by M A Comley
Sara pecked her mother on the cheek and gave her the bunch of flowers she’d stopped off to buy en route. “No reason, Mum. Fed up wearing trousers or jeans all week, that’s all. These are for you. I bought a bottle of white wine as well, guessed we’d be having chicken.”
Her mother laughed. “Sorry to be so predictable with lunch.”
“Don’t be. I thought you’d change your mind about having the beef, knowing how unfair it would be on Dad. I love your roast chicken dinners. Are we having stuffing, too?”
“Of course. Why don’t you pop out and see your father? He’s in the garden, staking up some of the plants.”
Sara walked through the conservatory and out into the garden, little Ethel, her mother’s pug, snapping at her heels.
“Hello, love. Ethel, will you stop doing that! One of these days you’re going to trip someone up and put them in hospital. Almost did that to me last week, wretched thing.”
Sara laughed and kissed her father on the cheek. “She’s all right, Dad. How are you? Have you been for more tests lately?”
“Same old, same old, love. The heart’s still beating. Some days are better than others. Due to have another check-up next month with yet another consultant.”
Sara’s own heart squeezed with pain. “You should be taking it easy then.”
“Pottering around in the garden won’t do me any harm. The doctors advise gentle exercise, so I’m all right doing what I do best out here. You look nice today.”
Sara’s cheeks warmed under his gaze. “Nice to make an effort for the ones you love now and again, Dad.”
“That’s lovely to hear. How’s that house of yours? I hope you’re opening the windows to let it breathe. You know what these new-builds are like.”
“I am, Dad. It’s a little difficult doing that during the day when I’m at work, but I make sure the windows are open in the evening when I’m at home.”
“Good. You hear so many horror stories.”
“Your trouble is that you worry too much. I’m going to see if Mum needs a hand with the dinner. Ethel, come on, girl. I’ll take her in, out of your way.”
“Thanks for that. I’ll be in shortly. Just got a few more plants to secure. Never know when a fierce wind is going to strike up.”
“I’ll leave you to it.”
The rest of the day was spent chatting and laughing with her parents, a sharp contrast to the maudlin phone call she’d had with Charlotte the day before.
“Have you heard from Philip’s family at all?” her mother asked out of the blue.
“I received a call from his mum yesterday. She’s still not coping well.”
“You know why that is,” her father piped up.
“Why’s that, Dad?”
“Because she’s sat around the house on her backside all day instead of getting out there occupying her mind by working.”
Sara giggled. “She hardly does that, Dad. She’s a lady who lunches and attends several charity functions, don’t you know? She’ll tell you how much she’s accomplished, raising thousands, if not millions, towards good causes over the years.”
“That’s as may be, but even so. She needs to get out more and get on with her life before it passes her by.”
“Dad, she’s only just turned sixty. She’s hardly past it.”
“Now, Stephen, stop being so wicked. Leave the poor woman alone.”
“I will if she promises to leave Sara alone. No one upsets my daughter and gets away with it.”
“I never said she upset me, Dad—well, not intentionally. Sometimes she rings up to chat and stirs up memories I’ve successfully locked away. She’s still grieving and believes I’m in the same place. I’m not; at least, I don’t think I am. I have the odd nightmare that I have to deal with, but surely that’s natural given the circumstances, right?”
Her mother patted her on the back of the hand. “Of course it’s natural, dear.”
“Anyway, enough of this maudlin talk. What’s happening with you guys? Have you been anywhere exciting this week?” Her parents shared a concerned look. “All right, no holding back, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong per se. It’s just Father has had a few twinges that have kept us at home this week as a precaution.”
“With your heart, Dad?” she asked, worried.
“Now, stop this. I only admitted to your mother that I was feeling a bit off-colour because I knew how pointless it was hiding the truth. I’ll ring the doctor tomorrow, see if he can fit me in for an appointment.”
Sara wagged her finger. “Make sure you do. Ring me as soon as you’ve made the appointment, you hear me?”
“Yes, Mum,” he replied sarcastically.
Sara looked up at the clock on the wall. “I better get going soon. Misty will think I’ve run out on her otherwise.”
Her mother left the room and returned with a bulging carrier bag. “Just a few things from the garden, veggies to keep you going.”
“Aww…thanks, Mum.” She peered into the bag at the wondrous vegetables her parents had grown. “Wow, these look fantastic. I hope my cooking can do them justice.”
“If nothing else, it’ll make sure you eat proper meals during the week,” her father said.
Sara smiled, knowing full well the veggies would probably remain in the bottom of her fridge until the following weekend, unless a miracle should happen in the meantime that would help solve the case and shorten her hours. Her parents had no idea how her working day panned out most of the time—neither did she really, from day to day.
After kissing her parents farewell, Sara left the house. A few minutes into her journey home, something drew her attention in one of the back roads close to her parents’ house. A small group of people were gathered along the hedgerow, around a coloured object, something that Sara couldn’t quite make out from her position. She parked the car in a nearby lay-by, got out of the vehicle and approached the crowd.
“Evening all. Everything all right here?”
