Whispers of the Dead dh-3

by Simon Beckett

The attempt to sound breezy faltered as he remembered my own circumstances. It was an innocent enough slip, but he looked relieved when the doorbell announced the arrival of Sam and Paul.

  ‘Sorry we’re late,’ Paul said, as Mary ushered them into the conservatory. ‘Got a flat tyre on my way home, and it took me ages to clean the damn oil off my hands.’

  ‘You’re here now. Samantha, you look positively radiant,’ Tom said, going to kiss her. ‘How are you?’

  Sam lowered herself into a high-backed chair, made awkward by her swollen belly. With her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, she looked fresh-faced and healthy. ‘Impatient. If Junior doesn’t hurry himself up we’re going to have words before much longer.’

  Tom laughed. ‘You’ll be doing the school run before you know it.’

  His mood had lightened with their arrival, and by the time we sat down for dinner the atmosphere was easy and relaxed. Dinner was plain and unfussy—baked salmon with jacket potatoes and salad—but Mary was a good enough cook to make it seem special. As she served dessert, a hot peach pie with melting ice cream, Sam leaned across to me.

  ‘How’re you? You don’t seem so tightly wound as last time I saw you,’ she said, her voice low enough not to be overheard.

  That had been in the restaurant where I thought I’d smelled Grace Strachan’s perfume. It seemed like weeks ago, although it was only a few days. But a lot had happened since then.

  ‘No, I don’t suppose I am.’ I smiled. ‘I’m feeling pretty good, to be honest.’

  She studied me for a moment or two. ‘Yes, you look it.’ Giving my arm a squeeze, she turned back to the main conversation.

  After the meal, Mary and Sam disappeared into the kitchen to make coffee, rejecting our offers of help. ‘You know as well as I do that you want to talk shop, and Sam and I have better things to discuss.’

  ‘Anyone want to lay odds on it being babies?’ Tom said after they’d gone out. He rubbed his hands. ‘Well, I for one am going to have a bourbon. Care to join me? I have a bottle of Blanton’s I need an excuse to open.’

  ‘Just a small one,’ Paul said.

  ‘David? Or there’s Scotch if you’d rather?’

  ‘Bourbon’s fine, thanks.’

  Tom busied himself at a cabinet, taking out glasses and a distinctive bottle with a miniature horse and jockey perched on top. ‘There’s ice, but if I go into the kitchen Mary’s going to read the riot act to me for drinking. And I’ll take your disapproval as read, David.’

  I hadn’t been going to say anything. Sometimes abstinence can do more harm than good. Tom handed us each a glass, then raised his own.

  ‘Your health, gentlemen.’

  The bourbon was smooth with an aftertaste of burnt caramel. We sipped it, savouring it in silence. Tom cleared his throat.

  ‘While you’re both here there’s something I wanted to tell you. It doesn’t really concern you, David, but you might as well hear it as well.’

  Paul and I glanced at each other. Tom stared pensively into his bourbon. ‘You both know I was planning to bring my retirement forward to the end of summer. Well, I’ve decided not to wait that long.’

  Paul set down his glass. ‘You’re joking.’

  ‘It’s time,’ Tom said simply. ‘I’m sorry to spring it on you like this, but… Well, it’s no secret my health hasn’t been good lately. And I have to think of what’s fair to Mary. I thought the end of next month would be a good time. That’s only a few weeks early, and it isn’t as if the center will grind to a halt without me. I’ve got a feeling the next director should be a good one.’

  That was aimed at Paul, but he didn’t seem to notice. ‘Have you told anyone else?’

  ‘Only Mary. There’s a faculty meeting next week. I thought I’d announce it then. But I wanted you to know first.’

  Paul still looked stunned. ‘Jesus, Tom. I don’t know what to say.’

  ‘How about “Happy retirement”?’ Tom gave a smile. ‘It isn’t the end of the world. I’ll still do some consultancy work, I dare say. Hell, I might even take up golf. So come on, no long faces. Let’s have another toast.’

  He reached for the bottle of Blanton’s and topped up our drinks. There was a lump in my throat but I knew Tom didn’t want us to be maudlin. I raised my glass.

