by Gait, Paul;
‘The Police didn’t find it, did they?’
‘Apparently, they didn’t think it was significant to the case anyway.’
‘I took a long time making that,’ said Ben, woefully.
‘I tell you what. I’m not due in to work til later, so let’s go and see if we can find it.’ Andy said, kind-heartedly, giving the phone back to Ben.
Ben switched the phone off as they drove back to Churchup Hill and after a short journey they parked opposite the Church.
‘Come on,’ said Andy,’ let’s do a bit of detective work ourselves. See if we can find out where this photograph was taken.’
‘OK,’ said Ben, following him slowly, his legs now stiffening from his marathon walk.
‘First, let’s retrace your steps and then we’ll play ‘hunt the cross.’
As they went through the gate into the Burial ground they could still see remnants of the blue and white plastic Police incident tape that had been tied around the gate, fluttering in the breeze.
‘I came through that gate over there,’ Ben said, pointing to the distant fence line.
‘Right, let’s start there.’
‘I saw the… damage to his grave.’
‘Yes and then what?’
‘I thought, I’ve got to ring Andy, so I jumped on my bike and …umm went up this path here.’
‘Where did you pick his phone up?’
‘About here.’
‘And the man was found just there,’ Andy pointed, recalling his own involvement when the body was found. ‘Assuming he was remonstrating with whoever was desecrating the grave, he must have been attacked somewhere along here.’
‘If you say so,’ Ben added, nervously.
‘Let’s have a look at that picture again.’
Ben switched the phone on again and within seconds the alarm sounded in the mobile monitoring room, within a few minutes the technicians had again triangulated the signal.
‘They’re right on top of one of our transmitters on Churchup Hill. Quick ring the liaison guy.’
‘Let’s look around and see if we can see that cross then,’ Andy said, scanning in between headstones.
‘Surely the Police would have found it when they were looking for clues?’
‘They’re only human like the rest of us. They could well have missed something.’
After searching around for fifteen minutes, they drew a blank. They were about to leave when Ben spotted something under a bench at the end of the burial ground next to the chain link security fence.
‘There, look, it’s under there,’ he said, excitedly, running to the end of the path. Kneeling down by it, he was about to pick it up but an urgent warning from Andy stopped him.
‘Don’t touch it. Otherwise it’ll have your fingerprints on it.’
‘They’re already there.’ Ben volunteered casually.
‘What do you mean? What are you saying?’
‘I made it and stuck it in the ground, remember. Why, what did you think I meant?’
‘Nothing,’ said Andy, trying to cover up his wayward assumption.
Along the lane, they could hear a car travelling towards them at high speed.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
4th January
The Police car screeched to a halt beside Andy’s Merc sending a shower of small stones into the gleaming white paintwork. Immediately the two Police officers bailed out and ran towards Andy and Ben who were standing near the entrance of the burial ground.
‘Andy, what should we do?’ said Ben, nervously watching the Police coming towards them. ‘Should we run?’
Andy recognised them as the same two officers that came in response to the vandalism call from the dog walker.
‘No Ben, we’ve done nothing wrong.’
‘Oh, it’s you two again! You obviously spend a lot of time up here?’ said the Policeman, suspiciously.
‘Yes. It’s just over a couple of weeks since we saw you last, isn’t it?’ said the Policewoman, standing close to Ben.
Ben looked down at the ground unsure what to say.
‘Yes, that was when you ran away from me wasn’t it,’ said the Policeman, looking sternly at Ben.
‘Well that’s all sorted out now,’ Andy interjected, ‘We’ve been to the Police Station this morning.’
‘Yes, so I gather,’ the Policewoman confirmed.
‘We’re glad you’ve arrived actually because we were going to call you.’
‘Oh yes?’
‘The Cross. We’ve found the cross.’
‘Cross, what cross? The Policeman said, looking puzzled.
‘The cross from the vandalised grave.’
‘Yes it’s the one I made for…for Geoffery.’ Ben added.
‘Ben made it to mark Geoffery’s grave, before the headstone was installed. Andy expanded. ‘We think it might have been used in the attack on the poor man that died here.’
‘What! You mean the Gravedigger?’
‘Yes.’
‘How do you come to that conclusion Sherlock Holmes?’ the Policeman asked, sceptically.
‘We…we er…found a phone which appears to have a photograph of the Gravedigger being attacked,’ Ben volunteered, starting to get the phone out of his pocket.
‘Well isn’t that a coincidence, we’ve come to investigate the use of a stolen phone, which we believe is here.’
Ben stopped retrieving the phone.
Meanwhile the Policewoman was dialling a number from her mobile.
‘It’s switched off, gone to voicemail,’ she said, to her colleague.
Ben looked at Andy for guidance. Andy nodded. Ben knew that this was the time to come clean.
‘It’s me. I have the phone,’ volunteered Ben, taking it out.
‘Would you mind switching it on for me please?’ the Policewoman directed.
Ben did as he was asked and the Policewoman dialled again. This time the phone rang.
‘Can you answer it for me, please?’ she directed.
Ben duly answered the phone and said, ‘hello.’
