by K Leitch
‘I don’t know why I bother,’ sulked Frank, ‘I should go somewhere where my criminal expertise would be appreciated, where people listened to my views.’
‘Where…traffic?’ said Carla with a glint in her eye, ‘or perhaps you could go round the primary schools and talk about your job…oh the kids would love you. Big strong Sergeant Hill, oh yes…ouch ouwwch that really hurt…oooh you’re such a bully Frank,’ she said rubbing where Frank had given her a dead arm.
They had arrived at the mortuary now and so made their way inside the building. It was actually an annex of the hospital, but it had its own entrance and car park at the rear of the huge building. Dorothy was still in the middle of examining the crash victims, but she beckoned through the large glass window for them to join her, so Carla and Frank put on protective gowns and went in. The body she was working on was almost unrecognisable as human. The explosion had released such a terrible force that it had torn the bodies to pieces. Carla tried not to look at it; Frank on the other hand had no such qualms.
‘My god…which one is this Dotty?’ he asked looking closely at the almost severed head; Dorothy shook her head crossly at him.
‘Show some respect Frank. She may not look it now but this was Miss Denise Black, daughter and sister, and at the moment my patient.’ She turned to Carla, ‘I’m nearly done here Carla, but there is something I need you to see concerning victim number four if you’ll just give me a moment.’ She gave Frank another filthy look and carried on taking samples and talking quietly into the microphone that was hanging over the examination table.
Carla raised her eyebrows at Frank and he gave her a naughty school boy look. They wandered over to the very edge of the room.
‘Whoops, I seem to have struck a nerve,’ he whispered to Carla when they were out of earshot.
‘Dorothy takes her job very seriously Frank, she sees every one of these bodies as her responsibility until they are handed back to their families…it’s a good quality, don’t knock it.’
Frank had the grace to look shamefaced but didn’t say anything and they both waited quietly as Dorothy finished up, which she did quite quickly finally pulling the cover back over the poor mutilated body and moving the trolley to one side. She then pulled over another trolley on which lay the, as yet, unidentified body found under the helicopter.
‘Well I can tell you that this is a male, he‘s about sixty years old give or take, quite tall and well nourished and he was killed by a single shot to the head which entered here,’ she pointed to a large hole, ‘and exited here,’ she turned the skull and sure enough there was a corresponding hole in the back of it. I’m pretty sure he was not shot on the helicopter, we found no evidence of any bullet holes and if my guess is right I think that he was dead on the floor of the woods when the ‘copter went down.’
‘Which means,’ said Carla quickly, ‘that we are dealing with a murder, and also that there may be a bullet somewhere in that area. I presume your boys didn’t find anything?’
‘No, but then we weren’t looking for anything like that. I’ll get Dougie and the crew back up there later today, we’ll do a fingertip search, you never know we may get lucky. The other piece of good news is that our fellow here has a good intact set of teeth with a couple of expensive crowns, so it won’t take too long to identify him,’ she said as she went about covering up the body again.
‘Thanks Dorothy, let me know if anything else turns up and of course once you’ve got an ID will you…have the crash investigators found anything that I should know about?’
‘Oh well it’s early days yet, but they seem to think there was a problem with the fuel line, some sort of fuel leakage I think Brian said…but so far nothing that suggests foul play.’
Dorothy showed them out and it was a thoughtful Carla and Frank that drove the short journey back to the station.
Once back inside Carla called her team together.
‘Right, this is what we have got. One male victim, sixty years old or there abouts, gunshot wound to the head. We don’t have a time of death, but we need to start trawling through missing persons again, now we have a clearer idea of who we are looking for. Forensics are heading back up to the crash site again later today to search for the bullet. Frank I want you and Midge to go up as well, have a good look around you never know something might turn up, anything that looks like it doesn’t belong there…I know, I know …there’s a fucking great helicopter that doesn’t belong there, but you know what I mean. There may be a wallet or mobile phone that got dropped without the killer noticing or anything that might give us a clue as to who the fuck we’re dealing with here…ok, all know what you’re doing, fine get on with it then.’