“Aren’t you Elizabeth and Stephen’s daughter, the policewoman?” a petite woman in her sixties asked.
“That’s right. What’s wrong? What have you found?”
Two members of the group stood aside, giving her room to see the item. It was a red suitcase that was lying open.
“She’s dead,” one of the men mumbled.
Sara took a few steps forward to survey the contents closer. Inside, was a small woman with long black hair. The body was intact. Her face was badly bruised, but there was no visible sign of decomposition. “Okay, ladies and gents, I’m going to have to ask you to take a few steps back. This is now a crime scene. Please don’t go anywhere. I’ll need to take a statement from each of you before you leave. Let me place a few calls first, and I’ll be right with you. First of all, I need to know if anyone saw who dumped the suitcase here. A strange car in the area acting suspiciously perhaps? Anything along those lines would help the investigation from the outset.”
“Nothing. Old Thomas found the case and alerted a couple of us.” An elderly man pointed at another elderly gentleman in the crowd whose gaze was fixed on the girl lying in the case.
Sara tugged on the sleeve of his jacket. “Sir, how long ago did you find her?”
“About an hour, I suppose. Who’d do that to such a beautiful woman?” he asked, his voice trembling.
“I don’t know, sir. But I intend to find out. Did you call 999 to report it?”
He turned to look at her and shook his head. “I’m sorry, the thought never entered my mind.”
“No problem. Can you take a step back for me, Thomas? Stand alongside the others while I take a look, if you will?”
The man shuffled backwards a few feet to stand with his friends. Under the group’s inquisitive gazes, Sara bent down to inspect the corpse without touching either the victim or the case. She could detect a slight decomposing smell, hinting that the woman had possibly been dead for a few days.
Sara stood again and went into full inspector mo
de. She rang the station first, arranged for the duty sergeant to send the closest squad car he had to the location, and then she rang Lorraine on her direct number.
“Hi, sorry to disturb you on a Sunday, Lorraine.”
“No problem, Sara. What can I do for you? And no, the DNA results aren’t back from the shoes yet. You’ll be the first to hear when they are.”
“It’s not about that, but thanks, I appreciate it. Umm…I’m out in the country lanes close to my parents’ house, and I’ve just stumbled across something that you should come out and see.”
“That’s a tad evasive. Care to elucidate for me?”
She turned her back on the crowd and spoke quietly. “I’ve got the body of a woman that was stored in a large suitcase.”
“Jesus! Okay, you’ve grabbed my attention. Give me the location. I’ll get over there right away. Good job I hadn’t started on the bottle of wine I promised myself this evening.”
She gave her location. “I’ll stick around and wait for you.”
“See you in about twenty minutes, give or take.”
Sara ended the call and returned to inform the crowd that backup would be arriving soon.
While they waited, the group bombarded her with questions about the girl in the suitcase, which she struggled to answer, obviously, as well as questions about the other crimes that had taken place in the area.
Sara truthfully answered most of their questions before asking some of her own. “Has anyone heard anything regarding the other cases? Maybe overheard someone talking about something down the pub?”
Blank stares and shakes of the head greeted her. The usual response, not that she had expected anything else.
It wasn’t long before the squad car arrived. She instructed the two PCs to take down everyone’s name and address and their statement. Sara removed a pair of latex gloves from her car and returned to the suitcase. She snapped a few photos of the woman, gently pulling her hair away from her battered face.
“I hope you’re not interfering with the corpse, Inspector.” A stern voice behind almost had her jumping out of her skin.
Sara turned to find Lorraine standing behind her, snapping on a pair of latex gloves of her own. She stepped back to allow the pathologist room to assess the corpse.
“Who found her?”
“One of the gents in the group. My guys are taking down their statements now. They’re all pretty shaken up.”
“I’m not surprised. Why? Why dump her out here?”
Sara shrugged. “That’s just one of many questions I need an answer to. Can you give me a guesstimate of how long you think she’s been dead?”
“Roughly, anything between a few days and a week, judging by the smell. The usual—I’ll be able to give you a definitive answer once I’ve opened her up.”
“I’ve taken some photos. I’ll run her through the missing persons database at the station in the morning.”
“What? You get me to come out on my day off and you’re talking about delaying searching for an ID until tomorrow?”
Guilt shrouded her until Lorraine chuckled. “God, you had me going there. You know me, I’ll probably start up my computer when I get home anyway. Search through a few news articles et cetera to try and find out who she is.”
“Good idea. She’s not going anywhere. Another twelve hours or so won’t make a difference.”
“What drives someone to kill, dump the body in a suitcase and leave it by the side of the road for people to find? They’re either careless or they’re intent on giving the police the runaround.”
“There’s another option you neglected to mention.”
“What’s that?” Sara asked.
“Maybe the killer is trying to get caught.”
Sara placed her thumb and forefinger around her chin. “Possibly. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve stumbled upon something like that, right?”
“Exactly. The last case was only last year if I remember correctly.”
“Either way, I need to get an ID for the woman, and soon. Her family must be going out of their minds.”
