Misery Shallows (DI Elizabeth Jewell Book 4)

by Carole Pitt

  'What kept you?' he said.

  'I was shopping. To be more precise I was gathering all the essential things I needed to prepare for my dinner party tonight. The menu was to be Chinese food for six people, which isn't going to happen. Now I suppose I'll have to get a takeaway.’

  His response reminded her of the old times. His brusque tone, the distracted expression indicating only half his brain was listening to her.

  'Chinese is bad for you. Mrs Daly insists we count our calories now.’

  Elizabeth stared at him, appalled at the hypocrisy. 'You seem to have a selective memory Sir. I remember the days when you frequented the Indian and Chinese restaurants on a regular basis. Since your new regime and your constant reminders about diets, may I say that your advice has finally sunk in so you don't need to repeat yourself? I'll say this once and then I'll shut up. I do not want to be here, but I'm prepared to stay, as long as I can get back in time to make alternative arrangements. I will also promise faithfully to be back at work by midday tomorrow if that’s what I have to do to placate you.'

  Daly stroked his jaw, which was a lot narrower than it used to be. Elizabeth scrutinised his neck, it was, in her personal opinion, beginning to appear scrawny.

  'We’ll have to see what we’re up against,' Daly used his new authoritative tone. One more suited to an army General than that of a detective.

  'Well the sooner we get on,' Elizabeth countered, 'the sooner we'll know.'

  Daly ignored her and looked back at the winding road. 'Car coming,' he announced. 'It must be Patterson and Eldridge.’

  Elizabeth sighed; there was no point in getting angry. She should be used to Daly by now. What she still hadn't been able to do was decide whether she preferred the old cantankerous version or this new robotic streamlined edition.

  Eldridge leapt out of the passenger seat and hurried towards them, appearing eager to start work. That makes a change, Elizabeth pondered. I wonder why he seems so enthusiastic. The answer to her question came immediately. She watched Daly's face as he spotted Eldridge. It was obvious he was pleased to see him and it piqued her curiosity. What was this sudden change in their relationship? Why had Patterson elected to remain in the car? Daly moved away talking intently with Eldridge. Elizabeth edged closer trying to hear but Carstairs was talking loudly about how the floodwater changed in depth from one area to the other. With that in mind Elizabeth realised she'd need suitable footwear.

  She approached Carstairs. 'I'll need rubber boots if you have any spare ones.' He seemed irritable and eager to get going, like any member of the public helping the police they had limited time to spend hanging around waiting. Elizabeth glanced at the lock keeper's cottage, built in Cotswold stone.

  'What size are you?'

  'A five or a six will do.'

  Carstairs hesitated before going into his cottage. He shouted at the rest of them. 'Before we go any further does anyone else need waterproofs or wellingtons?'

  Patterson had joined them and was standing quietly by himself. She wasn't sure what was wrong with him. For weeks now, he'd seemed quiet. Not that she worried about him anymore, she just found his behaviour strange. As far as she knew there wasn't a woman in his life, but then he probably wouldn't tell her even if he had one. She asked if he wanted boots.

  'Mine are in the car,' he said, his voice devoid of emotion.

  'You seem upset. Do you want to talk about it?'

  'Eldridge is in favour with Daly and I feel as if I'm being pushed out. I know that sounds childish, but he has a way of sucking up to people and they fall for it. I didn’t expect Daly to.'

  'I think it's more than that, but I won't pry. I can't remember all these in-house politics bothering you before. If ever you need to talk I'm happy to listen.'

  Patterson moved away and Elizabeth didn't go after him. Out of all of them, he was the most stable, the most laid-back, a truly honest and genuine person. To see his unhappiness cast another shadow over the day and she hoped his problems weren't serious. She knew he was healthy and fit. That part of his life he couldn't hide as she had access to his medical reports.

  Carstairs came out of the house clutching a black bin bag. He dumped it at Elizabeth's feet. 'I've brought a selection of stuff. I foolishly assumed police officers carried equipment with them.'

