Catherine

by A J Hollingsworth

  'Not at all Rachel. If she was murdered by the killers hands around her neck then you would see the defined markings of fingers and the thumbs. I can confirm all of this when we get the body back to our lab and carry out further tests.'

  'OK, Geoff. I'll call in on you later,' Rachel responded before raising to her feet. DC Langley and PC Scott stood behind her in silence waiting for direction.

  Rachel studied the surroundings near the body, there were indents of footprints in the grass but more than just one pair, after all the forensics team and other officers including Rachel's own flats had walked over the area since the body had been hidden here. None of them would be clearly identifiable to a specific person. Logan began to stroll around where the bushes were and soon discovered a footprint that maybe of some use.

  'DCI Lambert,' he called out to Rachel. 'You may want to check this out.'

  Rachel moved over to where Logan was and saw clearly a trainer footprint identified in the soil around the back of the bushes. A size ten she would have estimated at first glance and it was clear to see the symbol from the manufacturer indented into the soil. It was an Adidas trainer, not that that would help to make an instant break-through in the case. Thousands of trainers carrying the manufacturer symbol would have been sold across the city of York within the last few months alone. Searching through hundreds of outlets who would have sold the same type of trainer would be the equivalent of looking for a needle in an haystack. However, Rachel ordered forensics to take a plaster copy of the indent and detailed photographs.

  Any murder investigation was never straightforward and while a single footprint would never catch the murderer directly it could help the team discover features about them. The depth at which the footprint sank into the soil would give a clear idea of the weight of the murderer and also if there was any particular side of the foot they would have a preference to put pressure on. All these indicators would help Rachel and Logan narrow down a list of suspects.

  Geoff instructed his colleague to make up the plaster ready for the copy, while he grabbed hold of the camera and walked over towards Rachel and Logan were stood, photographs were quickly snapped after a measuring gauge had been placed down around the imprint. Rachel was correct, the size of the trainer was deduced to be a size ten and the imprint would indicate the design of the trainer would most likely belong to a man. It was a start for them at least.

  'Rachel,' called Tanya, Rachel looked up not noticing that Tanya had stepped to one side as she had answered a call on her mobile. She signalled for Rachel to step over to one side away from Logan for one minute. 'Do you have your mobile phone on you?'

  Rachel thought what a strange question to be asked by Tanya, but checked her pockets without any hesitation, her face scrunched slightly as she looked at Tanya puzzled. She couldn't find it on her. 'No, Tanya. Why?'

  'I've just received a call from Nathan, he tried yours but only got your voice-mail.'

  'I must have left it in the car. Everything OK?' the concern in her voice echoed through.

  'Yes, everything is fine. He's just wondering if there is any update. He says Stephanie is becoming edgy.'

  'Figures, that woman gets under my skin and I've only met her a couple of times at those work dinners that Nathan insist I attend with him,' Rachel grumbled.

  'Can I borrow your phone Tanya?' Rachel asked. Tanya was already prepared for the question and was holding out her mobile phone before Rachel had finished the question. 'Thanks, I'm all over the place today.' Rachel walked away a few paces away from any prying ears and called Nathan. He was quick to answer and with his tone on the phone she could tell that Stephanie had already driven him to the edge and it wouldn't be much longer before he was shoved over the edge. She promised him she would be as quick as she could and she would need to speak to Stephanie herself regarding Catherine.

  She began walking back over to Logan who had something in his hand.

  'What have you found Logan?' she asked as she reached within hearing distance. He held out his surgical gloved covered hand and sat in the middle was a small piece of jewellery. She looked closer and just slightly bigger than the size of a fifty pence coin was an angel brooch. The angel had her wings spread open in flight above her head with little Diamante's etched in the edge of the wings and a small featureless face with a pink shaded full length dress from neck to feet, with a glimpse of her white shoes with her toes pointing out giving the impression of her in flight.

  'Where did you discover it Logan?'

  'Over there under that bush,' Logan pointed to a spot that was three feet away from the body towards the wall that backed on to the River Ouse.

  'Get forensics to do a full work up on it and we can cheek later, may not even belong to the victim.'

  'No problem, DCI Lambert. What do you want to do now? Lennon is still chomping for an Headline!'

  'Let him chomp a bit longer yet, we have a meeting set up the the Chancellor of the University. That's where we'll head next.' She turned to look at Tanya, 'make sure everything is recording and photographed for me Tanya and keep the crowd from the site. Don't need any idol gossip at the moment.'

  Chapter 4

  Rachel and Logan had been informed by PC Tanya Scott that Stephanie Wellbeck, the Vice Chancellor of York University, was held up in her office waiting for Rachel and Logan. Nathan was also waiting for the pair as moral support, so he called it earlier that morning.

  'Your car or mine?' asked Logan as he walked alongside Rachel away from the body of Catherine as the forensics team finished off collecting evidence and snapping away with their cameras.

  'Let's walk Logan, the fresh air is clearing my mind,' Rachel replied.

  Stephanie's office was located in the West building, a little over twenty minutes walking distance away from their current location.

  'I'm surprised to see you her today Rachel,' observed Logan.

