Misery Shallows (DI Elizabeth Jewell Book 4)

by Carole Pitt

  Elizabeth wondered if Daly had dropped Patterson a few hints without her knowing. ‘Did he tell you to put pressure on Lacroix?’ She pointed to the report.

  Patterson looked drained. ‘He didn’t. I got lucky, that’s all. Admittedly, one of the photos Gardiner procured puzzled me. I looked at it so many times and still couldn’t see what it was. In the end I gave up.’

  Brannigan and Daly came towards them. ‘Smiley’s interested in an area half way between here and the lock, a few hundred yards from the culvert. We’re going to start digging immediately.’

  Daly turned to Patterson who handed him the report. He slumped into a plastic garden chair and started to read. Elizabeth beckoned to Patterson and they moved away. ‘Do you have any doubts about all this digging?’ She asked.

  ‘None,’ Patterson replied. ‘Psychopaths and narcissistic sociopaths are unpredictable.’ Patterson stared into the distance. ‘She’s here watching us, I can feel it.’

  ‘Why doesn’t she escape, while she has the chance?’

  ‘Who knows Liz, maybe she thinks she’s invincible or she has an ingenious plan. Right now, uniforms are everywhere and she’ll be hiding.’

  Daly bustled across looking serious. ‘Well done Patterson. Granted we have a few loose ends, but without that hard drive, we might have come unstuck. Just spoken to the search team on the road, they’ve tried the lock keepers cottage but Carstairs isn’t there. They’ve forced entry but no sign of him. He’s picked a fine time to bugger off again.’

  ‘He’s either scared witless or she’s got him.’ Patterson said.

  ‘We’ve checked with DVLA, no vehicle in the vicinity registered to her. The wet suit suggests she’s using the canal. That’s how she managed to abduct Moore’s friends. Last December the whole of this area was deep enough to swim in,’ Daly slapped Patterson on the shoulder. ‘Well done sergeant. Uniforms will carry on searching for her, and Carstairs, so I suggest you take a break. Go off for a couple of hours, have a meal. Claim it on expenses.’

  Daly swivelled around so he no longer had his back to Elizabeth. ‘Do you want to go over this report with me?’ He asked her and smiled.

  This wasn’t the right time to sulk, Elizabeth thought. ‘Of course I do Sir.’

  A thunderous noise hovered overhead. ‘Shit,’ Daly shouted above it. ‘I know who I can thank for this.’ He pointed to the helicopter. ‘Calvin bloody Fowler and his wig wearing cronies.’

  Elizabeth grabbed Daly’s arm. ‘Media chopper. We better hurry up and hide in case we end up with our mug shots on the front page of The Sun.’

  ‘Give me a few minutes with Brannigan,’ Daly said. ‘The dogs alerted in specific areas and I don’t want to waste any time by.’

  ‘Any news of Samson?’ Patterson asked.

  Daly shaded his eyes as he scanned the countryside. ‘Not yet. I still find it strange the sniffer dogs back in eighty-four didn’t pick up any scent.’

  ‘With all the conspiracy theories and corruption allegedly going on, who says they didn’t. Brotherton must have prayed they wouldn’t find the bodies.’ Elizabeth replied.

  Daly shrugged. ‘Good point Liz. At the time, he was probably shitting himself.’

  ‘I’m going to stay here Sir,’ Patterson announced as Daly set off.

  ‘Then you’ve got company.’

  Eldridge sauntered over and shouted to Daly. ‘The old caravan’s down and they’re running the ground penetrating radar.’

  ‘I’m going up to the other area first.’ Daly said and started to run. The ground was still soft enough not to cause too many problems. Elizabeth wondered how long it would take to analyse the images. Most killers who buried their victims didn’t have time to dig deep. They dug shallow graves.

  The digging had already begun when Daly reached the spot near to the culvert. He was slightly out of breath from running up the slight incline. The officer in charge, Sergeant Paul Millis, pointed to a taped off rectangle approximately twelve by ten metres. Four officers had started from each corner.

  ‘Not that important then,’ Daly sounded disappointed.

