The Lantern Men

by Elly Griffiths

  ‘No one in this world knows anything,’ says Cathbad. ‘Me, least of all.’ But he looks rather smug all the same, thinks Ruth.

  ‘Have you found something?’ she asks.

  ‘Yes,’ says Cathbad. ‘I may not know anything but I think I’ve found a third body.’

  *

  Cathbad is right. There is a third body, buried a little bit away from the first two. It’s lower down too, almost in the substratum. Cathbad’s first sighting was of a femur, a thigh bone, and, as soon as she saw it, Ruth thought that she was looking at a woman. The so-called long-bone was relatively short, which either meant a female or an adolescent. By the time they reach the skull, Ruth is sure. The head is delicately shaped with no pronounced brow ridges. This body hasn’t been buried as carefully as the others and the bones are a little jumbled but Ruth marks them carefully on her chart and sees that they are all present. There are three women buried in the garden of the Jolly Boatman.

  ‘He’s killed someone else,’ says Nelson, watching as the sinister-looking black van drives away. It’s evening now, the sun low over the sea, discovering the hidden streams that criss-cross the marshes. Geese fly overheard, their feathers pink and gold. The reporters are still there but Nelson has moved them further back so they won’t have seen the third skeleton. The little red figure of Chantal Simmonds is still with them.

  ‘March must have known that the body was here,’ says Ruth.

  ‘He knew, all right,’ says Nelson. ‘Now I’m wondering how many more victims there are. We need to get the cadaver dogs in.’

  ‘I’ll get the field team to come back tomorrow and dig up the rest of the garden,’ says Ruth. ‘But do you really think they’ll find more bodies here?’

  ‘I don’t know what I think any more,’ says Nelson.

  ‘I think the third body has been there longer,’ says Ruth. ‘The bones were more discoloured and they were lower down in the earth. Mind you, the other two weren’t quite what I’d expect for the context.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Marshland is usually a good preservative. Think of Lindow Man or the Iron Age girl that we found on the Saltmarsh that time. But, from what I could see, some of these bones were cracked and flaky, almost porous.’

  ‘Why would that be?’

  ‘It could just be that there’s a lot of groundwater. But soil with an alkaline pH higher than seven is meant to preserve bone.’

  ‘Now you’re starting to sound like Phil,’ says Nelson.

  ‘Poor Phil,’ says Ruth. ‘I hope he’s OK.’ Something is nagging away at her, something stuck at the back of her mind, like a bit of apple core lodged in your teeth. Nelson, though, has moved on.

  ‘The problem will be identifying the third skeleton,’ he says. ‘Do you think we’ll get some DNA?’

  ‘It’s harder with articulated skeletons,’ says Ruth. ‘The process of putrefaction seems to destroy DNA but alkaline soil is usually good for preserving DNA in bones because the bone apatite – the hard material – is protected from dissolution. I’ve taken samples from the surrounding soil too. There might be something there. Blood or hair or body fluid.’

  ‘You got some material too, didn’t you?’ says Nelson. ‘He must have wrapped the bodies up. Rope fibres too. There was DNA on the rope last time. And cat hair. Did you see any cat hair?’

  ‘No,’ says Ruth, ‘but there could be traces in the soil.’ She thinks of Flint and suddenly longs to be back with him. Her back is aching and her face feels as if it is sunburnt, despite liberal application of factor fifty. She wants to lie down with a flannel over her eyes. She also wants a long drink of water and something to eat. It’s nearly six and Ruth’s stomach is rumbling so loudly that she wonders if Nelson can hear it. He doesn’t seem tired or hungry. He is full of the energy of the chase.

  Ruth goes back to her car to drink from her water bottle. Rummaging in her backpack she finds her phone and turns it on to see if there’s a message from or about Kate. Instead, the name Shona flashes onto her screen.

  Have u heard about Phil? Can u come over?

