The Running of the Deer

by Catriona King

  “Right, let’s start with pathology and forensics. Thanks for coming, you two.”

  Des smiled regally and then nodded to Mike who was champing at the bit to start, mostly because of what he’d found out just before they’d left the labs, but also as a diversionary tactic to avoid looking at Annette, who it appeared to Craig must have been practicing dirty looks lately because she had hers down to a fine art.

  The pathologist started with two apologies.

  “Sorry, I’m not John, and sorry but I don’t have any handouts for you. We only got back from Tyrone at half-three.”

  There was no doubt that the time-check was for Annette’s benefit, but Liam heard something else in the words and he couldn’t let it pass.

  “When you say you’re sorry you’re not John, do you mean you’re sorry he couldn’t make it, or sorry that you’re not him literally? As in, looking like him, married to Natalie, drives a Chrysler-”

  Craig cut him off, not needing to look at Mike or Annette to know what their reactions had just been.

  “Just ignore him, Mike, he missed his own bed last night.” He swept the group with a glance that warned any further interruptions wouldn’t be laughed away. “Continue, please.”

  In truth the pathologist had been quite glad of Liam’s interjection as it had given him a few seconds longer to gather his thoughts.

  “OK, well, in summary, we have a boy of around fourteen, age still to be finalised, with no ID yet, but Davy’s checking his prints and dental records. He was found dead at around five on Sunday morning by a couple, in a place called Erb’s Clearing in Killeter Forest, County Tyrone. His time of death was estimated by the local pathologist as approximately four to five hours before his discovery, and that would fit with what we found. Cause of death was either cerebral haemorrhage due to a temporal bone fracture, or asphyxia due to crushing. We’re favouring the former, but we can’t be one hundred percent sure as they would have occurred at almost the same time.”

  He ignored the sharp intakes of breath and pushed on.

  “The pattern of fractures found say that the victim was slowly crushed using a number of stones of varying sizes placed on his torso and limbs, and then his skull was fractured at the temporal bone, causing the haemorrhage. That was a radiating fracture, unlike the others, and whilst it could also have been caused by a stone used slightly differently we’re still awaiting the swab results. We’re fairly confident that the victim was awake for at least part of the time that he was being crushed.”

  He paused for questions, but none came, so stunned was the group by what they had just heard, many for the first time. After several seconds of silence Craig nodded him on again.

  “Right then. Around the body were left a number of animal heads. Red Deer. Des will tell you more about those in a moment, but we do know that, as of a few hours ago, local police examination of the vicinity revealed nothing that could have been used in the boy’s death.”

  Liam turned immediately to Miranda. “Nothing?”

  The inspector shook her head. “There were only about three or four boulders found within the one-mile search radius, but they were too heavy for even my men to lift.”

  She looked to Des for confirmation and the scientist nodded.

  “None of those could have caused his injuries, Marc.”

  “How can you be certain?”

  “Not enough of them, too big and heavy, no blood spatter revealed on Luminol, and most of all because they weren’t smooth, and the stones that killed your victim were definitely smooth.”

  Before anyone could ask how he knew that, Mike cut in. “There was no blood anywhere, animal or human.”

  Des nodded in agreement and waved the pathologist on.

  “And there were none of the cuts or lacerations on the body that you’d expect to see with rough or sharp stones. The stones used had to have been smooth, maybe even polished. And there’s another thing. They were placed on the boy slowly and carefully. If they’d been dropped from even a low height, there would have been skin-splitting of some degree over bony areas like the clavicles and knees, and there wasn’t. Your killer or killers used stones they’d brought with them specially, and they took their time. I’d say they were sure that they weren’t going to be disturbed.”

  The importance of the findings made Craig gasp, something that he didn’t do often. He needed a moment to order his thoughts, so he motioned Des to pick up his report, fixing his eyes on the floor to think.

  “OK, there were also no tyre tracks to say that the stones were driven to the site-”

  He was cut off by a roar from Liam.