  ‘Smiley was only interested here, so we knew he was sure,’ Millis explained. ‘We’ll find plenty of debris just under the surface. We always do on flood plains. If you look carefully, you can see all of this area is flat except for the centre. At first, we assumed it was a natural hump, but the radar says not. There’s definitely something down there but it’s unlikely it’s a body.’

  Daly sounded impatient. ‘Why start in the corners? Why not dig up the bloody hump now?’

  ‘It’s safer this way; we’re less likely to damage anything below the surface.’

  Daly thanked the sergeant and set off for Carstairs’s cottage. Even in daylight, the place had a brooding feel to it. Police vehicles had blocked the narrow road and taped off the cottage. Eldridge and two other junior detectives had already searched the place. Daly surveyed the kitchen; from his perspective, the scene looked suspicious. A half-eaten breakfast left on the kitchen table and a landline handset on the floor indicated Carstairs had left in a hurry. There were no signs a struggle had taken place or anything untoward had happened, yet Carstairs was, by all accounts, a tidy man, so why hadn’t he tipped his breakfast remains into the bin and put the handset back in its cradle? Was Carstairs an accomplice or another victim?

  Daly made his way to the culvert. He checked the heavy metal mesh door, still bolted to the frame. Anyone trying to secure it from the inside would find it impossible. The other end, he understood was still blocked up offering no escape route. He was reluctant to venture in on his own, he called a uniformed sergeant to check it out. So much to do in so little time, he thought. While he waited for help, another uniformed officer approached him.

  He opened a notebook. ‘It seems the narrow boat enthusiasts are out in force so we’ve issued a warning. All canal traffic both up and downstream are to tie up wherever they can and wait for further instructions. We’ve also received reports of substantial queues waiting to use this lock and the waterways people are insisting we allow some of the backlog through tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Bloody nerve,’ Daly grunted. ‘I suggest you explain to whoever is ordering us about that this is a major crime scene and we’ll be the ones to decide when to let them through. Surely to God there’s another route?’

  ‘These aren’t roads Sir, no shortcuts.’

  Daly heard someone calling his name. It was Patterson riding a mountain bike. He skidded to a halt barely missing him. ‘A couple of bones were unearthed ten minutes ago from the area underneath that old caravan.’

  ‘My God,’ Daly said.

  Patterson dismounted. ‘Andrea’s examining them now but she’s not certain whether they’re human. It looks like there’s more, so they’re digging deeper and Grayson’s on his way.’

  Daly felt a surge of panic. He didn’t want Grayson on the site he wanted Jessica Oakley. He also didn’t relish the idea of having to contact the pathologist to put him off. If there was one character he could rely on to do his dirty work it was Eldridge. He gave Patterson instructions.

  ‘Do you want the bike sir?’ Patterson asked.

  ‘You take it. I want Eldridge to stop Grayson before he gets here.’

  As Patterson disappeared, Daly hurried as fast as could to the paddock.

  Andrea Puttenham had laid the bones out carefully on a tarpaulin. She picked one up and brushed away more soil. ‘Horse femur,’ Andrea said. ‘Liz mentioned the travellers kept them back in the eighties.’

  Elizabeth pointed to the rest of the bones. ‘I’d imagine a lot of horses were buried here over the years.’

  ‘So Smiley got it wrong?’ Daly said.

  Andrea shook her head. ‘From what I’ve heard about him he never get’s it wrong.’

  Elizabeth guided Daly closer to the pit. Three officers had dug quickly to a depth of five feet. Now they were using soft brushes to uncover more bones. No one spoke until Andrea knelt down at th
e edge and leaned forward. ‘What’s that?’ she asked.

  The officer held up a bone that even Elizabeth recognised. Daly turned to her. ‘Is that another horse?’ he asked.

  Elizabeth moved closer. ‘No, it’s part of a pelvis and I’d bet it’s from a female.’

  Half an hour later two skulls emerged from their hidden grave. Beneath them lay other bones, all human. Remnants of an old hessian bag had survived. Next to it, lay another more robust bag made of heavy upholstery fabric. Elizabeth could see various other bits of cloth, obviously their clothes. She felt tears form in the corner of her eyes and dreaded seeing the children’s bones.

  Daly must have felt the same. ‘Let’s leave them in peace to excavate the rest.’

