Dennis, Johnny and Mike got out of the brown Vauxhall Astra just in front of her.
“Body’s still up there, boss,” Dennis said. “No hurry, what with the pathologist being unavailable.”
Every cloud had a silver lining, thought Lesley. “Show me.”
He pointed towards a muddy path running up the hill.
Lesley sighed, thinking of her shoes. First last night’s downpour, then this. They would be fit for nothing but the bin. “That’s the only way?”
“There’s another path up from the village. But this is more direct. Go round the other way and it’ll take an extra half hour.” He looked down at her feet. “Depending on your footwear.”
He had a point. The uniformed officers all had regulation heavy boots. Her team, she realised, wore shoes with sturdy soles. And Gail had stonking great things under her protective overshoes.
“Just show me the way.” She would find a shoe shop at the weekend. Heavy boots wouldn’t coordinate with her skirt suits, but she’d find something more practical.
“Boss.” Dennis started up the hill, his strides quick and purposeful. Lesley struggled up, occasionally bending to grab a tuft of grass and keep herself from sliding back down.
At last they reached the top. Lesley raised her hand to her eyes, trying to ignore the headache that was forming.
“Ready, boss? “The three men were ahead of her, watching. Waiting.
Don’t let them see a stupid bloody hill stop you from doing your job.
She balled a fist and thumped her thigh, willing herself on. Up here, the wind was blustery and the air damp. She could swear they were walking inside a cloud.
“Jesus Christ,” she muttered to herself. “Give me a canal tunnel. Give me a rundown bloody industrial estate.”
She reached the tent. Her team had slowed, not walking at full pace in deference to her. She pretended not to notice. Gail stood outside the tent, protected from the damp by her forensic suit. Beyond her and the tent was a loose herd of cows, which looked as if they might be about to show interest in the crime scene.
“Lesley, good to see you. Sorry you’re missing the view.”
“There’s a view?”
“Glorious, on a clear day.” Gail swept her arm across the grey landscape. “Poole Harbour that way. The castle behind us.”
“I’ll save that for another day, thanks.” Lesley indicated the cows. “Are they going to give us trouble?”
Gail turned to look at them. “They’ll be fine. Just ignore them.”
“I’ll trust you on that. Let’s take a look at her.”
“Of course.” Gail gestured for Lesley to go ahead. “Make sure you keep to the plates.”
Lesley had already spotted them. She could imagine the damp seeping into the ground, making it soft. “Any footprints?”
“Plenty,” the CSM replied. “Too many to be of any use. This is a popular footpath, this time of year.”
Not today, Lesley thought. “Have you put cordons on the entrances?”
“We’ve taped it off at the path up from the village and put a sign at the fork where it goes down to Woolgarston.”
“That’s all?”
“People are pretty obedient around here, when it comes to footpaths. Too many landslides down on the coast for them to risk it.”
“Fair enough.” Lesley pulled aside the fabric of the tent. Laila’s body was alone inside. The solitude made the sight of the young woman even more unsettling.
She lay twisted, her face to one side and her arms bent the other way. It didn’t look deliberate. Just the way she’d landed. Her left leg was bent beneath her and a shoe was missing.
Lesley pointed. “Have you found that shoe?”
“Fifty metres away. It’s in an evidence bag.”
Lesley turned her head to get a better look at Laila. She crouched down beside her, wobbling slightly on the plate. Bloody shoes.
“Single blow?”
“Two or three, I reckon. Of course, the post-mortem will confirm.”
“Was she attacked here, or brought here afterwards?”
“The blood on the grass is consistent with a sudden assault in this location.” Gail pointed to staining. She raised a torch to illuminate it. “There’s no clear spatter, being in such an exposed spot. But there’s enough blood here to match the effects of a head wound.”
“Did she die instantly?”
“Again, Dr Whittaker will know more about that.”
Lesley nodded; she wasn’t so sure.
“But,” Gail continued, “the blood is mostly pooled on the ground. It’s seeped into the grass but it looks like she bled out after hitting the ground. There’s very little evidence of arterial spray.”
“So the bleeding was post-mortem.”
“Most likely.”
This was some comfort. Being attacked up here at night, miles from help, would be bad enough. But lying here dying, heart pumping out blood, didn’t bear thinking about.
“How long before she can be moved?”
“As far as I’m concerned, any time. We’re just waiting for the Pathology guys to come and get her.”
“Surely they aren’t waiting for Doctor Whittaker to finish his private appointments?”
Gail’s face darkened. “They tend to dance to his tune.”
“Hmm.” Lesley put her head out of the tent. Dennis was talking to one of Gail’s CSIs, the one who looked like he was auditioning for the part of the Honey Monster. “Dennis, get onto Pathology. Tell them we want this body moved sharpish.”
“Boss.” He nodded at the CSI and pulled out his phone.
“And why are Johnny and Mike hanging around up here? Go back to the village, all of you. There are witnesses to question.”
“I thought you’d want to do that, boss.”
She bit down on her bottom lip. Gail chuckled behind her.
“There’s door-to-door to be done. We need to build a timeline for our victim. Get down there, and get on with it.”