  ‘To fresh starts.’

  He chinked his glass against mine. ‘I’ll drink to that.’

  His announcement gave a bittersweet flavour to the rest of the evening. Mary beamed when she and Sam returned, but her eyes glittered with tears. Sam didn’t try to hide hers, hugging Tom so hard he had to stoop over her pregnant stomach.

  ‘Good for you,’ she’d declared, wiping her eyes.

  Tom himself had smiled broadly, and talked out his and Mary’s plans, squeezing his wife’s hand as he did so. But underlying it all was a sadness that no amount of celebration could disguise. This wasn’t just a job Tom was retiring from.

  It was the end of an era.

  I was more glad than ever that I’d taken up his offer to help him on the investigation. He’d said it would be our last chance to work together, but I’d had no idea it was going to be the last time for him as well. I wondered if even he had, then.

  As I drove back to my hotel just after midnight, I berated myself for not appreciating the opportunity I’d been given. Resolving to put any remaining doubts behind me, I told myself to make the most of working with Tom while it lasted. Another day or two and it would be all over.

  At least, that’s what I thought. I should have known better.

  The next day they found another body.

  The images form slowly, emerging like ghosts on the blank sheet of paper. The lamp casts a blood-red glow in the small chamber as you wait for the right moment, then lift the contact sheet from the tray of developing fluid and dip it into the stop bath before placing it in the fixer.

  There. Perfect. Although you’re not really aware of it, you whistle softly to yourself, a breathy, almost silent exhalation that holds no particular tune. Cramped as it is, you love being in the darkroom. It puts you in mind of a monk’s cell: peaceful and meditative, a self-contained world in itself. Bathed in the room’s transforming, carmine light, you feel cut off from everything, able to focus on coaxing to life the images implanted into the glossy photographic sheets.

  Which is as it should be. The game you’re playing, making the TBI and their so-called experts chase their own tails, might be a welcome relief and flattering to your ego. God knows, you deserve to indulge yourself after all the sacrifices you’ve made. But you shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that it’s only a diversion. The main thing, the real work, takes place in this small room.

  There’s nothing more important than this.

  Getting to this stage has taken years, learning through trial and error. Your first camera was from a pawn shop, an old Kodak Instamatic that you’d been too inexperienced to know was poorly suited for your needs. It could capture the instant, but not in anything like enough detail. Too slow, too blurred, too unreliable. Not nearly enough precision, enough control, for what you wanted.

  You’ve tried others since then. For a while you got excited about digital cameras, but for all their convenience the images lack—and here you smile to yourself—they lack the soul of film. Pixels don’t have the depth, the resonance you’re looking for. No matter how high the resolution, how true the colours, they’re still only an impressionist approximation of their subject. Whereas film captures something of its essence, a transferral that goes beyond the chemical process. A real photograph is created by light, pure and simple: a paintbrush of photons that leaves its mark on the canvas of the film. There’s a physical link between photographer and subject that calls for fine judgement, for skill. Too long in the chemical mix and the image is a dark ruin. Not long enough and it’s a pallid might-have-been, culled before its time. Yes, film is undoubtedly more trouble, more demanding.

  But nobody said a quest was supposed to be easy.

>   And that’s what this is, a quest. Your own Holy Grail, except that you know for sure what you’re searching for exists. You’ve seen it. And what you’ve seen once, you can see again.

  You feel the usual nervousness as you lift the dripping contact sheet from the tray of fixer—carefully, having splashed fluid in your eyes once before—and rinse it in cold water. This is the moment of truth. The man had been primed and ready by the time you got back, the fear and waiting bringing him to a hair-trigger alertness, as it always did. Though you try not to build up your hopes too much, you feel the inevitable anticipation as you scan the glossy sheet to see what you’ve got. But your excitement withers as you examine each of the miniature images, dismissing them one by one.

  Blurred. No. No.

  Useless!

  In a sudden frenzy you rip the contact sheet in half and fling it aside. Lashing out at the developing trays, you knock them to the floor in a splash of chemicals. You raise your hand to swipe at the shelves full of bottles before you catch yourself. Fists knotted, you stand in the centre of the darkroom, chest heaving with the effort of restraint.