  “You’ve got to be kidding!”

  Des stared at him from beneath lowered brows. “When I’m kidding you’ll see me laugh. There were no vehicle tracks. Miranda can verify that.”

  The Tyrone inspector nodded, then she felt a vibration from her mobile that said she’d received a text. As she checked it Liam went to interrupt again and Des tutted, irritated.

  “If you could let me finish it would be just great.”

  Craig emerged from his thoughts. “Liam, stop interrupting, and both of you, try to remember we’re all on the same side.”

  He motioned the irritated forensic scientist on and gave his deputy a sharp look. Des made a deliberately sulky show of straightening his tie that almost had Craig letting Liam off his leash again, but finally he carried on.

  “What I was going to say was, that although the police and emergency services had tramped all over the site with their big feet, I did manage to find a small area where the earth hadn’t been trodden on, and it showed signs of having been swept.”

  Craig furrowed his forehead quizzically. “With a brush?”

  Des went to bite back sarcastically with, ‘what do you normally sweep with?’, when he remembered the same side mantra and nodded instead. “I think they must have used some sort of vehicle to carry the stones, but they devised some way to eradicate its tracks. Maybe using a sweeping device attached to its rear?”

  Liam whistled. “Bloody hell, that’s clever. But…”

  Des nodded. “I know. It means they deliberately picked a dry day to kill the boy. Not easy in Ireland in March, but very clever, considering tyres would have left rucks in any wet earth and they would have been much harder to erase.”

  Miranda had been frowning at her phone, but now she chipped in. “That blows my theory about the equinox.”

  Des shook his head. “Not necessarily. It’s still close, and it could never have been about being on the exact date, we already knew that.”

  Craig thought for a moment before speaking. “It tells us something more than them just being clever, Des. Whoever led this killing knew the land and climate around there well.”

  Miranda shook her head, disagreeing. “I agree about knowing the land, but if they’d really known the climate they would have expected it to rain. It usually does at night in March, even if only for a while. I think they just bided their time and waited for a dry night to kill him.”

  Craig acknowledged the truth. “Which means they must have been local to the forest to know the weather before they entered it.”

  Miranda went to say something else, but Liam cut her off.

  “You’re thinking local residents, boss?”

  “One of them at least. It doesn’t move us any further forward, but it’s something to tuck away.”

  As Craig made a note of the possibility, Miranda said what she’d been going to before.

  “I’ve just had a text from the search party that may be of interest, sir.”

  “Go on.”

  She read from her phone. “MoD signs on several access roads saying, ‘keep out, government property’.”

  Craig wrinkled his forehead. “Access roads to the forest? But it’s public land.”

  “I’ll check exactly where they are, but I wonder if this could be something to do with the facility?”

  Andy interjected. “Sorry, I meant to say.
Theo Sheridan mentioned the signs as well. He said they cover several miles around the facility.”

  Craig needed more time to think about what it all meant before he commented, so he waved the forensic scientist on again.

  “Next, I Luminoled the whole area and there wasn’t a drop of blood anywhere, not even animal blood like Mike said, which, given the fact that one of the deer heads was fresh clearly implies that the animal was killed elsewhere. Its lack of blood matches what I found when I examined the heads. There wasn’t a drop of free blood on any of them. All ten of the necks had been heat-sealed-”

  Liam’s eyes widened. “They ironed them?”

  Des nodded. “Or used a hot poker, although I found none of the carbon that you would associate with a fire, and clearly there wasn’t one at the crime-scene. Hair straighteners could have worked instead of an iron, and some of those run on battery which a domestic iron wouldn’t.”

  Annette signalled to interrupt. “Surely none of the heads would have been sealed at the scene. The empty ones would have been done ages ago.”

  It was Mike who responded, earning him another dirty look; there was clearly going to be fun at home tonight.

