by Anita Waller
‘Boss?’
‘Come on, we’re going out. I need to be back in Castleton, and soon. I don’t want Zoe Williamson thinking we’ve given up. And bring some DNA kits. We need to eliminate people from suspicion about this baby.’
Nadine Bond opened the door to Tessa and Hannah, and spoke quietly. ‘They’re both still in bed. They hadn’t gone to bed at three this morning, so I’m leaving them to catch up on some sleep. I think they both need it. Do you want me to wake them?’
Tessa shook her head. ‘No, we’ll go to Zoe Williamson’s first, see how she’s doing. And I don’t think for one minute she’ll be sleeping.’
Zoe felt as though she hadn’t slept for months. Her hair, unbrushed, was hanging loosely around her face, and her eyes were red-rimmed from a combination of constant tears and lack of sleep.
She looked up as Siân Dawson led Tessa and Hannah into the kitchen. She was sitting at the table, her hands wrapped around a mug of tea. She looked at them without hope, as if her mind had already accepted that she wouldn’t see her daughter again.
‘We have no news,’ Marsden said, keeping her voice gentle. ‘I wanted to check in with you, to let you know the search hasn’t slowed down, we’ve simply had to widen it. We have had groups of officers all over Castleton, and have spread out towards the Hope area, and up into the hills around Winnat’s Pass.’
She watched as Zoe’s bottom lip trembled. ‘You think you’ll find her alive?’
‘I don’t know.’ Again Marsden spoke quietly. ‘It’s been so cold during the nights, and she has been missing for two of them…’
She watched as Zoe dipped her head in acknowledgment.
‘You’ve had no further thoughts on who the man was? The one she was meeting?’
‘No, I’m sorry. I’ve been backwards and forwards on this, but Mandy was… is… such a private girl. She wouldn’t have told me until they were practically engaged. She wasn’t the sort to bring friends home from school, or even to talk about anything that had happened at school. She went through her life quietly, organising it to suit her. She wasn’t ambitious, was quite happy to be in Castleton, never yearning for the bright lights of cities, she was a contented child and an accepting adult.’
Zoe stood and walked to the window, as if expecting to see Mandy walking up the back garden path. ‘I miss her, I miss her quietness. It feels so wrong here without her.’ She fished out a tissue that had been tucked up her sleeve, and dabbed at her eyes. She turned.
‘Is it the same man who’s killed Orla? Has he taken my Mandy as well?’
The Williamsons and the Harrisons lived a mere three streets away from each other; grief was palpable in both homes. Marsden drove from Zoe’s home around to Andy and Marnie’s, feeling as if the weight of the universe was on her shoulders.
Andy and Marnie were sitting in the lounge, neither speaking, both staring at the mound of mail that had been sent by caring people wanting to express their sympathy. Their small front garden, edged by a stone wall, was covered in sprays of flowers, with candles flickering gamely in the wind for minutes before being extinguished by a stronger gust of wind.
Andy looked up at Tessa, bleakness etched into the lines on his face.
‘DI Marsden,’ he said. ‘Any news?’
‘Nothing as yet, Andy.’ Tessa turned to Hannah, who handed her a sealed tube. ‘I need a sample of DNA, for exclusion purposes, Andy, please.’
He looked shocked. ‘To exclude me from what? I was in Manchester when Orla… when she was…’ He stopped, as if unable to say the words.
‘I know.’ Again the gentleness was evident in Marsden’s voice. ‘We’re taking samples from as many men in the village as we can get around, or track. Somebody fathered your stepdaughter’s baby, and it’s quite possible that whoever did that, killed her because he didn’t want that pregnancy to progress. Taking DNA samples is always more about exclusion than inclusion. So, if you can open your mouth, sir, we’ll cross you off our list of male residents.’
She gave him no choice, no chance to argue against what they were doing. He opened his mouth, and she scraped cells off the insides of his cheeks before putting the sample stick back into the tube. Hannah wrote his name on the label.
‘Thank you, Andy. That’s much appreciated. We’ve taken over that prefab building in the schoolyard as a control room, and leafleted Castleton and all surrounding villages, asking males to voluntarily take DNA tests. We’ve had a steady stream all day. Anybody who doesn’t volunteer will be visited.’
