There was always the option of going to work at her father’s jewellery shop. He’d asked her on many occasions to join the family-run business. He was desperate to work fewer hours and needed someone he could trust to run the shop. The thought of being a shop assistant filled Anne with dread, but she needed a job. So maybe this was the answer.
She resolved to call her father that day.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Molly barking furiously in the woods.
Molly rarely barked.
Anne stood up and walked into the woodland, following the sound of Molly’s now-constant barking. She was concerned and hoped her elderly dog wasn’t being attacked again. Just twenty yards into the woodland, she found the Labrador frantically scratching at some loose dirt and leaves.
She walked towards the dog, scolding it as she got closer: ‘Molly, stop that! I haven’t got either the time or the inclination to give you a bath today.’
Grabbing the dog’s collar, she slipped the lead back on and turned to walk away.
Something made her stop.
Turning slowly, she looked back. There was now a patch of disturbed earth where the dog had been digging.
An audible gasp escaped her mouth.
Sticking out of the soil was the badly decomposed hand of a child.
A morbid fascination at what she was seeing now drew her back in closer.
Stooping down, she could now make out the naked torso of a young child. The body was scarcely covered by the dry powdery soil and other debris.
She cried out, ‘Oh God! No!’ as she backed away from her grisly discovery.
Fighting back nausea and the urge to vomit, she began to walk briskly back to her car. She virtually dragged the still-barking Molly behind her.
As she walked, she spoke out loud, trying to calm her unsettled nerves. ‘Come on, Molly. We need to get to a phone box. That poor, poor child.’
6
23 June 1986
Major Crime Investigation Unit, Mansfield
Danny Flint walked back into the large open-plan offices of the Major Crime Investigation Unit. Although he’d only been away a fortnight, it still felt slightly alien walking into the already bustling office.
He exchanged a few pleasantries with the detectives beavering away at their desks before walking briskly into his office. He closed the door, took off his jacket and sat down behind his desk. He glanced up at the clock. It was still only seven thirty in the morning. Danny wasn’t surprised when he noticed Rob Buxton and Brian Hopkirk standing outside his office door.
Both the detective inspectors knew their chief inspector would require a full briefing the moment he arrived back to work.
Danny beckoned through the glass for the two men to come in.
‘Good morning, gents, good of you to be here promptly. Let’s get started, shall we?’
Both men returned the greeting and sat down.
Rob Buxton said, ‘How was the honeymoon?’
‘It was brilliant. We both had a great time. It’s a very relaxing place, but it’s back to work now. So, gentlemen, what exactly has been happening since I’ve been away?’
Rob spoke up: ‘I’ll let Brian brief you on the new cases first. I’ve been working on the Wade case with my team.’
‘Okay. Fire away, Brian.’
‘Right, sir. There have been two new cases referred to us during the fortnight you’ve been away. The first happened on the day you left. It revolved around a pub fight that went tragically wrong. A “one-punch scenario,” I’m afraid. Two blokes squaring up outside the Black Bull pub at Mansfield Woodhouse. The first punch landed by Ricky Painter knocked out Michael Lincoln. He was already unconscious as he fell, and smashed his head on the kerb edge. Lincoln subsequently died at the hospital from a brain haemorrhage later that night. The offender, Ricky Painter, had already been arrested outside the pub by uniform officers. He’s been interviewed and subsequently charged with manslaughter. The file’s already been submitted, and Painter’s currently on remand at Lincoln Prison.’
‘And the second?’ asked Danny.
‘The second case is a domestic murder, but with a difference. It only happened two days ago, so most of my team are still tied up doing enquiries.’
‘Why a domestic murder with a difference?’
