“I suppose there’s less chance of being seen here than there is at the church,” Dani suggested.
“That make sense.” He craned his head to look at the carvings on the walls. “Still, does this mean something? Is he trying to tell us something?”
“That’s your department,” Dani told him.
He nodded and pursed his lips. “Hmmm, yes, I suppose it is. We’ll probably know more when we find out who she is, and what happened to her.” His stomach rumbled audibly, and he grimaced. “Have you eaten? I came straight here from the briefing.”
“I’ve got some biscuits in my car.”
He looked at her expectantly.
“Yes, you can have one.”
“Do you know where we’re supposed to meet up?” he asked, as he followed her out through the archway. “I came to the chapel because this seemed like the logical rendez vous point. Nobody told me to go anywhere else.”
“The only address I got is a B&B,” Dani said.
“Me too. They texted it to me before I drove down here.” He frowned, as if trying to remember something. “The Chapel View Guest House.”
“That’s what mine said as well.”
“Oh, so we’re staying at the same place? Cool.”
Dani had no idea what “cool” meant in this situation, so she didn’t reply. They reached her Discovery, and she opened the passenger door, taking out the Tupperware container of Elsie Carmichael’s ginger biscuits. She handed it to Sheridan.
He opened the lid and took out a biscuit before snapping the lid closed again and giving her the container. “Thanks.” He bit into the biscuit and, while his mouth was still full, said, “Wow! Did you make these?”
“No, my neighbour did.” She took out another biscuit and gave it to him before putting the Tupperware container back onto the passenger seat.
“Want to get a coffee?” he asked. “We could probably both do with the caffeine.”
He wasn’t wrong about that; the long drive from Yorkshire had made Dani tired. And there was no telling when the others would get here. “Sure, why not?”
“There’s a van serving food and drink out there,” he said, pointing at the gate.
She shook her head. “There’s also a flock of journalists hanging around it. I’m sure we can find somewhere quieter in the village.”
He nodded. “Sure. Shall I follow you, or you follow me?” He pointed at his Mini.
“Follow me,” she said, going around to the driver’s side of the Discovery and getting in. She started the engine and waited for Sheridan to get into his own car. When she saw him lever his tall frame into the small car, she inched slowly towards the gate. The female uniform opened it and gave Dani a short wave.
Dani drove through, checking in the rearview mirror that Sheridan was following before setting off down the hill. When she got to the main street, she spotted a place called the Sacred Spring Café, and drove into a small car park across the road from the establishment.
Sheridan parked next to her and arched his eyebrows at the building across the street. “It looks a bit New Age.”
“Well, that’ll keep the journalists away.”
He shrugged. “Okay.”
They crossed the road and entered the Sacred Spring. As Sheridan had guessed, the café was indeed based on a New Age theme, with soft pan pipe music floating from an unseen source, and posters of witches and elves on the walls. Decks of tarot cards and books on witchcraft, presumably for sale, sat on a bookshelf near the counter, and a faint smell of patchouli hung in the air.
There were people seated at some of the tables, drinking hot drinks and eating sandwiches, but the place wasn’t full by any means. Dani and the psychologist sat at a table close to the window.
“Hi, guys, what can I get you?” A girl in her twenties with dreadlocks and piercings came over to the table and looked down at them with an expectant smile.
“Just a coffee for me, please,” Dani said.
“I’ll have a coffee as well,” Sheridan said, grabbing a laminated menu from its wire holder on the table and quickly perusing it. “And a cheese and tomato sandwich, please.”
“Great,” she said, “Coming right up.” She disappeared behind the counter and relayed the order to a clean-cut young man who was manning a coffee machine.
“It’s all very Americanised now, isn’t it?” Sheridan said. “Even here in a quaint English village.”
Dani wasn’t sure what he was talking about. “Americanised?”
He gestured to the dreadlocked girl, who was now stationed behind the counter making his sandwich. “Calling us guys. Hi instead of hello.”
“I hadn’t really noticed.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps I notice it more because it reminds me of my time in Canada.”
“You mean the Lake Erie Ripper case?”
He nodded once, and simply made a “Hmm” sound.
The young man brought their drinks over and placed them on the table. Sheridan put milk and sugar in his and took a sip.
The girl brought his sandwich over. The psychologist took a sudden, intense interest in it and set about eating it with great gusto. “Crisp?” he asked, pointing to a handful that sat on his plate, along with a garnish of lettuce, tomato, and coleslaw.
Dani took one and popped into her mouth. The salty taste was sharp on her tongue. “You think about that case a lot, don’t you? The Ripper.”
He swallowed a mouthful of sandwich and nodded. “It’s left me with some scars, not all of them visible.” After taking another sip of coffee, he said, “You must know how that feels.”
She shrugged noncommittally. Just as she’d told Trudy Manners, she didn’t feel particularly effected by the fact that she’d been shot in the course of carrying out her duty. It had caused a massive inconvenience, but nothing more than that.