  “Five of the heads are three or four decades old, four others were killed sometime in the last fifteen years, and the tenth died around the same time as the boy, so it’s likely that it was sealed just before it was left.”

  Des nodded. “Yes, but the lack of blood still suggests that it was sealed elsewhere, probably wherever it was killed, and then brought to the clearing, although the ceremony of the whole thing points to it being important that the boy and the deer were killed at the same time. It’s confusing, but either way, hair straighteners could have been used to seal them. There were faint marks inside the necks that could back that up, and those things can reach a hell of a heat. I should know, I burn my hands on them every other week-”

  Liam cut in. “Straightening your beard, were you?”

  The scientist’s retort was drowned out by mutters of sympathy from the group, especially from the women, who heat-tortured their hair into various styles.

  “Anyway, I took photos of the heads’ interiors, so I may be able to give you more detail on that when I’ve examined those further, and Marc, I’d really like them up from Tyrone as soon as possible, so I can take a longer look.”

  Craig turned to Miranda to see that she was already making a note to speed up the transfer as Des continued with his report.

  “I also collected samples of foliage and insects from the clearing, and on first examination we felt some of them matched the ones found on the boy, and the lividity pattern on his back. I think there’s no doubt that he died where he was found, rather than that he was brought there dead. There were a few other fibres on him, so I’ve still got all of those to look at, and John took a lot of swabs.”

  He nodded Mike to make his revelation and the pathologist did so eagerly.

  “John’s preliminary view at the PM was that the boy wasn’t sexually assaulted, even though he was naked when he was found, but we’ll need the DNA tests back before we can confirm, and that will be tomorrow. However, chemical testing of the swabs has already yielded something.”

  Craig had been studying the floor again, but now his head shot up.

  “What?”

  “The boy’s anal swab tested strongly positive for cocaine. We’re getting a further breakdown to see if it’s pure…”

  Craig tuned him out. Cocaine. What could it mean in a boy of that age? Had John been wrong, and the teenager had been sexually assaulted, with the drug being used as part of some sordid sex game? Or had he been locked up somewhere that it was being cut and packaged, and sat down in some dust? Or perhaps it had been…

  Liam said what Craig had been thinking.

  “It could have been plugged.”

  His face contorted as he said it and Craig could see that he was struggling to control his anger, so he decided to explain the word himself.

  “What Liam means is that the boy may have been a drugs mule. Cocaine, Heroin, sometimes even tablets are wrapped in condoms and either swallowed or inserted into couriers anally. Plugged is the street term for the latter. It often goes undetected in superficial searches and is removed once the courier reaches their destination.” He shook his head. “But I have to say this is the first time I’ve seen a young kid used this way.”

  Aidan Hughes spoke for the first time since he and Craig had debated the merits of various stop-smoking techniques hours before.

  “Fuckers.”

  It made Mary’s ears prick up. A squad who swore openly! Happy days. That meant she probably wouldn’t have to be shy about discussing her sleeve tattoo and body piercings, even though Craig had insisted she remove the ones that he could see. She’d been annoyed when Annette and Nicky had suggested taking out her earrings, but strangely Craig’s good looks and Gemini charm had seemed to soften the blow when he’d made the same request. Good looks that Annette had carelessly omitted from her description of him, but maybe that was part of getting old. The constable would debate that point later, but only with herself if she had any sense, for now she decided to listen to Craig’s response.

  “I’m sure we all agree with that, Aidan, but before we jump to any conclusions we need to know more. Mike, did you detect any latex with the cocaine?”

  “I’ll organise it first thing tomorrow when the body arrives at the labs.”

  “Thanks.”

  Mary raised a finger to ask something, reminding Craig that he’d forgotten to introduce her. He really must get Nicky to design a checklist for him to follow when they had new staff.

  “Sorry, everyone. For the people who haven’t met Mary yet, this is Mary Li, our new D.C. As you all know, Rhonda has moved to on to Youth Crime. Mary joined the team yesterday so many of you will already have met her.”