‘Because the deceased in this case is the husband. Our enquiries so far have revealed that the victim, Terry Hartnell, regularly assaulted his wife, Charmayne. There are numerous calls logged to the address at Rainworth for domestic assaults. Hartnell has accumulated four convictions for actual bodily harm against his spouse. Seems that Charmayne got tired of this constant abuse. She responded to the latest punch in the face by plunging a six-inch carving knife into the chest of her husband. The post-mortem revealed that the knife sliced through the left ventricle of his heart. He would have died almost instantly. Charmayne was arrested at the house by the two uniform officers who had responded to the call made by the next-door neighbours. They found the husband dead on the kitchen floor. He had bled out, and Charmayne was still holding the bloodstained carving knife. At the time of her arrest, she made a significant statement to the officers along the lines of, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do something to stop him.”’
‘Has Charmayne been interviewed?’
‘Yes, she has. She made full and frank admissions, but is obviously claiming she acted in self-defence.’
‘You said this happened in response to the latest punch. Did Charmayne have any injuries?’
‘Yes. All her injuries were photographed when she was detained. She had suffered a broken nose and a severe black eye. A statement has been taken from the examining police surgeon and will obviously form an important part of the file.’
‘It seems to me that Terry Hartnell was very much the architect of his own demise. Do you have enough staff to carry out the remaining enquiries?’
‘More than enough, sir, we’re well on top of it.’
‘That’s excellent work.’
Danny turned his attention to Rob Buxton and said, ‘Okay. Where are we at with the ever-elusive Jimmy Wade?’
‘It’s as though he’s vanished into thin air. There have been no new sightings of Wade since you left for your honeymoon. The general consensus is that he’s once again managed to slip out of the country.’
‘I’m not sure I’d go along with that theory. I know he managed to get out of the country before, but the circumstances were different then.Nobody had ever heard of him, let alone knew what he looked like. At that time, he also had plenty of spare cash to fund his enterprise. Everyone in this country knows what Wade looks like now. This is a man on the run. How exactly would he fund getting out of the country?’
‘The only way would be if he had help on the outside.’
‘My thoughts exactly. Do you remember how the dog handler – what was his name? – described the track disappearing at the layby near the farm?’
‘The dog handler was PC Ryan.’
‘Yes, PC Ryan. He described the track disappearing at the layby near the farm.’
‘I’ve spoken to Carl Ryan at length about this. He’s convinced that the only logical reason for the loss of the track was that a vehicle had picked him up.’
‘I take it there’s been no new reports of missing persons from the Woodbeck area while I’ve been away?’
‘No, boss, there hasn’t.’
‘So, I think it’s fair to say we can now rule out abduction as a theory for Wade’s vanishing trick.’
‘I think so, boss.’
‘Right. I’ve given this a lot of thought while I was away, and I think we need to reopen the old Coal Killer case files. We need to trawl through Wade’s history. If he’s had help, the answer may lie in those old files. Have all enquiries been completed with the staff at Rampton?’
‘Yes. All the staff have now been interviewed. Nobody can shed any light on things. The escape was so unexpected and so violent, most of the staff still seem to be i
n a state of shock.’
‘What about visitors to Wade while he was held in Rampton? Before I left, there was talk about a woman who had visited him on several occasions prior to his escape?’
‘That woman was identified as Melissa Braithwaite. She was spoken to by detectives from this team two days after Wade’s escape. Jeff Williams and Simon Paine visited her home address after checking the hospital visitor orders. From their enquiries, we know that she was only visiting Wade to carry out a case study for her master’s in psychology.’
‘Was there anything else from them? Did they have any concerns about this Braithwaite woman?’
‘Nothing. They noted that she was quite alarmed that Wade had escaped, as they had argued on her last visit. This argument between her and Wade has also been confirmed by the staff nurse supervising that visit.’
Danny was thoughtful for a moment, then said, ‘Rob, I think it’s the easy option for us to all think that Wade has disappeared and is already far away from this area. Personally, I don’t think that’s the case. Something’s nagging at me – a sense that he’s still around here. How are the injured staff members?’
