She Lies Beneath

by Frances Powell

  “And did you?”

  “Aye, I did. The sister used to come in here almost every day with a young man. They seemed really cozy, if you know what I mean, until one morning they had a right Barney. She pitched her tea right in his lap, she did.”

  Taking out her notebook and taking notes, “Did you happen to hear what the argument was about?”

  “Oh luv, what’s it always about? He was probably seeing another woman behind her back.”

  “You don’t happen to know this young man’s name, do you?”

  Shaking her head, “No, sorry.”

  Readying her pen, “Perhaps you could give me a description of him.”

  “Oh, I can do better than that. He’s the one sitting over there,” replied the woman as she pointed to a sullen-looking young man sitting alone in the booth by the window.

  Moving in quickly, Anne called a quick thank you over her shoulder and approached the young man.

  Holding up her ID, “PC Anne Parks, West Mercia Police.”

  “Yeah, what do you want?”

  Positioning herself between the young man and the door, she slid the photos of the two sisters across the table in front of him, “I believe you were acquainted with these two young ladies.”

  “Yeah, what about it, I know a lot of young ladies.”

  “I’d like to ask you a few questions about your relationship with these ladies, starting with your name. Now we can do it here, or we can do it at the station.”

  Pushing up from the table and heading towards the door, “I ain’t telling you nothing, copper.”

  Before he could even reach the door, his hands were wrenched behind his back as PC Parks placed him in cuffs, “Looks like it’s back to the station then.”

  After advising him of his rights, Anne placed the still-unidentified man in her back seat and phoned Cam at the station, “Sir, I’m bringing in a young man for questioning. He admits being acquainted with both sisters but refuses to cooperate. He refuses to even give his name. He was identified as having an argument with Beth shortly before she disappeared.”

  Cam looked across the desk at Sue and winked, “Good job, Anne. We’ll be waiting for you.”

  Putting the phone down, Cam smiled for the first time in days as he looked at Sue, “I think we may have just gotten our first break in the case. PC Parks is on her way back from Hereford with an uncooperative young man in custody who admits to knowing both sisters, and he was seen by a member of the public having an argument with Beth before she disappeared.”

  The fifteen-mile journey from Hereford to Ross-on-Wye took longer than the usual thirty minutes due to PC Parks having to pull over to deal with the combatant young man in her back seat. Foul language was one thing that Anne was able to ignore, but when her prisoner began kicking the back of her seat so hard that she could feel her steering wheel shake she’d had enough.

  “Settle down, now! All you are doing is delaying us getting to the station. If you don’t have anything to hide, then the sooner we can get there, the sooner you’ll be on your way.”

  Anne’s attempt at being polite was quickly met with another round of cursing and further kicking of her seat. Turning around and facing the road in front of her, “That’s OK then. I have all the time in the world. We can sit here all day for all I care.”

  After a few more grunts from the backseat, the young man calmed down, and they were on their way again. Arriving at the station, Anne found Cam and Dan waiting on the steps.

  “Is everything alright? We were just going to call you and see if you need assistance,” said Dan as he approached the car.

  “Everything is fine,” replied Anne as she climbed out of the front seat and helped her prisoner from the back and into the station.

  “Well, who have we here?” asked Cam as he followed Anne into the station.

  Standing in front of the sergeant staffing the front desk, Anne shrugged her shoulders, “No idea, he refuses to give his name.”

  Removing the cuffs from the prisoner, Cam instructed him, “Empty your pockets and place the contents on the counter.”

  As the young man emptied his pockets, the desk sergeant began slipping them into an envelope, speaking aloud, “One set of keys, one wallet, and thirteen pounds in coins, Sir.”

  Before he could slip the wallet into the envelope, Cam stretched his hand forward, “I’ll need to see that.”

  Flipping open the wallet, he looked at its contents and then at the prisoner, “Well, Mr. Charles Hopwood, we have a few questions for you, and the sooner you co-operate, the sooner you will be on your way. Is that understood?”

