Brutal Pursuit

by Diane M Dickson

  When the dirty van pulled up, she could hear that the others were already inside, mumbling and clearing their throats, shuffling on the floor. The driver pulled open the sliding door and stood back to let her clamber in. The men shuffled closer together. There was an early morning stink of dirty clothes and bad breath, farts, and body odour. She breathed through her mouth. Emi dragged herself inside and lowered slowly to the floor and the door slid shut with a rattle.

  Chapter 11

  The witness didn’t add much to what Tanya had already been told. Robert, ‘call me, Bob’ Peters, had cast his line and been surprised to have a bite so quickly. Immediately he started reeling it in, he’d known it was not a fish.

  “People throw rubbish in,” he said, “I just thought it was a bag of rags or something, maybe some drowned puppies.”

  He was surprisingly calm, but two tours of duty in Helmand Province and his current work with the traffic officers, scraping bodies off the motorway, accounted for that. He admitted that he had been shocked at first but, no, he didn’t need counselling, or accompanying home.

  “Is there anything else you can think of that seemed odd to you? Did you see any other cars, anything at all?” Tanya asked.

  “No, just the bag and I didn’t look at that very closely. I’ve seen enough of that sort of stuff.” He gave her a wry smile. “I suppose my fishing’s over for today then, eh?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid so. Thank you for your assistance.”

  She handed over a card with her name and rank. “If you need any help in the future – from the victim support services, for instance – or if you remember anything else, just give me a ring.”

  She addressed the uniformed officers briefly and left them in the care of a grizzled old sergeant who had seen this sort of thing before. He had them stepping out into the rain, wearing what he described as ‘bloody silly babygrows’ but with clear and explicit instructions which left her in no doubt that, in the unlikely event there was anything to find, his team would find it.

  The underwater guys were ready to enter the lake.

  “We haven’t found any sort of weapon yet,” she told them. “We still don’t know for certain whether this is the head to match our body, but it seems that it’s likely. Heavy knives, saws, something that will do this to a person – that’s the sort of thing we’re looking for. But you’ve done this before. If there’s anything there, I need you to find it for me.” Tanya left them and headed back to her car.

  She was wet to the skin and dirty. She needed to go straight to the office but couldn’t remember what clothes she had in her locker. The last time she had been in there had been before her injury. There wasn’t time to go home. As the thought crossed her mind, she realised – for the last few hours, she had given no thought at all to her domestic situation. She still had to sort things out about Serena.

  She picked up her phone and quickly scanned the messages looking for Fiona’s name. There was nothing, not even an acknowledgement of her curt voicemail. With a sigh, she threw the phone onto the passenger seat and drove out of the parking area. Her car jolted and jerked back down the narrow path towards the main road. It would have to be dealt with, but right now the main thing was the case. It was time to mobilise the team, to move forward, and at least find out who had been left in a fishing lake, discarded like a ‘bag of rags’.

  It was now almost eight-thirty. She called Paul Harris and told him to get the rest of the team organised as quickly as possible. “Kate has things set up in the office. Operational name is Rambler. There has been a significant development and I’ll be there very soon.”

  * * *

  By the time she reached headquarters, they were there. They had already taken up the usual spots, the same desks and when she looked in on her way to her old office, it was to a round of warm greetings. Even Sue Rollinson joined in with an enthusiastic, “Great to see you back, ma’am.”

  “I’ll just drop my bag and get into some dry things, then I’ll be back in for a briefing. There’s a post-mortem later. Paul, will you attend with me?”

  The detective sergeant nodded at her.

  The office was in darkness. She turned on the overhead light; her desk waited for her, bare except for a couple of cables ready for her laptop and a landline phone. Standard equipment, even though it was hardly used these days. There were a couple of empty metal trays. It was dusty and neglected looking. Someone had been in while she was away on sick leave and taken away the other workstation – Charlie’s desk. The extra space made her feel very alone. She looked at the dings in the carpet and the stain where he had spilled coffee.