There was a lot of mumbling as they all filed out, Carla went back to her office and started looking through the missing persons file. Out of the forty two people who had been reported missing in the Surrey area over the last two weeks, only twenty eight were male and only six of them were over the age of fifty. Carla got on the phone to follow up on the remaining six men. The first, Samuel Hume, had turned up safe and sound, Alfred Grimbly unfortunately was dead, a heart attack, he’d been taken to a hospital in Lingfield and had died there, he had no relatives that could be informed and so his body was still at the mortuary. Carla was just moving on to the third man when her phone rang.
‘DI Right,’ she said, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder whilst flicking through the screen.
‘Hello Detective, my name’s Stephen Lawson, I work in the probation office in Maidstone, Kent. I’m phoning about one of my clients, he hasn’t turned up to check in with me for a couple of weeks now and I was wondering if you might have had any sight of him, as he used to live in your area…his name is Giles Poole…?’
‘I know Giles Poole Mr Lawson,’ interrupted Carla, ‘he used to live near me, and actually I was the arresting officer in his case.’
‘Oh yes I can see that here, I was wondering if he had been back to…er Kenley over the last week or so. This isn’t like him you see, I’ve got to know Giles pretty well during his time in jail and since his release and he has always adhered very carefully to the rules…that’s why he got parole so easily, he obviously regretted his crimes bitterly and just wanted to get on with his life. I don’t mind telling you I am a bit worried about him, DI Right.’
Carla felt an awful suspicion rear its ugly head, ‘When did you last see him Mr Lawson?’ she asked.
‘Well as I said he has missed the last two Tuesdays, so about three weeks ago I would say…this just isn’t like him. Apart from anything else he was bringing me some of his special herbal tea that he has been making, amazing stuff…helps my arthritis no end it does, he’s like that, Giles…thoughtful you know.’
‘Yes I remember, well I certainly haven’t seen him myself Mr Lawson but I will ask around…maybe at the pub, and if I find out anything I will let you know.’
‘Thank you detective, I would hate to think that anything has happened to him, it’s not often you meet such a nice person in my line of work…a real gentleman that’s Giles Poole…well thanks again Detective, I’ll wait to hear from you.’
Carla sat for a while thinking about what she had just heard. Giles was the right age and height, and he could easily have been in this area…but who would have wanted to kill him…and why?’
She looked again at the stark police photograph of Poole on the screen in front of her. Gone was the debonair genial host that had been so familiar to the residents of Kenley village, every hurt and betrayal was etched onto the face that looked back at her. Poor Giles she thought sadly, what has happened to you, but she had an awful feeling that she already knew.
CHAPTER 16
Vanessa parked her car opposite the school. From where she sat she had a good view of the whole of the green, the church looked a little more weatherworn than it had when she’d last seen it, no doubt Reverend Sinclair was trying to raise money like mad to repair the roof or something, and no doubt the g
ood people of Kenley would rise to the occasion, just as she would have before.
The Bull was looking good…she had tried not to look at it for so long when she had first come back, but she had to admit it was looking good. She’d seen the new landlord, an enormous fellow with long dark hair and piercing green eyes, quite attractive if you liked that sort of thing…Vanessa didn’t. It seemed that stuck up bitch Maggie had invested in the pub as well, typical, she always was a bit of a lush…she was probably sleeping with the big hairy landlord, she was an absolute tart, everyone knew that. Vanessa felt her fingers curling into claws when she thought of Maggie fucking Wendover swanning around in HER pub. She forced herself to breath slowly, calm down…calm down.