  Head bowed, the now docile young man simply nodded before being led back to the interrogation room. Turning to his sergeant, Cam handed him the prisoner’s ID, “Run him through the system and see if he has any other precious convictions.”

  Walking down the hall, Cam entered the interview room, sat down opposite the prisoner, and switched on the recorder, “Interview commenced at 14:25, for the record Chief Inspector Cam Fergus and PC Anne Parks attending. PC Parks will you caution the prisoner?”

  Stepping closer to the table and addressing her prisoner, “You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you fail to mention when questioned anything you later rely on in court. Do you understand?”

  Head down and staring at his folded hands on the table, the young man muttered, “Yes.”

  Sliding the picture of Ali across the table, Cam asked, “Can you tell us about the conversation you had with this young lady.”

  “Well, I was sitting in the coffee shop, and she came over and showed me a picture of her sister and asked if I had ever met her. She had been talking to the woman behind the counter, and she pointed me out as having known her sister.”

  “And did you?”

  “Yeah, it was Beth. We went out for a while until she got tired of me.”

  Cam was just going to ask about the argument that was observed by the woman behind the counter when there was a knock on the door, followed by Sergeant Parker, “Sir, can I have a word? It’s important.”

  Nodding in his direction, Cam rose to his feet, “Interview ended at 14:40” as he switched off the recorder.”

  Handing a sheet of paper to his boss, Dan Parker recited the information, “He’s got a GBH on a former girlfriend, sir.”

  “Well, that doesn’t sound good for him, does it?” remarked Cam as he turned and re-entered the interview room.

  Switching the recorder back on, “Interview resumed at 14:42, so Mr. Hopwood, would you like to tell us everything you told Ali?”

  “I told her that Beth and I had been going out last year and getting on fine, then one morning she walks in and tells me that it’s over and she’s found someone more in her league.”

  Cam looked puzzled, “league?”

  “Yeah, you know someone who’d been to uni and had money like her.”

  Leaning forward across the desk, Cam voice remained calm as he asked, “So, if she was breaking up with you, then why did she poor a cup of hot tea in your lap.”

  “I called her a money-grubbing bitch, among other things.”

  “I bet you wanted to get even with her for that, didn’t you? Like you got even with your last girlfriend that dumped you?”

  Startled and jumping to his feet, Hopwood asked, “What’s this all about? Has something happened to Beth?”

  “Sit down. Yes, Beth’s remains were found buried at Goodrich Castle. Have you ever been to Goodrich, Mr. Hopwood?

  “No, I don’t even know where that is. I’m from up north and have only been in Hereford for the last couple of years.”

  “When was the last time you saw Beth, Mr. Hopwood?”

  “After the day that she dumped me, we never spoke. I did see her around town for a couple weeks, always with the uni crowd. Then I figured she went back home to the States.”

  Nodding, Cam asked, “And did you tell all this
to Ali?”

  “Yes, everything but the names I called her sister. She was really a nice girl, much different from her sister. I told her about the last places I’d seen her sister and she left.”

  “Was that the last time you saw Ali? Is there anything else you can recall? You didn’t happen to arrange for her to meet someone who knew her sister, did you?”

  “Why aren’t you asking Ali these questions?”

  “I’m afraid we can’t. Ali has been murdered, and her body dumped on top of her sister’s remains.”

  Before Cam could even ask his next question, the young man gasped and began to sway in his chair. In an instance, Anne Parker was behind him supporting his body as he fainted dead away.

  Opening the interview room door, Cam yelled down the hall, “Sergeant, call emergency services.”

  Chapter 14

  Police procedure required that a physician be called if a prisoner suffered any type of medical emergency, so as Cam waited for the doctor to arrive, he re-joined Sue in his office. Sue had been watching and listening to the interview through the one-way mirror, and Cam was eager to get her professional observations.