‘Not good, I’m afraid. Steve Thorne suffered the worst injury; he’s still in a coma, and doctors aren’t sure if he’ll ever recover. The other three are all recovering physically, but remain in a bad way mentally.’
‘I know it’s going to be a lot more work for your team, but I want all the staff at Rampton reinterviewed. I think there’s something more to this escape than meets the eye. There must be another reason why he was able to get out so easily. Has a staff member helped him? How did he get hold of the weapon he used? There are still far too many unanswered questions and loads of avenues to explore. I need you to get your team motivated. They need to understand that it’s vital we locate and recapture Wade. All of us in this room know that it really is a matter of time before that maniac kills again.’
Rob nodded and said, ‘I’ll draw up a list of the new enquiries and get things organised.’
Rob was interrupted by a loud knock on the office door.
‘Come in!’ shouted Danny.
The door opened, and DC Martin Harper walked in. ‘Sorry to disturb you, sir, but we’ve just had a call-out. The body of a young child has been found in woodland off Haywood Oaks Lane near Blidworth. DC Baxter and DC Jefferies are already travelling to the scene, and Scenes of Crime have also been requested to attend. DC Jefferies will make the decision about calling out a Home Office pathologist when she’s assessed the scene.’
‘Okay, Martin.’
DC Harper left the room as Danny and his two inspectors stood up.
‘Brian, you carry on with the enquiries into the Hartnell case. Rob, get your jacket; you can travel with me out to Haywood Oaks Lane. Let’s see what we’ve got out there first; then I’ll make a decision about the extent of new enquiries into Wade’s escape.’
Brian nodded and said, ‘Okay, sir, I’ll crack on with Hartnell.’
Rob said, ‘It’s the holiday season, so I’m already a couple of detectives down. I’ll let the remainder know to expect a briefing in the next hour or so. Nobody’s on rest days today, so we should still have adequate manpower. Like you say, let’s see exactly what we’ve got at Haywood Oaks Lane first.’
‘Get some car keys; I’ll be out in a minute.’
Danny was left alone in his office. He grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and muttered, ‘So much for being eased back in gently.’
7
23 June 1986
Haywood Oaks Lane, Blidworth, Nottinghamshire
As Rob parked the CID vehicle, Danny could already see another CID car and a white Transit van parked in the small parking area at the end of the dirt track. The only other vehicle he could see was a new Vauxhall Astra, with a very pale-looking woman standing next to it, talking to DC Fran Jefferies. The detective was already wearing a white forensic suit, latex gloves and light blue overshoes.
Danny got out of the vehicle and walked towards the Astra.
He said, ‘Good morning, Fran. What have we got?’
The experienced detective moved away from the pale woman. As soon as she was out of earshot, Fran said, ‘It’s the body of a young boy. I’m guessing he’s around ten to twelve years of age. There are no obvious marks of violence. Decomposition is already quite advanced, so any injuries that had been inflicted wouldn’t necessarily be obvious anyway. I’ve already put a call into control to request the attendance of the on-call Home Office pathologist. They’ve just informed me that Seamus Carter’s travelling and has an ETA of fifteen minutes.’
‘Thanks, Fran. Who’s the woman?’
‘That’s Anne Parr. She’s the lady who made the call. I’ve just finished speaking with her. It seems this is a regular place for her to take her dog for its morning walk. She says this area isn’t used much by other dog walkers; that’s why she likes it. The dog was let off its lead when they got to the other end of the track, just before it peters out. It was the dog that found the body. Mrs Parr’s understandably very shaken up, boss. As you can imagine, it was a gruesome sight for her to see.’
‘Have you obtained all her details and made arrangements to get a full written statement?’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘Right then, you can let her go on her way. Tell her not to go gossiping this news about what she’s found all over town, please, Fran. I want her out of the way before the rest of the circus gets here.’
‘No problem.’
‘Where’s DC Baxter?’
