Page 44 of Murder in Shades of Fire and Ash

“Back in the office, then,” Hector said, taking Charlie gently by the elbow, so as not to unbalance the crutches, and leading him back to the office, peeling off the protective gloves and dropping them into a bin. Charlie thought he would see the burned body, blackened, skinless, every time he closed his eyes. “If it helps, he was dead before the fire started,” Hector said. “That’s what I wanted you to see. The back of his skull was damaged in the same way as your previous victim. The fractures were serious enough to have killed him. He hadn’t inhaled any smoke, which means he wasn’t breathing when the fire was burning.”

Charlie thought it did help, a bit. He sat down, almost missing the chair in his distraction. “How could anyone do that?” he wondered aloud, not sure whether he meant the murder or the desecration of the body.

“That’s for the psychologists to figure out,” Hector said. “All I can tell you is that whoever did this made very sure that the body was thoroughly incinerated. I can only think the camper van was saturated in some kind of fuel, probably petrol, going on what the firefighters said at the scene.”

“But not enough to cover up the cause of death?”

Hector shook his head. “Not from me.” It didn’t sound like a boast, simply a statement of fact.

Two murders, committed in the same way. Two fires. The first didn’t destroy the body, the second one did. Was the murderer learning how to set better fires? Charlie hadn’t meant to speak his thought, but he must have done.

“If he really wants to conceal his victim’s identity, he has to crush the bones after he’s burned them,” Hector said. “Because that would defeat even me.” Then he picked an envelope up from his desk. “Dental X-rays,” holding out the envelope for Charlie to take. “Catch this guy.”

33

Tuesday late afternoon

One advantage of being at the hospital was the abundance of taxis. Another was the improvement in Charlie’s leg. The rebandaging had eased the pain. Or it might have been the painkiller. Either way, by the time the taxi reached Llanfair police station, Charlie felt almost human. Until he wriggled out of the car, and onto his crutches, and was reminded that the explosion was less than twelve hours ago. He wanted to go to bed and stay there until he felt better, or at least less exhausted. Instead, he pushed the door open with his shoulder while trying not to drop his crutches. The team were assembled in the break room. Will pulled a chair out and Charlie fell into it.

“There’s cake in the fridge,” he said, and thankfully, there was.

Once the innerCharlie was restored by caffeine and sugar, Eddy reported that the two remaining Joshes had a lot to say. Not about themselves, but about Unwin and Josh Pettifor. Eddy had spoken to Josh Thomas, and Will to Josh Lineham. Bothhad been upset to hear about Unwin’s death and had nothing but good things to say about him.

Josh Pettifor got a more mixed reaction. As Pettifor hadn’t been positively identified, Will and Eddy had been careful not to say he was dead, just asked about him in general.

“Josh Lineham toldme that Pettifor wasn’t bad looking,” Will said, “so he usually had a girlfriend. But apparently he was a cheat, and word got round. That made me think, so I had a poke about on a couple of dating sites, and it wasn’t hard to find him. Pettifor, that is. He’s on all the big ones. Haven’t looked at the more, erm, specialist, sites.”

“He means sex sites,” Eddy said with a grin. “No gay sites though. Women only.”

“Can we tell if he met anyone through those sites?” Charlie asked.

“Not without contacting the websites, and even then, I’m not sure they’ll tell us. But there’s a possible way to find out. I’m looking into it.”

Will looked shifty, which was quite an achievement for someone as innocent-seeming as Will. How had someone with his baby-faced looks survived this long in the police? Perhaps a result of spending his time in windowless rooms with only computers for company. Charlie decided not to enquire further.

“One more interesting thing was that we found Jeff Burton, and his alias, on a couple of dating sites, too.” Eddy said. “Also only looking for women if that’s significant.”

“Do me a favour,” Charlie said. “Look up everyone else we’ve spoken to on those dating sites. Maybe it means something, probably doesn’t, but look anyway. Don’t leave Unwin out. There’s always the possibility he met someone for a hook up.”

“What, Unwin’s family, Mr Hassan, the estate agent, Patsy?”

“Everyone. Including the manager of Mo’s Autoparts, who I hope I have an appointment with.”

“No problem,” Will said, looking cheerful at the prospect of spending hours exploring internet dating sites.

Eddy sent him a text with a phone number and an appointment, and then another. “Mitchell from Mo’s first, and then Pettifor’s ex. Sorry, sarge, but that’s back to Wrexham. She’s at work until late. Should I send you Pettifor’s parents’ address, too?” Eddy sounded hopeful. Charlie thought about the envelope with the unidentified man’s dental X-rays and nodded. He didn’t want to talk to the parents any more than Eddy did, but if it helped with identification, it had to be done. And he was going back to Wrexham anyway. He was going to need his car to make all those visits. He sighed and wished he hadn’t when his bruised ribs hurt.

Stop doing that. Breathe gently. Eat some more cake. Take another painkiller.

The managerof Mo’s Autoparts, Llanfair branch, corrected Charlie’sMr Mitchell.“Mitch is fine,” he said.

They were sitting in Charlie’s car, mainly because there was nowhere else. Driving had proved less painful than expected:discomfort,Charlie told himselfthat’s all.

Mitch had been talking to the forensic investigators when Charlie arrived, telling them, he said, what things had been where, and what the unidentified lumps of plastic and metal strewing the collapsed building might have once been.

“I should have been here last night,” he said. “I’ll probably lose my job over it, though your people say there was nothing I could have done.”

Charlie raised an eyebrow.

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