by A L Fraine
CHAPTER 4
Nathan led her outside and into the car park, making for a nearby unmarked vehicle.
“What’ve we got?” Kate asked.
“We’ll talk on the way, get in,” Nathan answered her and climbed into the driver’s seat. Kate settled herself into the passenger side as Nathan pulled out into traffic.
“So?” Kate asked once they were a little way down the road.
“A body’s been found in the Ranmore woods just south of here.”
Kate nodded and swallowed as a couple of butterflies appeared in her stomach. The little bit of fun and banter in the office was over now, it was time to get to work and show the skipper what she could do. “Nothing like getting stuck right in on the first day,” she said, noticing a slight wobble in her voice, which she knew was just first day nerves.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Of course.”
Nathan nodded. “Good,” he replied, sounding entirely unconvinced.
“Look, I know what I’m doing. I’m a hard worker, and I won’t let you down. I’m in this for the long haul.”
Nathan glanced at her, pressing his lips together in what looked like consternation. “Admirable. But you’ll be moved on soon enough.”
“Moved on?”
“To someone else on the team. Look, don’t worry about it. This always happens, it’s not a big deal,” Nathan explained.
“Is this something to do with the Scully comment, and the tin hat?”
Nathan didn’t answer for a moment as he concentrated on the road ahead. Eventually, he replied. “Let’s just concentrate on the case, shall we?”
Kate nodded, but with a look of confusion on her face. “Sure, why not?” she answered, but was curious to know more.
The rest of the short drive passed in relative silence until Nathan pulled the vehicle off towards the entrance of a muddy car park off a country road. It was guarded by a patrol car and a uniformed officer who waved them to a stop.
Kate pulled out her warrant card and showed it to the officer while Nathan did the same. They were waved through, and Nathan parked up a little way into the open area. There was already a range of emergency vehicles parked up in here and tape cordoning the area off. Kate climbed out of the car and met Nathan on the other side as a uniformed officer walked over.
“Can I help?”
Nathan showed the officer his card. Kate did the same. “DC’s Halliwell and O’Connell from the Murder Team, we’ve been assign-”
“Nathan! Well, I should have expected you,” said a sergeant who followed the first officer over. “Thanks, I’ll take them in,” the sergeant said to the constable who’d greeted them.
“Sergeant Dyson,” Nathan greeted the tall man with carefully styled dark hair.
“Should be right up your alley, this one,” Dyson commented.
“Is that right?” Nathan replied, his voice sceptical.
“Well, I’ve not seen one like this before, let’s put it that way,” Dyson explained, and then looked over at Kate. “Another new partner?”
“DC O’Connell,” she said, offering her hand.
“Well, you are in for a treat. Come on, it’s this way. DCI Dean’s already here.”
Kate frowned at his ‘treat’ comment as the sergeant led them out of the car park and along a muddy pathway into the surrounding woodland, passing the occasional officer along the way. She noted a few boot prints in the mud along the path that had been marked for further investigation.
“So what can you tell us so far?” Nathan asked.
“The body was found this morning by a dog walker. Her dog ran into the trees and wouldn’t come out. She went to get it and that’s when she found the body.”
“Is she still here?”
“The walker? Yeah, she’s back in the car park if you want to speak with her. We’ve taken a statement. She called the police right away, but I think she might need some counselling after what she saw.”
“It’s bad?”
“Messed up, mate. Messed. Up. Anyway, we think we know who the victim is, we’ve got his clothes and a photo ID on-site. Okay, here we are, through here.”
Kate followed on behind Nathan and Sergeant Dyson who led the way through the trees, over the uneven ground covered in dead leaves. She could already smell that acrid stench that hung around the dead as they slowly decomposed. She’d encountered it several times, and it was always quite distinct and vomit-inducing.
Interestingly, she’d seen more dead bodies and horrific injuries in uniform than as a CID officer, which was apparently typical as it was the uniforms that always attended RTC’s and secured the scenes of murders.