“Right.” Dennis ushered the two DCs back onto the path.
Lesley ducked into the tent. “Are they always like this?”
“I couldn’t possibly comment.” Gail was stifling a smile.
“What was my predecessor like? DCI Mackie?”
“Oh, the sun shone out of his arse. Until it suddenly didn’t.”
“How so?”
Gail tensed. “I don’t like to gossip. I’ll finish preparing Laila for transport, and then Pathology can have her.”
She turned away, leaving Lesley to wonder what the big secret was.
Chapter Forty-One
Tina Abbott walked down to the dig site. As expected, there had been no one at the cottage when she’d knocked. Crystal Spiers stood outside the tent where they’d found Archie, talking to a group of students.
“Not you again.”
“I’ve been assigned as your Family Liaison Officer.”
“We’re not family.”
“It can’t be easy for you. First Archie, then Laila.”
Crystal raised a hand to shield her eyes. The day wasn’t sunny but it was bright, the sun threatening to burn through a layer of cloud.
“We’re busy. We don’t need you hanging around.”
“You’re both back at work.”
“Yes, we’re both back at work. You going to judge us for it?”
Tina shrugged. She wasn’t keen on FLO jobs at the best of times. “I’m sure the university would understand if you needed to take some time off.”
“The university have already been onto me about that. I told them we were short-staffed, and we needed to get cracking. The woman from HR pretended she didn’t want us to, but not very convincingly.”
Tina nodded. It wasn’t her place to tell Crystal how she should react to two of her colleagues being murdered.
But it was her place to observe, and report back. “Mr Donnelly wasn’t at the cottage.”
Crystal pointed towards the second, smaller,
tent. “He’s in there.”
Tina nodded. “CID will be down later on. They’ll need to interview you both. Establish Laila’s movements in the hours leading up to her death.”
Crystal was speaking to the students again. She paused and turned to Tina. “D’you mind? I’ve got work to do.”
“I just wanted to warn you.”
“Well, you have. Now you can leave us.”
“I’ll stick around and watch, if it’s alright with you.”
Crystal shoved her hand through her short dark hair. There was no law saying families or housemates had to accept the FLO into their house. But both women knew this field was a public right of way.
“Do what you want.” Crystal turned her back to Tina and continued talking to the students. After a few moments the group dispersed, individuals peeling off to work on specific parts of the site. Crystal gave Tina a dark look then disappeared into the larger tent.
Tina’s gaze flicked over to the other tent: still no sign of Patrick. Should she check?
No. No reason to suspect Crystal had been lying.
She found a relatively smooth rock and lowered herself onto it, trying in vain to get comfortable. For the first time since the DCI had called her away from her desk, she wished she hadn’t been so keen to get involved.
Chapter Forty-Two
Lesley parked her car in the West Street car park again. Dennis was right: she needed to get a parking permit.
She bought a ticket and displayed it on her windscreen then hurried towards the cottage. She’d phoned ahead to Tina, who was bringing Crystal up from the dig site. How Crystal would feel about being paraded through Corfe Castle by a uniformed PC, Lesley could only guess.
As she approached the cottage, she saw Mike crossing the road. She waved him over.
“You on door-to-door?”
“Yes, boss. No joy yet.”
“How many houses have you tried?”
“Me and PC Mullins have covered the cottages from the end of the road to here.” He pointed past the car park. “No one recalls seeing Laila last night, or this morning.”
“What about Dennis and Johnny?”
“The sarge is doing the houses closer to the path up to Rollington Hill Down. Johnny’s doing the pubs.”
“Good. I’m on my way to the cottage. I’ll need someone to sit in while I interview Crystal and Patrick.”
“Happy to help.”
“That’s what I was hoping to hear. Let PC Mullins know what you’re up to.”
Mike hurried to where PC Mullins stood at a front door, talking to a young woman with a toddler on her hip. She was shaking her head.
These cottages butted right up to the road, but it meant people kept their curtains shut at night. It seemed Laila had gone unnoticed.
PC Abbott was approaching the cottage from the opposite direction, Crystal Spiers walking next to her. The woman was keeping as much distance from the constable as she could on such a narrow walkway.
Lesley caught up with them as Crystal put her key in the lock, Mike behind her.
“She says you want to talk to me,” Crystal said.
“We need to build a picture of Laila’s movements yesterday evening. I’m hoping you can help.”
“I’ll try.” Crystal shoved the door open. Lesley gestured to Tina who went on ahead to the kitchen. Crystal threw herself into the easy chair, which left the sofa for Lesley and Mike. She sat on the end closest to their interviewee.
Tina stuck her head round the kitchen door. “Can I get anyone a brew?”
“White coffee, for me,” Lesley replied.
“Strong tea please, Tina,” Mike said.
Lesley raised an eyebrow at Crystal. “Same as him,” she grunted.
“Coming right up.”
Tina disappeared and Lesley heard cupboards being opened and closed. Crystal twitched in her chair.
“Talk us through yesterday evening, please,” Lesley said. “Did Laila come home to the cottage, after work?”
“She spent most the evening up in her room. She’s been doing a lot of that lately.” Crystal shrugged, not meeting Lesley’s eye. “Can’t blame her, I suppose.”