  Elizabeth followed him back to the marquee and made coffee. Eldridge turned up to tell them he’d managed to dissuade Grayson from coming and that Jessica was bringing an anthropologist friend with her.

  ‘How did you convince Grayson?’ Elizabeth asked Eldridge.

  ‘I told him Dr Dalman was our prime suspect.’

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  Elizabeth waited for Daly to explode. From his pained expression Eldridge had realised he’d just made a monumental cock-up by divulging Dalman’s name. As always, Eldridge attempted to minimise his action. ‘Why is everyone giving me the evil eye? From the negative reaction, you’d think I’d been selling secrets to the Russians.’

  ‘Because,’ Daly shouted. ‘However much time and energy I’ve wasted trying to mould you into a decent detective, you’re still an idiot. Now the press will get hold of the story. The bloody woman isn’t even in custody yet. Reynolds will go berserk.’

  ‘Grayson might think twice about passing on that information,’ Elizabeth said, hoping she was right.

  Daly got to his feet. ‘Don’t count on it. Grayson looks after his own interests now. He swans back from the US, suggests we employ a mass murderer, a woman who deliberately offered her services so she could monitor the investigation. He might be clever, but not clever enough to spot a psychopath close up. Dalman never intended to complete the reconstruction. Her plan was to disrupt the culvert investigation. Remember how she insisted we involve her in the Walker case should it reopen. The woman’s a maniac, and right now, a maniac on the loose.’

  ‘We still don’t know who attacked her,’ Patterson added.

  Eldridge put his hand up. ‘I was suspicious about that right from the start. Her account of what happened was far too vague. I reckon she staged the assault so she could get away before we figured it all out.’

  Daly sighed. ‘So you’re saying she wacked herself with a hammer.’

  ‘Hang on,’ Elizabeth said. ‘Think about it for a minute. An expert on bones would know exactly where to injure herself. The neurologist said she’d been lucky. We see plenty of head traumas; if someone decides to seriously bash your head in you don’t normally survive, or you end up a vegetable.’

  ‘We’ve got to find Carstairs,’ Daly said. ‘I’m going back to the cottage.’ He stared at Eldridge. ‘In case either of us happened to miss a vital clue to Carstairs’ whereabouts.’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ Eldridge offered.

  ‘We’ll all go,’ Elizabeth said. ‘I’m beginning to think that poor dog Samson has come to harm.’

  ‘It’s not looking good. At least Mrs Fowler is staying out of the way,’ Patterson said.

  Elizabeth grabbed her coat. ‘I called in. She’d self medicated again and is probably asleep by now.’

  They hadn’t even reached the cottage when they heard the commotion. Uniformed police officers had formed a barrier to prevent a group of youngish men commandeering the lock. From the raised voices, Elizabeth guessed they weren’t ready to give up the fight. Daly stormed into the fracas, phone pressed to his ear to rally more help.

  One of the men came forward and spoke to Patterson. ‘We didn’t expect to be treated like criminals. Sorry to say this, but your lot have caused the bad feeling. We came peacefully to find out exactly when we can use the lock and it’s turned into a slanging match.’

  ‘If I was you,’ Patterson replied, ‘I’d go back to your boat otherwise you might find you’re under arrest.’

  ‘You should come down and see the situation. There’s nowhere to tie up, people are fed up.’

  ‘Okay,’ Patterson clamped his hand on Eldridge’s elbow. ‘Let’s sort this out.’

  Elizabeth wanted to see the problem firsthand. ‘I may as well help. We don’t want the women and children involved. I’ll tell Daly where we’re going.’

  After another round of negotiations, Daly had calmed things down. He’d frightened them into submission with the truth. A suspect was at large and he recommended they all stay put inside their narrow boats.

  The sky had darkened to charcoal as rain clouds swept in from the South West and the wind had picked up, shaking the trees and hedgerows lining the towpath. Elizabeth pulled up her jacket collar and hurried after Patterson and Eldridge. In the distance, she could make out the line of narrow boats and the odd barge. A few people sat around on the grassy bank keeping an eye on the children. They were within a hundred yards when a figure appeared running towards them.

  ‘Christ it’s Carstairs,’ Patterson said and moved into position to stop him.

