Jonah pointed to a large area of dark discolouration on the cadaver’s back.
‘In addition to which, insect activity in the body is in the very early stages, which might seem to contradict our estimated time of death.’ He picked up a container. ‘Look.’
Geraldine stared more closely, and was barely able to make out a few tiny white dots in the liquid that resembled floating grains of rice.
‘The eggs indicate he was definitely outside exposed to the elements for less than, say, ten hours, confirming he was dumped there sometime on Sunday night. If he’d been there any longer than twenty-four hours, these eggs would certainly have hatched into maggots. But given that he was dead for longer than a week previous to being deposited in Mr Dexter’s garden, he must have been left on his back in a protected environment, in a fairly well-sealed location where these little parasites couldn’t get to him.’ He gestured to the blowfly eggs. ‘Someone was keeping hold of the body, storing it somewhere. Now why would anyone do that, I wonder?’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘Probably not to admire him. He’s not a pretty sight, is he?’
‘Presumably they were holding on to him until they thought it was safe to move him,’ Ian said.
Geraldine wondered whether that suggested a period of reflection after Jason’s death, meaning that his death had not been planned as carefully as the aftermath.
‘How did he die?’ she asked.
Jonah smiled. ‘I thought you were never going to ask. Now here’s something I can help you with, at last, with a fair degree of certainty.’
Turning to the body, he indicated a patch on the back of the head where the skin had been cut away to reveal a shattered area of the skull.
‘Either he had a nasty fall,’ he said, ‘or someone gave him a hefty whack on the head with a heavy blunt object. I’m guessing he would have been knocked out and probably never recovered consciousness. At any rate, there are no signs of any defence wounds. He died of a haemorrhage, caused by the head injury.’
The three of them stared at the damaged skull for a moment.
‘He was probably wrapped in a blanket before he was moved,’ Jonah went on. ‘We found wool fibres all over his clothes and exposed areas of skin. They’ve been sent for analysis but I can tell you they were a mixture of colours.’
‘Could it have been a tartan blanket?’ Geraldine asked, remembering the blanket Roger had been wrapped in.
‘It could have been.’
Ian raised his eyebrows enquiringly. But the likelihood that Roger would have killed Jason, reported the body, and then gone to his daughter’s house to wrap himself in the same blanket he had used to transport the body was so remote as to be barely worth following up. All the same, she resolved to send a constable to collect the blanket. They could not afford to overlook any possible lead. And once they found Jason’s killer, they might also have discovered who had killed David.
Jonah had the body turned over and Geraldine heard Ian draw in his breath at the sight of the dead man’s face. His skin was mottled green and purple and the eyes which bulged from his face would have been difficult to close.
‘I know,’ Jonah said, nodding at Ian. ‘He would scare hardened fans of horror movies. So,’ he continued in a matter-of-fact tone, ‘I gather this one was related to the corpse you brought me just seven days ago? I have to say this is a very different kind of killing. I’d be surprised – don’t quote me on this please, it’s just a stray thought based on mere supposition – but I’d be surprised if they were killed by the same person.’
David’s death appeared to have been premeditated. The pills might have been given to him without his knowledge. His wife, for example, could have made some excuse for his dinner tasting strange, or she might have mixed ground-up pills and put them into the whisky he drank. Jason’s death, on the other hand, could have been accidental, even though it had been deliberately covered up. If Jason had been murdered, it must have been on impulse, because the killer had clearly not thought it through, and had taken a long time to work out how to dispose of the body, doing so only when the fetid odour became a problem. If David had been killed first, it was possible Jason might have been attacked because he had threatened to expose the killer, but it made less sense the other way around. The more she thought about it, the more confused Geraldine felt. But it was hard to believe the two deaths could be unrelated.
