by Joy Kluver
‘But if this wasn’t found, what else has been missed? Come on. Let’s go to the track and see what your fresh eyes spot. This is why I send you out on the searches normally.’
They made their way back to the path, taking photos to help Rural Crime find the badger later, then carried on through the woods and climbed over the metal gate that separated the woods from the track.
Bernie pointed to the left. ‘That way leads back to the main road and it’s where Ryan Willis and his mates were racing.’ She pointed to the right. ‘That way is just a bridle path really, and there’s a T-junction at the top. There are lots of tyre tracks. Motorcycles or bikes. Won’t be easy to isolate them.’
Kerry looked both ways. ‘Hmm, let’s go to the right.’
Steep banks either side of the track, with trees overhanging, created a tunnel effect. A slight breeze rustled through the copper and amber leaves. Bernie could hear a knocking sound.
‘What’s that?’
‘A woodpecker. God, Bernie, you’re such a townie.’
‘Says the girl from Manchester.’
‘Ha! True. But I was already visiting Debs here regularly before finally making the move last year. I’m slowly becoming a country girl.’
They continued uphill, the track steeper than Bernie first thought, becoming darker and more tunnel-like as steep banks rose higher on either side. She looked down at the ground. As well as the mud, there were bits of old red brick and stones, suggesting it was once a more substantial lane.
‘Look up, Bernie. This is amazing. And very eerie.’
Bernie raised her eyes and saw trees perched precariously on the top of the sides of the track, their tree roots visible in the banks.
‘I’m guessing it’s some kind of sandstone,’ said Kerry, ‘so it’s eroding.’ She turned round slowly. ‘This is stunning. Can’t believe I’ve never been up here before.’
Bernie nodded. ‘Me neither. A real shame it’s such a horrible case that’s brought us here. I don’t think I’m ever going to forget when I first saw her.’
A sound of a dog barking close by interrupted their conversation. Bernie didn’t think it was the Moffatts’ dog. This one was less aggressive.
‘Has this path been closed off?’ said Kerry.
‘It should have been.’
A chocolate Labrador approached them, nose to the ground, a woman in her early sixties holding a lead a few steps behind.
‘Good afternoon,’ said Bernie. She reached into her jacket for her warrant card.
‘Afternoon,’ replied the woman.
Bernie showed her warrant. ‘I’m Detective Inspector Noel. This pathway has been closed off for an investigation.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. There wasn’t anything up at the top saying so.’
‘The tape has probably come loose,’ said Kerry. ‘I’ll go and have a quick look.’ She jogged off up the path.
‘Can I ask if you walk here a lot?’ Bernie noted the woman’s muddy wellies and waterproof jacket.
‘A few times a week.’
‘And what about in the last week and a half?’
The woman shook her head. ‘Afraid not. I’ve been away and this is our first walk here in about two weeks. Sorry I can’t help you more. You’ll be gone before it gets dark, won’t you?’ She lowered her voice. ‘This lane is haunted, you know.’
Bernie raised her eyebrows. ‘Really?’
‘Oh yes. A few hundred years ago, Seymour Wroughton, the owner of the big house that used to be here, drove his carriage down this lane too quickly and it overturned. He broke his neck. At night, especially on Sundays, you can hear the sound of the horses’ hooves and their whinnying. And a man screaming. We know this place as Wroughton’s Folly now but it also used to be called Maggots Wood.’
Bernie suppressed a giggle but the woman seemed in earnest. ‘Why Sundays in particular?’
‘Because it happened on a Sunday. So if you don’t mind, I’ll be on my way.’
‘Please carry on. We’ll leave very soon. Thanks for the warning.’
Bernie watched as the woman whistled to her dog and then walked away, trying to decide if she was a crackpot or not. She heard Kerry jogging back towards her.
‘Well?’
Kerry stopped to catch her breath. ‘Yes, the tape was down. I’ve tied it back up now.’ She nodded at the woman. ‘Anything useful?’