  “So, what do you think of our suspect, Sue?”

  “Frankly Cam, I’m not convinced. I’m not sure he is capable of committing these murders or had the ways and means to do it.”

  Pacing back and forth and watching the hall for the arrival of emergency services, Cam finally perched on the edge of his desk and observed Sue as she began flipping through a stack of papers. Sue stopped and handed Cam the page she was seeking, “Appears your suspect is right-handed.”

  Cam thought for a moment before replying, “Yeah, why is that important?”

  “According to Mary’s autopsy diagrams and her notes, the person who strangled Beth was most likely a lefty.”

  Deeply exhaling, Cam stared into Sue’s eyes, “Well, we can hold him for twenty-four hours without charging him. After that, we’ll have to see if the magistrate agrees to grant us more time. The maximum they’ll grant is ninety-six hours, after that if we don’t have enough to charge him, then we’ll have to release him.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by Sergeant Roberts as he poked his head in the office, “Sir, Hopwood keeps drifting in and out of consciousness, so the medical team wants to take him to casualty to be checked. Do you want Anne or me to accompany them?

  “Anne can handle it. I need you here.”

  As soon as his sergeant returned to his office, after instructing PC Anne Parks to accompany the prisoner, Cam relayed Sue’s observations to him, “Sue feels that it is unlikely that Hopwood is the murderer, so we need to follow-up on the one lead he gave us about seeing Beth hanging around with the Uni crowd. First, stop at the coffee shop where Anne apprehended Hopwood and get a statement from the lady behind the counter. See if she can verify that the prisoner has been in there regularly and see if she noticed anything suspicious when he was talking to Ali. Then fan out and show the victims’ photos at some of the pubs nearer the university. Maybe someone will recognize one of the sisters. You can reach me on my mobile.”

  After Sergeant Roberts left, Cam picked up the phone and called Helen, “We’re just finishing up here, what time is dinner?”

  Helen balanced the phone receiver between her head and shoulder as she opened the oven door and slid the apple pie she’d just finished into the oven, “Dinner will be ready at seven. I just popped dessert in the oven.”

  “Great, gives us time to have a drink and relax before dinner, and Sue can tell us all about her new home.”

  The drive home only took a few minutes. Pulling into his drive, Cam and Sue climbed out of the car and headed towards the kitchen door. Before they went in, they stood quietly and gazed across the River Wye at Sue’s former home on the other side.

  Draping his arm around Sue’s shoulders, he looked down at her, “You were here for so long, and you and Alan put so much of yourselves into the restoration that I’m sure you miss it.”

  Smiling up into her friend’s concerned face, Sue hugged him as she replied, “Of course we do, at times. We have a lot of good memories there, but our work was done. The work we did has saved it for the future, and the new owners are lovely people. They’ll take great care of the gardens we planted. All that being said we are thrilled with our new home and can’t wait for you and Helen to come for a visit.”

  The kitchen door suddenly swung open, as Helen called out, “Would you like to take drinks on the patio or in the lounge by the fire?”

  Pulling her gaze away from her former home, Sue called back, “A glass of wine in front of the fire sounds perfect,” before turning and following Cam inside. The first thing that Cam noticed was still warm apple pie cooling on the wide windowsill, “That smells heavenly, Helen. Are we having custard with that?”

  Helen looked at Sue and winked, “Some men never grow up, and when it comes to custard, Cam is still a little boy at heart. He loves his custard.”

  After a roast chicken dinner, Helen and Sue returned to the lounge while Cam pulled on his marigolds and filled the basin to begin washing up when his mobile shrilled loudly. Ripping off his rubber gloves, Cam grabbed the phone off the counter, “Fergus….Yes, Dan, what did you find out?”

  Cam listened quietly before responding, “Good work, Dan. Call it a night and I’ll meet you in the office in the morning, and we’ll go from there.”

