the diary to an organized pattern of private activity rather than an isolated occasion. He also considers whether Ronnie McGrath photographed the gatherings and whether those images might have been kept as insurance. But Rebus recognizes that the photographs were of little use as evidence or as leverage: the date and the suspected images illuminate the wider operation without resolving everything about it.