‘That’s the one,’ she said. ‘I have to caution you that anything you say…’
‘Is that necessary, we can explain,’ Andy said, quickly.
‘Ah, you must be Mr Spider?’
‘Yes, that’s right, but you already know that anyway.’
Just then his phone rang. He didn’t recognise the number so was going to ignore it until the Policewoman said. ‘Would you mind answering that, please Mr Spider.’
Andy did as he was bid. ‘Hello.’
‘That’s the other one,’ she informed her colleague.
‘OK then folks. I think we need to take a trip down the Police Station to sort this out, don’t you?’
‘Should I cuff this one,’ the Policeman said, walking towards Ben.
‘No,’ said Andy, looking at Ben. ‘He won’t run away, will you Ben?’
‘No,’ said Ben, looking sorry for himself. ‘What about the Cross?’
‘Show me,’ the Policewoman said, pocketing her mobile.
Andy and Ben took the Police Officers to the bench.
‘There look,’ Ben said, kneeling down. ‘Under there, look.’
‘Looks like an ordinary piece of wood to me. Something that’s fallen off the bench.’
‘Why do you think it’s your cross?’ the Policewoman asked Ben, kneeling beside him.
‘Cos I made it. I spent a lot of time doing it for my friend, Mr Foster.’
‘Well if it is, the search missed it.’ She said, reaching into one of the compartments in her belt bag for some rubber gloves.
‘Do we need to get some backup up here with a camera before we touch it?’ her colleague asked, reaching for the radio transmitter button.
‘It’s no big deal is it? What if it isn’t the cross?’
‘Could be the ‘blunt instrument’ they were looking for,’ he continued.
‘Let’s see,’ she said, reaching under the bench and lifting it care
fully. Tilting it slightly she could see the name, carved in the softwood on the underside, Geoffery Foster.
‘OK, let’s get an evidence bag and put it in it,’ she directed.
As she lifted it out, something on the corner edge of the horizontal of the cross caught their eye as it fluttered in the breeze.
‘What’s that, there?’
‘It looks like red moss or…’
‘Or blood and hair,’
‘Let’s get SOCO here, then. In the meantime, you two have some questions to answer down at the Police station. ‘Can I have the mobile phone please?’
‘Do you want me to show you the picture?’ Ben asked as he handed it over, relieved that the phone was now no longer his responsibility.
‘No I think we’ll do that somewhere warmer.’ She said, putting it in another evidence bag. ‘We’d better tell control we have our target in custody.’
Ben and Andy were taken back to Cheltenham Police station for questioning, Andy insisted that his Merc shouldn’t be left in the car park because it could be stolen or vandalised, so a delighted female Police Officer willingly volunteered to drive it back to Cheltenham for him.
‘Nice car,’ she said, throwing the keys back to him back at the station.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
4th January
A case conference was called to tie together the disparate events of 23rd and 24th December. The three Police teams involved consisted of the Traffic, Fast Response and the Murder Squad.
‘Right, gents, my gaffer has suggested I take the lead role now we have identified that all these events are linked. We are investigating a motorway death and are following the RDIM – Road Death Investigation Manual procedures, whereas you guys in the Murder Squad believe your man died of hypothermia. Is everybody happy with that?’ Sergeant Fredericks asked, looking around the room and receiving a nod of agreement from the other two teams.
‘We’ve just literally had two pieces of the jigsaw provided for us. Hopefully that additional information will help us see the wood and the trees.’ A murmur of approval went around the room.
‘We’ve recovered the Gravediggers mobile, which contains an interesting image and we think we’ve found the ‘blunt’ instrument that was used to attack the guy. I’ve been able to add them into my presentation. So, let’s review what we’ve got,’ he said, switching on the projector and clicking on his laptop. A list of items appeared on the screen.
1. ‘A burnt out Polo, driven by the ‘invisible man’;
2. A dead Gravedigger;
3. A vandalised grave,
‘and the new bits’
4. A kid that had the Gravediggers phone.
5. A wooden cross with traces of blood and hair
‘Theories anybody?’
‘I agree that they’re all linked. The chain starts with the grave being desecrated, the Gravedigger being clobbered, the car being stolen and crashing, then the kid picking up the phone which he used the following day.’
‘OK. Who did what, then? The kid?’
‘No, he couldn’t have tackled the Gravedigger. He’s not big enough.’
‘We know the guy froze to death, probably due to the head trauma.’
‘Approximate time of death?
‘The pathologist says because of the low temperatures he can’t be exact, but reckons late evening on 23rd.’
‘The kid was at the wake of the bloke whose grave was messed up.’
‘So could he have got back from the wake and done it?
‘Possibly, but unlikely. Apparently he was pretty cut up about the funeral. The Scouter Leader bloke reckons he was very close to the old man.’
‘OK. Do we know who had a grudge or are we talking about some local yobs that did it and worked over the Gravedigger?’
‘Don’t know. Could be either.’
‘And the other new bit of information is the picture on the Phone.’
The photo appeared on the screen.
‘Could be anybody. Eyes are a bit spooky, but it’s all blurred.’
‘See the cross in the picture? That’s the other bit of the jigsaw.’
