by Joy Kluver
Worth gave a long sigh. ‘A word outside, please.’
Bernie placed her hand gently on Caroline’s arm. ‘I’ll be back in a few moments.’
Worth was standing by the open front door. Threatening black clouds were overhead, just waiting to deluge them.
‘It really wasn’t necessary for you to give up your rest day.’
‘With all respect, sir—’
Worth raised his hand, indicating Bernie to stop talking. ‘But since you are here, it makes sense for you to continue with this investigation. You already know the family. So, you will carry on here with DS Allen and I will go back to headquarters and deal with the murder case.’
It took Bernie a moment to understand what Worth was saying.
‘Wait a moment, you’re kicking me off the Rosa Conti investigation?’
‘Of course. You can’t dedicate yourself to both.’
‘But, sir—’
‘Bernie, you’ve given up your Sunday lie-in to take control of this so, by all means, take control. Keep me informed.’
Worth started to walk away.
‘If we haven’t found her by tomorrow, I’m going to need Anderson as FLO.’
DCI Worth turned back. ‘Oh, I think I can put DS Anderson to much better use, don’t you? But I agree that the Moffatts need support. Why don’t you contact the local vicar and his wife? Isn’t that what you did when Molly Reynolds went missing?’
Bernie watched as her senior officer sauntered away to his car. She was aware Kerry had joined her.
‘Did he just kick you off a murder case?’ she asked.
‘Yes, he bloody well did. And you too.’
Bernie opened the door to Laura’s room. At first glance, it seemed like a normal almost-teenager’s room with posters of pop groups on the wall and a dressing table strewn with used cotton wool balls, make-up and hairbands. The duvet cover had bright white, prancing unicorns on a pink background and Laura’s school bag lay on top of it, her exercise books spilling out.
‘Do we know if she took clothes with her?’ she asked Kerry.
‘Yes. She seems to have taken a few things with her, including clothes and toiletries. Her hairbrush has gone, as well as her toothbrush.’
‘Damn. They’re our usual DNA checkers. I see now why old Worthless hasn’t issued the Child Rescue Alert. She planned to go. Shit.’
‘Do we need to take her bedding?’
‘We’re going to have to now. For DNA if nothing else. And maybe those used cotton wool balls as well. Has the rest of the farm been searched?’
‘First thing I did when I got here.’ Kerry wrinkled her nose. ‘The pigsty stank. Needs cleaning out.’
‘You offering?’
‘No, I am not. I can’t tell you how uncomfortable I felt being around those pigs knowing what will happen to them.’ Kerry shuddered.
‘So, we’ve done what we can here for now. Let’s get Forensics over to check out this room.’ Bernie glanced at her watch. It was nearly eleven. She’d left Anderson eating breakfast and had given him Alex’s keys to lock up and then put back through the door. Far from being the awkward morning-after, it had seemed natural to have him there. He’d even offered to come in as well.
‘Might be better if you don’t,’ she’d said. ‘Kerry will wonder how you know and she’s better than a sniffer dog when it comes to sussing out secrets.’
‘Earth to Bernie.’
She snapped to. ‘What?’
‘You were miles away,’ said Kerry. ‘And you had a smile on your face. I can guess what you were up to last night.’ She winked. ‘Anyway, I asked you if we should go and see this friend of Laura’s. Her name’s Daisy.’
‘Yeah. That seems like a good idea. I’ll just check if anyone can come and stay with Caroline first. Then we can go.’
Bernie didn’t want to admit it but Worth’s idea of Anna Bentley, the vicar’s wife, helping out was actually a good one and it turned out she wasn’t averse to missing her husband’s sermon when Bernie called her.
‘I’ve heard it once already when he was practising. Trust me, I don’t need to hear it again.’
Bernie smiled. ‘Thanks. We have to head off now but we’ll come back later.’
Daisy lived in Bishop Cannings, a village north-east of Devizes with a mixture of chocolate box thatched cottages and more modern housing. Bernie was surprised to see that Daisy’s family lived in one of the thatched cottages. It was normally retired city dwellers who bought those.
‘Very quaint,’ she said.