  Did she need someone; someone to bounce the ideas off? Someone to rant to when things went wrong? There was a time when she would have said, no, she was fine on her own, better in sole charge. But now, because she had come to rely on his quiet resolve, alone didn’t seem quite enough.

  She could hear them in the squad room. They were a good team but none of them was Charlie. She shook off the gloom, now wasn’t the time to turn soft. She stamped along the corridor and pulled jeans and a grey wool sweater from her locker. They were reasonably clean but smelled fusty. It wouldn’t have to matter – she sprayed some deodorant around. She was ready.

  Time to get to work.

  When the office door opened, she expected Kate, or maybe Paul, not the tall dark-haired stranger who nodded at her and stepped into the room. “DI Miller?” he asked.

  She nodded, and he walked towards her, his hand extended.

  “DS Finch. Brian.” He glanced around. “So, in here or out there?” He waved a hand towards the corridor leading to the incident room.

  “What, wait. I don’t understand.”

  “Oh.” He blushed, stretched his lips in a grimace. “Awkward!” he said. “I thought you’d been informed. I’m supposed to join the team. DCI Scunthorpe said he’d let you know. I’m in limbo a bit. Just taken my Inspector’s thing.” He held up his hand, fingers crossed. “Should be okay I think, but until I have the result…”

  Tanya glanced down at her phone. There hadn’t been any messages from the DCI. She hadn’t had a chance to check her email properly. Even so, this wasn’t right. She should have been properly informed, introduced. Maybe she should even have been involved in the decision. She felt a flash of irritation. She would speak to the DCI, but not now. For now, the main thing was to get the others organised, try and bring in some civilian assistants to go through the CCTV and Traffic Cameras, and then go to the post-mortem.

  She frowned at Finch. It wasn’t his fault. “Look, there are spare desks in the other room. Can you sort yourself out? This is all still early stages.”

  She could tell by his face that she had offended him; he had expected a more friendly reception. Not the best start to a working relationship. She closed her eyes briefly. She’d messed up the personnel side of things again, hadn’t she? She summoned up a weak smile and held out her hand. “Sorry, sorry. Welcome on board. It’s all a bit confused and rushed right now. We’ll have to have a chat. Later, yeah?”

  He shook her hand, picked up his bag and walked to the door. “I’ll just go and find a place to park myself then.” He left the room.

  Shit, Bob, thanks a lot.

  Chapter 12

  The newcomer had dumped his bag on a spare desk in the corner and, when Tanya joined them, had already introduced himself, shaking hands with the rest of the team. Sue Rollinson handed him a cup of coffee. Tanya swallowed a grin. The young woman wasn’t wasting any time. Mind, he was easy on the eye, this newcomer. Tall, dark-haired, fit looking with a ready smile; and his suit and tie made Paul’s jeans and hoody look decidedly shabby. Then again Paul was decidedly shabby.

  Dan Price turned as Tanya moved towards the whiteboard and raised his eyebrows at her. She smiled back at him. He was more comfortable with them now. Now they all knew that he was gay and accepted him totally. He had let go of some of his natural diffidence and she was sure, as his confidenc
e grew, he would do well in his career. He was sharp and keen.

  “Okay, sorry about this, guys. This is Detective Sergeant Brian Finch, soon to be Inspector Finch.”

  The new member of the team gave a quiet laugh and raised crossed fingers.

  “I didn’t have the chance to introduce him properly.”

  DS Finch knew that it was because she hadn’t been forewarned. It would be a test of his discretion if he kept that fact to himself.

  “Sorry, boss, I introduced myself. Thought it would save some time.”

  “That’s great, thanks, Detective Sergeant. Things are moving fast. You’ve arrived along with this new development, so familiarise yourself with the body.” Tanya pointed at the hideous pictures that Kate had posted on the whiteboard. “We don’t have much more than that. I think it would be best if you come with Detective Sergeant Harris and myself to the post-mortem exam. And then you’ll be up to date.”