Ahead, Kate could see a large tree that was surrounded by police tape. Officers stood around, guarding the area or going about their assigned tasks, including DCI Dean, DI Mason, and a Scene of Crime Officer in white coveralls who was examining something out of view behind the large oak. Reaching the clearing that surrounded the tree, Kate noticed the branches that had been stuck into the mud in a circle around the trunk and paused for a moment as her mind went back to when she was sixteen and a particular report she’d read.
She shook her head and dismissed it. They were not the same thing, not really.
She walked around the crime scene, each step around the trunk bringing more of the horror into view until they stood just behind DCI Dean.
A man she did not recognise had been strung up against the mighty oak. Ropes wrapped around his wrists and torso were tied to the branches, keeping the man upright in a Christ-like pose, as if he’d been crucified.
His pasty white skin was covered in deep cuts all over his naked body as if the killer had been writing something on him. He was covered in dried blood that had run onto the ground, and into some kind of white powder that had been poured out in circles around the tree.
“I mean, have you ever seen anything like this?” Sergeant Dyson asked Nathan, his voice a low whisper, betraying how uncomfortable the scene made him feel. “Because I haven’t.”
Nathan just stared at the corpse, an intense frown on his face as he studied the scene.
Kate had seen death. She’d seen murder victims and casualties of car accidents, and it was never pretty. Death, and murder especially, was ugly. There was always a sense of loss. Of a life being wasted. But the death she’d seen so far was nothing like this.
This was not a crime of passion or a violent assault. This was careful, methodical, and planned. The killer took his time over this, possibly even enjoying his work.
The gory nature of the scene didn’t bother her so much. She’d seen injuries of all kinds, many of them much worse than this, but it was what the scene suggested about what had happened here that hit home. Still, Kate felt sure she’d be able to remain detached from it, but her brain had other ideas.
Again, Kate’s mind went right back to when she was sixteen, and the reports she’d read about her Aunt’s murder. For a brief moment, Kate felt sick to her stomach. She turned and reached for a nearby tree for support as she leaned over and took a few deep, cleansing breaths to steady her nerves.
For a moment, all she could think about was getting control of her body, so she concentrated on her breathing, pulling the air in and then blowing it out in long, slow, steady breaths, doing her best to ignore the smell of the cadaver. After a few seconds, the feeling of dizziness began to fade and she started to feel better, if a little embarrassed.
She shook her head as she stood up straight again. She knew it wasn’t the body. She’d seen bodies before. She could handle that, it was everything else that went along with it that reminded her of how her Aunt died, and what Kate had done as a teenager.
But she pushed all that back and shut it away. She needed to compartmentalise this. This was not her aunt and a totally different situation.
Feeling better, she turned and stepped up beside Nathan, who was giving her a curious look.
“Everything okay?” he whispered.
Nathan nodded slowly, a look of curiosity on his face.
DCI Dean turned to face them having finished a brief chat between him, DI Mason, and the SOCO officer. “Alright, I’ve seen what I need to. It’s all yours, Nathan. Let me know what you need, and I’ll make sure you have it. You have my full support and confidence.” Behind him, DI Mason rolled his eyes. “I’ll see you back at the station, I have other cases to deal with today.”
“Understood,” Nathan replied.
The DCI nodded and glanced at Kate. “Good luck,” he said, and walked away. DI Mason followed, giving Nathan a disparaging look as he went.
Kate watched them leave and then got a little closer to the body, noticing some strange symbols cut into the bark she didn’t recognise. She followed them down to the curious white powder on the ground, which was partially soaking up some of the blood.
“What’s that?” She asked, pointing to the white substance on the ground. She wanted to take the conversation away from herself and back to the matter at hand.
“It’s salt,” said the SOCO woman who was crouched down before the body. She looked up, but only her eyes were visible above the face mask, with her hair under the white coverall’s hood.
