Page 15 of The Girl in the Grave
Estelle was angry about the fact that only one person knew how to work the bloody security system. It was ridiculous. A hotel this size should have at least one person on every shift that had been trained. As soon as she’d found Annie, she was going to arrange for the security company to come in and train the staff. Daddy could do one if he didn’t want to spend the money. The whole point of having it was for situations like this.
She dialled 101 and heard a recorded voice telling her she was being connected to Cumbria Police. Her heart was racing because deep down she knew something bad had happened. She just didn’t know what, and how did she explain that to some arsy copper who would probably try to fob her off and tell her she was wasting their time?
The real voice that answered startled her; she hadn’t expected anyone to pick up the phone so soon.
‘Good afternoon, Cumbria Police, how can I help you?’
‘Hello, I’d like to report my friend missing. We can’t find her, and we’ve searched and searched everywhere possible. I’ve spoken to everyone who knows her. She’s gone. I don’t know what to do.’
The kind voice on the other end soothed Estelle’s frazzled nerves; the woman was nice. Not at all what she’d been expecting.
‘Then let me get some details from you and we’ll do our best to find her. I’m sure she won’t be far.’
Estelle nodded at Gary, and then began to answer the long list of questions. She had a bitter taste in her mouth; while she’d been having the best sex of her life with Mr Darcy, she now knew something terrible had happened to her friend and she didn’t know if she could ever forgive herself. When she’d finally answered the never-ending questions, the woman had told her that an officer would be there in the next hour to take details. Jesus, how much detail did they need? She wanted to screamJust tell them to get here with a dog and find her.She didn’t, though, it wasn’t her fault, she was doing her job. Instead Estelle thanked her profusely and ended the call, handing the phone back to Gary.
‘Now what?’
‘Now we wait for the police to come and take over. In the meantime we pray that Annie rolls up with a stinking hangover, but safe and well.’
‘Do you think something’s happened to her? Remember that lass a couple of years ago who got drunk and separated from her mates. She ended up in the lake, drowned. They didn’t find her body for days.’
She glared at Gary. ‘Thanks for that, I really appreciate your comforting words. Let’s bloody well hope she didn’t decide to go for a midnight swim.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.’
‘No, you’re right. Shit happens and usually to the nicest of people. I’m so worried about her.’
Unable to take any more of Gary’s stupid chatter, she went into the office, slamming the door shut, and collapsed onto the soft leather sofa. She’d never felt so ill and worried in her life. Her eyes were aching, and she just wanted to close them, drift off for a little while and wake up to discover that Annie was back in her room and life was how it should be.
Twenty-Five
Josh was out in the corridor having an animated conversation with someone, while Sam, the detective he’d arrived with, and Beth sat quietly trying not to listen in.
‘I don’t care. Find out who this relative is; when they came in to the station; who they spoke to; if we still have it on CCTV. I want everything. I want to know why someone would come in to the station complaining of suspicious circumstances regarding their elderly relative’s death, when there is no evidenceat allto say there was?… I want two officers despatched to their address and then I want them brought to the hospital mortuary to speak to Doctor Adams and myself. I want to know why permission was granted. Who applied for the licence, and what was the reason given on the application form?’ There was a long pause as whoever was on the other end replied. ‘I can’t believe we agreed to exhume a body on so little information. Who signed it off?… When you have all the answers, I need you to get your arse up to the mortuary and come see me. The doctor needs to start the victim’s PM now. As soon as you know, I want to know.’
Beth grimaced at Sam. She’d never heard Josh lose his cool like that before, he was always so laid-back. Judging by Sam’s expression, neither had she. The door opened and he strode in, throwing himself down into the chair so hard that Beth wondered if it was going to snap.
‘Everything okay, boss?’
‘I don’t think so. Something is way off. My bullshit radar is going crazy. Why was Florence Wright’s relative so convinced she needed exhuming? I don’t like that we found another body in that grave.’
Suddenly, a thought struck Beth and she began searching through her notebook, flipping the pages frantically.
‘I spoke to him! I remember someone phoned here asking if they could speak to me for advice about a recent death. It was quite a while ago, but I’m sure I took down his details…’
‘What did he say?’
‘I’m not sure it’s him, but I don’t often get phone calls from people asking about exhumations. It was a couple of months ago; I was just leaving the office when the phone rang. He told me his name and said he had concerns that there was something amiss with the circumstances of his great-aunt’s death. He said something about the GP visiting a lot more than he’d expect given she was such a relatively healthy woman for her age. He also mentioned something about her will being altered recently, maybe the GP being added? I told him he’d need to apply for a special licence and that it would be worth speaking to someone in the police.’
Josh looked at her in horror. ‘Jesus Christ, don’t tell me we have a small-scale Harold Shipman on the loose as well?’
Beth shook her head. ‘No, we don’t because there is nothing at all to support his claims. Obviously, I need the results from the full tox screen, but I’ve seen a lot of bodies with pneumonia over the years and fluid in the lungs was definitely the cause of death in there. I didn’t see any signs of overdosing of medication when I examined her.’
‘What are you saying then?’
‘I think maybe he used that as his cover story; mention a crooked GP and people are going to panic. They wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened back in Hyde with Shipman.’
Josh stared at Beth. ‘So he wanted Florence Wright’s body exhumed and re-examined for no reason? It doesn’t make sense.’
