‘Last week. Tuesday. I was turning over the soil ready for the seed drill. It was due to be planted tomorrow.’
The farmer broke off, his face glum as he stared at the makeshift cordon of blue and white police tape.
Kay turned to the two men beside him. ‘Which one of you found the body?’
‘That was me,’ said Luke.
‘Are you all right?’
The man shrugged. ‘Do you know who he is?’
‘Not yet. Did you recognise him?’
‘No. I’ve never seen him before. Well, as far as I could tell. His face was all smashed in, and––’
He stopped, covering his mouth with his hand.
Kay reached out for his arm. ‘Take your time. It’s okay. I know this is hard.’
‘The crows had had a go at him, I think. I saw them when I first got here at half eight. I wondered why they weren’t following the seed drill in the other field like they usually would.’
‘Did you touch anything?’
‘God, no. I yelled across the field to Tom, told him to stay back and that there was a dead body, and we got out of there. We put the metal detectors and stuff in the cars, and then went over to tell Dennis. We called triple nine after that.’
‘Dennis, did you enter the field with the body in?’ said Kay.
‘No. Figured you lot wouldn’t thank me for that.’
‘Good. All right, we’ve got your statements so you’re good to go. Luke – if you need to, speak to your GP about what you’ve seen, okay? Don’t bottle it up.’
He nodded, and then sloped back to his car alongside Tom and the farmer, all three men murmuring under their breath.
‘Want to take a look now?’ said Barnes.
‘Yes, come on.’
They wandered over to the gate, and Kay greeted the police officer who handed a clipboard to them.
‘Thanks.’ She scrawled her signature across the crime scene entry record.
Barnes lifted up the tape and she ducked underneath, her gaze already taking in the second cordon that had been erected close to where the man’s body had been found.
A group of white-suited CSI technicians crouched in a broken semicircle, each of them working methodically to record any evidence that would help to work out why the man had been killed and how he had died.
The Home Office pathologist, Lucas Anderson, stood outside the cordon, his head bowed as he watched.
‘Lucas,’ said Barnes.
‘Morning,’ he said, the paper suit crinkling as he held out his hand. ‘Death has been declared. I’ll complete the paperwork when I get back to my car so they can move him once Harriet’s lot have finished, but it’s unusual.’
‘Cause of death?’ said Kay.
Lucas pursed his lips. ‘You know I don’t like to posit assumptions, Hunter.’
‘Come on, just your initial thoughts. Please.’
At that moment, one of the CSIs stood and moved to the side, and Kay got a clear view of the dead man.
‘Jesus Christ.’
‘Different, isn’t it?
‘What happened to him?’
‘Good question,’ said Lucas. ‘Look, I won’t give my official opinion on cause of death until I’ve completed the post mortem––’
‘But you do have an opinion,’ said Barnes. ‘What is it?’
‘The only time I’ve seen vaguely similar injuries like those to his legs is from suicides. Specifically, people who have jumped from buildings.’
Barnes squinted at him. ‘He’s in the middle of a field, Lucas.’
‘I know. I said it was unusual, didn’t I?’
Chapter Three
A cacophony of activity filled the incident room as detectives, uniformed police officers and administrative staff jostled for space and called out instructions and good-natured insults to each other.
Kay stood in front of a freshly wiped whiteboard at the far end of the room and stared at the photographs Detective Constable Gavin Piper had pinned to the board moments after Barnes had uploaded the files from his phone upon returning to the town centre station.
Outside, the jangle of mid-morning traffic filtered through the windows, the sounds fading in and out of Kay’s consciousness as her mind worked.
She nibbled at a ragged thumbnail, and then uncapped a pen and scrawled her initial thoughts onto the board.
‘Here you go, guv. Soup. Thought it’d help you defrost.’ Gavin grinned as he held out the mug to her, and then jerked his chin at the photographs. ‘Do you think he died by accident, and someone moved him there?’
‘I honestly don’t know at the moment, Gav.’ She blew across the hot surface, and took a sip. ‘Who made this?’
