Not exactly dangerous, but certainly… wrong.
But perhaps in a good way.
Oscar was still talking as they carried on meandering away from the house, but her mind had wandered to all of the rich owners the house had belonged to, all of the many servants who’d worked here. Wasn’t it by now a ridiculous cliche? It was almost like a scene from one of those bloody awful outdated period dramas that her mum and gran were so into. The shy but pretty, poor young woman being wooed by the wealthy and handsome bachelor. In days gone by, young women in Sophie’s position would have had little ability to say no.
Could she say no to Oscar, and whatever it was he had planned as he led her away from the house to this secluded spot?
Did she want to say no?
They soon reached the end of the lawn and Sophie stopped. She looked back to the house.
‘I’ll need to get back soon.’
‘I know, I know. But let me just show you something first. You’ve never been down here, have you?’
She shook her head.
‘It’s really amazing. I promise you.’
He took another long glug from the bottle then grabbed her hand and pulled her into the trees.
The next time she glanced over her shoulder, she couldn’t see the house at all beyond the thick of green. But she could hear running water.
Her hand slipped from Oscar’s and she looked back to see him heading off away from her, able to move far more easily without two-inch heels.
He pushed his way past bushes and undergrowth and moments later he was out of sight.
‘Oscar!’
She stopped and listened. All she could hear was the running water and the gentle rustle of the trees all around. She knew the best thing to do was to turn and head for the house. She was here to work, not to screw around with Oscar.
Instead, she carried on.
She came to a small clearing; the sound of water was even louder now than before. She sighed in relief when up ahead she saw Oscar, calmly standing by the edge of a stream, frothing as the water cascaded down across jagged rocks.
‘What did I tell you?’ he said, turning back to her with an impressed look on his face. ‘Not many people know of this spot. I come down here all the time, just to get away from it all.’
She moved up to his side and looked around. There was no denying it was a beautiful spot. The trees here opened out and the sun’s rays seeped through, making the water glisten. Across the other side of the stream was a thicket of wild flowers, all manner of colours, lustrous in the warm summer light.
She squirmed, but only because it was unexpected, when he wrapped his arm around her waist.
She looked at him, sure he was about to lean forward to kiss her.
‘Wait there, just one moment.’ He put the champagne bottle on the ground next to her feet. ‘There’s something else I really want you to see.’
She opened her mouth to speak but he was already trudging away. Soon he was out of sight. What the hell?
Several minutes passed, each one becoming more uncomfortable and more eerie than the last. No sign of Oscar, and the rushing water right next to her drowned out the sound of anything else around.
She picked up the champagne and took a long gulp. Then another. Then looked around again.
‘Oscar!’ Sophie shouted.
She couldn’t make out any response. What the hell was he playing at?
‘Oscar!’
Still nothing. She was about to take another swig when she thought she saw something moving off to the right, the direction Oscar had headed off in. But when she looked, she could see nothing but gently swaying branches.
No, she didn’t like this.
The sound of voices got her attention. She whipped her head around, left and right, but could see nothing. Yet she was certain she’d heard people laughing.
Had Oscar brought his mates down here too?
Sophie shivered now as ominous thoughts wormed into her mind.
Then came the sound of a snapping twig, right behind her.
Her heart lurched as she spun in the direction it’d come from.
It burst in a panic when she saw the figure right there next to her.
Open-mouthed, she stepped back, as scared as she was confused.
‘What the—?’
They were the only words she managed to get out before the blow to her head knocked her to the ground.
Chapter Two
The presence of the marked police car at the grand wrought-iron entrance gates to Drifford House meant there were already several nosy bystanders gathering on the street outside when Dani arrived a little past ten a.m., despite it being a Sunday morning. She showed the officers her ID and they opened the gates and let her through, and she drove her Ford Focus up the dead straight driveway towards the house.
In front of her, magnificent Drifford House sat prominently within its glorious ten acre plot of land like a jewel-encrusted ring on a perfectly manicured finger. Lying within the wealthy South Staffordshire enclave of Little Aston, the early-nineteenth-century manor house wasn’t just another of the myriad expensive executive homes in the area, it was the home. The very reason for the existence of the enclave at all.
The rows of sycamores and oaks in full summer bloom either side of the long tree-lined approach framed the glimpse Dani had of the mansion as she headed along. She wasn’t sure if she was in awe of the place or if she detested every ounce of it and the extravagant wealth of the few that it represented.
In truth, she knew little of the family who owned it, even if she’d already built up plenty of preconceptions about them on her way here.
As she came out of the tree-lined drive the house came into full view for the first time and Dani did a double-take at the scale and beauty of what she saw.
The initial awestruck reaction didn’t last long though. Largely because of the cluster of police cars and the two ambulances that were all hastily parked up on the gravel drive. Despite the grandeur of the mansion, this place was a crime scene now, the same as any other, and Dani would treat it as such.