‘Yes, it’s just in focus.’
‘I did a quick visual on the cross when they brought it in and it certainly looks like it was used to batter the guy. There were tufts of hair and blood on it. Look.’
The slide moved on and showed close ups of the cross. ‘There are faint bloody fingerprints on it too as you can see.’
‘So we’ll work on the basis that the person in the photo is the attacker, Yeah?’
‘Yes.’
‘What about the messed up grave? Any clues there?’
‘We got these photos of several footprints in the mud.’ He paged through the slides.
‘Those there around the edge of the grave look strange. What are they?’
‘They look like imprints from the cleats of clip-on bike shoes. My son’s got a pair, makes a right mess on my lawn.’
‘That will be the kid then!’
‘Let’s assume for a moment that he left the footprints when he discovered the damage the following day.’
‘What’s that there look? There are lots of them all over the grave. Are they Walking stick marks?’
‘No, I reckon it’s a small heel print.’
‘Woman’s boot or shoe perhaps?’
‘How big are the ladies on the forensic team?’
‘Not very big. But they’d have your guts for garters if you suggested that they messed up the crime scene.’
‘I expect they will have made some casts of the footprints as usual.’
‘OK, so what about fingerprints?’
‘That’s with Forensics at the moment.’
‘Any idea when we’re likely to get some results?’
‘They tell me they’ve got a backlog at the moment. Likely to be at least a couple of weeks.
‘A couple of weeks! Can’t we send it to another lab?’
‘Already tried suggesting that. Budget cuts, no money for transfer charging to another force area.’
‘Well, we’ll just have to wait I guess. So, how did his car get on the M5? Who drove it there?’
‘Whoever stole it?’
‘Was it stolen though?
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m trying to eliminate the Gravedigger.’
‘Well time wise, it’s possible for the Gravedigger to have driven it himself, been involved in the accident and got back to the burial ground and got done over.’
‘Why would he go back there? The Vicar said he wasn’t living up there.’
‘So there would be no point. In any case, nobody reported seeing him there. No, I don’t reckon he was the driver.’
‘We’re talking stolen then, yeah?’
‘OK, assume that the person whoever did the Gravedigger, nicked the car.
‘But who?’
‘What about that woman who wandered off from the accident site?’
‘Possible perhaps, but she’s quite short.’
‘Ah now, you might be on to something. Come to think of it, she had a muddy pair of shoes by her back door,’ John Sparrow informed them.
‘Oh come off it. She could have got that mud from anywhere, scrabbling up the embankment to escape the carnage for instance.’
‘Be worth a check of the type of mud?’
‘Yeah, go and get them and we’ll put it to the lab… when they’ve got time.’
CHAPTER THIRTY
4th January
On arrival at Police HQ, Ben and Andy had been put into separate interview rooms.
Having just completed the case conference, and with the remit to bring all three elements of the investigations together, Sergeant Fredericks first interviewed Ben.
‘Hello Ben. I’m Graham. Sorry to have kept you, but you have provided some useful information for us by finding that cross. Although hanging on to the phone was not helpful at all. I’ve come to talk to you about a few things related to our
enquiries.
‘Like what? I never killed the bloke.’
‘Why would you say that?’
‘Well cos I had the bloke’s phone. I didn’t know it was his when I picked it up. It was on the path, covered in frost. I spotted it when I was going to telephone Andy. I didn’t see him. Didn’t know anything about him…being dead until later that day.’ Ben gushed, nervously.
‘Oh! So how did you get to know about the bloke, as you put it?’
‘The Policeman at the roadblock told us, when my friend James was driving me up to the Church.’
‘Your friend James? Were you alone with him? Could he corroborate your story?’
‘Yeah of course.’
‘Right we’ll have words with him then. So why would you ring Andy rather than anybody else?’
‘Cos, he’s my friend and…What are you getting at?’ Ben said, suspiciously.
‘Nothing, just trying to establish the facts. So you found the phone and you rang your…friend.’
‘Yeah, well who else could I ring?’
‘Just carry on with what happened,’ the Policeman said, calmly.
‘Andy said he’d come up and I went back to Geoffery’s grave to start tidying it up. Then this fat old man walking his fat old dog came along and accused me of messing Geoffery’s grave up.’ Uncharacteristically, Ben’s tough veneer cracked, his emotion strangling his vocal chords. ‘I…I…’
‘Take your time. Do you want some water?’
‘No, it’s OK,’ Ben said, recovering. ‘Geoffery was my friend. For the short time he was around, he was very kind and looked after me. He even gave me a key for the new Scout hut, so I could stay there, when I was kicked out of home.’
‘Did he ever meet you there alone?’
‘NO. Why would he?’ Ben said, getting angry. ‘You coppers have got filthy minds.’
‘Son, we’re only trying to protect you. There are some very nasty people out there.’
‘Yes! But there are a lot of good people too. I know. I have some very good friends who are adults.’
‘Have you ever heard of grooming?’
‘Yeah, that’s what they do to dogs and horses.’
‘Don’t get smart with me sunshine. You know exactly what I mean. I’m not a tame Scout Leader who you can bullshit.’