  Chapter 12

  It’s seven o’clock by the time that Ruth parks outside Shona and Phil’s town house. She is so tired that she has had to have all the windows open to stop herself going to sleep. When she saw Shona’s text she had briefly been tempted not to open it but to head for Cambridge, bath and supper. But it’s quite rare for Shona to ask for her help and they have been friends for a long time. So Ruth rang Frank who said that Kate was fine and that he’d make sure she went to bed by nine. Kate herself came on the line to say that she came top in a grammar test at school. Ruth is against teaching grammar to nine-year-olds but she couldn’t suppress a surge of pride at this achievement. She told Kate that she was proud of her and promised Frank that she wouldn’t be too late home. ‘Did you find the bodies?’ asked Frank. ‘Yes,’ said Ruth, ‘we found them.’ It seems years ago. She doesn’t tell Frank about the third skeleton, she’s not sure why.

  Shona meets Ruth at the door. She is red-eyed and her usually artfully disarranged hair is standing out wildly. Ruth hugs her.

  ‘Any news?’

  ‘He’s stable, they say. The coma is just so they can ventilate him, apparently. I can’t believe it. Phil’s so fit. He’s never had any heart trouble.’

  ‘What happened?’ says Ruth, following Shona into the kitchen, an open-plan affair with lots of chrome and exposed brickwork. Louis, Shona and Phil’s eight-year-old son, is sitting at the breakfast bar playing a game on his phone.

  ‘Why don’t you go and watch TV in the snug?’ Shona says to him. ‘I’ll make you some pizza in a bit and bring it in.’

  Louis slouches away without making eye contact with either of them.

  ‘He’s very upset,’ says Shona.

  ‘He must be,’ says Ruth. ‘It’s such a shock for all of you. Sorry I’m covered in mud, by the way. I’ve just come from a dig.’

  ‘That’s OK,’ says Shona, but she puts a tea towel on the sofa before inviting Ruth to sit down. She pours them both a glass of wine without asking. Ruth sips it slowly, she still has to drive back to Cambridge.

  ‘Someone just set on Phil when he was cycling home,’ says Shona. ‘He was knocked off his bike and the shock gave him a heart attack. Thank God Cathbad was there. He gave Phil mouth-to-mouth, apparently. He saved his life.’

  ‘I saw Cathbad today,’ says Ruth. ‘He said it was all part of the great web.’

  She hoped to make Shona laugh but her friend just gulps down some more wine. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she says again. Her eyes fill with tears. She really does love Phil, thinks Ruth.

  ‘Judy says the man ran off with Phil’s backpack,’ says Ruth.

  ‘Yes,’ says Shona. ‘I suppose he was just a mugger. Poor Phil. He’d bought chickpeas and wine because I was having a dinner party.’

  ‘Is that what was in the backpack? Chickpeas and wine?’

  ‘And Phil’s laptop,’ says Shona. ‘They didn’t take his phone. It was still in his pocket with the headphones attached. His wallet was there too.’

  ‘So they just took his laptop?’

  ‘Yes.’ Shona looks at Ruth. ‘What are you getting at, Ruth? Do you think it was more than just a mugging?’

  That’s the trouble; Shona knows her too well.

  ‘It’s probably nothing,’ says Ruth. ‘It’s just that, after that postcard . . .’

  ‘What postcard?’

  ‘The one about the Ivor March case,’ says Ruth, realising too late that Phil obviously hasn’t told Shona about his mysterious correspondent.

  ‘What? Oh, the man who murdered those girls and buried them in his garden. How can this have anything to do with that?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ says Ruth. ‘It probably doesn’t.’ She wants to ask what was on Phil’s laptop but she’s not a detec
tive, her role is just to comfort her friend. She says, ‘Why don’t we put that pizza on? You should have something to eat.’

  Plus, she’s starving.

  *

  Nelson is briefing the team. It’s late but everyone is energised by the thought that they might have found Nicola and Jenny, and possibly a third victim too.

  Nelson takes his place at the front of the room and asks Judy to stand beside him. He wants to emphasise that she is his second-in-command, especially with Tanya Fuller in the front row, pen in hand, ready to show that she is every bit as good a detective as Judy. DC Tony Zhang sits beside Tanya. He’s a new recruit, a recent graduate from the University of East Anglia. Tony is London born, of Chinese parentage. He explained this to Nelson in his interview, adding that Zhang means ‘archer’. Nelson made the mistake of telling this to Superintendent Jo Archer, with the result that she regards Tony as her own special protégé. All the same, Tony’s not a bad lad, hard-working but quick to have a laugh with his colleagues. Today, though, he looks rather apprehensive. This is his first murder inquiry and he’s been in Tanya’s company all day, which is enough to make anyone feel nervous.

