Blind to the Bones

by Stephen Booth

  ‘Do you know, some of the old girls up my way won’t open their doors to anybody now, except Meals on Wheels,’ he said as Cooper tried to squeeze past him by the dairy products. ‘They’re too frightened, see. They had another lot of those blokes round the other day, who pretend to want to check your gas supply for leaks. So some old dear lets them, because she’s worried about being gassed during the night, or her bungalow blowing up. Then one bloke keeps her talking, while the other goes through the house and pinches her purse and stuff.’

  ‘Distraction burglaries,’ said Cooper.

  ‘It’s disgusting. It’s always the old folk they go for, you know.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’

  ‘It’s because they think we’re all stupid. Mind you, some of those old dears are stupid.’

  ‘They target anybody who’s vulnerable,’ said Cooper.

  ‘I’m not vulnerable. They have to show me identification if they want to get in my house. And I phone the council or whatever to check they’re who they say they are. They don’t like it, some of them, but I make them wait.’

  ‘That’s very sensible.’

  ‘And if I ever see one of them make a wrong move, I’ll clobber him with my stick.’

  ‘That’s not so sensible.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Well, first of all, you might get seriously hurt if they hit you back.’

  ‘I don’t care.’

  ‘And you might find yourself on a charge of assault, if you use unreasonable force.’

  ‘I don’t care about that either.’

  ‘If you have any suspicions, the best thing to do is to call the police.’

  ‘Bollocks. What would they do? They don’t turn up until long after the buggers have gone, and then all they want to do is give you a number to claim on your insurance.’

  Cooper’s mobile phone rang for a third time when he was in the frozen food section, jostling with his fellow shoppers for the pick of the items from the refrigerated cabinets.

  ‘Oh, for pity’s sake,’ he said.

  A woman standing nearby, with her trolley nudging his, gave him a funny look. He had noticed her before. He always seemed to encounter her in the frozen food aisles, where their trolleys had a regular rendezvous.

  He answered the phone, and heard another familiar voice.

  ‘Oh, it’s you, Diane.’

  The woman with the trolley chose that moment to lean past him towards the frozen Chinese meals for one.

  ‘Sorry,’ said Cooper as he moved out of the way.

  ‘Ben, is someone there with you?’ said Fry.

  ‘Oh – just someone wanting to get into the freezer.’

  ‘To what?’

  The woman was waving a packet at him. Spicy noodles.

  ‘I find these very good when you live on your own,’ she said, and smiled.

  ‘Oh, thanks.’

  Fry’s voice was as chilly as the air rising from the lid of the freezer cabinet.

  ‘What’s she doing now, Ben? Offering you an ice cube?’

  ‘Some noodles.’

  ‘You’re at the supermarket, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You always do your shopping at the supermarket on Sunday morning, don’t you, Ben?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I always knew you were a man of routine, at heart. I bet you buy exactly the same things every week and speak to exactly the same people. Am I right?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  Cooper decided to keep moving as he listened to Fry. He passed the vinegar and the lemon juice, and headed for the household goods section. He needed some disinfectant in case one of the cats made a mess in the conservatory.

  ‘Have you finished analysing me?’ he said.

  ‘I’m told you’ve been requested by the Rural Crime Team again.’

  ‘I’ve just heard myself.’

  ‘Have you asked for a transfer to the RCT?’

  ‘What makes you think that, Diane?’

  ‘Well, they’re expanding their operations. They asked for you. I thought maybe you’d been talking to someone.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t like that.’

  ‘But you’re the obvious person for them, aren’t you, Ben? You’re the one with the right background. And you know the issues. I reckon somebody with a bit of influence has put a marker on you.’

  ‘I didn’t apply for a transfer. Look, Diane, I’m kind of busy, so if there was nothing urgent –’

  ‘So you’re not planning to abandon your friends in CID, then?’