‘Yeah, look out for low beams. Don’t want you knocking yourself out.’
Bernie grinned. ‘You won’t have that problem.’
‘Oi.’
‘You started it. Come on. Hopefully Daisy can tell us where Laura is and then I can go home for the rest of the day. What’s their surname?’
‘Flint.’
A woman with bright red hair opened the door. Bernie wondered if it was dyed until she spotted a girl behind her with the same colouring.
‘Mrs Flint? I’m DI Noel and this is DS Allen from Wiltshire Police. I believe Caroline Moffatt called you this morning about her daughter. Could we come in and ask some questions please?’
The woman looked worried. ‘She hasn’t turned up then?’
‘No, not yet.’
‘Come through. Mind the beams,’ she said over her shoulder, leading them into the lounge.
Kerry smirked.
‘Right, kids, out of here, please.’
Mrs Flint turned off the television and ushered two young boys out.
‘I was watching that.’
‘You can watch it later. Daisy and I need to have a chat with these nice ladies.’
The younger boy, aged about five, looked at Kerry and sniffed. ‘You smell like a pig.’
‘Aaron! Say sorry immediately.’
‘But she does. Really.’
‘Upstairs to your room – now.’ Mrs Flint turned to Kerry. ‘I’m so sorry. I don’t know where he got that from.’
Kerry smiled. ‘Actually, the Moffatts have a pig farm and I was searching there earlier, so he might be stating a fact rather than being rude. Don’t worry.’
Daisy stood in the doorway. Her mother beckoned her in.
‘Please sit down, officers. Oh, just move the clothes and the toys. Sorry. It’s a bit of a mess in here.’
Bernie glanced around the lounge. It was a hotchpotch of furniture with nothing matching at all. Toys were scattered around the room but it was lovely to see in comparison to the stark neatness of Harriet Fox’s house. ‘Don’t worry. We won’t take up too much of your time.’
Kerry pulled out her notebook and pen.
‘So, Daisy,’ said Bernie. ‘What did Laura say to you?’
Daisy lowered her eyes and twisted a strand of her long red hair round her finger. ‘Um. She messaged me Friday afternoon and asked if I could cover for her. Say she was staying the night at my house.’
‘Did she tell you why?’
The hair twisting continued. ‘Said she was meeting a…’ Daisy mumbled.
‘Speak up, Daisy! The police officers can’t hear you.’ Mrs Flint smiled apologetically.
‘She was meeting a boy.’
‘Do you know where?’
Daisy shook her head quickly. Too quickly. Bernie thought she knew more but probably didn’t want to say with her mother present – and as Daisy was a minor, she couldn’t ask Mrs Flint to leave. So frustrating.
‘Has Laura mentioned this boy before?’
‘Not to me.’
‘But she might have done to other friends?’
Daisy shrugged. ‘Don’t know.’ She kept her eyes down.
Bernie glanced at Kerry. They were getting nowhere. ‘OK, Daisy, Mrs Flint. We’ll leave it there for now. If you remember anything else or if Laura gets in contact with you, then please ring us.’ Bernie handed a card over.
‘You’ll let us know if Laura comes home.’
‘Y
es, of course, Mrs Flint. You can let your boys come back in now.’
As they left, Daisy’s little brother followed them outside. ‘I’m really sorry for what I said.’ He looked sheepishly at Kerry.
‘That’s all right. I was at a pig farm earlier so I do pong.’
He pointed to Bernie’s car. ‘If you’re police, why haven’t you got a real police car?’
‘Not a real police car?’ Kerry pretended to look shocked. ‘We have lights. And a siren. Do you want to see?’
‘Yeah!’
Mrs Flint hurried after her son as he followed Kerry. ‘Don’t touch anything, Aaron.’
Bernie took the opportunity to speak to Daisy quietly. ‘I know you might not want to say things in front of your mum. While she’s distracted, is there anything else you want to tell me?’
Daisy shook her head.
Bernie wasn’t convinced. ‘OK. You can send me a text if you remember anything. Your mum has the card.’
The noise of the siren ripped through the air, the lights flashing too.