  Eldridge did the same. Carstairs almost ran straight into them. He was breathing heavily and had a nasty gash on his forehead. ‘I managed to get out,’ he panted. ‘She’d gone into the canal to swim downstream to her boat, it was my only chance.’

  ‘Dalman’s got a narrow boat?’ Elizabeth asked.

  Carstairs slid down onto the towpath. ‘Got to get my breath, heart’s beating too fast.’

  ‘Did Moore tell you he was investigating her?’

  ‘She knocked on my door late last night and asked if she could take a short cut through my garden. I had no idea who she was at first. I watched her change into the diving suit before heading over to Lillian’s place. She obviously didn’t care whether I saw her or not. Then she came back to the house and showed me her knife; she said she’d use it if I didn’t go with her. I’ve been tied up for hours.’

  Patterson said. ‘Moore must have told Dalman that Fowler had photographic evidence she was there in eighty four. That’s why she broke into the farmhouse.’

  ‘Where is she now?’ Elizabeth asked.

  Carstairs seemed disorientated. ‘She’d given me a drink of water, it tasted strange. I didn’t go to sleep, just felt weird, so I hope I’m remembering this properly. She put the wetsuit on again, but this time she had breathing apparatus and said she was going up to the lock to sort something out. Divers on the canal isn’t unusual, hardly anyone would have given her a second look. You’ll need experienced divers to go after her. They can be dangerous places. Just before I took over a diver went down into my lock to do repairs. He’d become caught in debris and the rescue team didn’t get him out in time.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  It had taken almost forty-eight hours before Dalman was prepared to talk. One of her lawyers had spent hours trying to persuade her it was in her best interests. She had ignored everyone and chosen to stay in her cell. Any food offered she turned away and when Elizabeth visited her on the second day, she had visibly shrunk. Her bones more prominent in the shapeless dress she’d refused to take off. Her hair had thinned and hung lank and greasy. The custody officer confirmed she’d hardly slept. Elizabeth made a final effort. Two hours after she’d spoken to her, Dalman agreed to cooperate.

  ‘Why did three children end up in that Godforsaken lock?’ Daly demanded.

  Dalman sat up, her body language challenging. ‘Because I chased them there, they knew me, not that well, but well enough to believe I was playing a game.’

  Elizabeth didn’t want to hear the rest. Nausea washed over her as she pictured the scene. Daly’s eyes met hers; his face appeared even paler in the semi darkness. The shadows had made him look ten years older. She nodded for Patterson to t
ake over.

  ‘Am I right in thinking the lock was full at the time?’ He asked, unable to hide his disgust.

  Dalman stretched out her arms and pulled them into a swimmer’s pose. ‘I told them to jump in to cool down and I’d pull them out.’

  Did you know whether they could swim?’ Patterson continued.

  ‘I didn’t. It wouldn’t have mattered if they could, that lock is too deep and too filthy. The bottom was full of silt, the visibility poor and plenty of embedded obstacles ready to entangle them. Back then, the maintenance on the canals was nonexistent.’ She relaxed her arms and sighed. ‘Don’t fret. It didn’t take long for those children to succumb.’

  Elizabeth couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This monster had drowned three children. She forced herself to speak. ‘In the original investigation, police divers searched the lock and the canal.’

  Dalman smiled. ‘Yes, but the police were dreadfully disorganised. The first travellers didn’t arrive back from Glastonbury until June twenty-seventh and that’s when they first raised the alarm. By then one hell of a lot of boats had passed through that lock. As the divers didn’t discover the bodies, I assumed they were incompetent or the bodies had sunk deep into the silt. Thirty years wondering and now, I know.’

  Daly had chosen the largest interview room for a reason. Dalman had insisted on having two lawyers present. He and Reynolds had spoken to them privately prior to Dalman’s interview. After it became apparent Dalman intended to confess, Reynolds had contacted the Chief Constable who ordered a media blackout until he was back at Cordover Street to deal with them personally. With seven people in the room, including a female uniformed officer, Daly had hoped to avoid a claustrophobic atmosphere. The air conditioning had played up yet again and the temperature had risen. Elizabeth watched Daly use one of his large hankies to mop his brow, moving it quickly to his neck. She used her hand to wipe away a tear and was grateful he’d dimmed the lights.