“Oh, okay,” Kate commented.
“Hi, Sheridan,” Nathan said. “You SOCO guys have beaten me to the scene again.”
“Hey, Nathan. Always. Thought you might be given this one,” the SOCO answered him and glanced at Kate.
She took it as an opportunity to introduce herself. “Hi, I’m DC Kate O’Connell.”
“Sheridan Lane,” the investigator said, with a nod.
“Do we have a cause and time of death?” Nathan asked, ignoring Sheridan’s earlier comment.
“We’ll know more when we do the full work-up later, but it looks like he’s been hung up for a few hours at least, and that he probably died here from that large stab wound on his chest,” the Sheridan answered him.
“What happened to his foot?” Kate asked, pointing to the body’s left foot which was extended out. It was bloody and possibly chewed.
Sergeant Dyson spoke up. “The dog that found him did that. Chewed on the poor bugger’s toes, as if this wasn’t bad enough. So, what do you think?” the sergeant asked Nathan. “Looks occult, right?”
Nathan shrugged and began walking around the tree, getting closer to the corpse for a better look. “Maybe, but let’s not jump to any conclusions.”
Kate followed, peering at the man and the wounds that covered his skin. She noticed Nathan approaching a pile of clothes nearby that had been marked by the investigators. Atop them, beside a dead mobile phone, a wallet lay open, revealing a driver’s license. Kate leaned in closer for a better look.
“Jordon Donaldson,” she read aloud and peered at the photo. Looking back at the body, she nodded. “So, we know who he is, then.”
“Looks that way,” Sergeant Dyson replied.
“We’ll see if we can get any primary identifiers to match up, but this seems fairly conclusive. I’ll check with the SIO. Do we know who Jordan is?” Nathan asked as he pulled out his phone and took a photo of the driver’s license.
“Local estate agent, based in Guildford,” Dyson said.
“Was someone upset at their valuation?” Kate commented.
“Who knows, that’s for you guys to find out. I doubt you’ll be short of suspects, though.”
“Do we have a home address?” Kate asked.
“Yeah,” Sergeant Dyson answered her. “We’ve requested a Family Support Officer be sent around to the house.”
“That’ll be our next stop,” Nathan said. He was stood up now and looking over the body.
It was always sad to see a life wasted this way, Kate thought. She’d sworn a long time ago to both herself and the memory of her aunt, that she’d try to stop the monsters who committed these kinds of acts from getting away with it.
Jordan looked like he had suffered terribly in his last moments, and Kate could only imagine the fear and the pain he’d been through before release had finally come.
“I’ll look forward to your report, Sheridan,” Nathan said.
“You’ll have it as soon as possible,” she answered, before looking over at Kate and nodding. “Nice to meet you.”
“And you,” Kate answered as she turned to walk with Nathan and the sergeant.
“I’ll need a preliminary report on Jordan’s body as soon as possible,” Nathan said to him, “and try to get into that phone beside the wallet. Let’s see what messages he’s been sending recently.
“Don’t worry, we know what we’re doing. So, what do you think?” Sergeant Dyson asked, his tone a little too eager for Kate’s liking.
“About what?” Nathan asked.
“The victim, the murder.”
“I think someone killed him,” Nathan answered.
“I agree, I think he’s dead,” Kate joined in with a smile.
“Yeah, alright smart arse’s, but this is you, Nathan. Dean assigned this one to you for a reason, right?”
“Well, I would guess it’s because I’m a detective on the Murder Team?”
“Don’t be a nob, we know you well enough by now. Who do you think did it? Satanists?” Dyson seemed to be getting entirely too much joy out of these comments for Kate’s liking.
Nathan sighed heavily as they walked along the path, back towards the car park, but didn’t reply.
“Really?” Kate said incredulously, stepping in. She almost surprised herself in her early defence of Nathan.
“Leave it, Kate. Thanks for your help, Sergeant, but we really can’t discuss any working theories this early in the investigation,” Nathan said.