  ‘Three bodies were excavated from the garden of the Jolly Boatman pub in Cley,’ says Nelson, ‘which is the location given to us by Ivor March. Ruth is pretty sure that the bodies are female but we’re hoping to be able to extract DNA. Apparently the putrefaction process can destroy DNA but there might be blood or waste matter in the surrounding soil. We also have hair and teeth which will help with identification. We can look at dental records but also teeth are good sources of DNA because the enamel protects them, or something like that. Is that right, Judy?’

  ‘Yes,’ says Judy, looking at her notes. ‘Teeth are also useful for isotope testing which can tell us where someone grew up. Bones renew themselves but teeth don’t, so we should be able to trace the victims geographically.’

  A hand goes up. Tanya’s. Of course.

  ‘Did Ivor March say anything about a third victim?’

  ‘No, he didn’t,’ says Nelson. ‘He just mentioned Nicola Ferris and Jenny McGuire. Ruth thinks that the third body had been buried longer. It’s almost certainly female, smaller and slighter than the other women but not a child. Ruth can tell by the teeth and the bones. Children’s bones have growing ends on them but these were all fully fused.’

  ‘Do we have any clues about the identity of the third woman?’ asks Tanya.

  Nelson hesitates. He has a theory but wonders if it’s too soon to share it with the team. ‘As Judy says, we’ll know more when we’ve done DNA and isotope testing,’ he says, ‘but when I interviewed John Robertson, the gardener at Grey Walls, he mentioned a young Eastern European woman going missing about ten years ago. Apparently this girl was picked up by March and his friends when she was lost on the fens. She stayed with them for a few months and then she vanished. Robertson couldn’t remember her name, thought it was something like Sonya or Sandra, but that could be a place to start. Judy will take you through the investigation strategy.’

  He sits down and lets Judy continue, which she does very efficiently. She should really apply for a job as a DI somewhere else but Nelson dreads the thought of being left with Tanya and Jo. But, then again, he’ll retire soon and Judy can have his job. The thought makes him even more depressed.

  ‘Our first port of call is obviously Ivor March himself,’ Judy is saying. ‘Did he know the third body was there? Is she another of his victims? If he’s in a forthcoming mood – and, after all, he told us where to dig in the first place – he might tell us. DCI Nelson will talk to March because he’s the one with the relationship.’

  That’s one way of describing it, thinks Nelson. He remembers March smiling at Ruth. I want you to promise to do the excavation this time. Do I have your word, Dr Galloway? Had he known what she would find?

  Tanya has her hand up again.

  ‘Ivor March wanted Ruth to do the dig, didn’t he?’

  ‘Yes,’ says Judy. ‘He asked for her specifically.’

  ‘Why?’

  Judy looks at Nelson before replying. ‘He said that he wasn’t impressed with Phil Trent. He knows that Dr Galloway is a bones expert.’

  ‘So he must have wanted her to find the bodies?’

  ‘Yes,’ says Judy. ‘I suppose, if he was going to confess, he wanted the thing done properly.’

  ‘But he hasn’t confessed, has he?’ says Tanya. ‘What if there’s a particular reason why he wanted Ruth, and only Ruth, to do the excavation?’

  She doesn’t say what that reason might be and the question hangs in the air until Judy continues with the briefing. But Nelson thinks back to Ivor March smiling at Ruth: DCI Nelson is very protective of you. I wonder why. Why did March want Ruth to do the excavation? Was it because his egotism demanded that the best people be involved in the investigation, even if that meant that he was more likely to be found guilty? This has been Nelson’s theory up until now. But what if Tanya is right and there’s more to it than that? She’s bright, Tanya, even if she can be a pain at times.

  Judy continues. ‘We also need to interview Robert Carr, known as Bob, Leonard Jenkins and Ailsa Britain, all of whom were living at Grey Walls when the Eastern European girl went missing. I can do that with Tony.’

  Tony goes red, as he always does when addressed directly, but Nelson thinks that he looks pleased. It will be good if Judy can take Tony under her wing, teach him a thing or two.