  Cooper thought that probably hadn’t come out the way Fry had meant it. But he was sure she wouldn’t be surprised when he hesitated.

  ‘OK, it had crossed my mind,’ he said.

  ‘You know you should talk to me about these things, Ben. I am your immediate supervisor.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Or am I the reason you want to leave?’ said Fry.

  ‘No, Diane.’

  ‘I’d understand, if you told me that was the situation.’

  ‘I said “no”.’

  Cooper started to fidget. The woman with the trolley was watching him with a quizzical look. He gave her an apologetic smile and moved a bit further away.

  ‘OK,’ said Fry. ‘So long as we’ve got that clear.’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘In that case, Ben, you can talk to me about your plans,’ she said. ‘We’ll make an appointment some time, and we’ll discuss it fully. I might have some suggestions about your future career.’

  Cooper was silent with amazement.

  ‘That’s the way it’s done in a properly managed department,’ she said.

  ‘If you say so, Diane.’

  He could hear Fry breathing and rustling some papers. He almost pressed the button to end the conversation, but sensed there was something else she wanted to talk about. Perhaps, even, the real reason for her call.

  ‘I expect you remember the Emma Renshaw case, Ben?’

  ‘The missing student?’ he said. ‘It was about two years ago.’

  ‘That’s right. What was the general opinion at the time? Did everyone think she was dead?’

  ‘Heck, I don’t know. There was no reason for her to run away from home, as I recollect.’

  ‘No, none that could be found.’

  ‘Why are you asking?’

  ‘Her mobile phone has been found, so we have a new line of enquiry. But most of the background I have is stuff inherited from West Midlands, which makes life a bit difficult.’

  ‘You also inherit Mr and Mrs Renshaw then,’ said Cooper. ‘I don’t envy you.’

  ‘Right. How come everybody knows about the Renshaws, except me? Isn’t it practice to keep your colleagues informed around here? Or does everyone think it’s a big joke?’

  ‘It isn’t my fault, Diane,’ protested Cooper.

  Fry was silent for a moment. Cooper found it frustrating talking to her on the phone. He needed to be able to see her face, to try to read what he could from her expression. There was something so taut and thinly stretched about her these days, a tension that was emphasized by her narrow shoulders and lean cheekbones, and the way she had cut her hair even shorter. It meant he always found himself looking for what Fry was thinking in her eyes, rather than listening to her words.

  ‘I suppose Monday’s out for a meeting?’ she said. ‘You’ll be too busy with the Rural Crime Team.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘We’ll make it some other time, then. Oh, and Ben? I’d take your lady friend up on that offer, if I were you.’

  Cooper put his phone away and looked over his shoulder. The woman with the trolley winked at him.

  The car park in front of the supermarket was full of the sound of smashing glass as couples in estate cars queued up to unload a week’s worth of wine and beer bottles into the recycling bins. Cooper wondered if this routine had replaced Sunday-morning church worship – a few minutes spent in Somerfield’s car park helping to save the pl
anet instead of sitting in a draughty church trying to save their own souls.

  The man with the stick had been lurking, ready to take up his conversation where it had left off. Unfortunately, Cooper had completely forgotten what he had been talking about.

  ‘I’ve got their numbers you know.’

  ‘Sorry?’ said Cooper.

  ‘The burglars. The thieves. I’ve taken their car registration numbers.’

  ‘I’m sure the officers investigating have found that very useful.’

  ‘No. They won’t even look at them.’

  ‘Oh.’

  Cooper was starting to come to the conclusion that he had inadvertently become attached to a DOB – a Daft Old Bloke.

  ‘There was even a burglary the other side of the estate – at the big property, Southwoods Grange. It belongs to the National Trust, that does. The burglars got away with antiques worth a fortune. And they must have come right past my house to get there. But you can’t tell the police anything. They haven’t time to listen to the likes of me.’

  ‘I’m sure they’ve taken note,’ he said. ‘They probably have a lot of other lines of enquiry to follow.’