‘I did. My sister and her boyfriend bought me a soup-maker for my birthday. First time I’ve tried it out. That one’s spicy parsnip. Is it all right?’
‘Yeah, it’s good, thanks.’
‘I hope one of those has my name on it, Piper,’ said Barnes as he joined them, and then smiled as Gavin handed him a mug from the tray. ‘Champion.’
‘Round up everyone else, Gav – let’s get this briefing underway, and then we can get back to work.’
Kay waited while the burgeoning team of police officers joined their admin colleagues and wheeled chairs to the front of the room. Once they were ready, she provided a brief overview about the investigation and who the key points of contact would be.
As Senior Investigating Officer, she would still be responsible for reporting progress to Detective Chief Inspector Devon Sharp, but at least his role meant she wouldn’t have to spend too much time at Headquarters trying to argue her case for more personnel to be assigned to her investigation.
Introduction complete, she tapped her finger on the nearest photograph. ‘We’ve got the first of these printed off, Ian. Fingerprints have been taken but while we’re waiting for those results, take a look at this. There’s a small tattoo on his bicep here. It’s old, but can you make out the letters underneath it?’
‘Hang on.’ Barnes put his soup mug on the desk next to the whiteboard, then fished his reading glasses from his inside jacket pocket before staring at the image. ‘Looks military, doesn’t it? The writing’s all faded though – I can’t make it out.’
‘Bet it says “Mum”,’ said Gavin.
‘Very funny.’ Kay peered at the photograph. ‘Isn’t there someone over at Headquarters who knows this sort of stuff?’
‘I’ll give Joanne Fletcher a call,’ said Barnes. ‘There might be someone within the media relations team who can assist. Sharp will probably have some ideas too, given his time in the military police.’
‘I’ll catch up with him when he gets here. Send over the photo to Joanne as well though, on the proviso the media team don’t share it with the press. The last thing we need is for that to be broadcast before we’ve got some answers.’
DC Carys Miles wandered over, notebook in hand. ‘Simon Winter just called from Derwent Valley Hospital – Lucas is going to do the post mortem tomorrow morning, but he says the teeth have been sent over to a specialist orthodontist for examination.’ She frowned. ‘Were his teeth not in his mouth?’
‘No,’ said Barnes. ‘Most of them were all over the ground next to him. Along with his eyes.’
‘Ew.’ Carys wrinkled her nose. ‘Baseball bat to the face, was it?’
‘We don’t know,’ said Kay. ‘Lucas had a few thoughts, but he won’t commit to an opinion until the PM has been done. In the meantime, can you get onto Rural Crimes and see if they’ve had any problems in the area lately?’
‘Will do, guv,’ said Carys. ‘What about the farmer, Dennis Maitland – did he see anything?’
‘No, and I don’t think he’s going to be much help. I had a look online and those two fields are on the outer boundary of his land. He says he ploughed the field last week, and hasn’t been back since. I suppose until it’s all planted up, he doesn’t need to. There’s nothing there to steal, is there, Ian?’
&
nbsp; The detective sergeant shook his head. ‘I guess that’s why he was happy for the two blokes to use their metal detectors – it’s not as if they could cause any damage at the moment.’
‘Why strip him naked?’ said Kay, flipping the pen between her fingers. ‘Whoever did this could’ve simply taken any identification off of him.’
‘He could’ve been wearing a uniform, ma’am.’ Probationary Detective Constable Laura Hanway’s voice carried over the heads of her colleagues. ‘Might have been military, or perhaps a private security guard for something. Especially given the tattoo, perhaps.’
Kay wrote her suggestion on the board. ‘Good start. Anyone else?’
‘Building on from that, perhaps there was something else about the clothing,’ said Sergeant Harry Davis. ‘If it wasn’t a uniform, they might have had some sort of distinctive logos, or labels that could tie him to a certain place or person.’