  He nodded.

  “Right, now,” Tanya addressed them all, “as you’ve heard we’ve found a head. Don’t have many details yet. However, for the moment it makes sense to assume it’s from our victim. I need more detailed interviews with the members at the golf club. Ask about strangers hanging around, unusual activity around that tee. Is that what you call it? Whatever. But wait until we see what this new find can tell us. With luck it might bring us nearer to an identification. I’d be grateful for anything at the moment.”

  She turned to Detective Lewis, “Kate, can you have some of the civilians viewing CCTV of the wider area for the past week? If we can match a car from the golf club with one anywhere near the lake that would be a big move forward, but really anything that seems odd. The club, the lake, and all points in between. After the morgue, I’m going back to do the interviews with our two original witnesses, the blokes who found the body. They may have remembered something else, but as they found this poor sod days after he was dumped there, I’m not hopeful. To be honest guys, just now, we have nothing. So, think outside the box.”

  She was aware of Finch’s eyes on her the whole time. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he was judging her and assessing her performance. She was irritated that he had arrived the way that he had. She texted a message to DCI Scunthorpe’s office requesting a meeting as soon as possible.

  Chapter 13

  Before she had a chance to put it away, the phone vibrated, and Tanya was surprised to see Simon Hewitt’s ID. She glanced around the room. “I’ll take this. Hold on.” She listened without comment, but as she slid it back into her pocket, she sighed and rubbed a hand over her face.

  The team watched in silence, and tension rose in the room as she moved towards the whiteboards. “Right, that was the morgue. They’ve extracted the head from its sack. The other objects in there, were, as expected – hands. Two.” She paused a moment. “The head is female.” She let the hubbub break around her, using the moment to try and still her own seething thoughts.

  Paul Harris was the one who put it into words. “Well, that’s put the cat among the pigeons …make no mistake.”

  “You could say that. Two separate discoveries, two crime scenes. I need to get on to DCI Scunthorpe; we need the divers back in the lake – they need to do the whole area, now they are looking for a body.”

  She glanced at Kate Lewis who nodded. “Doctor Hewitt thinks there could be a chance of identification through the teeth. They’re taking impressions and photographs now. Paul, you need to get over there.”

  She turned to the newcomer. “Will you go as well, get me whatever you can, about both of them. I’ll have to stay here and speak to DCI Scunthorpe, we’ll need more help, more civilians at least. I want you to see if they can produce an image of this woman’s face that is viewable. We can put out an appeal on the media. Apparently, there wasn’t a great deal of decomposition as the water is cold at this time of the year. There’s not too much we can do immediately, but as soon as we have age and nationality, I want you, Detective Constables Rollinson and Price, hunting through misper reports for the last three weeks. They say that any longer than that there would have been more decay.”

  Sue Rollinson raised a hand. “What if the head wasn’t put into the water straight away, ma’am?”

  “Yes, of course, we are only at the starting point. We will go further back as we need to; we have to bear that in mind.” Tanya turned to the door. “Doctor Hewitt will be able to give you an idea, I should think. If the victim was previously kept somewhere else, then the decay will have been different. Find out.”

  “What about the hands? In the sack?” Kate Lewis spoke up again. “Were they the hands to match the head or…? Well, what I mean is, the body had no head and no hands. This head has nothing. Oh lord, you know what I mean.”

  “They’re examining the hands separately and Dr Hewitt wouldn’t comment. He hasn’t had a chance to look at them closely yet. That’s something else for you two,” she said, addressing the men. “Please don’t come back and tell me they don’t match! Okay, for now, these are two completely separate cases. We’re not going to jump to any conclusions. Start another record, Kate, another board; and I suppose we need another operational name. Right, let’s move on this. I’m going to the office now and then I’ll join you at the morgue.”

  She called towards the two figures disappearing into the corridor. “I’ll be right behind you. The witness interviews can be put on the back burner, at least until we have more information.”

