The Wilderness Murders: DI Giles Book 16 (DI Giles Suspense Thriller Series)

by Anna-Marie Morgan

  “I’m glad I could spend my day off with you.” He cocked his head. “And, I can tell you that after working indoors for months it is great to be outside.”

  Something glinted on the river bank. Lisa rose, heading towards the object reflecting the sun’s rays.

  “Where are you going?” Joe frowned. “Come and get your food before it gets warm.”

  “Ha, you think you're so funny…” She stopped to examine a small pile of belongings arranged one on top of each other, like a cairn. A pair of leather shoes, a wallet, a phone, a watch, and the keys for a Volvo.

  “What is it?” Joe sighed.

  “Oh, God…” She stepped back.

  “What?”

  “I’ve found someone’s things by the river, and they left their shoes.” She looked along the water, searching for the owner. “I don’t see anyone swimming… Something’s not right.”

  “Ah…” Her husband joined her. “They’ll have gone for a swim. They’ll be back before we’ve finished our lunch, you’ll see.”

  “Should I pick them up?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I would leave them be. I’m sure the owner will be back. If they’ve swum downstream, they may be on their way back already. It’s a hot day. You can’t blame them for wanting to take a dive.”

  “Okay.” Lisa nodded. “Let’s eat lunch.”

  Lisa snapped a few photographs of the small pile of items in their surroundings before sitting down to eat.

  “What are you doing?” Joe raised a brow.

  “I saw a police community support officer in town, earlier. If these things are still here when we leave, I think we should report them to her. I’ll show her the photographs, so she will know what we’re referring to, and where to find them.”

  Joe laughed. “Be careful, she doesn't offer you a job.”

  “Hilarious.” Lisa grinned despite herself. “This food better be good, Mister.”

  An hour later, the items were still there, below the bough of an ash tree. The owner had not returned.

  As they packed their picnic away, Lisa pulled a face. “I’m going into town to find that police officer.”

  “Really?” Joe scratched his head, pacing to the river to inspect the water in both directions. “You’re right, there’s no sign of anyone. I tell you what, we’ll leave the pile undisturbed, let the officer know, and maybe when she gets here the owner will be back.”

  “Perfect.” She slipped her hands through her husband’s arm. “Thank you.”

  He pressed a light kiss to her lips; the sun highlighting his short dark hair. “You’re welcome.”

  7

  Missing man

  Yvonne pored over the evidence they had gathered in the Paynes’ murder case.

  Miles and Seren had died from the injuries inflicted by a shotgun. There was no sign of any other assault, including sexual, though Seren was stripped to her underwear, giving a potential sexual motive to the case.

  “Why didn’t he take it further, Dewi?” she asked. “He had them at his mercy. Why did he stop at getting her to undress?”

  “Maybe he lost his nerve?” He frowned. “Perhaps, this was his first offence. Or, maybe, something spooked him, and he was afraid of getting caught.”

  “But he’d taken them further into a secluded wood.”

  “He may have heard something in the distance. A vehicle, perhaps? He decided he couldn’t go through with it, so he shot them.”

  “And then, there are the belongings.”

  “Which could be some of those found in the rucksack?”

  “Yes, except Jonathan Payne says those things didn’t belong to his brother- and sister-in-law. But, if he was wrong about that, and the rucksack is the killer’s, and we may have his DNA.”

  “Right.”

  “But, why leave them on a public footpath? I mean, why not bury or destroy them? Why would he leave his victims’ belongings in a bag with his DNA on it? Why leave them for others to find at all?”

  “Because he wanted us to find them?” Dewi scratched his stubble, staring at the photographs. “Maybe, robbery was his motive. Getting Seren to undress was an added extra. After all, there were no bank cards found in the wallet.”

  “But he hasn't tried to take money from their account.”

  “True. And, if he does, we’ll have him on CCTV.”