‘Yes, another good point,’ said Kay. ‘There were the remnants of a plastic zip tie around one of his ankles, so whoever did this restrained him before he was killed.’
She ran her eyes over the man’s prone body in the second of the photographs. ‘Okay, what about the location? Why there? Harriet’s team have taken casts of footprints, but so far they’ve only matched the boots our witness, Luke Martin, was wearing. They’ve taken other prints into evidence, but those might take some time to work through – the farmer told uniform there’s a footpath running alongside the left-hand boundary to that field.’
‘Depends how long he was out there before being discovered, I suppose,’ said Carys. ‘It rained on Friday night. Maitland reckons he ploughed that field last Tuesday so if our man’s body was dumped between then and when it rained, any footprints belonging to a suspect or suspects might have been washed away.’
Kay turned away from her team and ran her eyes over the notes she’d added to the board.
No evidence, no identity, and no witnesses to the crime.
How the hell were they going to solve this one?
‘First steps,’ she said, facing her team once more. ‘House-to-house enquiries within a one-mile radius of the farm, and I want CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition data from all roads passing within a mile of this land as well. Carys – can you get onto someone at Headquarters and have a sketch of our victim’s face composed from these photographs so that we’ve got something appropriate to show homeowners? I’m not letting anyone see these images – they’ll have nightmares for months.’
‘Will do, guv.’
‘All right, everyone. Dismissed. Let’s get a move on with this.’
Chapter Four
Gavin flicked up the collar of his wool coat and pulled the knitted beanie hat down over his ears before shoving his hands in his pockets.
Despite the mid-morning air temperature being reported as almost into double figures on his car dashboard, an aching chill clung to the damp air in the tree-lined lane, and weak sunlight cast a yellow-grey hue to the sky, sparkling in the puddles that lined mud-streaked grass verges.
Up ahead, two patrol cars were parked in a lay-by, the occupants already door-knocking at a cluster of properties huddled at the side of the lane that appeared to be old farmworkers’ cottages.
He peered over the roof of the car as Laura emerged from the passenger seat, swearing through gritted teeth as she zipped up her coat.
‘Bloody hell, Gavin. What happened to the early spring we were meant to be having? It’s freezing out here.’
He grinned, then gestured up the road towards the nearest cottage. ‘Shall we make a start? Think yourself lucky you’re not in uniform anymore.’
The probationary detective constable grinned. ‘Thank God. February nearly broke me – that last shift scuffing around the town centre in three inches of snow at two in the morning dodging puddles of vomit…’
She shook her head, a sense of wonder in her voice.
Gavin locked the car, checked over his shoulder for traffic, and then led the way towards the houses.
‘How are you settling in?’
‘Really well, thanks. I think it helps that everyone is going out of their way to make sure I don’t feel out of my depth.’
‘It probably helps that you’re a known quantity after helping out with that kidnapping investigation last year. When is your next exam?’
Laura kicked at a pebble in the road, sending it flying over to the other side where it bounced and skidded into a deep pothole with an audible splash.
‘The week after next. I’m trying to keep ahead on the revision work, but I don’t know how I’m going to do that now. I’d imagine we’re going to be working some long hours until we solve this one, aren’t we?’
‘I expect so. I had the same problem a few years ago – we had a couple of big cases one after the other while I was studying.’
‘How did you manage? I’m useless at getting up early at the best of times, and by the time I get home the last thing I want to do is sit and study – all I want to do is veg out.’
‘The only way I could do it was to put in a couple of hours when I finished my shift and study at my desk, or ask Hughes to book a spare interview room for me if I didn’t want to get interrupted. I found that if I did my revision at work, rather than try to do it when I got home, it became a part of my work routine.’ Gavin shrugged. ‘It seemed to work, anyway. It might be worth giving it a shot.’
Laura smiled. ‘I will, thanks. These houses – they back onto the woods near where the body was found, right?’