  The unforeseen arrival of Detective Sergeant Finch suddenly seemed fortuitous; with two bodies and two cases, she would need all the help that she could get. She really didn’t want to let either of the cases go to another team. She had been in at the start. As far as Tanya was concerned, that meant they were hers.

  Chapter 14

  By the time she had walked to DCI Scunthorpe’s office, Tanya was pretty much over the earlier anger. She needed the extra help now and at the end of the day, it was the DCI’s decision as to the relocation of officers. Okay, he hadn’t informed her, but what the hell did it matter? There were more important things to worry about.

  He offered her coffee, but she refused, she didn’t have the time. When he began to tell her about the new team member, she cut him off. “He’s already with us, sir.”

  “Ah, sorry about that. He was due later today. Ha, good to see that he’s keen.”

  “I’m glad of the help, sir. There’s been a major development and we’re going to be pushed to manage with the numbers we have now, including Detective Sergeant Finch.”

  She told him about the gender of the head and possibly the hands. “There’s no way to know yet whether there is a link between the two discoveries, but the locations are close, so it’s more than possible, I think. But, for now, we really have to treat them as two separate incidents, until something tells us different.”

  DCI Scunthorpe nodded. He glanced down at the file open on his desk. “He comes with great references, Finch. Good computer skills. I know you’ve got Detective Constable Lewis, but he’s got the advanced quals and what have you – a degree, you know. We are just waiting for his promotion to come through; needed somewhere to park him.”

  “Yes, sir, he did say.” She struggled to hide her irritation. “Detective Lewis is really competent, sir. I know she hasn’t got formal qualifications or anything, but she has experience and a natural talent. I value her highly.”

  Scunthorpe waved a hand. “Yes, I know. I’m aware of Kate’s strengths, but another head can’t hurt in this situation.” He looked Tanya in the eye, daring her to grin. “Sorry, poor choice of words. Can you handle them both, the body and now this other thing? I could arrange for another team to handle the second discovery?”

  “I’d rather manage them both, sir. If they are connected, then it’ll be quicker because we’ll be up to speed on all the facts.”

  “Good point. I’ll see what I can do about bringing in some more people to help with screening for cars and so on.” He paused. “Is eve
rything okay at home for you now, Tanya? With your niece?”

  Again, mention of her personal situation was like a slap in the face; she had forgotten about Serena. “Yes, it’s fine, sir. She’s going back to Scotland.” As she said it, she knew it had to be true, there was no room for any more complications. She would call Fiona again as soon as she had a moment. She would just tell her she was putting the girl on a train tomorrow, end of.

  * * *

  Back at the incident room, the team were quiet and focused. Kate and Sue barely glanced up as she walked in. She looked at her watch. There was still time to drive over to the morgue, the post-mortem on the body would most likely be in full swing and she could get a proper look at the head. Then again, if she did, maybe it would look as though she was checking up on the new guy – not a good idea. She sent a text to Paul Harris explaining that she had changed her plans and would meet them back at headquarters. She reminded them to send through images as soon as possible.

  She would wait, go back to her own office and update her paperwork. She would telephone home and tell Serena to sort and pack her things, ring Scotland and get that out of the way.

  Her office door was already open and a couple of men in overalls were busy locating a new desk. Computer equipment and a chair stood in the middle of the room. “What’s this?”

  “Desk for DI Finch. Can you sign for it, ma-am?” He held out an electronic tablet and Tanya scrawled across it with the plastic stick.

  “Who requisitioned it?” she asked.

  “Dunno, we just deliver ’em, set ’em up.”

  “And it’s Detective Inspector Finch?”

  “That’s what it says on the docket.” The technician waved a piece of paper.

  So, his results had come through.

  Well, he’d needed a desk and now he had one; maybe Kate had ordered it. Presumptuous and unlike her, but then perhaps she’d been instructed. Had he told the team about his promotion and cut her out? Yes, she was annoyed, but what really was the problem? It was a desk, just a bloody desk. Tanya went out into the corridor to phone home in the relative quiet.