Page 23 of The Girl in the Grave
The smile left Mickey’s face as the stark reality of the situation hit home. ‘What are we going to do, Josh? How are we going to find her?’
Josh felt his mouth go dry. ‘I don’t know, but we can’t give up. We’ve got to keep moving and hope for the best. It’s all we can do really.’
Mickey signed him into the crime scene logbook, and Josh stepped inside the room, which smelled much better than the musty corridor. There were scented candles on almost every available surface and a plug-in air freshener which smelled of those pear drop sweets he used to love as a kid. He slowly looked around. Nothing looked out of place. The bedding was a tangled knot of duvet on top of the bed; there was a plastic bucket on the floor which Estelle had told him she’d put there in case Annie was sick. He couldn’t see under the bed from this side. He walked around to the other side to find only a small gap between the floor and the bed frame. He bent down, pushed up the too-long sleeve of the suit and turned on the torch he was carrying. His breath caught at the back of his throat as it illuminated a normal-sized photograph decorated with the three chipped, pale green, blood-stained fingernails. Tilting the torch to get a better look at the image, his stomach churned at sight of Chantel Price’s bone-white, lifeless face staring back at him. The photo must have been taken with a strong flash somewhere very dark. It was instantly clear that whoever had taken Annie was the same person who’d killed Chantel. And they wanted to make sure everybody knew it. Unable to look any longer, he glanced around the room, searching for an item of Annie’s clothing to give to Jack and the dog to catch the scent. He picked up a discarded T-shirt from the bottom of the laundry bin.
There was a knock on the door, and he heard Mickey whisper, ‘Boss, CSI are here, and Claire is apparently going to rip your bollocks off if you’ve been inside the scene before she’s videoed and photographed it.’
He grimaced, straightened up and retraced his footsteps. As he walked out of the door he bumped straight into her, blocking his way with her arms folded across her chest. Mickey just shrugged and turned the other way.
‘Why, Josh? You know the score better than anyone.’
‘I didn’t touch anything, and we don’t have much time. I just needed to see for myself. It’s all yours, and the hotel manager’s already been in a couple of times.’
She shook her head, tutting at him but said no more. He knew she’d understand.
He walked back to the staircase and shuffled his way outside to the van where he stripped off the suit, boot covers and gloves, depositing them all into a brown paper sack as evidence. There was nothing else he could do here. He needed to think where to search; to work out who was keeping Annie captive, and fast. From Beth’s findings with the fly pupa he was hoping they had maybe a couple of days before they ran out of time.
Thirty-Six
Sam was waiting with Jack by his van and smiled as Josh crossed the road towards her. He passed the T-shirt to Jack, and they waited patiently as he let the dog out and held it under her nose. Their hearts lifted as the springer spaniel set off towards the hotel, straining at her long leash; but it wasn’t long before Jack and the dog returned to where they were waiting.
‘She picked up the scent a short distance outside of the hotel grounds, across the road at the back of the church and then it stopped; nothing else.’
‘Dammit. He must have bundled her into a vehicle and drove away with her. Sam, can you ask the CCTV operators to check the cameras on the main street after she’d been escorted to bed?’
‘Already on it.’
‘Thank you. Any word on Thompson?’
‘No. But I’ve been thinking: where he could possibly hide her? He lives in a second floor flat with no garden, has neighbours above and below him.’
He nodded. ‘Are there any sheds, garages or lock-ups at the cemetery?’
She shrugged. ‘Probably, should we go there now?’
Josh was already in the driver’s seat clicking his seat belt in. He did a three-point turn to get out of the tight space and took off as fast as he could. The cemetery was only a few minutes away.
Driving through the main gates he headed straight towards the cemetery offices, hoping that they were still open. Abandoning the car so it blocked in a brand-new Jag, he didn’t care; they would have to wait. Pushing open the old, creaky wooden door it made enough noise to wake the dead. The girl sitting behind an equally old desk jumped at the sudden noise.
Josh pulled out his warrant card and crossed towards her, thrusting it in her face. ‘DS Josh Walker and this is my colleague DC Sam Thomas, we’re investigating a high-risk missing person’s case and need to know if there are any outbuildings here, in the grounds? Sheds, garages, that sort of thing…’
‘Well, Jase and Barry have access to the entire site, they would know. I’m sorry, I haven’t been here very long so I couldn’t tell you. I’m sure Jase will be able to help you. I’ll ring him for you.’ She tucked the phone under her chin and looked at her watch. ‘Mind you they might have gone home for the day. I was just about to leave. It is quite late.’
Josh looked at Sam, who shrugged: was it possible Thompson hadn’t done a runner at all and had been here all day working? He hoped so. They waited for the girl to go through an address book and then dial the phone number. She seemed as if she was moving in slow motion, but eventually she replaced the receiver and looked across at him.
‘Do you have a plan of the cemetery we could look at?
‘I don’t think we have one here. You might have to ask at the planning department, they would probably have one. Jase isn’t picking up; should I try Barry?’
Sam smiled at her. ‘If you wouldn’t mind, but could you please hurry. This really is a matter of great urgency.’
The girl smiled back then looked down at the book and began running her finger down the page to find Barry’s number, then repeated the process.
‘Barry, can you come to the office now? There’s two coppers here. They’re in a bit of a rush.’
She put the phone down. ‘He’s up by the old chapel; he said can you meet him because he was about to clock off. He’ll start walking down. Is there anything else I can help you with?’
Josh stepped outside and heard Sam thanking her for her help. They got back into the car and began the drive along the narrow, steep hill towards the chapel where it had all begun two days ago. Josh rubbed a hand across the stubble on his face; had it only been two days? They saw a man in a bright yellow safety vest walking down the hill towards them. Josh stopped the car and put the window down. Barry leaned into his open window. The metallic smell of freshly dug soil clung to him and filled the car.