  'Why wouldn't I be?' asked Rachel.

  'I heard you had something special planned with your husband today.'

  'It's our sixth year wedding anniversary, but that wouldn't stop me from being here Logan.'

  Logan hummed and nodded loaded with insinuation in a way that immediately crawled under Rachel's skin. She raised her eyes back at him so he could see.

  'I know my wife would have not have been impressed.'

  'Nathan understands Logan,' she responded with firmness and disbelieve that a man like Logan would not have let down his wife once or twice.

  'Well, that's the nature of what we do, isn't it?' asked Logan rhetorically. 'We have our own divine commitment to this job and ultimately when it comes calling we have to come running. That's the nature of the beast. You are very fortunate to have found someone like Nathan.'

  'Yes. I am.'

  Rachel picked up the pace a little and started to head out in front of Logan by a couple of paces, she was not in the mood for dealing with his personality today. Maybe asking the Superintendent to work alongside Logan had now been the wrong decision but at least she was able to keep an eye on him. What would he be like digging away at her in the background?

  Fifteen minutes later there had reached the University. The large opposing stone built Heslington Hall had been on the site for almost five hundred years and was now deserted. The students opting for a morning in bed as opposed to getting ahead in their studies. Rachel had been one of those that would have been in the library by now squatting up on the latest text assigned to her by her professors. She enjoyed every second of her University life but by her own admission was a geek. She was the type of student who would be the first to hurry back to her dorm room to start work on the latest assignment the minute it had been given to her.

  She had been dumbfounded by the other students around her who casually took on their studies, this was their future and their parents had spent a small fortune on it for them and they would opt to spend the majority of their time getting drunk and staggering half asleep in to their lectures and hiding at the back for th
e odd five minute power nap through the lecturer talking. She would sit near the front with her pen armed and ready between her fingers.

  They walked down the paved path lined either side by small fern bushes all neatly cut with right angles framing the edges, it was obvious that somebody had taken great pride and effort in their work. Rachel considered whether Stephanie Wellbeck had overseen the work. Nathan had talked about her at home, maybe not so much talked as complained about her at home. She was a stickler for the rules, but then so was Nathan. Despite that similarity they would often class over many academic matters, there was some irony in that.

  They both continued to walk along the path up to the large wooden door, an oversize Oak door with solid iron fixings attached to them. The Grade II listed building had been immaculately maintained and the majority of original features had been restored or re-manufactured. The building was both opposing and understated at the same time. Built an a U-Shape design and a large lawn area in front of the main entrance, it was ever consuming you as you walked away from the main cast iron double gate. Four large windows on both sides of the main door were encased by two full-height of the building atrium's protruding out-wards with windows resting on top of one another combining to make walls of glass staring your own reflection back at you as you approached.

  The pair entered through the door to a large vestibule under highly decorative coved ceiling resting high above their heads with a large chandelier in the centre of an ornate ceiling rose that was as wide as Rachel's lounge, or at least appeared like it was. She looked at the three tier brass rings on top of one another starting from small to largest at the bottom where brass arches hung in the reverse from their norm with large glass stained decorated bulbs that shone patterns of ballerina's onto the ceiling when they where illuminated. The floral wallpaper that covered the top two thirds of the highs walls was old fashioned that reminded Rachel of her Grandmother's home before it was broken horizontally by an oak aged dado rail followed beneath by plain magnolia painted walls to the high sheen white skirting boards.

  'Can I be of assistance?' asked a woman walking down the magnificent staircase in the centre of the entranceway.

  'We wish to speak with Chancellor Wellbeck,' responded Logan.

  'You must be the detectives. I'll just find out if she is ready. I'll not be one moment. Please, take a seat while you wait.'

  Logan pointed for Rachel to take a seat first, attempting to be a gentleman, she nodded. The chairs were high backed and leather, she hated them. The back made her feel like she was sat in church and she found herself digging her heel into the floor to prevent her from sliding off the chair, ultimately making her land flat on her bottom on the floor. She sat looking at the vast staircase that was wide at the very bottom step with rounded wooden banisters that curved as the steps became their narrowest halfway up before widening again up to the very top.

  'Chancellor Wellbeck is available now if you would like to follow me,' the tiniest woman Rachel had ever laid eyes on, said from the top of the staircase that she hadn't been able to take her eyes away. She, for some unexplainable reason, the nerves were racing through her sending her heart into overdrive so that she could swear she could hear her heartbeat above anything else. She took each every step following the tiny woman, who she assumed was Wellbeck's assistant, up and around to the right along a long corridor past several doors that were shut before at the end of the corridor they approach a large open area that was being occupied by a highly polished walnut desk with a desktop computer and a couple of photographs of the tiny woman with her husband.

  The tiny woman knocked on the door and waited for an answer which come quickly and she opened the door. After Rachel and Logan entered the tiny woman closed the door behind them.

  'Good Morning Rachel,' said Stephanie Wellbeck cheerfully. 'Oops. I suppose it's not a good morning really. How silly of me. I'm in shock I guess, not really sure how I should feel or react to this sad news.'