Children were coming out of the school now, mothers were gathered round the gates chatting and laughing, waving to their own offspring and then shepherding them to various cars. Vanessa waited patiently for one particular mother to turn up; the gates were looking a bit bare with only a few straggling women left still gossiping. She had almost decided to leave it for another day when she spotted her running across the green towards the school. Carla Right rushed into the school gate breathlessly and a couple of minutes later emerged with her daughter Rosie sulkily bringing up the rear. Carla tried to talk her out of her sulks a couple of times but it seemed like Rosie was having none of it as she walked along behind her mother, her every step filled with teenage angst. She slowly followed the oblivious pair in the car, being careful to stay far enough behind not to be noticed, she followed until they went through the gates of a neat, modest semi about a mile from the school. She watched as Carla fumbled for her keys and eventually they both disappeared into the house. Her mobile rang and she rummaged in her bag for it, smiling as she recognised the picture on the screen.
‘Hi baby,’ she said in a sultry voice, ‘I was just thinking about you, what’s up? Oh that’s sweet honey, I miss you too…oh nothing special you know, just catching up on some old friends actually, but I’m heading home now, so I’ll see you later…yeh, love you too baby…bye.’ She ended the call with a smile on her face, swung the car round and sang loudly along with Blondie’s “Call Me” all the way out of Kenley village.
CHAPTER 17 – HELEN
‘Helen…Helen, is ready…is on the table,’ called Lena as she started setting out the evening meal. Maya was helping her, wrestling both the little ones into their high chairs and wrapping their bibs around them.
‘Mama, you sit now…I will do the rest, come sit, sit,’ she shepherded her mother to her chair and more or less forced the old lady to sit down, giving her a quick kiss as she did so. Helen came in and smiled at them all.
‘Oh my word this smells wonderful, Lena you are a culinary genius,’ she said as she went over and put her arms around Maya, ‘evening beautiful, how was your day?’ she asked her quietly, her heart warming at the wonderful smile she got back from Maya.
‘Oh I had a good day…you know Helen I will be starting in school soon. Mr Anglsy he says that once I have taken final tests this month he will find me placement in school…oh I am so excited but sooo nervous.’
‘You are going to be an amazing teacher love,’ said Helen smiling at her, ‘you have such a lovely way with children, you’ll have them eating out of your hands, won’t she Lena?’
Lena looked at her daughter proudly, ‘Of course…my Maya has special…um connection with little ones…I always know this, she will be great teacher.’
‘Ok enough now,’ said Maya blushing like mad, ‘enough about wonderful me, did you speak to gallery today Helen, what did they say?’
‘Well they were very apologetic of course and kept on about how they couldn’t understand why it was just my canvases that were targeted…blah blah blah, until finally they agreed to compensate me for them, like they were doing me a massive favour or something. It’s not like they’re not insured against this sort of thing, but the way the gallery owner was talking you’d think the money was coming out of his own pocket!’ Helen finished angrily.
A couple of weeks earlier one of the galleries in which Helen displayed her work had been broken into. Nothing had been taken but two huge canvasses, both Helen’s, had been slashed and covered in pigs muck. Helen had been devastated; more about the vandalism of her work than the loss of money, but then the gallery owner had started making nasty little comments about how it seemed to be very convenient that the two pieces vandalised just happened to be the ones that he was having trouble selling, as if Helen would somehow destroy her own work to collect the insurance money. Helen was furious when she heard and immediately got her solicitor on to the owner, with the result that he had backed down and agreed to pay the compensation.
Maya took her hand, ‘It’s no problem Helen love…it’s over now, let’s not think of it again.’
Helen squeezed Maya’s hand and thought (not for the first time) how lucky she was to have met this wonderful woman. Maya was so calm, and sensible, she always cut right through to the heart of any problem and dealt with it and then let it go. She was teaching Helen a thing or two, and not before time.
‘Where’s Sophie this evening?’ Helen asked, noticing for the first time that Maya’s eighteen year old daughter wasn’t at the table.
‘Oh she has date,’ said Lena excitedly, ‘she bring him home earlier to meet…nice boy…handsome.’
‘That’s all very well, but where did she meet him?’ said Helen anxiously, ‘what do we know about him?’
‘Is ok Helen,’ Maya shook her head at Helen, ‘they meet at college, I know him…it is fine, she is to be home by ten thirty, I have his mobile number.’