  Pulling back on his marigolds, Cam quickly finished the dishes and rejoined the ladies in the lounge. Pouring himself a glass of whiskey, he settled back in his favorite overstuffed chair and stared into the fire, deep in thought.

  Seeing the worried look on her husband’s face, Helen asked, “Is everything alright, Cam? I thought I heard your phone ring.”

  “Sorry, yes, everything is alright. That was Dan reporting in. He was up in Hereford, checking out our prisoner’s alibi. It would appear that Sue’s right. Seems that Hopwood is a regular at the coffee shop and lives close by. He is in there two or three times a day.”

  Sue was quick to note, “That in itself doesn’t exclude him.”

  Shaking his head, Cam said, “Oh, there is more. The woman behind the counter not only remembered his argument with Beth but also his meeting with Ali.”

  Sue countered, “Well, we knew that.”

  “What she didn’t tell Anne at the time was that a stranger followed Ali out of the coffee shop, and they walked down the street together.”

  “Well, that’s a start!” exclaimed Sue.

  Cam continued to stare into his glass of whiskey, “Well, not much of one. It seems that our mystery man came in with a group of students and went right to a table in the corner. One of the younger lads placed the order and picked it up, so she didn’t really pay attention to him. Apparently, she was busy waiting on other customers, and when she looked up, she only caught the back of him as he walked out the door. That was when she saw him engage Ali in conversation, and they walked off together out of sight. All she could tell Dan was that he appeared to be older, and on the tall side, fit looking and dressed well, like a professional. She assumed it was one of the younger lad’s father.”

  Thinking for a few minutes, Sue asked, “Did she recognize any of the lads?”

  Shaking his head, “According to Dan, she assumed they were students because of their age, but this was the first time she had ever seen them in the coffee shop. So looks like another dead-end.”

  “Maybe not Cam, if you recall from my initial assessment, the murderer is most likely an older, professional man. His physical description would match with my profile, and if he is fit like she says, then he could have managed the movement of the bodies.”

  While Sue and Cam discussed the case, Helen had excused herself to go make the custard for the apple pie. Emerging from the kitchen, she asked, “Anyone want coffee with their pie?”

  With everyone now gathered around the kitchen table and tucking into Helen’s delici
ous pie and drinking coffee, the conversation about the case was soon replaced by local news. Sue and Alan had missed the carnival this year for the first time in years, so Sue was eager to hear about all the events, as well as the proposed sale of the town’s landmark hotel. Finally, before heading for bed, the conversation turned to Mary, as everyone wondered how her date had gone that night.

  Chapter 15

  Mary opened one eye and groaned loudly. Her head was throbbing like a brass band rehearsing for a parade had taken up residence right between her eyes. Flopping back onto the mattress after unsuccessfully trying to push herself up on my elbow, she muttered out loud, “What the hell? I didn’t drink that much Champagne last night.”

  After three more attempts, Mary finally sat up and eased herself over to the side of the bed. It was then she noticed. Looking down, she suddenly realized she was stark naked. Squinting, she looked around her usually tidy bedroom. The new outfit she had worn to her dinner date the night before lay strewed all over the bedroom floor. Wrapping her coverlet around her, Mary reached for the blouse that lay closest to her feet and held it up. It was torn all the way down the front, and all of its buttons were missing.

  Sitting back on the edge of her bed, Mary tried to concentrate and remember what had happened last night, and how she had ended up naked in bed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember anything. Shuffling over to the window, Mary pulled the curtains aside and peered out into the courtyard. Her Land Rover was parked there in its usual spot, but there was no sign of the Professor’s car. He was gone.

  With the throbbing in her head growing in intensity, Mary grabbed her robe off the hook on the back of her bedroom door and made her way into the kitchen. Switching on the kettle, she rummaged in the cabinet above the sink until her fingers closed around a bottle of Paracetamol. Opening the lid, she dropped two pills out into her hand as she spooned copious amounts of sugar into her mug of tea.