  As the constable nodded hello, Craig waved her on with her question.

  “I was just wondering, sir. Was the boy’s stomach X-Rayed? Packed condoms would show.”

  Mike answered her. “Yes, he was X-Rayed but there were none seen.”

  “Then I have a second question. Is there any way to tell whether this cocaine, if it was packed in a condom, had passed through him, or had just been inserted anally?”

  It was Mike who answered again. “Good question, and the answer’s yes. We’ll assess that tomorrow, but I won’t go into the gory details here if that’s OK.”

  Craig smiled. “More than OK. Anyone who’s particularly curious as to the method can speak to Doctor Augustus afterwards. Right, anything else? Mike? Des?”

  “Not until we get more results back.”

  “OK, thank you. Right, I’ll hand the floor over to the analysts now. Davy, you’re up.”

  The analyst took the expression literally and sprang to his Vans clad feet, clutching his smart-pad to his chest as he moved across to the LED screen by Nicky’s desk. The action made Craig smile; when Davy had joined them seven years before he’d been so shy that he would barely raise his head when answering a question, now he was holding the floor like a CEO.

  “OK, so, I’ve been fortunate in having Ash, Mary and now Annette to help me, otherwise we w…wouldn’t even be as far through the chief’s list of requests as we are.” He shot Craig a reproachful look. “And it’s not that far, trust me, but tomorrow is another day.”

  “Scarlet O’Hara. Gone with the Wind.”

  Craig turned to see who’d made the comment and wasn’t surprised when their arty D.C.I., Andy, gave him a thumbs-up.

  “I love old movies.”

  Nobody commented, remembering Craig’s earlier warning about interruptions, so Davy began his report with a slide headed, ‘Deer’.

  “There were ten deer heads arranged around the victim’s body, and analysis of the crime-scene photos shows that they w…were set in a near perfect circle, with each head approximately one tenth of the way around. The accuracy was within five degrees.”

&nb
sp; Liam frowned. “How could they make it that accurate without a compass?”

  Davy shrugged. “Maybe they had one. That or a template, either a physical one or one projected onto the ground.”

  The D.C.I. looked at Craig. “If there’d been a physical template wouldn’t it have left marks on the earth?”

  Craig turned to Des questioningly and the forensic scientist shook his head.

  “There were no markings or signs of a template being fixed to the ground, but if it had just been made of paper there mightn’t have, although there should still have been some flattening of the vegetation. Mind you, the land was pretty clear of plants, so it’s not as if we’d have picked up signs from the way they’d been rearranged.”

  Craig nodded. “OK. How they did it matters less than what it tells us about them. That degree of accuracy says they were organised and intelligent.”

  “And that it was pre-planned, boss. They bided their time and waited until the weather was right, as Miranda said. Killing this kid wasn’t a spur of the moment thing.”

  Annette raised a finger to interrupt. “This feels like a ritual of some sort.”

  Craig gave a groan. “Now you’ve done it. He’ll start banging on about devil worship again.”

  Before Liam could, Craig sprang to his feet and pulled the white board alongside Nicky’s screen. He lifted a marker and wrote up the heading ‘Ceremony’.

  “Sorry, Davy, I’d like to divert for a second.”

  The analyst leaned against a desk and nodded him on.

  “OK, let’s get this out there. Ten deer heads arranged in regular intervals around a dead boy. Call out your ideas.”

  “Devil worship”, “Satanic Mass”, “Voodoo”, “Aztec ritual”, came rolling out. When there were no more ideas, Craig wrote up three of his own: ‘Killer Cult’, ‘Leader’, and, ‘Bluff’, before sitting down again.

  “Right, can anyone tell me why it’s not devil worship?”

  Kyle volunteered an answer in a bored tone that he made no attempt to disguise. “No symbols, no altar, no skulls.”

  Liam swung around indignantly. “What sort of symbols do you want? Isn’t a ten-sided circle enough for you?”