  She pursed her lips. “My fear is there may be other victims, bodies we haven’t discovered yet. The belongings in the rucksack could be theirs.”

  “God, I hope not.” Dewi grimaced.

  “So do I, but I believe the positioning of that bag, on the Ridgeway, so close in time to the Paynes’ murders, is one heck of a coincidence. It makes me uneasy.”

  Dewi nodded. “Me too.”

  Callum came into the office, his short-sleeved shirt open at the neck, tie absent. “Ma’am, a pile of belongings have turned up on the riverbank in Dolerw Park. I thought you would want to know?”

  The DI put her pen down. “Whose belongings?”

  He shook his head. “We don’t know, yet… A PCSO brought them in after receiving information from a member of the public.”

  “Do we have the informant’s details?”

  “Yes, she was one…” He checked his notes. “… Lisa Evans, a care worker from Newtown. She and her husband were picnicking by the river, when she saw what she described as a cairn-like stack of personal items.”

  “Do we have a photograph of the stack?”

  Callum shook his head. “I’m afraid not. PCSO Simmonds bagged the items and brought them in to lost property.”

  Yvonne sighed. “Do we have a number for Lisa Evans?”

  He nodded. “Fortunately, we do.”

  “Good. It may amount to nothing, but the timing is interesting, so close to a double murder. I don’t know what is going on here, but we will get to the bottom of it. Can you arrange for us to speak with Lisa Evans as soon as possible?”

  “Will do.”

  “In the meantime, I’d like to know what the items were, and whether they contain anything to identify the owner.”

  “On it.” Callum disappeared.

  The items recovered from the banks of the River Severn at Dolerw comprised a mobile phone, wallet, car keys, a watch, and a pair of brown leather shoes.

  Although the wallet was absent a driver’s licence and bank cards, the phone’s IME number was used to identify the owner as Jason Timms, a thirty-two-year-old factory worker from Welshpool, who no-one had seen for over twenty-four hours. He hadn’t been home or shown up for work.

  Yvonne sat at her computer, examining photographs found on Jason’s phone. There were twelve of them, taken in the last twenty-four hours. Someone had wiped any photos that might have existed prior to that time period from the phone’s memory.

  She sat back, tapping her pen against her teeth.

  “Dai is contacting Jason’s wife for more details.” Dewi joined her. “Timms is a brand new missing persons case. A search team has gone to the area of the river where his belongings were. It’s likely he’ll be located there. It wouldn’t be the first time that swimmers have come to grief in this weather.”

  Yvonne grimaced. “I doubt he was swimming for leisure, Dewi. He’d removed his shoes, but he had to have been wearing the rest of his clothing. If his intention was to swim because he was hot, he’d have stripped to his pants, surely. There’s no evidence of that. If he entered the water, he had to have had a specific reason, and done so in a hurry.”

  “The couple mentioned an angler further along the bank. They passed him on the way to their picnic spot. We should find him, maybe he saw something.”

  “I agree.” She pursed her lips. “Timms’ bank cards and driver’s licence were absent from his wallet. I can’t help drawing comparisons with the wallet found in the rucksack on the Ridgeway, another odd coincidence.”

  “You’ll have a lot to ask his wife.”

  She nodded. “I’d like to know how Timms was when he lef
t his house, and whether he had his bank cards with him. He may have wanted to disappear. Though, there’s no sign from his messages that he was in distress when he left home.”

  “What was in his photographs?” Dewi asked.

  “I don’t know. I mean, there are pictures of the sky, the riverbank, and the vegetation, but their composition is not simply strange, it’s unnerving, and he took two of the images in negative. Perhaps, his wife can enlighten us about whether Timms was arty in that way.”

  Dewi scoured the photographs. “The angle of some of these is bizarre, like someone took them face-down in the dirt.”