  Elizabeth had to laugh. 'We have a brand new state of the art headquarters. There was no cash left in the pot for equipment.'

  He nodded and began emptying the bag. Elizabeth studied him, hoping to see beneath his superficial persona. She wouldn’t want to live alone in this isolated spot. Solitude was all very well if you were the right person, living alone was an anathema to some people and she wondered what had brought him to this backwater as he had called it. She hadn't yet seen the victim and already viewed the lock keeper as a suspect.

  Daly and Eldridge seemed to have finished their conversation. 'Is everybody ready now?' Daly shouted.

  'I've still got work to do, so can we get a move on?' Carstairs said. 'I need to check the levels to see how much the floodwater is dropping. I'm not surprised a body has turned up. Back in two thousand and seven, a young man drowned near here. He wasn't found until the levels dropped and by then half of him had been eaten away.'

  Elizabeth shuddered, hoping this victim would be in better shape. She still found it hard to believe there were fatalities during floods. Residents living on or near the floodplains must know the dangers.

  'I don't know the statistics for deaths during these floods,' she told Carstairs.

  'It happens every time, irrespective of how well people prepare.'

  In silence, they all moved off. Carstairs had already told the crime scene technicians they couldn't get the vehicle any closer.

  For the first time since they arrived Daly seemed eager to get underway. Elizabeth looked at her watch and realised they had wasted almost half an hour.

  They set off in the Tewksbury direction. The terrain was slightly uphill and the going slow. With every step, Elizabeth could feel her feet sinking into the soft earth. It was an uncomfortable trek lasting nearly quarter of an hour, until Carstairs shouted for them to stop. They had reached the brow of a hill and beneath them could see the full scale of the floods. The devastation was extensive and Carstairs directed their attention to where a cluster of houses had suffered the worst damage. 'Those families were evacuated after the first two days.'

  Elizabeth removed her distance glasses from her jacket and looked in the direction Carstairs was pointing. It was difficult to make out but from what she could, it resembled a caravan site. 'Is that what I think it is?' she asked.

  'There are two sites. Look further to the right, that’s for mobile homes or static caravans. God knows why anyone would buy either on a floodplain. The other site is a different matter, it's a traveller's encampment and as far as I know, people are still there.'

  Elizabeth heard the sound of wellingtons struggling to escape the mud.

  'Can we stop admiring the scenery and get to this bloody culvert,' Daly shouted.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Elizabeth could see even with the weight loss Daly was struggling. Perhaps his subscription to the gym had expired or he'd given up going altogether. Eldridge had stuck close to him as if he'd volunteered to be his personal bodyguard. It seemed bizarre and she wondered if he wasn't privy to some crucial information concerning Daly's safety. The idea he might be in any danger was ludicrous but after the Yeats affair, she couldn't be certain. At times Daly wore blinkers, confidant he was invincible, not a state of mind any police officer should adopt. She decided that when they next met up in his office at the new Cordover Street HQ she would confront him and find out why he was favouring Eldridge over Patterson. Daly had always treated everyone equally, he'd never before subscribed to favouritism.

  Carstairs led them down to the shallower slope. Here there was even more damage due to the high winds that had wreaked havoc across the county. Several old trees had fallen and blocked the fo
otpaths, leaving behind an obstacle course. They had only walked about fifty yards when Elizabeth spotted the culvert, its rusted mesh cover pulled away and left hanging open.

  Daly was the first to query why the cover was detached. 'Is that due to the force of the water or has someone deliberately pulled it off?'

  Carstairs studied the culvert's five-foot diameter entrance for a moment. 'It was on when I first discovered the body. Someone had to remove it in order to hide the body but they must have put it back.'

  Elizabeth's brain alerted her to the first inconsistency. 'Are you saying you came back a second time.'

  'What do you mean?' Carstairs asked, realising what he'd almost admitted to.

  Daly moved towards him. 'It's simple man. Did you come back to have another look at the corpse? Maybe you found the body way before you contacted us, decided you enjoyed having it all to yourself for a while.’