  The stink of spilt developing fluids fills the small chamber. The sudden anger fades as you stare at the mess. Listlessly, you start to pick up some of the torn scraps, then abandon the effort. It can wait. The chemical fumes are overpowering, and some liquid splashed on to your bare arm. It’s stinging already, and you know from past experience that it’ll burn if you don’t wash it off.

  You’re calmer as you leave the darkroom, the disappointment already shrinking. You’re used to it by now, and there’s no time to dwell on it. You have too much to do, too much to prepare. Thinking about that puts a spring back in your step. Failure’s always frustrating, but you need to keep things in perspective.

  There’s always next time.

  CHAPTER 11

  TOM CALLED ME before I left the hotel next morning. ‘The TBI have found human remains at Steeple Hill.’ He paused. ‘These haven’t been buried.’

  Rather than take two cars he came to the hotel to pick me up. There was no debate this time over whether I would accompany him, only a tacit agreement that he wasn’t going to try to manage by himself. I’d wondered what sort of mood he’d be in after the night before, whether there’d be any regret over announcing his retirement. If there was he hid it well.

  ‘So… how are you feeling?’ I asked, as we set off.

  He hunched a shoulder in a shrug. ‘Retirement won’t be the end of the world. Life goes on, doesn’t it?’

  I agreed that it did.

  The sun was out this time as we approached the paint-flaking gates to Steeple Hill. The thick pine woods bordering the lawns looked impenetrable, as though it were still night amongst their close-packed trunks.

  Uniformed police officers stood outside the cemetery gate, barring entry to the press who had already assembled outside. Word that something had been found had obviously leaked. Coming on top of the exhumation, it had served as blood in the water to the news-hungry media. As Tom slowed down to show his ID, a photographer crouched to take a shot of us through the car window.

  ‘Tell him he can have my autograph for ten dollars,’ Tom grumbled, pulling inside.

  We drove past the grave we’d exhumed last time and up to the main building. Steeple Hill’s chapel looked to have been built in the 1960s, when American optimism had extended even into the funeral industry. It was a cheap attempt at modernism, a flat-roofed, single-storey block that aspired to Frank Lloyd Wright but fell woefully short. The coloured glass bricks that made up one wall beside the entrance were grimy and cracked, and the proportions were wrong in a way I couldn’t quite put my finger on. A steeple was perched on top of the flat roof, looking as incongruous as a witch’s hat on a table. Mounted on its peak was a metal cross that resembled two rusty girders badly welded together.

  Gardner was standing outside the chapel, talking to a group of forensic agents, their white overalls grimed and filthy. He came over when he saw us.

  ‘It’s round the back,’ he said without preamble.

  A sudden sun-shower came from nowhere as we followed him round the side of the chapel, filling the air with silvered drops. It stopped as quickly as it started, leaving tiny rainbow prisms of light glistening on the grass and shrubs. Gardner led us down a thin gravel path that grew increasingly sparse and weed-choked the further we went. By the time we reached the tall yew hedge that screened the rear from view it was little more than a track worn in the grass.

  But if the front of the chapel was run down, it was behind the hedge that Steeple Hill’s true shabbiness was revealed. An ugly, utilitarian extension backed on to an enclosed yard that was strewn with rusting tools and empty containers. Squashed cigarette stubs littered the floor near the open back door like dirty white lozenges. An air of neglect and dilapidation hung over it, and presiding over it all were the flies, weaving round in excited circles over the refuse.

  ‘That’s the mortuary in there,’ Gardner said, nodding towards the extension. ‘The crime scene team haven’t found anything yet, but the Environmental Protection Agency aren’t too happy about York’s housekeeping.’

  The sound of raised voices came to us as we neared the doorway. Inside I could see Jacobsen, a good head smaller than the three men she was with, but with her chin lifted defiantly. I guessed two of the men were the EPA officials Gardner had mentioned. The third was York. His voice was a near shout, trembling with emotion as he stabbed a finger in the air.