  “I agree. There’s a desperation almost, like this one…” She pointed to an image. “The photographer is under water, and the water is half-way up the camera lens, but the phone was dry when found. The timestamp was nine fifty-eight, almost two hours before they found Timms’ stuff. It is like the person who snapped it was drowning, and yet the phone itself was in a neat pile with the other belongings. If this is a person who wanted to disappear, they went about it in a weird and contradictory way. After taking that last picture, he would surely have left the phone in the water. Otherwise, why take that image at all?”

  “You have a point.” Dewi frowned. “Perhaps, this is someone who has lost his mind.”

  She ran a hand through mussed blonde hair. “Or, we have a psychopath on the loose.”

  DC Dai Clayton burst through the door. “Ma’am, I thought you should know that the lab found small specks of blood on the Ridgeway rucksack. An eagle-eyed tech spotted the tiny splashes near a seam. They have a DNA profile, but it doesn’t match with either Miles, or Seren Payne.”

  “Really?” Yvonne frowned.

  “Don’t get too excited.” Dai scratched his head. “The specks are so small, there could be many reasons for them being on there. They are not enough to confirm foul play but, if we have a victim or potential suspect, we can compare their profiles with it, at least.”

  “That’s good, Dai, thank you.”

  “Callum said that Jason Timms’ wife is on her way in here to see you. He said, she’s insisting you talk to her sooner rather than later.”

  The DI checked her watch. “All right,” she said, despite it being one o’clock, and her not having eaten yet. “Let me know as soon as she arrives.”

  Sian Timms arrived at the station in heels, a dark skirt, white blouse, and full make-up.

  Her nails were well-manicured and polished white. She had tied her long blonde hair in a ponytail.

  When Yvonne arrived, Dai had already taken Mrs Timms into an interview room, where she sat tapping her shoes on the floor and her nails on the desk.

  The DI cleared her throat, taking a seat opposite the self-assured young woman. “Hello, Mrs Timms. Thank you for coming in.”

  “You can call me Sian, if you like.”

  “Sian… I’m sorry to hear that your husband is missing.” Yvonne tilted her head.

  “Yes, it’s not like him to take off like that.” Sian took a sip of water from the plastic cup provided. “He’s not usually so irresponsible.”

  “So, you think he disappeared of his own free will?”

  “I think he must have.” Sian shrugged. “He’ll be back, though.”

  The DI frowned. “What make you so sure?”

  “Well, he took his credit cards from his wallet. He obviously intends spending while he’s gone.”

  “Has he ever done anything like this before?”

  “No.”

  “I see that DC Clayton has shown you the belongings we found on the riverbank.”

  “He did.” Sian nodded. “They are definitely my husband’s things. He set off in our Volvo. Your officers told me you haven’t found the car, yet.”

  “Did you see him leave yesterday?”

  “Yes, we said goodbye as we always do. He gave me a peck on the cheek, before leaving the house. I last saw him in the driveway, through the kitchen window. It was just like any other workday, except his boss told me he never turned up for work.”

  “Would you consider this unusual behaviour?”

  “Yes, he wouldn’t normally take time off, even if he was ill.”

  “Have you any idea where he is?”

  Sian Timms shrugged, looking at her nails. “I don't know.”

  Yvonne frowned. “Forgive me for saying so, but you don’t seem overly concerned.”

  Sian brought her gaze to the DI’s. “My husband loves me. He’ll be back.”

  “You’re sure of that?”

  “Of course, I used to tell him he was like a puppy dog. He’s unable to stay away for any length of time. He’s always been like that.”

  “You have a close relationship, then?”

  “We married six years ago. I think he loves me as much as he ever did. Maybe more.”

  “Are you not worried that he came to harm? After all, we found his things by a river.”

  “He may have wanted to scare me.”

  “What do you mean?” Yvonne leaned in. “Why would he want to do that?”

  “He worried I might run off with someone else. I think he saw every man I met as a potential threat.”

  “You’re talking about your husband in the past tense.”

  “Am I?”