She parked her car, but as she looked out of the window, past the police cars and up to the sweeping mansion, a wave of dizziness washed over her. She grabbed her bag and took a pill and flung it into her mouth. Yet another backward step in her recent attempts at weaning herself off the medication. She stepped out of the car, the sudden burst of heat outside of the air-conditioned cabin taking her breath away for a moment. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the figure heading her way. DS Easton. He had a curious look on his face. Had he seen her popping the pill?
‘Aaron,’ she said as he approached. ‘You beat me to it.’
‘I only live the other side of the park. I was still at home, about to get outside in the sunshine, when we got the call.’
She’d come from HQ in central Birmingham. Yes it was Sunday morning, but for weeks now there’d been nothing she could do to keep her mind off the trial – even the pills couldn’t do that – so she’d thought she may as well try and do something useful over the weekend, and anyway, Jason was off playing golf.
One of them knew how to relax at least.
‘But I only got here two minutes ago,’ Easton added, ‘so I’ve not seen anything yet.’
Dani nodded and looked over at the entrance to the house: two wide oak doors, which were both currently opened. A bleary-eyed man in corduroy trousers and a messy shirt was standing in the doorway chatting with a uniformed police officer.
‘He’s the owner?’ Dani said to Easton.
‘Yeah. House belongs to Henry and Caroline Redfearne. That’s Henry. I believe his wife is somewhere inside.’
‘You haven’t spoken to either of them yet?’
‘No. I was about to introduce myself when I saw your car coming up the drive. You want to do it now?’
The police officer put his hand on Henry Redfearne’s shoulder and, heads bowed, the two of them disappeared inside.
‘No. There’s no rush. They’re not going anywhere. Let’s see what we’ve got first.’
They grabbed some gear and then Dani followed Easton around the side of the house and across a lawn to a wooded area. Easton stopped at the edge.
‘It’s just through here,’ he said. ‘We should get suited up.’
Dani nodded and they each slipped on some blue plastic coverings for their shoes, white overalls, and latex gloves then headed on their way through the trees.
‘The body was found just after nine by one of the groundskeepers,’ Easton said. ‘There was some sort of party last night, which went on well into the early hours, apparently. Potentially explains why the alarm wasn’t raised sooner. Mr and Mrs R were still tucked up in bed recovering when the 999 call was made.’
Dani glanced over at Easton. ‘According to?’
‘According to the PC I spoke to before you arrived. Who I guess took it from either the groundsman or the Redfearnes.’
‘Something we’ll need to clear up properly then.’
‘Of course. Just giving you the little I’ve got so far.’
They carried on through the woods, the shade from the tree canopy providing welcome relief from the fierce sun. It was already approaching thirty degrees outside and there was talk of records being broken once again. The heat was oppressive enough, but the rising humidity was worse, and Dani was already damp with sweat even after just a few minutes out of the car. They followed a path through the trees, instinctively closing in on the glimpses of white they could see moving through the foliage, and the sound of water which was drawing them in all the time. They soon came to a small clearing where two white-clothed Forensic Scene Investigators were busy prepping a tent to cover the… well, Dani didn’t really quite know how to describe what she found herself looking at on the ground by the stream.
She caught Easton’s eye, and noticed he shared the same look of disquiet that she was feeling. Despite her reticence, her eyes soon fell back upon the bloody, pulpy mess on the ground.
One of the two FSIs strode over.
‘You’re DI Stephens?’
Dani nodded. ‘I am. This is DS Easton.’
‘Saad Tariq.’ Dani didn’t know him and assumed he was new to the forensics team as she by now unfortunately knew pretty much everyone they had. There was no offer of a handshake: who knew what he’d been touching already? Though she did spot the tell tale glance up to the scar above her ear; the only visible permanent reminder of an attack that had nearly claimed her life. Even though she’d found a way of styling her hair to more or less hide the lumpy bald patch of skin to casual observers, it was still common for people who knew of her past to flick their eyes there – voyeurism, or something like it. ‘We were just getting the… er, the remains covered. It’s not yet clear where the rest is, but this is what we’ve got.’
Dani simply nodded at the loaded words, trying her best to remain calm and in control as she stepped forward, her eyes never leaving the mushy heap of blood and sinew and flesh and bone and innards that frankly looked like discarded set pieces from a cheap horror movie, and nothing at all like the remains of a human being. Except for the partially attached head, which was almost surreally untouched, the eyes looking to the sky in a twisted and pained death stare.
Dani’s mind whirred with thoughts about the effect the high temperature would have on decomposition. How long before rot infestation would set in when the weather was like this?
‘What did the groundskeeper say?’ Dani asked Easton, trying to push the putrid thoughts away as she came to a stop three yards away from the corpse. As used to dead bodies as Dani was, that was plenty close enough for now.
‘This is second hand,’ Easton said. ‘So I’d suggest we make him our first call once we’re done down here, before the Redfearnes, even.’
‘Not least because we’ll need to rule him out one way or another.’
‘Absolutely. From what I gather he’s the only person from the house who’s seen the body so far, so we need to arrange something more formal, but basically the guy has worked here his whole adult life. Over twenty years. He reckons he knows every single person who works and lives here.’
‘So if anybody knows who this is, he should.’