  ‘You sound like one of them top detectives, when they go on TV to explain why they haven’t caught a murderer or found some missing kid. They always say they have too many lines of enquiry. You’re not a top detective, are you?’

  ‘No,’ said Cooper.

  ‘I didn’t think you could be. I suppose you just watch too much telly, like me.’

  ‘You’re probably right.’

  ‘Anyway, it’s bollocks. They don’t have any lines of enquiry at all. They don’t have a bloody clue, if you ask ’em. Not a bloody clue. And when I offer to help them, they don’t want to know. What do we pay our police for, I ask you?’

  ‘Not much.’

  ‘But I bet you, if I accidentally forgot to do my trousers up in the street again, they’d be down on me like a ton of bricks.’

  Cooper began to edge away towards his car, manoeuvring his trolley so that the wheels moved sideways. The man with the stick followed him.

  ‘Where do you live?’ he said.

  ‘Oh, miles away.’

  ‘I thought you must do. You know nothing about Edendale at all.’

  After Ben Cooper had got his shopping home and unloaded, there was time for a glance at the Sunday paper. For some reason, he always picked up the Telegraph, though he knew he would never get around to reading all the sections – even if he had any interest in buying a historic property in Suffolk or worrying about a fall in the FTSE 100 index.

  Later, the next stage in his Sunday routine was a visit to the Old School Nursing Home, where his mother was currently living, in remission from the schizophrenia that had forced her family to accept they couldn’t look after her in her old home at Bridge End Farm any longer. Cooper looked at his phone, tempted to switch it off for the rest of the day. But he decided against it.

  An hour later, he was sitting with his mother in the lounge at the Old School, trying to analyse the smells that were partly masked by disinfectant. It was then that he got the fourth call of the day.

  10

  Scenes of crime officer Liz Petty shook her head. She was crouching in long grass next to a path that ran between trees at the edge of a field.

  ‘I’ve taken samples from everything in the surrounding area,’ she said. ‘But there are no signs of disturbance, and I can’t see anything that looks like blood. Of course, it depends on the timescale. If it was here a long time, the rain would have washed most traces away by now. But the lab might be able to find something.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’m not hopeful,’ said Diane Fry.

  Beyond the trees, a new crop was showing bright and green in the field. Fry had no idea what the crop might be. She was only glad that the field didn’t contain livestock – she didn’t get on with livestock.

  She looked towards some distant farm buildings surrounded by a series of limestone walls. The road behind her was narrow, and ran between two more walls. It was no more than a byway that wandered between rural lanes, and she had seen no buildings since she’d turned off from the last village, just outside Chapel-en-le-Frith. She tried to call up a picture of Emma in this place, but she failed. She couldn’t imagine any reason why Emma Renshaw should have been here.

  ‘No, it doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘More likely somebody stopped at the roadside and chucked the phone over the wall,’ said Petty.

  ‘Almost certainly.’

  ‘Are you all right, Diane?’

  Fry looked at the SOCO in surprise. She had worked with Liz Petty a number of times, and saw her often around West Street. They had exchanged small talk at crime scenes, and recently had found themselves having a drink together in a corner of the room at the leaving party for their division’s old DCI, Stewart Tailby. But surely only friends asked you if you were all right in that tone of voice.

  ‘Yes, I’m fine,’ she said.

  ‘I just thought you seemed a bit down today.’

  ‘Down?’

  ‘Fed up. I don’t want to intrude, but if you ever wanted to have a chat, you know, we could go out for a drink some time.’

  Fry tried to remember what they might have talked about at Mr Tailby’s party. Had she given the impression she wanted to be friendly? Surely she hadn’t told Liz Petty anything about her private life?

  ‘Well, thanks for the offer,’ she said.