‘Sorry honey,’ said Helen trying to wipe spaghetti sauce off Abby’s face…and hands…and legs. ‘I just worry…that’s great that she’s finally met someone, what’s he studying?’
The conversation carried on throughout the meal, interspersed with the occasional baby cleaning dramas until finally, once both toddlers had been bathed and put to bed, they all went through to the living room to relax in front of the telly.
Lena was getting her daily fix of Jeremy Kyle on catch-up TV. Helen enjoyed watching her, she would get so wound up by the dramas unfolding on the screen, shouting at the TV and nodding her head sagely as Jeremy doled out his words of wisdom. Helen collected the post that had been left on the hall table for her and sat down next to Maya ready to be amused.
Lena watched transfixed as sixteen year old Lindy Lou was just bracing herself for the results of a DNA test that Jeremy had in his hands (would her boyfriend Jermaine turn out to be the father of her child or the dastardly Wayne who had dumped her a year ago after promising to be there for her and the baby)…suddenly Helen let out a cry and stood up in shock, holding out a letter that she had been reading.
‘What Helen…what has happened?’ said Maya standing as well.
‘That snivelling, pathetic, pussy whipped bastard,’ said Helen furiously; shocking Lena so much that she turned away from the screen for a minute, thus missing a furious Wayne shouting that it was all a set up and a sobbing Lindy Lou trying to pacify Jermaine who had just discovered that he was not the father as Jeremy waved the DNA evidence around triumphantly.
‘Who...Who has the pussy whipping…snivelling …who?’ she said.
‘Wills!’ almost shouted Helen, ‘only I know this hasn’t come from him, this is her…that nasty conniving…’
‘Yes, she is nasty cow,’ said Maya in exasperation, ‘but tell us what they have done?’
‘Apparently Wills doesn’t think that I am bringing up Abby in a healthy environment. Our ‘alternative’ life style can only be harmful to her and basically he thinks that she should be living with him. This is a letter from his solicitor…he’s going to try and get custody of her!’
CHAPTER 18 – CARLA
Carla woke to her phone ringing under the pillow next to her. She fumbled about for it.
‘Hello, DI Right,’ she mumbled her eyes still shut.
‘Carla
?’ it was Frank, Carla opened her eyes and focused in on the clock by the bed, it was four twenty seven.
‘What is it Frank?’ she whispered, James slept on beside her, he had learnt over the years to sleep through anything.
‘Sorry it’s so early, but a body’s been found, in a barn near Bushstead. Some kids went there apparently for a bit of ‘how’s your father’ got a nasty shock. Been there for a while looks like…the kids are in a right state…’ Frank would have gone on but Carla stopped him.
‘Ok Frank I get the picture, text me the directions I’ll meet you there,’ Carla was out of bed quick as a flash, years of practice of getting up early, she had washed, cleaned her teeth and donned her clothes all within a few minutes, and in no time at all was in the car heading towards Godstone village.
From Godstone she took the road towards Bushstead, looking carefully as she drove for the sign for Rooster’s Farm. The farm, once a thriving family business, had gone the way of so many during the recession and was now nothing more than an old deserted farm house and a couple of barns. Carla spotted the turning and started up the long unmade road that led to the house.
She could see the blue flashing lights long before the huge dark buildings of the farm itself came into view, and soon spotted Frank’s car parked alongside the others. Frank himself came over to her as soon as she was parked.
‘He’s in the larger of the two barns,’ he said without preamble, ‘been here a while from the state of him.’
‘I presume forensics are on their way?’ said Carla, she fell in beside him as they both made their way past the old farm house and on towards the outbuildings.
‘Yes she should be here any minute; I called her just after you.’
‘Good, well let’s go and have a look and then make sure that we try and keep the area as free from people as possible,’ as they approached the barns Carla noticed a young man and woman sitting on a wall near one of the police cars, there were a couple of uniformed officers with them, they both looked pale and scared, sharing a cigarette with shaking hands, Carla presumed these were the two that had found the body.