‘Indeed. And he’s absolutely convinced that we’re looking at what’s left of the owners’ son. Oscar Redfearne.’
Chapter Three
Dani managed to pull her eyes away from Oscar Redfearne’s remains for a moment. ‘What can you tell me so far?’ she asked Tariq.
He sighed before answering. ‘Have you asked Ledford to come down?’
‘I called him on my way over, based on what I’d already heard.’
Although a pathologist wasn’t always required to attend a murder scene, Dani could see that this young man’s death was particularly horrific and unusual, and she was glad she’d called, as she felt she’d need the extra help not just in determining cause of death – which would be properly concluded in post-mortem – but what on earth had happened to the poor sod leading up to his demise. Jack Ledford, despite his many oddities, was the best pathologist Dani knew.
‘Any sign of a murder weapon?’ Dani asked.
‘We’re still to finish our searches of the area, but there’s nothing obvious within sight. Obviously you’ll need Ledford to get you the detail at a later date, but my own inclination would be you’re looking for probably more than one weapon here, given we’ve got massive lacerations to the skin, consistent with a blade, but also obvious gouges more in line with something like a machete or a hatchet or even an axe.’
Dani tried her best not to flinch at the thoughts bubbling in her mind.
‘Like I said, that’s my conjecture though, so please don’t write it down.’
Easton looked up and stopped scribbling in his notepad. ‘Just for my own benefit,’ he said.
‘We’re just prepping the scene still,’ Tariq said, ‘but you can see the state he’s in. It shouldn’t be long before I start going over the body to record what I can and collect samples. We’ll do a full sweep of the nearby scene too but…’
Tariq looked off, first to the body, then around the woods, which Dani could well imagine was normally a spot of pleasant serenity. Not today.
‘You might want to think about doing a wider search, but we’ll need more personnel. And I really think we should get this body moved as soon as we can, given the heat.’
Dani had to fight back the rising bile as the thought of decomposing flesh rushed through her mind once more.
‘OK, leave it with me,’ she said.
Tariq turned back to the body and carried on with his work.
‘Ledford’ll love you,’ Easton said with a smirk. ‘Waking him up on a Sunday morning for this.’
‘I’m not sure I see another choice,’ Dani said, sounding blunter than she’d intended; but she knew she was struggling to keep calm and focussed today, for more than one reason, and even despite the extra pills.
She glanced to Easton and saw the smirk drop away.
‘Sorry,’ Easton said. ‘I meant… you know.’
Dani kind of did. Ledford could be a stuck-up prat sometimes, and he certainly wouldn’t welcome being disturbed without justification, but he was also a damn good pathologist and he’d never shirk his responsibilities.
For the next few minutes Dani and Easton watched in silence as the two FSIs finished preparing the tent to protect the remains from the elements. It was a hot, sunny morning, but thunder and rain were due later – which would hopefully clear the air – and as much as Tariq probably wanted to scoop up what was left of Oscar Redfearne sooner rather than later, he wouldn’t do so until he was certain he’d done every bit of analysis at the scene that he could.
With one side of the tent left open, Dani continued to watch as Tariq got to work with a pair of tweezers going over the body – that was still partially clothed, albeit the clothes were torn and ragged – looking for fibres and whatever els
e stuck out to him. The other FSI was now busy photographing the scene from every conceivable angle.
‘Do you know much about the Redfearnes?’ Easton asked, snapping Dani from her thoughts as to the manner of Oscar’s violent end.
‘Nothing. You?’
‘Henry Redfearne is a top investment manager for a pensions provider, though he also has a sizeable stake in various finance companies and commercial properties. Apparently he’s worth hundreds of millions, though he was born into money, so he’s not exactly self-made.’
‘You knew all this already?’ Dani asked.
Easton shrugged. ‘You hear things. It’s not exactly an inconspicuous house, is it? They’re among the wealthiest people in the entire West Midlands. Plus, I know a couple of lads who grew up nearby. People talk.’
‘And his wife?’
‘Caroline? Don’t know much. I’m not sure if she works.’
‘Kids?’
‘Just Oscar. Eighteen years old. Still lived at home. Recently finished sixth form at Highmount College and was planning on attending London School of Economics in September.’
Dani shook her head. Whatever the reason for Oscar’s death, it was such a sad waste.
‘Have the Redfearnes been told we think it’s their son?’ she asked, thinking back to when she’d arrived at the house not long ago. Henry Redfearne had looked tired and ragged but not exactly distraught.
‘No,’ Easton said.
She raised an eyebrow. ‘So the groundskeeper stumbled over the body, called the police and then just sat tight-lipped from then until now?’
Easton shrugged. ‘From what I gather the first response was here in less than five minutes. Maybe after making the call he went to the gates or something to wait for them. And, like I said, the Redfearnes were fast asleep still at that point.’
‘Then why didn’t he bloody knock on their bedroom door?’
Easton looked a little taken aback by Dani’s abruptness, but he once again didn’t rise to it. Apparently he’d long ago learned to ignore Dani’s unconscious curtness, even though she felt that people ignoring her problems was hardly the best way of helping her.
The Rules of Murder Page 2