‘So, Aaron, is that good enough for you now?’ Bernie asked.
His eyes lit up. ‘Can we go for a drive? Please.’ He was in the driver’s seat, turning the steering wheel.
Bernie shook her head. ‘Not today. We have to go back to work now. Maybe another time. Perhaps we could even come to your school one day and do a talk.’
‘Hooray!’
‘Come on, Aaron. We need to let the officers go now. Thank you.’
‘No problem, Mrs Flint.’
Kerry turned off the lights and the siren and Bernie got into the car. They waved to Aaron and the rest of the family as they drove away.
‘You’re going to make me do that talk, aren’t you?’ Kerry said.
‘Yep. You let a five-year-old get in my car with his sticky fingers.’ Bernie wiped her right hand on her trousers.
26
‘Matt, I need your help with something.’
DC Matt Taylor turned round at his desk. ‘Sorry, ma’am. DCI Worth has given me lots to do. Not sure I’m going to have time.’
‘What?’ Bernie was exasperated. ‘I need you to put out some social media alerts for Laura Moffatt.’
‘I’ll do it,’ said Kerry.
‘Oh no, you won’t.’ Matt shook his head. ‘Give me the info.’
‘What’s wrong with me doing it?’
‘Because last time you went way over the 280 character limit on Twitter and still missed out some info.’
‘Oh yeah. I forgot that.’ Kerry laughed.
‘Thanks, Matt. Kerry, let’s work out what we need to do next.’
Kerry sat down next to Bernie.
‘Right, plan of action. Lucy has texted to say she’s at the Moffatts’ so we know we have Forensics under control. Matt will deal with social media. If Tom’s around I’d like him to look at Laura’s Instagram account.’
Matt called over his shoulder. ‘He’s in but dealing with the Rosa Conti case. He’s looking at her phone number and trying to get access to her calls and messages.’
Bernie sighed. ‘Worth definitely won’t free him up then. I’m guessing Jane’s not in today either.’ She thought for a moment. ‘I’d still like to issue the Child Rescue Alert but I’ll have to go through Worth to get it.’ She shook her head. ‘We’re going to need more before he agrees to it. Kerry, you said you searched the farm. Did you search the woods?’
‘No. There’s no reason to believe she went into the woods. Far more likely she headed to the main road to either meet someone or get a bus.’
‘I think we have to look there anyway just to rule it out.’ Bernie looked at her watch. ‘It’s just coming up to one o’clock. We’ll get the social media alerts sorted out and, Kerry, maybe you can start looking at Laura’s Instagram. Look for any clues. I’m going to chat with Tom to see if he can request full access. We need to get into her direct messages.’
Bernie headed down to the basement. The Digital Media Investigation team was newly established and temporarily housed in the only free space at headquarters. As it was a Sunday, only Tom was in.
‘Afternoon, Tom.’
He looked up from his computer. ‘Oh, hi, ma’am. I didn’t think you were in today.’
‘I wasn’t supposed to be. I’ve come in for the Laura Moffatt case.’
‘Oh yes. I looked at her mobile number earlier. It’s switched off but I’ve applied to the phone company for the data. Should get that through tomorrow.’
Bernie pulled a chair up next to him. ‘We’re going to need access to her Instagram account as well. Kerry found it just before I came down to you.’
Tom sucked in his lips. ‘That’s going to be tricky. We need pretty high authority to get a warrant. Be much easier if the family have some idea about the password.’
‘Mother says she doesn’t know. Don’t suppose there’s any other magic you can weave?’
‘Hack? Are you asking me to break the law, ma’am?’ Tom grinned. ‘In theory, yes, I can probably get in fairly easily. But in reality, no. Any evidence we did gain would be inadmissible in court. I’ll let you know when I hear from the phone company. Maybe we’ll get something from that.’
‘OK.’ Bernie pointed to the computer monitor. ‘Are you working on Rosa’s number now?’
Tom nodded. ‘Yes. Although I’m going to need DS Anderson’s help tomorrow. What I’ve found out so far is that she had the SIM-only account here in the UK but I now know the security IMEI handset number and that shows me another telephone number in Italy. So I’ll need him to write an email for me so we can ask for her data. I could use Google translate but there are some specific things I want to ask for and I’d rather get the Italian right.’