“Alright, have it your way. The dog walker is over there if you want to ask her anything.”
“Thanks,” Nathan said, and walked over to her, introducing himself and Kate.
“So, we understand you found the body. Can you go through the events of this morning for me?”
CHAPTER 5
“I don’t think she had anything to do with this,” Nathan said as they drove away from the crime scene, heading towards the outskirts of Guildford.
“Me neither,” Kate agreed. “It might be a long time before she goes walking alone in those woods again though.”
Nathan nodded. “I’m sorry that this is your first case.”
“Why? I’m not,” Kate answered him.
“For your first case, this looks like it might be a strange one.”
“I don’t mind. I mean, I admit, I didn’t think people like this killer lived in leafy Surrey, but we have a job to do, no matter what the killer believes.”
Nathan nodded. “Oh, they do, people like that are everywhere.”
“So I can see. Do you get assigned many of these strange cases?” Kate asked.
“A few,” Nathan answered her, sounding cagy.
Kate was beginning to get the feeling that whether warranted or not, Nathan was seen by some of the other officers as something of a conspiracy theorist. She wondered what he’d done to give them that impression.
“So, tell me your initial thoughts on what we’ve seen so far?” Nathan asked her.
“Alright,” she said, and thought about her answer for a moment before replying. “So, I don’t think we can say much about the victim yet, other than him being a local businessman, so I guess we’ll see how that pans out, but the killing itself is clearly ritualised. Sacrificial, perhaps? There are clear occult influences there, so we’re looking for someone with interest in the occult or related fields.”
Nathan nodded in agreement. “Good. We’ll know a little more when the forensics report and the autopsy come in,” he said as they turned into a quiet, picturesque estate that was very much in line with Surrey’s affluent middle class and spotted the Police car parked a little way up the road.
&n
bsp; “Here we are,” Nathan said as he pulled in, and climbed out.
Kate exited the car and followed Nathan onto the driveway of Jordan Donaldson’s house. It was a reasonably modern, detached property set back from the road. They had a garden out front and a single car on the driveway, but nothing looked out of place or wrong to Kate’s eyes.
Nathan led the way up to the front door and pressed the doorbell. Moments later, it was opened by a uniformed officer as Kate pulled out her warrant card and showed it to her. Nathan did likewise. They were let inside without issue and shown into the front room where two women sat on opposite sofas.
“Detective,” Nathan said as a woman in a suit stood and crossed the room to them.
“Nathan,” she said in greeting. “Looks like I’m on your team.” She nodded to Kate, offering her hand. “DC Faith Evanson, Family Support Officer.”
“DC Kate O’Connell,” Kate replied, shaking the woman’s hand.
“Nice to meet you. Let me introduce you. Joanna?” the detective said to the puffy-eyed woman sat nearby. She’d clearly been crying, and even now her eyes were glassy and wet. She held a tissue, clutching it in both hands. She seemed small and vulnerable sat alone on the sofa as she looked up, clearly still in something of a daze.
“Joanna, these are Detectives Halliwell and O’Connell, they’re here to talk to you about Jordan.”
Joanna nodded and looked away with a sniff. Her mind was clearly elsewhere, which was quite understandable given the circumstances.
“We’d like to ask you some questions regarding your husband, if that’s okay Mrs Donaldson?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, of course. Whatever I can do to help,” she said, her eyes darting about as she spoke, as if they were unable to settle on anything.
“Firstly, we’d like to offer our condolences,” Kate cut in. “We’re sorry for your loss, and we’ll do everything we can to bring this case to a close.”
Joanna nodded to her with a brief, strained smile. “Thank you.”
Kate glanced at Nathan, who nodded to her approvingly, before focusing back on Joanna. “Mrs Donaldson, I have a photo of a driver’s license here that was found at the scene. With your permission, I’d like to show it to you so you can confirm that it belongs to your husband, okay?”