  “Yes.”

  “If I am, it’s only because I am talking about his past behaviour. I don’t think he’s dead, if that is what you mean.”

  “How is your relationship? What are you like together?”

  “We’re good.” She flicked her head, examining her fingernails. “He texts me all the time, when he’s at work.”

  “I see he works at the ice cream factory in Welshpool?”

  “Yes, he texts me in his breaks.”

  “Did you row yesterday morning?”

  Sian shook her head. “No.”

  “What about the night before?”

  “Not that I recall.”

  “When was the last time you had a disagreement?”

  “Ooh, I don’t know… Weeks ago?”

  “You said, you thought he might try to scare you. What would make him want to do that? Was there a particular friendship with someone else, that he felt threatened your marriage?”

  “I think all of my friendships with men were a worry to him.”

  “Have you previously had an affair?”

  “No.” Sian pursed her lips.

  “Are you having one now?”

  “No.”

  “Do you have any idea where your husband might be?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe shopping? I was told his bank cards are missing.”

  “He hasn't used his cards, in all the time he’s been missing.”

  “Oh.” Sian scratched her cheek. “He’ll turn up, I know he will.”

  “I’m impressed by your confidence. I hope you’re right.”

  “You look worried, Inspector. There’s really no need, not yet anyway.” Sian checked her watch. “Listen, I’m supposed to be meeting my friends for coffee this afternoon in Welshpool. Can I go now?”

  The DI stared at her wide-eyed. “Of course, but I want you to let us know immediately if your husband shows up.”

  “I will.” Sian rose to leave. “I expect he’ll be back tonight.”

  “What the hell just happened?” Yvonne ran both hands through her hair as she rejoined Dewi in the investigation room.

  “What is it?” He looked up from his computer.

  “It's hard to work her out, Dewi. I can't decide whether she is reassuring herself, or she simply doesn’t give a damn. I’m worried it’s the latter.”

  “Do you think she knows something?”

  “I don’t know, but if he doesn’t show up, we should certainly talk to their neighbours. She tells me she and Jason have a good relationship, but then said he felt insecure. She also referred to him in the past tense. To be honest, her attitude left me with a sour taste in the mouth. Her suspicion was that he might have gone shopping. I suspect Jason Timms pays
for a lifestyle well beyond his means. Something tells me his wife may be high maintenance, and a regular at nail and beauty parlours.”

  “Sounds enough to drive a man to jump in the river.” Dewi grinned.

  “God, I hope not.”

  8

  Death on the Heights

  He chambered two cartridges, taking his time. Every movement deliberate.

  The car had parked in a tiny lay-by at a place known by the locals as Dolfor Heights, one of the tallest hills above Newtown.

  The occupants gazed out over the lights of the town as dusk became twilight. Two lovers, teenagers, about to have their world turned upside down.

  He turned his engine off.

  He cared not whether he had spooked them with his presence. His car was blocking them in. They were going nowhere.

  The boy opened his car door. Good, that would make the job easier.

  Concealing the gun beneath his mac, he switched on a halogen torch and strode towards the open door.

  “Hello?” The lad squinted in the bright light, hands on his hips, annoyed at the unexpected intrusion. “What do you want? We’re a little busy. Can’t you find your own space-” He stopped mid-sentence.

  The assailant pulled out the shotgun, levelling it at the boy’s head.

  The teenager put up his hands, fingers stretched wide. His face, pale in the torchlight. “I meant nothing by that. Don’t get mad. I’m… I am with someone… my girlfriend. We don’t want any trouble. Are we on your land? We’ll get off it.” He got back into the car, about to switch on the engine.

  “Get out,” the stranger ordered. He flicked the gun towards the passenger. “Her, too.”

  The girl screamed.

  The boy froze, keys still in his hand. “Please, just let us go?”

  The stranger took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, for effect. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

  It was a few minutes past three in the morning when the call came through to Yvonne.