Marnie took hold of Andy’s hand as if to reassure him, comfort him, but said nothing. It was as if she had lost her voice, her sense, along with her daughter.
‘You don’t hang around, do you?’ Andy’s voice reflected sorrow and pain.
‘We can’t, Andy. We still have another missing girl, and you need closure.’ Her phone stopped any further conversation, and she moved into the lounge to take the call. She listened, made the simple response of thank you very much and closed down the call.
‘Hannah, we have to go. Marnie, Andy, if anything, and I mean anything, comes to mind, please call me or tell Nadine. She’s here to be the contact between us.’
They left half-drunk mugs of tea and walked out the door.
They sat in the car before speaking further, Hannah going first. ‘Boss?’
Tessa sighed. ‘I hate to be proved right when it’s not a good right. Know what I mean?’
Hannah turned to her. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘SOCOs removed a glass from Mandy’s bedside table for DNA and fingerprint samples. They got both. The fingerprints have also been found inside that car that crashed with Jacob Thorne driving. Mandy Williamson was out with him that night, I’ll bet my pension on it.’
Hannah stared out of the windscreen, her hands resting on the steering wheel. The cogs in her brain felt as if they were revolving at speed.
‘She may not be dead.’
Tessa’s face was grim as she nodded. ‘We have to assume she’s alive anyway, until a body turns up. You’re thinking he could have tied her up somewhere? Kept her for later? Where the bloody hell do we start looking?’
‘Is my beautiful woman in, Nan?’ Carl’s voice accompanied the ping of the doorbell.
‘She certainly is. You’re lucky you’ve caught us, we were about to close up. Kat wants to take some flowers across to the cemetery and I need to check on Mouse before I go home.’
‘She’s no better?’
‘No, we sent her to bed. I’ll go and make sure she’s well medicated.’
‘You get off,’ he said. ‘We’ll lock up. Who’s she taking flowers for?’
‘The young lad who was Leon’s first murder victim. She looks after his grave, takes him flowers every so often. His mum lives in Bakewell, so Kat said she would look after things for her.’
‘Special lady, isn’t she, our Kat,’ he mused.
‘Very special. And don’t ever underestimate her. She has the mental strength of ten men.’
He held up his hands with a laugh. ‘Trust me, I wouldn’t ever underestimate any of the three of you, let alone Kat! You all scare me.’
‘Good. That’s as it should be.’ Doris tried to keep her face straight but failed miserably. ‘Kat’s in her office. Go and get her. I’ll grab my stuff and head upstairs to Mouse. Tell her I’ll see her tomorrow.’
Carl dropped a kiss onto the top of her head as he went by her chair, and opened the door to Kat’s office. She was putting on her coat.
‘Nan’s off to medicate Mouse. She says she’ll see you tomorrow. So we’re going to visit a grave?’
‘Craig Adams. He was Leon’s first murder victim, or at least the first one we knew about. I look after his grave because his mum doesn’t live in the village, and because… because I want to.’ She sounded defiant.
‘Hey.’ Carl pulled her into his arms. ‘I wouldn’t expect anything less of my Kat. And I’m happy to go where you lead. I’ll even carry the flowers.’
She switched off the desk lamp, and Carl waited outside the building while she set the alarm, locked up and brought down the shutters.
Eyam looked gloomy in the greyness of the late November afternoon skies. It was starting to rain, and they hurried through the church gate. Kat pulled her hood up to give some protection to her hair, and Carl followed in her tracks as she wove in and out of gravestones. She pointed out a couple of them as she passed, explaining who they were and why she brought flowers to them. When she showed him Danny McLoughlin’s grave smothered in flowers as always, he smiled. ‘He was certainly loved,’ Carl said.
‘By the whole village. It’s his friends as well as his family that bring the flowers, because he was a gardener for the entire village. He worked in many of the gardens, not only mine. He was so lovely, Carl. I miss him.’