  Carstairs dropped his shoulders and stared at the ground. Elizabeth watched him carefully, hoping he wouldn't lie.

  'I came back up here straight after I rang in. I wanted to make sure I hadn't imagined this horrible bloody scenario. I was scared, and that's the truth.'

  'So was the mesh cover on or off when you came back the second time?' Elizabeth asked.

  'Do you think I would have left it off? I'm not a bloody idiot.'

  Patterson broke his unusual silence. 'What we need to know Mr Carstairs is exactly what time you discovered the body?'

  'Okay, I should have rung as soon as I found her just before eleven. I check the damn thing once or twice a week but I hadn't since Wednesday and it definitely wasn't there then. I went back to the cottage to take a pill, a diazapam. For Christ’s sake, I'd had a massive shock and couldn't stop shaking. I was incapable of stringing a sentence together.'

  Do you take them on a regular basis?' Elizabeth asked.

  'On and off for years.'

  'So you didn't ring in for nearly another hour because you were scared?’ Daly said.

  'It's the truth, believe what you like.' Carstairs said his voice cracking. 'And you can rule out the body floating in the water for weeks and drifting into the culvert. I make sure the cover is secure to stop debris building up. Someone else put her in there, not me.'

  Daly nodded. 'Let's get this over, and then we can talk down at the station.'

  'If you intend to arrest me I want my lawyer,' Carstairs said.

  'No one has mentioned arresting you Mr Carstairs.' Elizabeth said.

  Eldridge went ahead. 'Careful of the next few yards, keep your eyes down for any tangled roots.'

  Elizabeth felt apprehensive and picked her way carefully over torn limbs hanging from the stumps of the trees. Then they were in front of the culvert, its darkness resembling an open mouth. The thought of going inside was not particularly enticing and she hoped that Eldridge and Patterson would make the first move. Andrea Puttenham, the senior crime scene investigator waited until Daly gave the signal to go ahead.

  Carstairs moved right up to the mouth of the culvert. 'It's about ten metres in; my fingerprints will be mainly on the sides. I had to steady myself because the water was at least a foot high, hopefully by tomorrow the rest should have drained down to half that.'

  Grayson was studying the culvert. 'If as you say, the grill was on, whoever brought the body here had one hell of a job on his hands.'

  'Definitely had to be strong,' Daly said.

  'Right then,' Grayson said. 'We better go in.' He turned to Andrea. 'You lot go first.'

  'What's the headroom?’ she asked.

  'No more than six feet in places,' Carstairs replied.

  Daly shuffled about. 'I'll give it a miss, but Patterson and Eldridge can go in with you. Liz, you can stay here and keep me company.'

  Andrea sounded frustrated. 'It's going to be too cramped. With you people, it's always one extreme or the other. It's either not enough cops or too many. Why have so many of you turned up? Is there nothing else to do?'

  'Things are a bit slack,' Daly responded, smiling.

  'Makes a change doesn't it Sir,' Eldridge added.

  Elizabeth's patience was rapidly running out. It seemed to her that the current situation was more like some comedic farce rather than the onset of a murder investigation. People who drowned were usually unconscious as soon as water entered their lungs. Therefore, in her mind this person hadn’t crawled into the culvert to survive the flood.

  Elizabeth motioned to Patterson. 'What's your opinion?'

  Patterson's eyes looked troubled and he didn't answer so she tried a more authoritative voice. 'Why don't you go home? You're probably coming down with one of these nasty viruses. Hanging about in this damp atmosphere won't do you any good.'

  She was surprised when he yelled at her. 'Stop fussing Liz. You keep banging on about something being wrong with me because I happen to be quiet. Like plenty of people, there are times when I don't feel like talking. I don't want to go home. I want to be part of this investigation. Okay?'

  Elizabeth heard a slight desperation in his voice or was her perception wrong? Sometimes she tuned in to the wrong frequency. 'Fine, have it your own way.'

  Andrea and two other crime scene investigators had entered the culvert, their torches guiding them along the dark recesses. Grayson bent his head and followed. Within minutes all of them had disappeared, sounds of their boots moving through water gradually became indistinct. The torchlight had dimmed to a dirty yellow pinprick.