  ‘… outrage! This is a respectable business! I will not be subjected to all sorts of insinuations—’

  ‘No one’s insinuating anything, sir,’ Jacobsen cut in, politely but firmly. ‘This is part of an ongoing homicide investigation, so it’s in your own interests to cooperate.’

  The funeral director’s eyes were bulging. ‘Are you deaf? I’ve already told you I don’t know anything! Have you any idea of the damage this is doing my reputation?’

  It was as though he didn’t see the squalor around him. He broke off mid-tirade as he noticed us passing.

  ‘Dr Lieberman!’ he shouted, hurrying out towards us. ‘Sir, I’d appreciate it if you’d help clear up this misunderstanding. As one professional to another, can you explain to these people that I have nothing to do with any of this?’

  Tom took an involuntary step backwards as the funeral director bore down on him. Gardner moved in between them.

  ‘Dr Lieberman’s here on TBI business, Mr York. Go back inside and Agent Jacobsen will—’

  ‘No, I will not! I am not going to stand by and see the good name of Steeple Hill dragged in the mud!’ In the morning sunlight I could see that York’s suit was grubby and creased, and a greasy scurf mark striped his shirt collar. He hadn’t shaved, and a frosting of grey whiskers crusted his jowls.

  Jacobsen had come to flank him, so that between her and Gardner the funeral director had nowhere to go. Next to his seediness, she looked freshly minted. I caught a waft of soap and a clean, unfussy scent from her.

  But there was no softness in her tone, and she held herself with a poised readiness. ‘You need to come back inside, sir. The gentlemen from the Environmental Protection Agency still have questions to ask.’

  York allowed her to steer him back towards the building, but continued to stare back at us over his shoulder.

  ‘This is a conspiracy! A conspiracy! You think I don’t know what’s going on here? Do you?’

  His voice echoed after us as Gardner ushered Tom away. ‘Sorry about that.’

  Tom smiled, but he looked shaken. ‘He seems pretty upset.’

  ‘Not as upset as he’s going to be.’

  Gardner led us towards the trees behind the chapel’s mortuary. The funeral home backed on to a substantial pine wood. Crime scene tape had been strung between the trunks, and through the branches I glimpsed white-suited figures at work.

  ‘One of the dogs found the remains in there,’ Gardner said. ‘They’re pretty well scattered
, but from a single individual so far’s we can tell.’

  ‘Definitely human?’ Tom asked.

  ‘Looks like. We weren’t sure at first because they’re so badly gnawed. Then we found a skull so it seems safe to assume they’re a matching set. But after Tri-State we aren’t taking any chances.’

  I didn’t blame him. The Tri-State Crematory in Georgia had made worldwide headlines back in 2002, when inspectors had found a human skull in its grounds. It proved to be the tip of a grisly iceberg. For no reason that was ever satisfactorily explained, the owner had simply kept many of the bodies he should have been cremating.

  Over three hundred human remains had been crammed into tiny vaults or stacked on top of each other in the surrounding forest. Some were even found dumped at the owner’s house. Still, bad as Tri-State had been, there was one important difference from the current situation.

  None of the victims there had been murdered.

  Gardner took us over to the edge of the woods, where a trestle table stood laden with masks and protective gear. A few yards away, the pines formed an almost solid wall.

  The TBI agent looked at Tom doubtfully, as though only now wondering about what he was asking of him. ‘You sure you’re OK to do this?’

  ‘I’ve been in worse places.’ Tom had already started opening a pack of disposable overalls. Gardner didn’t seem convinced, but when he realized I was watching he erased the concern from his face.

  ‘Then I’ll let you get to it.’

  I waited until he’d gone back to the mortuary. ‘He’s right, Tom. It’s going to be uncomfortable in there.’

  ‘I’ll be fine.’

  There was a stubbornness about him that told me I was wasting my time arguing. I zipped myself into the overalls and pulled on gloves and disposable overshoes. When Tom was ready we headed into the woods.

  A hush enveloped us, as though the world outside had been abruptly cut off. Pine needles shivered all around, an eerie sound in the graveyard setting, like the whispering of the dead. A thick mat of them lay like coir matting underfoot, pebbled with fallen cones. The clean scent of pine that seeped through my mask was a welcome relief after the squalor of the funeral home.