  ‘That’s OK, Diane. Just let me know.’ Petty stood up and stretched her legs, rustling in her white protective suit. ‘Anyway, I’m about to pack up here. There’s a suspicious death up in Longdendale they need some assistance with.’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ said Fry. ‘I heard.’

  ‘You’re not going to be working on it?’

  ‘Apparently, not. I have enough to contend with at the moment.’

  Petty clambered over the wall and began to put away her equipment in her van. ‘It probably won’t be anything interesting anyway,’ she said.

  Fry looked at the grass where Emma Renshaw’s mobile phone had been found, and thought of Emma’s parents, perhaps waiting even now for their daughter to come home.

  ‘Probably not,’ she said. ‘But at least it might be something in the real world.’

  The police officers protecting the scene at the air shaft were starting to get a bit edgy. The place was difficult to find, and it had taken a couple of attempts by the fire service to guide them up the track. Another patrol car had been positioned at the gateway off the A628, but there was no sign yet of the rest of the team – the forensic medical examiner, the CID, the Scientific Support van, or the senior officer who would take charge.

  The gradual arrival of daylight made the scene look even worse than it had in the light of their torches. PC Greg Knott was the more experienced officer. He had attended sudden deaths before, and he knew from the smell, and the condition of the area surrounding the body, that this death had occurred some time ago. The gases building up in the body as decomposition set in had begun to expel the contents of the stomach and intestines, and blood from the victim’s nose and ears caused a confusing picture of the injuries he had sustained.

  Worst were the eyes, though. In the place where they should have been there were black, clotted pools that almost seemed to match the unnatural colour of the victim’s face.

  With every moment that passed, PC Knott was getting more and more worried that there were things he ought to be doing. It had been a long, tedious night shift. And now, right at the end of it, Knott and his partner actually had an interesting call to attend. They were FOA at a suspicious death – the first officers to arrive. And that brought sudden responsibilities, the knowledge that the actions they took, or didn’t take, right now could affect the whole investigation, if it turned out to be a case of murder.

  Their first priorities had been to assess and protect the scene. And he knew the first rule was not to interfere with anything at the sce
ne, once they were sure that the victim was actually dead. But he hated standing around doing nothing. It went against his instincts. Knott wanted to poke around, to identify the victim, to try to figure out what had happened.

  As more time passed, the urge to do something was becoming stronger. Knott told himself it would impress the senior officers when they arrived. But he looked at his partner, who was trying to find something secure to fasten the end of the blue-and-white tape to, and he was glad he wasn’t on his own. A bad mistake would be too easy to make. Above all things, any evidence at the scene had to be preserved from contamination. Knott looked at the sky, praying that the rain would hold off, because they had no means of protecting the body if the weather broke.

  There was the noise of a car engine, whining as it approached.

  ‘Who’s that coming?’ said Knott.

  ‘Let’s hope it’s the medical examiner.’

  They both looked down the hill, watching the spot where the track crested the rise and emerged from the banks of heather. Nothing appeared. Yet the sound of the engine became louder and louder, until it almost seemed to be on top of them.

  ‘Bloody hell!’ said Knott, spinning round. A black Mitsubishi pick-up was only a few yards away from them. But it was travelling down the hill, not up.

  ‘Where did that come from?’

  ‘I don’t know, but he’s going to drive right through the tape, if we don’t stop him,’ said Knott.

  ‘He’d better not, or we’re dead meat.’

  ‘Stop him, then.’

  They both began waving and running towards the vehicle. The driver had already slowed to a crawl as he bumped over the stony track, and he finally came to a halt a few feet from the air shaft. He lowered the driver’s window.

  ‘What’s the problem?’ he said.

  ‘I’m afraid you can’t come through here, sir. This is a crime scene.’

  ‘A what?’

  ‘A crime scene, sir. There’s been a fatality.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘So if you don’t mind, sir –’

  ‘Has somebody been hurt, then?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Who is it?’

  ‘We don’t know. But I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to reverse back up the track. You need to turn round and go back the way you came.’