They skirted the edge of the grave, and headed down a slight incline to Craig Adams’ small headstone. Carl stood to one side, waiting until Kat had knelt and placed the flowers then said a small prayer for Craig. She remained with her head bowed for a short while, and then he offered his hand as she moved to stand up.
She frowned. ‘What on earth’s happened over there? Look at the piles of mud.’
Carl looked across. ‘You maybe need to have a word with whoever opened the grave. They’ve left a bit of a mess after filling it in. Whoever the relatives are of the new incumbent, they won’t be best pleased, I’m sure.’
Kat hesitated. ‘I’m pretty sure there’s no new incumbent.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘Come with me. Let’s check this out. I do all the funeral visits, take most of the funerals as you know, and I’ve not done either a burial or an ashes blessing there. Let’s check the register to make sure nobody else has taken one.’
The rain was coming down heavily and they ran hand in hand across to the church. They paused in the porch to catch their breath, then headed inside to go to where the records were kept.
Kat ran her finger down the list of five people who had been buried or cremated in the past two months and all of them were on the west side of the churchyard, not the north. She looked at Carl.
‘I have to go back. I have to look at this grave.’
‘We have to go back,’ he said. ‘You clearly think something is wrong, and I might have to pull rank here. I’m a DS in my other life, Kat Rowe.’
‘Oops. Sometimes, when you’re walking around my house naked, I forget that.’ Her grin lit up her face as her thoughts wandered.
He pulled her hood back onto her head, and took her hand once more. ‘You’re incorrigible.’
‘Spell it.’
‘I can’t.’
They stepped outside into the deluge pouring from the dark grey clouds and once more ran across the churchyard. With closer inspection, it was clear that the grave had been disturbed with a significant amount of soil left by the side and around the back of the headstone.
‘This soil hasn’t been left like this since the 1800s,’ Carl remarked drily. ‘I have a choice to make. Do I ring Tessa? Or do I get my soft hands calloused and get digging down myself.’
Despite the discomfort of rain dripping down her face, Kat smiled. ‘Don’t touch anything. I’m here, and Tessa will only nag me if I disturb the scene. Are you thinking it could be somebody’s pet dog or something?’
‘Not really. I mean, that’s a possibility of course, but there’s still a missing girl… and unless it’s an Irish Wolfhound this grave is a bit big for a pet dog.’
‘I know. Shall I ring her, or shall you?’
‘You. Tell her I’ve gone back to the car to get some crime scene tape. We can always take it down if it is a pet dog, but I’ve a feeling, a bad feeling, about this. See if she wants us to do anything else while we’re waiting. If she’s in Chesterfield, it’ll be the best part of half an hour by the time she gets here, and I’ll have it cordoned off by then.’ He kissed Kat, and trekked his way back to the main church path, before setting off to run down to where he had left his car outside the Connection office.
Kat took out her phone and within seconds was explaining to Tessa the odd appearance of the burial site, the copious amounts of soil surrounding the ancient grave and the fact that it was virtually hidden from view unless you had reason to pay a visit to this small northerly section of the churchyard.
‘Is Carl there?’
‘He’s gone to his car to get some crime scene tape. He’s taking no chances. It may be somebody’s pet dog they wanted burying in consecrated ground, or it could be a body. The tape will be up by the time you get here.’
‘I’ll be there in ten minutes. I’m in Castleton. I’m contacting forensics, they need to do the excavation, not me. If Carl has an evidence bag on him, ask him to take a sample of the soil on the surface before it gets disturbed. Remember the RTA victim? The one covered in mud?’
‘I’d already connected the two,’ Kat said. ‘And this mud stands out a mile. I think whoever has done this was in the dark and not able to see the mess they’ve left behind.’
‘Okay, thanks, Kat. Didn’t I specifically say don’t find me any dead bodies?’
‘I knew you’d bring that up.’
Kat heard a chuckle. ‘Don’t touch anything. Within the next half hour you’ll be overrun with people.’
‘Okay, Tessa. Oh… you’ll need one of Samuel Fox’s umbrellas. It’s pouring down.’
Again she heard the chuckle. ‘I’ll commandeer Hannah’s brollie. See you in ten minutes or so.’