  He turns to Tanya. ‘Can you take charge of the intel? See if anyone went missing at around the time of the girl’s disappearance. You can have some civilian investigators to assist you. We also need to talk to the ex-landlord of the Jolly Boatman. Intel have traced him. He’s called Simon Winsome, born in London, made some money in the city and moved to Norfolk to run a pub. He went bankrupt in 2004 and emigrated to Australia. March says that he and Winsome were friends so we need to find out if he knew anything about the bodies buried in his garden. If he does, we’ll apply for an extradition warrant. The pub is still owned by the brewery but they’ve let it become derelict. Winsome was the last landlord.’

  Tanya brightens at the words ‘take charge’ and at the thought of having civilians to boss around. All the same, intel can be a tedious job. Nelson is sure that Tanya will want some of the action. He’s not surprised to see her hand go up again.

  ‘Are we going to inform Nicola and Jenny’s families?’ she asks.

  ‘They know we were digging,’ says Judy, ‘and I’ll tell them that we’ve found the bodies, prepare them for the likelihood that they are Nicola and Jenny.’ This will be a difficult task, Nelson knows. The families will be expecting that the bodies will be found, maybe even hoping for it, but the reality will still be hard to take. Nelson thanks his lucky stars that Judy is on his team.

  ‘We need to prepare a statement for the press too,’ says Judy. ‘I assume you don’t want to do the media, boss?’

  ‘I’m too ugly for TV,’ says Nelson. ‘You do it.’

  There’s a polite laugh but Nelson sees Tanya looking at him seriously, as if she agrees with this assessment. She’d love to do the press conference.

  ‘That’s it,’ he says, standing up. ‘Thank you, everyone. We’ve got a busy few days ahead of us. But it looks as if we can at least bring some closure to the murdered girls’ families. Go home and get some rest now.’

  *

  But Nelson himself finds it hard to rest. When he gets home George is in bed and Michelle is watching some endless cookery programme on television. Nelson is nodding off by nine but, when he goes to bed, he can’t sleep. Michelle comes up at ten and is asleep as soon as her head touches the pillow. So no chance of sex either. By midnight Nelson decamps to the spare room. He’s not much of a reader but he tries a few pages of one of Michelle’s books and throws it across the room in disgust. Who writes this rubbish? If he met a man like Chris
tian Grey he’d have him up on a charge before he could say ‘safe word’.

  He thinks about the bones lying in the earth, of excavating them while the birds called excitedly above them. He thinks of Ivor March smiling. He thinks of sitting in the pub garden with Ruth. He thinks of his children, in careful age order: Laura, Rebecca, Katie and George. Is Laura happy? Is Rebecca fulfilled? Where will Katie go to secondary school? Should George be speaking more? He tries to think calming thoughts, as once advised by Cathbad: ‘Go back to a place where you were happy as a child.’ But he can only think of playing football on a freezing recreation ground, his dad shouting from the touchlines. It was the only time that he ever heard his father raise his voice. His mother is another matter. Maureen is a great shouter. He must ring her at the weekend. The trouble is, Maureen doesn’t know about Kate which makes conversation difficult. He should tell her, says Michelle, who is a great favourite with her mother-in-law. But will the truth kill Maureen? Will she want to kill him?

  When he finally falls asleep Nelson dreams fitfully about buried bodies and disappearing girls. He is woken at five a.m. by his work phone.

  ‘DCI Nelson. A girl has been found dead on the marshes near Cley. Looks like she’s been murdered.’

  Chapter 13

  The sun is rising over the marshes. The reed beds are red and gold, the windmill a dark cross against the pale blue sky. As Nelson speeds along the narrow road, a flock of black-tailed birds rise up in front of him, noisy and indignant. He slows down, looking for the blue light of a police car. ‘You have arrived at your destination,’ says his satnav, a woman’s voice chosen by Michelle to sound calm and unthreatening. But, as far as Nelson can see, he is precisely in the middle of nowhere. He thinks that he’s near the community centre but something about the flat landscape is disorientating. You can’t see where you’re going or where you’ve been, there’s just the present, the marshland and the sky. Nelson stops and gets out his phone.

  ‘Where the hell is this incident?’ he barks.