She wondered if her emotions had been dulled by the experience. She was sure there had once been a time when she’d experienced a more emotional connection to the world around her. Now, she sometimes felt as if she didn’t belong to the world at all; as if she were dead inside. Her inner coldness hadn’t been caused by the shooting; she was sure of that. Perhaps it had begun when Shaun had died. Her husband’s death had definitely contributed to it, but Dani was certain that the gradual dulling of her emotions had a longer history than that.
Her phone rang. She answered it and heard what sounded like a commotion of people in the background. Voices, ringing phones, and loud clatters that sounded like heavy furniture being moved around.
“Di Summers,” she said.
“Summers? Where are you? Are you still driving?” It was Gallow.
“No, sir, I’m in a café in Temple Well.”
“A café? What the bloody hell are you doing there? I need you at the mobile HQ. Now.”
She frowned. “I don’t know where that is, sir.”
“The IT people sent a text to everyone in the force, telling them to come to the HQ.” There was a pause, during which Dani was about to say she’d received no such text, then Gallow spoke again. “Oh, I suppose they haven’t put your name on the list yet. There was no point sending you the group texts while you were absent. Right, I’ll get them to send the message over to you. Then I need you here. There’s been a development.”
“A development, sir?”
He’d hung up.
Dani put the phone on the table and looked at Sheridan. “Apparently, there’s a text telling us to go to some sort of mobile headquarters.”
“Is there?” He rummaged around in his pocket and brought out his phone. “I turned this off to save the battery while I was driving.” He turned the device on and ate the rest of his sandwich while he waited for it to boot up. When the phone had finally come to life, he checked the screen. “Ah, yes, I have the address. And a missed call from Gallow.”
“We’d better get over there,” Dani said. Her phone pinged and she looked down at the screen. She had a text from Murder Force Information, whic
h she assumed was the name the IT department had given to the group they were using to get information to everyone.
“If you didn’t get that text before,” Sheridan asked, pointing at her phone, “how come you got the one about the B&B?”
“They’d have to send the accommodation texts individually, since we’re staying at different locations. The HQ one is part of a group they’ve set up.”
He seemed to think about that, then nodded. “Makes sense. I’d never have thought of that. That’s why you’re the detective, and I’m just a psychologist.”
Dani thought he was putting himself down too much; from what she’d seen of Tony Sheridan, he was a highly resourceful and intelligent man.
“We need to get over there,” she said, getting up from the table. “Apparently, there’s been a development.”
“Right, I’ll just pay for this. My treat.” He got up and went over to the counter. Dani pushed through the door and stepped out onto the street. A chill breeze had begun to move through the village, and dark storm clouds hung over the buildings.
Dani didn’t believe in omens, but still, she hoped this wasn’t one.
Sheridan came out of the Sacred Spring Café with his phone to his ear. He was saying, “Yes, okay. See you later. Bye.”
Putting the phone in his pocket, he turned to Dani and said, “That was Gallow. He rang me back. I found out what the development is.”
Dani raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Oh? Something interesting?”
“You could say that,” he said, as they crossed the road to the car park. “They’ve identified the girl on the altar.”
Chapter 7
The mobile HQ turned out to be a mobile command centre truck parked in a field just outside Temple Well. Dani flashed her warrant card at the uniform who was manning the gate and drove over the ruts and grass to where six cars were clustered together, forming a makeshift parking area.
As she got out of the Land Rover, Sheridan parked beside her and climbed out of his Mini. “Wow! What a view!”
Dani, who hadn’t noticed their surroundings, turned to see what he was talking about. Beyond the farm in which the mobile command centre was located, the landscape fell away into a green valley, only to rise again in the distance in the form of rolling hills that jutted high into the pale February sky.
She supposed there was a natural beauty to it, although the landscape seemed to be more tamed and cultivated than the wild, rugged moors back home.
“Come on,” she said. “Gallow won’t be too pleased if we stand here gawking at the view.” She walked up the metal steps that led to the command centre door and opened it, revealing a space inside that was occupied by a table and six chairs. Two TV screens were fixed to the wall, and one of them was currently showing a news channel, while the other—which was obviously hooked up to a laptop that sat on the table, showed a photograph of a smiling, dark-haired girl. It looked like a holiday snap; behind the girl, Dani could see a caravan.
Chris Toombs, the IT technician, sat at the laptop. He waved when he saw Dani. Gallow stood at the far end of the office, tapping on his phone. He was dressed in his uniform, as always, but he looked even smarter than usual, somehow. Dani wondered if he was preparing for a press conference. That was the only reason she could see for someone in Gallow’s position to come all the way here; he was going to deal with the media regarding the case.
DC Ryan was also standing at the far end of the room, deep in conversation with DS Matt Flowers.
“Ah, there you are,” Gallow said when he saw Dani and Sheridan. “Thought you’d got lost.”
Before they could reply, he gestured to the girl’s face on the screen. “We’ve identified the girl from dental records. Luckily, we had some idea about what records to check, based on missing persons from the area. Her name’s Daisy Riddle. She went missing while walking home from a friend’s house fifteen years ago. DCI Battle has gone to inform her parents, and then we’ll tell the press.” He checked his watch. “There’ll be a press conference in an hour.”