  Chancellor Stephanie Wellbeck stood behind her desk in all her splendid glory like Jesus did at the 'Last Supper' with her arms outstretched in the same manner as he was painted by Da Vinci. She had shoulder length straight brunette hair held in a bun style framing her wide inviting smile with the bright red lipstick glittering away under the fluorescent lighting of her office. Navy blue eye shadow made her eyes look vacant with her deep set sockets and coal black eyes. She beckoned for the pair to take a seat a piece at her desk, they did as requested.

  'Can you tell me who it is?' she asked as she sat in her plush tanned leather chair leaning forward with her elbows resting on the edge of the desk and her fingers linked together under her chin.

  Logan looked at Rachel with the expectation she would take the lead, she in turned looked over at Nathan who was standing by the window behind Stephanie like a naughty schoolboy who was being punished by standing in the corner.

  'Catherine Holmes. I'm sorry,' Rachel said sympathetically. Stephanie gasped and Nathan coughed with the revelation of the news. 'Did either of you both know her?'

  Stephanie looked at Nathan and then back towards Logan and Rachel realising that she had forgotten her manners. 'I do apologise, this is-'

  'Nathan Lambert,' interrupted Rachel. 'My husband Logan.' The news brining an instant raised eyebrow from Logan. She knew that would lead to many questions from him later but for now her main priority was finding out as much as she could about Catherine. This conversation was vital, her parents had been informed, but they would not be there for a couple of hours yet and the people who would be able to tell the most vital information would already be here.

  'She was in my class, I was her lecturer,' revealed Nathan. Logan made a low one note hum sound as he began to make notes of the conversation.

  ◆◆◆

  'How well did you know her then Mr Lambert?' asked Logan.

  'She had been one of my students from the first day she attended here, she had huge potential.'

  'That is nice Mr Lambert, but I did not ask "how long you had taught her for!"'

  'Logan,' Rachel said sternly, Logan looked at her with a knowing look that she had been dying to ask that question. A young girl turns up dead and is being taught by her husband. What else was he expected to be thinking. 'I just want to clarify all the facts Rachel.'

  She looked up at her husband, 'What DC Langley means Nath, did you know her personally at all?'

  'It's OK Rach, I know what he meant. DC Langley, no I didn't. I knew her only on a student and professor basis.'

  'Very well,' Logan conceded, wondering still if he was being fully honest.

  Rachel looked at Stephanie with an apologetic smile. 'Who were her friends?'

  Stephanie moved back in her chair clearly considering the question. 'You know DCI Lambert, I'm not sure if she had many. She was a fantastic student. I'm sure you can appreciate as a leader yourself, I categorise students into three groups. The ones that I know almost on a personal level because they spend the majority of their time in my office giving their usual pathetic excuses why they are failing their studies or not even turning up for lectures. The quiet ones that blend into one another and being completely transparent with you I could tell you one of their names and finally the group that I love to observe. The prodigies for the future, that I keep a very close eye on wishing for them to reach for the stars and grab one with both hands and hold on tightly. Catherine was in the last group, she was going to be the one that would help build and grow this University. Let's give Cambridge and Oxford a run for their money, eh?'

  Rachel couldn't help but smile at Stephanie's confidence in the ability of the University and could have tossed a coin to decide whether she was just simply incredibly ambitious or just disillusioned. One way or another she wasn't of the opinion that Oxford or Cambridge any anything to be concerned about.

  'What subject was she studying?' pitched in Logan.

  'English,' responded Rachel forgetting for a moment who the question was aimed at, but instea
d letting her pride in her husband show. 'Sorry,' she said almost in a whisper, embarrassed with Logan's eyes burning into her.

  'She was in her final year of her three-year Bachelor of Arts Honour degree. She was going to change the world of literature forever.'

  'Change the world? Extreme expectations, perhaps?' asked Logan.

  'Any of my other students, DC Langley and I would be agreeing with you strongly but Catherine was different,' Nathan said fondly. 'She would ask for my opinion on her own literature. A lot of my students are budding writers, nature of the beast I suppose. Most would make a modest income as a writer too. Catherine was primed for revolutionising the way we understand how stories could be told and even how we read them. She had already passed the level at which the majority of my students are now before she even enrolled for this University. She was a star in the making.'

  Rachel smiled at Nathan. Not an everyday friendly smile or a a smile filled with reservation or doubt, but a smile brimming with pride and adoration for a man who was as passionate for his work as she was. She loved listening to him talk about literature even if she was unclear what he exactly meant, she could still enjoy listening to every word with an unbridged glee that consumed her very being and consume her with an overwhelming gratitude that she had met such a man.

  'Well, now she is dead and that dream has died with her Mr Lambert,' Logan said with the same amount of coldness as the words he chose to use.

  'Yes and what a tragedy, don't you think DC Langley?' asked Stephanie looking at Rachel and not Logan who the question was directed at.

  'Yes. What a tragedy!' Logan repeated.

  'Can you think of anybody who may have had a reason to...who may not have liked Catherine?' re-phrased Rachel as she attempted to continue with the conversation.

  'Like I said she was quiet and kept herself to herself, I couldn't imagine anyone intentionally hurting her. She had a boyfriend, I forget his name-'