‘No, not really. She’s been away for a couple of weeks. Although there was one thing.’
‘Oh yes?’
‘Apparently this lane is haunted.’
‘I’m not surprised. There are a lot of ghost stories in Wiltshire – not that I believe them. Anyway, there’s something I want to show you. It’s just up here on the right. No one has mentioned this at all in the search reports.’
They walked further up the track. More trees looked as though they were about to slide down onto the path. Rich green ferns peppered the lower part of the banks. Anderson had been right. There was no litter around and nothing they could tie to either Rosa or Laura.
‘Here,’ said Kerry.
‘What am I looking at?’
Kerry sighed. ‘You’re always looking down. Look up.’
Bernie surveyed the trees and their tangled roots. Her eyes widened.
‘There’s a hole in the bank up there.’
‘Follow your eyes down.’
Bernie smiled. ‘There’s a rope. I’ve not heard anything about this.’
‘No, me neither. I think I’d better take a look.’ Kerry found the end of the rope and gave it a little tug. ‘Seems to be holding firm.’
‘Be careful.’
Going hand over hand on the rope, Kerry climbed slowly but steadily up the bank. Within a few moments, she had reached the entrance to a largish hole. She found a foothold and let go of the rope with one hand. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone. A light came on and Kerry looked intently into the darkness of the hole. After about thirty seconds, she looked down at Bernie and smiled.
‘Wow. This is a proper small cave. I need a better torch but we’ve definitely got something up here.’
‘What?’
‘Well, it’s a bit hard to tell but it looks suspiciously like a jacket and a motorbike helmet to me. And possibly a few bats too.’
28
‘I was just about to go home for a late roast lunch. What’s so important, Detective Inspector Noel?’
Even with slightly dodgy reception, Bernie could hear impatience in DCI Worth’s voice. She imagined him standing in his office, coat on and ready to leave. Although knocking off at close to four p.m. on Sunday wasn’t really the right thing to do.
‘DS Allen and I thought we ought to check the woods near the Moffatt house, just in case Laura was hiding out there.’
‘Really? You think she would go to the woods where her brother found a body?’
‘Need to look at all avenues, sir. Anyway, we’re on the track on the other side of the woods, where we think the motorbikes were, and Kerry has found something. There’s a large hole near the top of a steep bank. There’s something inside it.’
Bernie winked at Kerry. She loved stringing her senior officer along.
‘Well, spit it out.’
‘It’s very dark in there but Kerry’s fairly certain she can see some clothing in the hole. It could be the dead girl’s missing motorbike jacket and helmet.’
‘Good God. What? But nothing of interest was found on that track so I decided there was no point continuing.’ Worth sounded flustered.
Did he deliberately curtail the search?
‘I wouldn’t have spotted it either, sir. That’s why I always put Kerry on search duty. She sees things no one else does. There’s a rope that helps you get up to it. Unless you look carefully, you wouldn’t notice it as it’s lying next to some of the exposed tree roots. I was wondering if you could send Rural Crime out to us. They have a four-by-four that will get up that bumpy lane by the Willis
’s farm. It’ll be quicker than one of us going back to the Moffatts’ and driving the car round.’
‘Does it have to be done now? Couldn’t we leave it until the morning?’
‘We could but we’d have to put an officer here overnight to secure the scene.’
Worth sighed. Bernie knew he was weighing up the cost of taking an officer off main patrol.
‘All right, but you can ring them yourself, surely.’
‘Except it’s not my case any more, is it, sir?’
Kerry had a smirk on her face.
‘I mean, really, you should come down and deal with this but I’m happy to secure any evidence for you, if you like,’ said Bernie. She knew he was squirming on the other end of the phone.
‘Well, I have just told my wife that I’m on my way home.’ He sighed. ‘It might be better if you deal with this for now. I’ll call Rural Crime for you.’
Bernie mouthed ‘yes!’ to Kerry. ‘Of course, sir, I’m happy to help.’ She ended the call.