After thanking Jonah for his insights, Geraldine drove Ian back to the police station in silence. As soon as she reached her desk, she arranged for Roger’s blanket to be collected and tested. The forensic team found no evidence that the blanket had been in contact with a corpse, and in any case the woollen fibres gathered from Jason’s corpse were reported to have come from a red and blue blanket. Jessica and Anne’s houses were searched but there was no sign of a red and blue blanket. Geraldine was not surprised. The blanket used to wrap the body could be anywhere by now, if it had not been destroyed. All the same, she felt a familiar frisson of disappointment. She wished the case could be as simple to solve as the murder mysteries she occasionally watched on television. Fiction tended to be reassuringly logical, while real life was convoluted and messy, and it was giving her a headache.
35
Jason would have had ample opportunity to remove Daisy from the house without telling anyone where she was. If he had taken the baby, his death took on an additional worrying dimension. There didn’t appear to be any possible motive for him to have spirited his daughter away, with or without his wife’s consent. Anne had denied there was anything wrong with Jessica, but she appeared to have been lying. Based on bloodstains found in the cot, Eileen had suspected the baby might have been killed and the parents had been covering up the murder. With the discovery of Jason’s body, a new theory emerged, that he had been responsible for his daughter’s death and Jessica had killed him as a consequence. Whatever the truth, it was beginning to look unlikely the baby would ever be found alive.
Jason and Jessica Colman’s house had been subjected to a close forensic scrutiny. No evidence had been found to suggest that anyone other than Daisy’s parents and grandparents had been in the nursery. Having excluded other possibilities, forensic evidence indicated that it could only have been a member of the family who had removed the baby from her cot. Jessica claimed she had woken in the morning to discover the baby had gone. If she was telling the truth, then her husband, mother or father must be responsible for abducting or killing the baby. But Jessica could have been lying when she said the baby had been stolen from her cot.
Over a week had passed since Daisy had allegedly disappeared from home, and with every passing hour the likelihood that she would be found safe and well was growing more remote. The media had got hold of the story and were posting daily updates online, and the situation was being reported in the national news. On her way to speak to Jessica, Geraldine found a group of reporters waiting outside the Colmans’ house, hoping to hear some news. A woman in a long black coat darted forward to intercept her as she approached the gate.
‘Has the baby been found?’ the reporter demanded in a strident voice. ‘The public have a right to know what’s happened.’
Geraldine strode past her without pausing to respond. She could just imagine the furore when they discovered that not only Jessica’s father-in-law but also her husband had been found murdered. For now the media were focused on the missing baby, but that could change at any time. Meanwhile, the black-coated reporter pushed in front of her.
‘Wait just a minute,’ she cried out shrilly. ‘You can’t ignore us. We have our job to do, the same as you. Some of us have been standing here all morning, waiting for an update. What’s happening in there?’
Geraldine manoeuvred her way past the woman and went through the gate, closing it firmly behind her. When the reporter pushed the gate open, Geraldine’s patience finally ran out. She turned to face the woman, closing the gate between them again as s
he spoke.
‘If you take one step on to this property, you’ll be arrested for trespass, causing a public nuisance, and wilful obstruction of a police investigation, any one of which could cost your paper a fine.’ She raised her voice so that the other reporters could hear her. ‘Unless you want to find yourselves in trouble with the police, I suggest you go back to your desks, all of you, and wait for a press briefing.’ She turned back to the reporter who had accosted her. ‘Off you go.’
‘We need to ask you a few questions first,’ the reporter replied, standing her ground on the pavement, but not opening the gate.
Geraldine ignored her and marched up the path to Jessica’s front door. Anne’s car was not on the drive and when Jessica opened the door, it looked as though she was on her own. Considering what Jessica was going through, Geraldine shouldn’t have been shocked at the change in her, but it was so marked, she was almost unrecognisable. Her blonde hair hung down in straggly greasy strands, her eyes were bloodshot, and her skin had lost its former healthy glow.
‘Well?’ she muttered urgently as soon as she saw who it was. ‘Have you found her?’