‘Good idea. Or it might be easier for Anderson to ring the Italian police and ask them to do it. Talk to him tomorrow and see what he thinks. What about social media accounts?’
‘That’s my next job. I’ve already done a quick search and there are a hell of a lot of Rosa Contis. Having the photo will help though. I’ll let you know if I find anything.’
Bernie stood up. ‘Best to send it through straight to DCI Worth. I’m the lead on the Laura Moffatt case now.’
‘Oh right. Wait a minute. Should I have told you that stuff about Rosa?’
‘Probably not.’ Bernie winked. ‘But thanks anyway.’
‘Kerry, got anything for me?’
She looked up from her monitor. ‘I can see who Laura’s following and I’m just starting to work my way through it. Could Tom help at all?’
‘Not yet. He’ll need a warrant for Instagram and he’s not hopeful about it. Thinks it would be better to ask the family again. So stop that for the moment. Let’s go back to Caroline Moffatt. Maybe she’ll remember something about her daughter’s password now. And we can check out the woods and the track. I know you didn’t go there this morning but did you go out there at all for the search after Rosa was found?’
Kerry shook her head. ‘No. I was working here, going through the Missing Persons files.’
‘OK. Let’s see what your eagle eyes can pick up.’
27
Caroline Moffatt was asleep when they arrived.
‘She fell asleep about half an hour ago. I’d rather not wake her unless it’s important,’ said Anna. ‘She’s in such a state.’
‘No, it’s fine. Thank you for looking after her. We’re going to search the woods and then we’ll come back later.’
Bernie led the way over the field and into the woods as she had done with Worth and Anderson only a few days before. They trampled through undergrowth before spotting the inner cordon tape. Bernie stopped and pointed.
‘Over there, by that small mound of earth, that’s where Rosa was.’
Kerry shook her head and blew slowly out of her mouth. ‘But she wasn’t buried.’
‘No, she was on top of the earth, with some leaves covering her.’
Bernie glanced up at the trees. The leaves appeared to be
changing colour rapidly now as autumn advanced. The earlier storm clouds had moved away so thankfully the ground wasn’t muddy.
‘And this track where the motorbike races took place, where’s that?’
‘Follow me.’
Bernie trudged through the brambles until they found a narrow pathway. They hadn’t gone far when Kerry stopped.
‘What’s that smell?’ she said.
‘What smell?’
‘Something really rank. Something very dead.’
‘Oh God,’ said Bernie. ‘It can’t be her.’
Kerry shook her head. ‘No, this isn’t recent. It smells cheesy.’ She veered off the path, sniffing as she went.
‘I don’t know why we use cadaver dogs when we have you,’ said Bernie. ‘I’m going to nickname you “bloodhound” after this.’
She followed Kerry into the tangle of bushes and brambles. After a few minutes, Kerry stopped and pointed at a black and white mound.
‘Look, over there. Something very dead.’
Bernie reached for her phone to take photos.
‘It’s a badger, I think,’ said Kerry. ‘There must be a sett around here. It’s probably worth speaking to Rural Crime.’
‘Why?’
‘Badger baiters. They dig out the setts, take the badgers and get them to fight with dogs. Spectators gamble on how well the dogs will do. It’s horrendously cruel to the badgers, the dogs too. This badger may have died of natural causes but probably worth checking it out. Looking at the state of it, it’s been here longer than the body.’
‘That would explain why the body decomposed so quickly.’ Bernie looked over her shoulder. ‘The blow flies were already in the wood. They must have found her very quickly, especially given how warm it was then. Could there be a connection with our mystery biker?’
‘You never know. Something to consider. Rural Crime will be able to tell us more. Or, rather, DCI Worth, since we’re off the case.’
‘I’m sorry, Kerry. It’s all my fault.’ Bernie paused. ‘Why wasn’t this badger found during the search of the area?’
Kerry shrugged. ‘Don’t know but you still had the smell of the body and, by all accounts, that was pretty bad. It might have all just mingled together.’