“Can you be more specific? What time did she get home, did she go out, did you see much of her?”
A sigh. “She came home first. About five, I reckon. Patrick left the site not long after that, he was on cooking duty. I had to pack everything up and debrief the students. I got back around half six.”
“Do you find it difficult to work there after what happened to Archie?”
“I try not to think about it. The whole thing’s put us behind, your forensics people keeping us from working… I’m under pressure.”
PC Abbott appeared with two mugs. She handed one to Lesley and the other to Crystal. Mike gave her a questioning look.
“You’re next.” She disappeared into the kitchen.
“So,” said Lesley after sipping her coffee. “When you got home, who was here?”
“Patrick was cooking.” Crystal grimaced. “Laila was upstairs.”
“Did you see her?”
“Patrick told me she was up there.”
Lesley nodded. “Did you see her at all?”
“She came down for dinner. Just before seven. Scurried back up to her room straight after. I tried to talk to her, to be friendly. She’s just a kid. I figured… Anyway, I didn’t see her again for an hour or so.”
“You say she scurried. What was her mood like?”
“Subdued. Scared.” Crystal looked at Lesley across the rim of her mug. “She kept giving Patrick funny looks.”
“What kind of funny looks?” Lesley glanced behind her to see Mike scribbling furiously in his pad.
“Wary, I suppose. Like she thought he might bite.”
“Had you witnessed any tension between Patrick and Laila before this?”
Tina reappeared and handed Mike a mug. She drew back with her own, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. “Am I alright here, Ma’am?”
“You’re fine.” Lesley was focused on Crystal. “Any tension between them?”
Crystal screwed up her lips. “You’d have to ask Patrick about that.”
“I’m asking you.”
Crystal scratched her chin. “I don’t know the full facts. I’d rather…”
“Tell me what you know. I’ll be speaking to him next.”
Crystal cocked her head. “I think he tried it on with her. When she first arrived, before she and Archie became a thing.”
“Just to confirm, you’re alleging that Patrick ‘tried it on’ with Laila?”
A nod. Crystal slurped her tea. For someone whose two housemates had been brutally killed, and with a third she suspected of assault, she was remarkably calm.
“When you say ‘tried it on’, what exactly do you mean?” Lesley asked.
“Do I have to spell it out? He wanted to get into her knickers. Common enough on these digs. But the man’s old enough to be her father. Grandfather, even.”
“Did Patrick sexually assault Laila?”
“I’m his boss. I can’t go bandying around accusations like that.”
“This is confidential, Ms Spiers. Did Patrick assault Laila?”
“I can’t prove anything. But he was alone with her, a couple of times. I heard…”
“What did you hear?”
“A struggle. Him shouting at her, I didn’t hear the words. Her crying herself to sleep, the nights it happened.”
“This happened a few times?”
“It stopped, when she and Archie got together. She moved up to his room. She made sure she was alone up there as little as possible.”
“Were there any incidents between Laila and Patrick after Archie’s death?”
Crystal licked her lips. She gripped her mug. “I heard him go into her room, yesterday evening.”
“After dinner?”
A nod. “She went up there after I’d tried to talk to her. He was in here, listening to the
cricket.” She indicated a small radio on the chest of drawers next to her. “When I finished cleaning up, he went upstairs. His room’s up there, with Laila and Archie’s. I’m down here.”
She gestured behind her, towards the door leading to the stairs.
“You heard him go into her room?”
“I heard them talking.” Crystal glanced upwards. “It’s not hard with the way these houses are built.”
“What did they say?”
Crystal’s hand rested on her cheek. Lesley felt the sofa shift; Mike was shuffling towards her. In the kitchen doorway, Tina was motionless.
“I heard him say ‘you and me’. Then it was muffled. All I heard after that was her telling him to get out.”
Lesley nodded. “And then what happened?”
“Doors opening and closing. Footsteps. It sounded like Patrick went to his room. Then Laila came downstairs. She almost fell down, she was in such a rush.”
“Did she speak to you?”
Crystal shook her head. “All she said was she was going for a walk.” She looked up, her eyes glistening. “That was the last I saw of her.”
Tina was holding her breath. Mike flipped to a fresh page in his pad.
“You didn’t go out to find her?” Lesley asked.
Crystal looked down. “I wish I had.”
“And what about Patrick?”
Crystal lifted her head. “What about him?”
“Did he stay in his room? Did he come downstairs? Did he speak to you?” Lesley knew she shouldn’t fire so many questions off at once, but she was impatient.
Crystal took a shaky breath. “About quarter of an hour after Laila left, he went out too.”
Tina drew in a breath. Shush, thought Lesley. “Did he speak to you on his way out?”
“Only to say he was going to the pub. He’s a regular at the Greyhound.”
Lesley eyed Mike: something for Johnny to check out.
“When did he return?” she asked.
“I went to bed at ten. I was knackered after everything that… Then I heard him come in at about half eleven. The stairs are right over my room, it’s a bloody nuisance.”
The Corfe Castle Murders (Dorset Crime Book 1) Page 15