‘Yes.’ Gavin pulled out an Ordnance Survey map from his pocket, the edges already creased from where he’d folded it inside out. He held it out and pointed to the countryside depicted below the A20. ‘You’ve got Sevenoaks a few miles to the north here, and we’re here on this C-road. These are the farm cottages marked here. The field where the body was found is about here, and these are the woods that back onto the garden of the first property.’
‘Okay, got it.’ Laura shielded her eyes with her hand as they approached the house. ‘Rented, or owned?’
‘This one and the one next to it are owner-occupied,’ said Gavin, refolding the map and tucking it into his jacket. ‘The next-door neighbour owns and rents out the two properties on the end as well, so we’ll leave uniform to the rentals and do these two ourselves. That way, we can crack on and get to the next hamlet. Kay’s got five other patrols working the other side of Maitland’s farm as well. With any luck, we’ll have all of the initial statements done by the end of tomorrow.’
Laura shivered as a fresh gust of wind shook the hedgerow to their left, pushing a loose tendril of hair from her face. ‘How come we pulled the short straw being out here while Barnes and Carys get to stay in the warmth, then? Who did you annoy to deserve this?’
Gavin grinned. ‘I’m still classed as the new kid when it suits them, and you’ve only just joined. Hence, we get the cold weather work.’
‘Let’s get on with it then, shall we?’
He pushed against a moss-covered wooden gate into a shallow front garden, stepped aside to let Laura pass, and then wiped his hands together to lose the remnants of lichen that clung to his skin before rapping his knuckles against the front door.
Taking a step back and lifting his gaze, he noticed a handful of missing slate tiles from the gabled roof and paint peeling from the four windowsills that faced the lane.
If it wasn’t for the state-of-the-art satellite dish that protruded from the brickwork next to one of the two upstairs windows, he would’ve sworn that the surrounding woodland was trying to reclaim the property from its owner one season at a time.
The door opened on squeaking hinges after a few moments and a man peered out, his wispy grey hair sticking out in tufts either side of his ears.
‘Yes? Who are you? If you’re selling something, you can go back and read the sign on the gate.’
Gavin held up his warrant card and introduced Laura. ‘And what’s your name please, sir?’
The man took the warrant card from him, and inspected it before handing it back. ‘Humphrey Godmanstone.’
‘How long have you lived here, Mr Godmanstone?’
‘Thirty years in April. Inherited the place from my parents.’
‘Does anyone else live here?’
‘No. Did away with the wife a decade ago.’ He smiled, exposing crooked teeth. ‘Don’t worry. I didn’t kill the old tart. She buggered off. Took the two kids as well. Northampton, I think. That’s where her sister lived, anyway. Good bloody riddance.’
Gavin cleared his throat, knowing that Laura would be watching his every move in an attempt to learn from him, and wishing Carys was beside him instead.
He tried to ignore the heat rising from his neck to his jawline. ‘We wondered if we might ask a few questions about an incident we’re investigating in the area.’
‘Such as?’
‘Could we come in?’
‘No.’
Gavin forced a smile. ‘Not to worry. We’re investigating the death of a man whose body was found on the outer boundary of Maitland’s farm.’
‘Is that so?’ Godmanstone’s hand dropped from the door, and he leaned against the frame, his arms crossed. ‘What’s that got to do with me?’
‘I understand the woodland at the back of your property joins onto that land? We’re conducting house-to-house enquiries in the area to try to ascertain whether anyone has noticed any suspicious activity in the past week, or whether you’ve heard anything.’
‘Like what?’
‘Strangers to the area, perhaps hanging around in the lane. Any vehicles that have seemed out of place, or anything of yours – garden tools and the like – that might’ve gone missing in recent weeks.’
‘Haven’t spotted anything. And if anyone tried to steal anything from the garden shed, they’d have to get past the geese first.’
‘Geese?’ said Laura.
‘Yes, young lady. Geese. Better than guard dogs. Cheaper – and if you tire of them, at least you can eat them.’
Gavin gritted his teeth, then ploughed on. ‘Have you heard anything strange at night, anything that seems out of place here?’
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