“Was she from around here?” Sheridan asked, pointing at the smiling girl’s face on the screen. “Temple Well, I mean.”
Gallow shook his head. “No, she lived in Castleton, which is about forty miles north of here.”
Tony nodded. “And how old was she?”
“Fifteen when she went missing.”
“And the bones they recovered from the altar. They’re congruent with her age at the time of her disappearance?”
Frowning, Gallow said, “Congruent with her age? What are you talking about?”
“I’m just making sure that Daisy’s remains aren’t those of a grown woman. Was she taken and killed straight away? Or was she kept somewhere?” He shrugged. “Perhaps she was a runaway and met her fate years later.”
“The pathologist’s report isn’t ready yet,” Gallow said. “When it is, those questions will be answered. But, apparently, the condition of the bones is congruent with them being in the ground for at least ten years, so if she was alive for any period of time, it wasn’t long. And the clothes she was found in, or what was left of them, are the same ones she was wearing on the day she disappeared. So, make of that what you will, Dr Sheridan, but I suggest you wait for the pathologist’s report before jumping to any conclusions.”
The psychologist nodded and said, “Of course,” but Dani could tell, by the faraway look in his eyes, that his brain was already working on the case.
“What’s our next move, sir?” she asked Gallow.
“The police in Buxton are sending us Daisy Riddle’s missing persons case file. I suggest you familiarise yourself with it, even though it’s fifteen years old. Until then, you might as well get settled into your new digs. It looks like we’re going to be here for a while. Get a feel for the village. Try and figure out why those bones were left here, in that chapel.”
He turned his attention to Sheridan. “That’s your area of expertise, of course, but I want you to share your findings with DI Summers. I want both of you to take an eagle’s eye view of the whole thing. She was taken fifteen years ago, so why did she turn up today? Why here? Make connections. Get us closer to an arrest.”
“We’ll do that,” Sheridan said.
“One other thing before you go.” Gallow let out a breath before saying, “Despite the fact that she hasn’t written a full report yet, the pathologist has already determined cause of death. Stabbing. Repeatedly, and quite viciously, apparently. There are numerous cuts on the poor girl’s ribs.”
Dani heard Sheridan mutter to himself but didn’t catch the words.
“Whatever reason the killer had for giving us the body after all these years,” Gallow said, “he’s slipped up. We had no idea where Daisy was, or what had happened to her, but now we have evidence we can analyse. That evidence brings us closer to justice for Daisy.”
Dani wondered if the superintendent was working on his speech for the press in his head. What he’d just said was a soundbite made for TV. The reality of the situation was that, evidence or no evidence, it was going to take a lot of work to find Daisy’s killer. Unless the discovery of the body gave them something miraculous, like a DNA hit, they were still stumbling around in the dark.
“Off you go, then,” Gallow said. “Let’s get this one solved.”
Dani followed Sheridan out of the truck. She wasn’t sure that solving this case was going to be as easy as the superintendent seemed to think. Battle had worked on the case when Daisy had first gone missing and he hadn’t been able to make an arrest, despite being one of the most diligent police officers Dani knew. Why should anything be different now, fifteen years later?
Stop being so negative, she told herself.
“The question we need to address first,” Sheridan said, “is why the killer left the body for us to find after all this time.”
“Remorse?” she suggested.
“It could be remorse, yes. He buried Daisy fifteen years ago, in a secret place, and the b
urial could, in itself, be an act of remorse. But why did he dig her up fifteen years later? The shroud he wrapped her in also suggests remorse.”
“But why now?” she asked, looking at the distant hills. “Why not leave her where he buried her in the first place?”
He let out a long breath. “I don’t know. This one is complicated.”
“Do you think Daisy was his only victim?” she asked, echoing a question she’d been asking herself since first learning of the body on the altar.
He pursed his lips and shook his head. “I think that’s unlikely.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
He nodded thoughtfully. Then he brightened and said, “Well, we can’t really do much until those files get here. We might as well get settled in, like Gallow suggested. I assume the B&B is close by.”
Dani wanted to get stuck into the case, but she knew the psychologist was right; until they had the case files, they had nowhere to start, no leads to follow. Getting settled in at the B&B sounded like a good idea. At least then she could think about the information she had regarding the case and explore the various scenarios that could have led to Daisy’s body being left on the altar in the chapel ruins.
She was sure Sheridan had suggested finding the B&B because he also wanted time to think.
“Yeah,” she said. “It shouldn’t be too far.” She got into the Land Rover and typed the address of the Chapel View Guest House into the SatNav. According to the map on the screen, the B&B was on the other side of the village, less than five minutes away. She started the engine and reversed out of the makeshift parking space.
Waving to the uniform at the gate, she drove out onto the main road and headed back to Temple Well.
She didn’t envy Battle his job of having to tell Daisy’s parents that their daughter was dead. Despite it being fifteen years since she’d vanished, they’d probably held some shred of hope that she was alive. Today, that shred would be torn away, and they’d have to face the fact that Daisy was never coming home.
Silence of the Bones: A Murder Force Crime Thriller Page 4