“Not wrong there, I suspect. My team should be here soon. Any chance we can get these guys pushed back farther? It looks like rain. My team will need to erect a marquee. You might want to consider blocking the road off in the meantime.”
“I’ll organise that with the station now. Be right back.” Sara called one of the PCs over. “The pathologist could do with some room to carry out a proper examination. Do you have what you need from the witnesses?”
“We’re questioning the last person now, ma’am. Do you want us to release the group then?”
“Yes, let’s get this place clear within the next five minutes.” She dismissed the constable and placed another call to the station. “We need to block the road off to allow the pathologist and her team to assess the body. Can you organise that for me, Sergeant?”
“I had already taken the liberty of arranging that, ma’am. Reinforcements should be with you soon; they’ve been given their instructions.”
“Excellent news. Thanks. I’ll wait for them to arrive before I head off.”
“Okay, ma’am. See you tomorrow.”
Sara joined Lorraine again. She was observing the ground around the suitcase.
“Waste of time searching for clues there.” Sara lowered her voice to add, “These guys were all over the area when I arrived. Not sure they realised what they were looking at, if I’m honest.”
Lorraine tutted. “A dead body in a suitcase would definitely send an alert to my brain.”
“Yep, mine, too. However, we’re not the general public, are we?”
“True. Ah, here come my guys now. Just in time by the looks of things.” Lorraine glanced skywards and held her palm up.
“You know why it’s raining?” Sara asked.
“Because of the dark cloud formation above us,” Lorraine replied logically.
Sara held her hands out to the sides. “That and because I’m wearing a damn summer dress. Go figure.”
Lorraine sniggered. “I was going to ask if you’d been on a date.”
“Yeah, with my mother and father. Okay, I’m going to leave you to it then. The crowd should be dispersing soon enough. I’ll give you a ring in the morning.”
“She’ll be my top priority, I promise you. Have a good evening.”
Sara bid her colleagues farewell and jumped back in her car. Two minutes later, she was inserting her key in the front door and being accosted by Misty the second she stepped foot inside the house.
She swept the cat up into her arms, snuggled and made a fuss of her for the next few minutes and then went into the lounge and immediately booted up her laptop. She wouldn’t be able to access the missing persons files they had at the station, but there was a national database open for the general public she could look through for now. Plus, she could use the archives of the online newspapers to hopefully gain an ID for the victim.
Armed with a large glass of white wine, she began the onerous task she’d set herself. By the time ten o’clock came around, her eyes were sore from staring intently at the screen. She retired for the evening, feeling she had let the woman down.
Chapter 22
She must have been exhausted because Sara slept straight through the night, the first time in weeks she’d managed to accomplish such a feat.
After feeding Misty, she bolted down a quick slice of toast and marmalade and a small cup of coffee and raced into work. She was the first to arrive and took the liberty of switching on all the computers, anxious to get the team to work on the cases they were handling as soon as they arrived.
Grabbing a cup of coffee, she took it through to her office and sorted through her post for the next ten minutes until voices babbled in the outer office.
“Morning, boss. Any reason all the computer screens are on?” Carla asked, poking her head into the room.
“Eager to get you guys on the treadmill. Take a seat for a second.”
Sara waved a hand in front of her. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’ve got another case we need to delve into.”
Carla sat forward in her chair. “Another murder?”
“Yes, nothing along the lines we’ve been dealing with.” She briefly ran down what had happened on her way home from her parents’ the day before.
“What? A girl in a suitcase?”
“More like a woman.” Sara picked up her mobile and punched in her password. “Here you go. I tried to search through the missing persons available online but couldn’t find her.”
“Maybe she’s been missing a while and altered her appearance. Dyed her hair perhaps?” Carla shrugged, appearing to doubt her own opinion.
“Possibly. I want the rest of the team to stick with the other cases. You and I need to concentrate on finding out who this woman is. I’m going to take a trip to Mis Pers myself after I’ve dealt with this lot. I need the woman IDd ASAP.”
“What are the chances that there’s a connection?”
“It’s a long shot. Different MO. All the other victims are of an older generation for a start.”
“Maybe he got bored and decided to up the ante after the appeal was aired. Just a suggestion, nothing set in stone, of course. Don’t forget he abducted Geraldine.”
“True enough. I might be speaking out of turn here, but the pathologist seems to think she possibly died before the appeal went out.”
“Maybe she is connected to him and spoke out of turn.”
“As in, she was his girlfriend?”
“I don’t know. It just seems odd that the suitcase was dumped in the centre of the area where all the other murders took place. Plus, there’s the fact that we’re not used to dealing with murder enquiries on our patch.”
Sara pointed at her partner. “You could have a point there. Let’s work along those lines for now until something turns up to dismiss that theory.”
Carla smiled and jumped to her feet. “I’ll start cracking the whip.”
She left Sara completing her chores. Halfway through, Sara picked up the phone and rang the Missing Persons Department. “Maddy, hi, it’s Sara Ramsey. Is it possible to pop along and see you on an urgent matter?”