Geraldine looked at her sorrowfully. ‘I have some news for you,’ she said, adding miserably, ‘it’s bad news.’
Jessica glared as though Geraldine was somehow responsible for Daisy’s disappearance.
‘Where is she?’ she hissed. ‘She’s dead, isn’t she? I’ll never see her again.’
Aware of the photographers hovering behind her in the street, Geraldine motioned to Jessica to let her in. Realising they were being watched, Jessica darted back into the hall, out of sight, self-consciously smoothing her hair.
‘I must look a mess,’ she muttered.
‘We haven’t traced Daisy yet,’ Geraldine said. ‘We’re still hoping to find her alive and well. But there’s something else I need to tell you. Please, let’s go and sit down.’
The last time Geraldine had seen her, Jessica had been threatening to change the locks on her doors to prevent her husband from entering the house. She had told Geraldine that if her husband never came back she would be happy. She never wanted to see him again. But the reality could prove very different, and Geraldine was prepared for Jessica to be distraught on learning of the death of her husband. She must have loved him once, enough to marry him and want to raise a child with him. Wondering whether such love ever really ended, Geraldine found her thoughts wandering to Ian. With a shiver, she forced herself to focus on the agitated woman in front of her.
‘I want to ask you about your daughter,’ Geraldine said, ‘and also about your father. I’m so sorry, but we do need to see if there’s anything you know that might help us. We’re not convinced the two incidents are related, of course.’
Jessica nodded wretchedly. ‘Do you think someone might have taken Daisy to get at my father?’
While she was talking she led Geraldine into the living room which looked even more untidy than Geraldine remembered it, with empty pizza boxes and dirty plates on the table. There was a smell of cheese mingled with beer and sweat. Jessica sat down, seemingly oblivious to the mess.
‘There’s nothing to suggest that might be the case,’ Geraldine replied, ‘but it is a coincidence, your daughter disappearing just before your father was killed. And there’s something else.’ She paused. ‘I’m sorry, but there’s no easy way to tell you this. I’m afraid Jason’s dead.’
36
After the disappearance of her baby, and the death of her father, it was hardly surprising that Jessica stared at Geraldine for a moment in complete shock.
‘What do you mean?’ she stammered at last. ‘What are you talking about? What are you saying? What’s that about Jason?’
‘I’m afraid he’s dead. We’re going to need you to identify his body.’
‘You mean you don’t know if it’s him?’
‘I’m afraid it’s definitely him. The DNA we took from his toothbrush establishes it, but we do need you to confirm his identity.’
Geraldine hesitated, wondering how well the pathologist would be able to clean up Jason’s face before his wife viewed it. He had looked quite hideous when she and Ian had seen him lying on the table at the mortuary, with his lurid face and protruding eyes.
‘My baby’s been stolen,’ Jessica replied in a tight voice, ‘and my father’s been murdered, and now you’ve come here asking me to identify my husband’s body? So, my father’s dead. We know that. My mother went to identify his body. There’s nothing anyone can do for him now. And my baby’s been taken, God knows where, and she could be crying for me right now…’ she broke off, sobbing too violently to speak. ‘Find her for me, just find her,’ she mumbled through her tears. ‘I don’t want to hear about Jason, or about my father. I don’t want to hear about people in my family who’ve been killed.’ She paused and gasped. ‘Did he – had Jason – was she there?’
Geraldine would have given anything to be able to reunite the bereft mother with her child, but her job was to investigate the murders of David and Jason. Taking a deep breath, she focused on the reason she had gone to see Jessica.
‘I’m so sorry, Jessica. We haven’t found Daisy yet, but we are doing everything we can to find her as quickly as possible. Do you know a man called Jonathan Edwards? He’s about fifty, very tall and thin, and he used to work as a school librarian?’
Jessica shook her head, looking faintly bewildered. ‘How can Jason be dead?’ she muttered as though she had only just registered what Geraldine had told her. ‘How is it possible? No, not Jason, not Jason.’