‘Oh God.’ She laughed. ‘It must have killed him to let me do this but he was about to head home. He really didn’t want to miss his roast.’
The sun was obscured by clouds and the temperature lowered.
‘I hope they get here soon,’ said Bernie. ‘Don’t want to meet the ghost.’
‘You don’t believe in all that crap, do you?’
‘Crap? I’ll have you know that the ghost train’s my favourite ride at the funfair!’ She laughed. ‘Nah. But it does feel a bit creepy down here.’
They lapsed into silence as they waited. Kerry’s phone pinged.
‘Rural Crime should be here in about ten to fifteen minutes. I just need to confirm location,’ she said.
Bernie rubbed her arms. ‘It’s starting to get cold now.’
‘It is. Hopefully they won’t be too long. Anyway, what did you get up to last night?’
Bernie sighed. On the one hand she didn’t want to say anything but on the other she had to talk to someone and there was no one better than Kerry. ‘I did something really stupid.’
‘Oh shit, Bernie. What?’
‘I slept with Anderson.’
‘What? How? Where was Alex?’
Bernie shook her head. ‘You know Alex has this friend called Ali he goes drinking with.’
‘Yeah, I think you’ve mentioned him.’
‘Her. Turns out Ali stands for Alison rather than Alistair. And they just happened to be in the pub that Dougie and I were in last night. It’s one I’ve not been to before.’
‘OK. Back up. Why were you and Anderson in a pub last night? And don’t think I haven’t noticed that you just called him Dougie.’
‘We went out to dinner to discuss the case. We were seated outside and I went in to use the loo. And that’s when I saw Alex with this woman. He was feeding her dessert. Then I met her in the toilets and she said it was her one month anniversary with her boyfriend.’
‘One month? God. I understand you were hurt but that doesn’t mean you then sleep with Anderson. Why did you do it?’
‘I don’t really know… No, that’s not true, I do know. There’s just something about that man that drives me crazy. I told him about Louise calling me so he explained their relationship and you were right. It was the other way round – she was the controlling one.’
‘Oh, Bernie. Who started it? You or him?’
Bernie looked down at her feet and nudged a leaf. She didn’t want to face Kerry at that moment. ‘Me.’
‘And did you do that because you wanted to get back at Alex or because you have genuine feelings for Anderson?’
Bernie sniffed. ‘I’m not sure. I was so angry with Alex but it didn’t feel like revenge. It actually felt really natural. Like it was meant to be.’
‘Now you sound like a greetings card. Do you want to be with Anderson?’
Bernie glanced up but kept her eyes away from Kerry. The clouds were darkening. She almost wished the ghost driving his horse and carriage down the track would turn up, just so she didn’t have to answer the question.
‘Bernie?’
‘God, Kerry, I don’t know. Maybe.’
Kerry placed a hand on Bernie’s arm. ‘You need to make a decision.’
Bernie nodded. ‘I will, just… not yet. I need to find Laura and finish the case and, despite what Worth says, I need to find Rosa’s killer too.’
‘Oh, Bernie, there’s always a case to finish with you. And what about Anderson? How does he feel?’
‘I’m pretty certain he wants to be with me. I’m wondering if I can cope with his intensity though.’ Bernie heard the low rumble of an approaching car. ‘Think the cavalry has arrived.’
‘Yeah. I’ll go down and get them,’ said Kerry. ‘We’ll carry this conversation on another time.’
Bernie watched as Kerry disappeared down the track. The trees crouched over her, the branches whispered in the breeze. A shiver ran down Bernie’s spine. At that moment, she could believe the track was haunted. The thought of hitching a ride on a runaway carriage seemed like a good idea.
29
Bernie jolted around in her seat in the Rural Crime police vehicle as they drove down the bumpy track back to the main road.
‘God, this is bad,’ she said to Kerry. ‘How on earth do those guys race their motorbikes along it?’
‘They must know it well,’ Kerry answered.