‘Phil’s still with the body. We’ve put out cordon tape to mark our route in. There’s also a good set of tyre marks, and that may be significant. Scenes of Crime are already getting photographs and are preparing to take a cast of the mark. There’s only one set of tyre tracks down to the end of the lane and back out again. Most people use the parking area here.’
‘Okay, Fran, good work. Have you started a log?’
‘The scene log had already been started by PC Jackson. He’s over there.’
She indicated a uniformed officer standing next to a small Suzuki motorcycle.
‘PC Jackson’s the rural beat man for this area. He was the first responder. He’s very switched on for a young cop. He stopped us on the road to prevent damage to the tyre marks on the track and had already started the log.’
‘That makes a nice refreshing change.’
Danny turned to Rob, who was approaching with two sets of forensic suits and overshoes.
As the two senior detectives donned the protective clothing, they were approached by PC Jackson.
‘Good morning, Detectives. Can I have your names for the log, please?’
Danny replied, ‘I’m Detective Chief Inspector Flint, and this is Detective Inspector Buxton from the MCIU. Well done on your work so far this morning, PC Jackson.’
‘Thanks, sir. None of this is new to me, I’m afraid. I transferred up to Notts from the Met two years ago, for a quieter life. I spent four years on a Homicide Investigation Unit in the capital. Unfortunately, I’ve seen way too much of this.’
‘Don’t you fancy the CID up here, then?’ asked Rob.
‘Not really, sir. I enjoy the community side of the work I’m doing now. Far less stressful.’
Danny nodded. ‘If that’s your choice, PC Jackson. Well done, again.’
‘Thanks, sir.’
Danny and Rob then followed the trail of blue-and-white police tape that marked out the route into where the body had been discovered. As they moved carefully down the track, they saw two other people wearing forensic suits. Danny recognised Tim Donnelly from the Scenes of Crime department.
He said, ‘What have we got?’
‘The deceased is a young male. We haven’t approached the body yet, boss. We’re holding off until the pathologist arrives. What we do have is a brilliant set of tyre tracks. It hasn’t rained for over two weeks, and the ground must have been soft when this vehicle was driven along he
re. So I can say with some confidence that these tyre marks must have been left over a fortnight ago.’
‘Any idea of the vehicle?’
‘Looking at the distance between the two tracks and the width of the tyres, my best guess would be a vehicle with a wide wheelbase. Possibly a Ford Transit or something similar.’
Danny then heard a familiar voice booming down the track. The loud tones echoed back off the trees.
Rob said, ‘Sounds like Seamus has arrived, boss.’
Danny replied, ‘We might as well hang on for him and all go into the scene together.’
A few minutes later, the larger-than-life character that was Seamus Carter came bustling down the track. He was squeezed inside a blue forensic suit that was straining to contain his huge nineteen-stone bulk. In his gloved right hand, he carried a black leather holdall.
Seeing Danny, he grinned and said loudly, ‘Are you waiting for me?’
‘When I heard you arrive, I thought it best to.’
The pathologist grinned and said, ‘Come on then, Detective. Let the dog see the rabbit.’
The three men made their way down the track until, at the very end, they found DC Baxter.
DC Baxter said, ‘The body’s just over there.’
The young detective indicated an area approximately ten yards further into the woodland at the end of a length of blue-and-white police tape.
Seamus took the lead and said, ‘Follow me, gents.’
At the end of the tape, Danny could now see the naked body of a young boy. DC Baxter had moved some of the leaves that covered the child when he had made his first inspection.
Seamus Carter squatted beside the body. After a visual examination, he announced, ‘I can’t see any obvious marks of violence. It’s extremely difficult to tell anything here, because of the advanced state of decomposition and the animal interference. Looking at the general state of the body, I would estimate the time of death was over two weeks ago, possibly nearer three.’
Danny said, ‘Do you think he was killed here?’
A Cold Grave: A DCI Danny Flint Book Page 4