‘Jessica, I need you to listen to me, very carefully. This is really important. Do you know Jonathan Edwards?’
Jessica shook her head.
‘How about a younger man called Rod Browning?’ Geraldine asked. ‘He’s about your age, and he has ginger hair and a ginger moustache and beard, and he works in a health food shop in York?’
Jessica shook her head again. ‘I don’t know these people,’ she whispered. Her voice hardened as she asked, ‘Have they got Daisy?’
Understandably she was only concerned about her missing child, although Geraldine did think she might have been interested in finding out who had killed her father and her husband.
‘It’s not that I don’t care that Jason’s dead,’ Jessica said, perhaps realising what Geraldine was thinking. ‘But he’s gone, isn’t he? There’s no point in getting upset, not yet. We have to focus all our attention on finding Daisy.’
‘There is a massive search underway,’ Geraldine assured her. ‘We are going to find her. But my job is working on the murder investigation. That’s important too. Whoever killed your father is still at large and could be a danger to others, as could the person who killed your husband.’
But it was clear that Jessica was barely listening to her. As Geraldine was preparing to leave, they heard the front door close and a woman’s voice shouting, ‘It’s me.’
The door to the living room opened and Anne came in. Her expression changed to one of alarm when she saw Geraldine.
‘What–?’ she asked. ‘What are you doing here? Is it – have you found her?’
‘I‘m afraid we’ve found your son-in-law’s body,’ Geraldine replied quietly. ‘Jason’s dead.’
‘Jason’s dead?’ Anne repeated in surprise.
‘And she’s on at me about dad,’ Jessica said through her sobs.
Anne heaved an exaggerated sigh. ‘We’ve told you everything we know,’ she said, her voice raised in anger. ‘All we’re interested in now is getting our baby back. As for that good-for-nothing husband of hers, we’ll grieve for him as much as he deserves when we have Daisy back.’ She pressed her lips together in an attempt to control herself, but tears filled her eyes. ‘Please, just find Daisy,’ she pleaded.
‘I’d like to ask you a few questions before I go,’ Geraldine replied, resuming her seat
. ‘Perhaps we could talk alone?’ she added, glancing at Jessica who was sniffling into a handkerchief.
‘I’ll go and put the kettle on, mum.’
Anne looked as though she was going to remonstrate when Jessica stood up, but she thought better of it and sat down.
‘Let’s get this over with then,’ Anne said. ‘It might sound callous to you, Sergeant, but right now I’m more concerned to support my daughter than to find out who killed my husband. And I certainly don’t care what happened to Jason. Is that a terrible thing to say? David’s gone and past help. I’ll mourn for him, of course I will. We were married for twenty-six years. You don’t just write that off in a moment. We spent a long time together. But Jessica needs me right now and I can’t afford to go to pieces. As for her husband, he was never much of a support to her. I’m sorry he’s dead, of course, but I can’t sit here and tell you I’m sorry he’s out of her life.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that he only ever thinks – thought about himself. He’s – he was a bully and a – well, let’s just say he was a thoroughly nasty piece of work. She made a big mistake the day she married him. I wouldn’t be surprised –’ she broke off and dabbed at her nose with a tissue.
‘What wouldn’t surprise you?’ Geraldine asked.
Anne glanced at the door and spoke hurriedly. ‘I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover he took the baby away himself, just to spite her. I wouldn’t put it past him, that’s all I’m saying.’
‘But what would prompt him to do that?’
Anne shrugged. ‘To get back at her. I’m telling you, he’s a nasty piece of work.’
Jessica came back carrying two mugs of tea. She gave one to her mother and kept the other for herself. Evidently Geraldine wasn’t considered deserving of tea.
‘Was your marriage happy, on the whole?’ Geraldine asked her outright.
Deadly Revenge Page 18