Bernie thought for a moment. How could a stranger just turn up and beat them all? ‘I think I might have to speak to Ryan Willis again. It doesn’t make sense that a person new to the area could win all the races if he didn’t know the lane. So either he’s a local or he had opportunity to practise somehow. And the cave? How would someone new to the area know about that? I don’t think Ryan has told me everything. Maybe we should formally take him in.’
‘Bernie, you’re off the case, remember? You need to concentrate on Laura Moffatt now.’
‘It’s not like you to give up on something.’
‘No, but it’s too late to save Rosa. We could still find Laura though.’
Bernie sighed. She glanced at her watch. It was almost six p.m. It had taken longer to secure the evidence than she thought it would. Fortunately, the officer from Rural Crime had everything that was needed for Kerry to climb safely up into the cave. Bernie was glad Kerry had gone up – the thought of going into a small, dark space brought her out in goose bumps. But Kerry had been right and they now had one black leather jacket and one black motorcycle helmet, bagged, ready for Forensics. Bernie didn’t expect she would get a thank you from Worthless but she hoped Kerry would get a mention at least.
The police vehicle continued to lurch down the track.
‘Ma’am,’ said the Rural Crime officer, ‘I couldn’t help but overhear what you just said about the motorbike racing.’
‘Do you know about it?’ asked Bernie.
‘A little bit. There was a complaint a few months ago about the noise. I had a little chat with Ryan Willis. He agreed to cut it back. As far as I could tell, it’s just a few local lads having a race and small amounts of cash passed between them. It didn’t seem worth it to take it any further.’
‘Bit of a shame you didn’t,’ said Kerry.
Bernie nudged her.
‘What?’
‘You know what.’ Bernie knew it wasn’t fair to blame the officer. ‘Do you know of anyone else using the lane?’ she asked.
‘I guess you mean for illegal purposes. There was a problem with badger baiting a while back.’
‘Oh yes, we saw a dead badger in the woods. We took photos of where it is.’
‘Really? If you could send them to me that would be great. We arrested most of the people involved so hopefully this one’s just a natural death. Although thinking about it, we missed a couple of lads when we raided the baiting. They were on a motorcycle but the passenger took his helmet off so we had to stop the pursuit. Too dangerous to continue. Can’t risk them crashing if one of them isn’t wearing a
helmet.’
‘Did you get the registration?’
‘Covered in mud.’
Bernie remembered what Ryan had told her about the motorbike – the registration plate was dirty. Could the two be connected?
They finally reached the top of the lane.
‘Thank God for that,’ said Bernie.
‘Where to now, ma’am?’
‘Turn right. We need to go back to the Moffatts’ farm for my car.’ Bernie looked across at Kerry. ‘Probably ought to have a check on Mrs Moffatt as well. See if she’s remembered anything for Laura’s password.’
Bernie’s phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket. It was a text from a number she didn’t recognise.
Laura said she was going to Salisbury.
Bernie closed her eyes. She wished Daisy had told her this earlier. But if she had, they would have missed out on finding the motorcycle helmet and jacket.
As they approached the Moffatts’ house, Bernie recognised the vicar’s car outside. Paul Bentley had joined his wife.
Anna opened the front door. ‘Is there any news?’
‘No, I’m afraid not. We came back to check up on Mrs Moffatt and collect my car.’
Kerry popped her head round Bernie. ‘Hello, Anna.’
‘Hi, Kerry.’
‘We need to speak to Caroline,’ Bernie said.
‘Of course, come in.’
Caroline Moffatt was curled up on the sofa her son Craig had been on just a few days before. Paul Bentley looked up expectantly as they walked in. Bernie shook her head and mouthed ‘no news’.
Caroline barely raised her head. Bernie knew from experience that parents handled this situation in lots of different ways and Caroline Moffatt was heading downhill fast. There were questions Bernie wanted to ask about Laura’s password and the motorbikes – in particular, had Caroline made the complaint about the noise? She beckoned Paul Bentley over.
She whispered, ‘Does she need a doctor?’
Caroline was clearly in no state to be answering questions.