Kat disconnected and watched as Carl’s car appeared at the end of the church drive. He parked it out of the way, and then ran up towards her.
‘Before you do anything,’ she said, ‘have you got an evidence bag to take a sample off the top of the mud? Tessa wants it for comparison purposes with that young man who died in the RTA a couple of nights ago.’
‘Of course,’ he said, and took one out of his pocket. He used a twig to scrape some soil into the bag, and then affixed the crime scene tape. He was still rolling it out when Marsden’s car pulled up, parking behind his. Kat set off down the path to meet Tessa and Hannah, and led them back up to where the blue and white tape was fluttering in the wind.
9
Doris stood at Mouse’s lounge window, staring out into the grey dampness of the evening. The rain was heavier than earlier and she was feeling pleased that she had decided to stay the night at Mouse’s flat rather than venture out into the type of rain that soaked through to the skin within seconds.
She reached up to close the curtains and noticed the police car coming down the hill at speed, no sirens but blue lights flashing. She watched it head up the hill and pull in across the road from the church. Church. Kat. Doris felt a shiver run through her and the curtains remained open. The second car followed within a minute, again with its blue lights brightening the riverlike streets with a Christmas effect. It stopped behind the first one and a steel dread began to fill Doris.
She left the window with the curtains still open and went to get her phone. She had to make sure Kat was safe.
When Kat answered, Doris’s legs felt very weak, and she sat down on a kitchen chair.
‘Thank God you’re safe,’ she said. ‘I knew you’d taken flowers to the churchyard, and now it seems to be filled with police.’
‘I’m still here,’ Kat said. ‘I’m leaving Carl to do his job, but I’m going to walk down to the office, my car’s there. I’ll come up to the flat and fill you in on as much as I know. I need to tell Tessa where I am. I’ll be about ten minutes.’
‘Tessa? Tessa’s there?’
‘She is. And a couple of the press have already arrived so I’m not saying anything they could misinterpret. If Mouse is awake, tell her to stay that way. See you in a few minutes.’
Kat stood in the hallway of the flat, took off her coat and draped it over the radiator. She shivered as Doris came through.
‘Good grief, you’re soaked. Go and jump in the shower. I’ll get you some spare pyjamas and
a dressing gown, we need to get you warm. We can talk when you’re drinking some hot chocolate.’
Kat dropped all her clothes except her underwear in a heap on the floor in the hall. Moving slowly into the bathroom, she stood under the shower, letting the hot water wash away the mud, the rain and the pain of finding yet another body. Another link to another death. She knew Tessa believed it to be the missing girl from Castleton, and Kat’s heart ached. Her tears mingled with the shower cascading over her, and she eventually switched it off. Time to report to Doris and Mouse.
Mouse was curled up on the sofa, her head resting on a cushion, looking nothing like her normal self. ‘Hey, that’s my dressing gown.’
‘And your PJs,’ Kat smiled. ‘You’re alive then?’
‘Barely. Go to bed, you both said, go to bed and stay there till you’re better. You didn’t say go to bed until we find another dead body.’
‘We don’t know it is one yet,’ Kat said. ‘The forensic team hadn’t confirmed anything when I left. Tessa said she would ring when they knew more. I know what she thinks, but thinking isn’t confirmation.’
‘It is now,’ Doris said quietly. ‘Tessa rang while you were in the shower – it appears to be a young girl, her description matching that of Mandy Williamson. That’s as much as Tessa would say over the phone, but she’s calling here later before she goes home, to fill us in on it. She was heading off to Castleton to tell the girl’s mother first, to warn her that it appeared to be her daughter. I don’t envy her having to do that. I’m staying here tonight, so I’ll make sure Mouse has a good sleep. Can you stay until Tessa gets here, Kat?’
‘I can. I’ll let Carl know, and I’ll ask Mum to keep Martha overnight.’
Tessa arrived half an hour after Carl, and Doris fed them with cheese and toast, the only food available from the sparse contents of Mouse’s fridge. Mouse made no apologies beyond saying I am what I am, and even that was said with a croaky voice.