  Carstairs seemed eager to leave. 'Can I go now?'

  ‘I've a couple more questions first. And don't go too far,' Daly said.'

  'What do you want to know?'

  'How long is this culvert and where does it end?'

  Carstairs turned and pointed to the way they came. 'It runs under the road, built in the forties when the road was just a track. The other end is partially blocked and in danger of collapsing.'

  'And I've just let my officers go in there. Thanks a lot,' Daly replied.

  'Don't worry. Thirty metres in and there's plenty of warning signs and a metal gate. They can't go any further than that. I'm not stupid man; I explained all this to your crime scene officer. The body is only ten metres in, if that.'

  'Can't they fix the other end?' Elizabeth asked.

  'The environmental agency can't decide whether to replace it or get rid of it. Neither options will come cheap, so there's your answer. I dread the next flood here, it gets worse every time.'

  'At least we know no one can access the other end,' Eldridge said as Carstairs barged into him desperate to get away.

  'What do you think then?' Elizabeth asked Daly.

  'All this talk of how hard it would be to get a body into the culvert is nonsense. We all know what lengths murderers will go to in order to delay discovery. Once we get a positive ID we can appeal to the public for either a missing person, due to the floods, or a missing person due to foul play.'

  'No one's been reported missing in the area. I checked before we left,' Patterson said.

  'There's still time,' Daly stated. 'The floods make this particular case unique. We all know people have accidents, but something tells me that whoever did this used the floods to their advantage. We don't know how long the body has been in there. Remind me again exactly when the floods started?'

  'With a vengeance, mid December,' Patterson replied.

  'If the body's been there three months it will be in bad shape,' Eldridge said, as he moved closer.

  'Talk about stating the obvious,' Patterson said.

  Eldridge looked daggers at Patterson and Elizabeth wished they could get on and not continue their stupid feud over Katie Gardiner.

  Daly ignored both his junior officers and bent down to peer into the culvert. Elizabeth could hear the water sloshing again and presumed someone was coming back. She looked up at the sky as the sun went behind menacing dark clouds. It was going to rain. In the distance, she heard church bells and wondered if they were coming from the Abbey.

  Grays
on ducked his head and came out. 'The body's badly decomposed, not a pleasant sight. We can't leave her there for much longer otherwise she'll fall apart.'

  Elizabeth shuddered at the thought of a body with its flesh falling off. 'Any ID?'

  Grayson shook his head. 'No. Andrea's instructed the lads to search up to where it's blocked. Bits of her clothing might yield something. Not that there's much left of that either.'

  'How old?' Patterson asked.

  'Hard to tell, an early guess would be somewhere between forty and fifty. Much of her hair has deteriorated or gone altogether, which is unusual. Water doesn't rot hair that quickly. There's no way we can take her back the way we came. I'm worried about keeping her intact. Sorry Ted, but the only way out is by chopper, as long as they can get close enough.'

  'I’d rather get the outfit from Staverton than use the police helicopter. They'll be quicker.'

  'I'll go on ahead but we'll need a couple of you to stand guard here. We can't leave people in the culvert with that grill hanging loose. Anyone could come along and fix it back on.'

  Elizabeth was surprised at Grayson's concern for Andrea's team. He wasn't normally that considerate.

  Daly didn't waste any time, he took out his phone and wandered off to call Staverton Airport. Grayson paced up and down.

  'So you've decided to help us?’ Elizabeth said.

  'I'll do the post mortem, after that I'll wait and see.'

  There's no way I'm going to the morgue,' Elizabeth stated.

  'Have I asked you?' Grayson smiled. 'Still not over your morgue aversion I see.'

  Elizabeth had the good sense not to pursue any argument with Daly or start one with Grayson. Suddenly she felt guilty, this was a difficult operation and she really should stay and forget about the evening ahead. The problem was she couldn't. The spectre of death always left her feeling vulnerable and partially depressed and the only antidote was a pleasant distraction. Dean certainly did that.