Page 4 of The Girl in the Grave
‘No, I don’t like working with DS Holmes. He’s about as funny as a corpse.’
Josh began to laugh. ‘Nah, neither do I. He’s such a miserable git. Listen, this scene is a complete mystery; I’ve never seen anything like it. In fact, I’ve neverheardof anything like it, but I’ll let you take a look for yourself and see what you think.’
As she zipped up the pale blue paper suit, tugging on a pair of shoe covers and a pair of matching blue gloves, she grabbed her heavy case from the boot.
‘Lead the way, I’m ready.’
But are you really ready?The question burned in her mind as she followed Josh across the narrow metal footpath to the crime scene. Taking the scene guard booklet from the officer standing in front of the police tape, she signed herself in. This was it, there was no going back now. Whoever was in that grave was going to demand her full attention and they were going to get it; she’d give every single piece of herself to this case. Stepping inside the tent, all noise except the steady patter of rain as it drummed against the sheeting ceased to exist. The air inside was stuffy and the muted light cast a shadow over the open grave. Beth pulled a torch from her case then stood still taking in the scene. She would live, eat, sleep and breathe it until she had solved the puzzle of the mysterious body in the grave.
Five
Beth switched on the torch and stared down into the grave, her eyes wide and lips slightly parted. She’d seen some terrible things since she’d completed her training, the stuff that nightmares were made of, but this, this was more than terrible. It was wrong, so wrong. Why would someone put a body in a grave that had been dug for another person? From where she was standing the body looked intact, although the marbling on the exposed flesh of the legs and the putrid smell of decomposition that lingered in the air told her that it might not be the case. Through the thin layer of soil she could make out what looked like a rather tatty faded yellow dress. Turning to look at Josh as he entered the tent she mouthed: ‘Why?’
He shrugged his shoulders; he couldn’t answer that yet. She knew that in time to come he would be able to, as she put as much faith in his ability as a detective sergeant as he did her post-mortems. They made a pretty good team and between them had solved every murder that had come their way. For this area they had been few and far between, not like over the border in Lancashire where she also covered, that was far busier. She liked that about Cumbria: the police force was much smaller than the rest of the north-west, so it was easier to get to know the detectives you were working alongside. It was one of the reasons she lived in this county instead of anywhere else: she’d be called to local jobs with a team she trusted. She’d known Josh for years: they’d been friends at university but they’d grown closer after he’d helped her that terrible night – she stopped herself from going back in time; now wasn’t the time or the place to go back there. She squatted down at the side of the grave to take a closer look at the body.
‘We need a forensic archaeologist to excavate the site. Aside from being flattened with the weight of the coffin and the decomposition, our victim looks relatively fresh. How long ago was this grave dug?’
‘According to the guy over there, Barry, who dug it, around eight weeks ago.’
‘Well I can’t tell you much until the body has been recovered to the mortuary, but I can tell you I don’t think she put herself down there. She was definitely dead, or near to death when she was placed inside that grave. There is no way she could have covered herself in enough soil not to be noticed by the mourners at Florence Wright’s funeral.’
Beth looked across at the men who were leaning against the side of the private ambulance, then back at Josh.
‘Is Barry a viable suspect? He had access to the grave before and after: wouldn’t he have noticed a body in there before the coffin was interred?’
‘At this point,everyoneis a viable suspect. I’ve asked for some of my team to come and take Barry, and Jason, the other guy who was operating the digger, down to the station to give a statement.’
‘Good, I know it’s not for me to say, but surely it has to be someone who knows all about the cemetery and how it works. You can’t just rock up with a dead body and throw it in a grave hoping for the best.’
‘Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. Apparently, there’s a team of two who maintain and dig the graves, plus the office staff. Then there’s also the undertakers who come and go, not to mention members of the public.’
‘Good point: so it could be anyone in the funeral trade?’
‘Or it could have been some opportunistic killer who saw the readymade grave and decided to fill it himself.’
‘So, basically, it could be anyone.’
Josh laughed. ‘Basically, yes. But starting with those two at the top of my list, I guess I’ll have to work my way backwards.’
Beth stood up, her back creaking; as she put her hands on her hips and stretched. ‘I have a feeling this is going to be a rather difficult case, Josh. We’ll have our work cut out for us.’
The look on Josh’s face said he’d figured that out long before she’d arrived.
Six
There was nothing more that Beth could do at the scene for the moment. It needed to be dug out by a forensic archaeologist and the nearest one, Doctor Chris Corkill, was based at UCLA in Lancaster. He’d been called and would attend the scene first thing tomorrow morning. As much as it pained her to have to leave the nameless girl alone like this, she had no choice. At least the tent that now covered the grave allowed her some privacy. Two police officers were going to be stationed outside the tent, guarding it until Chris could get here and start the painstaking job of sifting through the soil looking for any trace evidence. The cemetery was now closed to members of the public with PCSOs guarding each entrance.
As she said her goodbyes, she spotted Josh chatting to a rather pasty-faced woman who she’d never seen before. The woman had a clipboard under one arm and the black hair that framed her face only served to make her skin look paler than pale. Beth lifted a hand at Josh, who excused himself to come and speak to her.
‘Is that you done?’
‘Until tomorrow, yes. It’s pretty obvious she’s dead. You didn’t need me to confirm that for you. She’s been there at least eight weeks, and as much as I’d like to get her moved out of that cold, damp hole, another night isn’t going to make any difference. Who was that woman you were talking to? Is she from the cemetery? She looks like she’s seen a ghost.’
‘No, environmental health. I didn’t realise, but they have an officer present at exhumations to ensure everything is done correctly and respectfully, meeting all the health and safety regulations. The reason she looks so tense is that they’ve all messed up; apparently the coffin should have been exhumed in the early hours of the morning with the gravesite screened off from public view. She was sent last minute when the original officer phoned in sick, causing a bit of a delay. She freely admits she didn’t know the correct protocol and is currently having a heart attack whilst waiting for her manager to get here.’
‘Lord, the poor woman. Well let’s hope she doesn’t drop down dead here because we already have two bodies to deal with. I don’t fancy adding another onto my scheduled list of post-mortems for tomorrow.’
Josh stifled a laugh with the palm of his hand. ‘You’re terrible! I’ll see you tomorrow.’
