Touch (DI Charlotte Savage)

by Mark Sennen

  Lucy was beginning to sound like Mitchell, Harry thought, as the car sped along Embankment Road and out across Laira Bridge. The Plym glided by beneath, black, glossy and shimmering in the starlight like the PVC skirt on one of the girls he had just seen.

  We can find her, Harry. But not in this town. There is nothing pure here. But don’t worry, if all else fails I have got an idea.

  Chapter 29

  St Michaels Church, Malstead Down. Saturday 6th November. 9.12 am

  Jean Sotherwell was quite aware of the kerfuffle surrounding her monopoly of the flower arranging at St Michaels, but to let on would be to stoop to the level of her detractors which would never do. After all, only one woman in the village had the required skills and artistic flair to please the Rector, not to mention the dear Lord of course, and if Hilary Osbourne, the old crone, couldn’t accept the fact then tough. She should stick to her simple ArrowWord magazines and those mindless reality TV programmes she wittered on about. However, Jean thought in a moment of contrition, the good Lord did insist on loving one’s enemy as thine own brother. But she found it so especially hard when they were ignorant and stupid.

  It had been the same in her career as a nurse. She enjoyed caring for the injured, ill and dying when those people were clever, witty, and imaginative. The ignorant, simple-minded majority had been more of a challenge. Their rude manners, boorish behaviour and incessant demands often got to her, and she had questioned her vocation and at times her faith. Still, her working days were over now and at the final tally she thought the real good she had done would outweigh the bad thoughts. And her good deeds hadn’t finished yet, she reminded herself.

  A year or two ago she had been involved in a campaign to clear up the dog mess that these days seemed to be everywhere. The campaign went national and she had featured not only on Spotlight – the local news show – but also on the BBC News At Ten. Huw Edwards had interviewed her and for weeks afterwards she was entertaining friends with descriptions of what it was like to be a media celebrity. Of course the campaign might never have amounted to much if it hadn’t been that her son-in-law was the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, but then he was her son-in-law, wasn’t he?

  Once the dust settled she had handed over the running of the campaign to other people, partly because it had taken up too much of her precious time. That was how Hilary Osbourne had managed to muscle in on the flower rota and that could not be allowed to happen again.

  Today’s arranging would be extra special because she had come up with an idea for an imaginative display for the lead into Christmas. She would use autumn colours for the backdrop to a fresh display she would create each week. She would spend the morning completing the arrangement and then it would be there for the next two months for all to see. The congregation would be stunned on Sunday and the Rector was sure to mention her in his sermon. Hilary Osbourne, the smelly old trout, would be forced to give up any pretence she had to ascend to Jean’s position.

  It had taken several trips to get the materials into the church what with all the flowers, the branches and bark and the sack of fallen leaves. After the ferrying she spent a good hour getting the trestles and table-tops from the vestry and assembling them at the top of the aisle. She looked at her watch. Her friend and helper Marjorie would be here in a few minutes and they could get to work on the display. Jean had allowed Marjorie to help on the strict understanding that Jean was the artistic director; Marjorie could make comments and they would be noted, but she was to have no input. She had told Marjorie that a camel was a horse designed by committee so by definition a thoroughbred could only be created by an individual. She wasn’t sure if she had the analogy quite right, but Marjorie seemed to understand.

  Catching her breath Jean thought she would walk up the aisle to the chancel and stand before the altar. From the top of the church she could see if she had placed the tables in the correct position. It wouldn’t do for the Rector to turn from the cross to be presented with the effrontery of the best display he had ever seen being off-centre.

  Halfway up the nave an uneasy feeling came over her. A strange odour wafted through the air. Not incense or a candle burning, but something sweeter, a fragrance she had not been able to smell before because of all the flowers. She turned around to see if Marjorie or somebody else had entered unannounced, but the church was empty. She resumed her journey up the nave and now noticed the altar arrangement looked wrong. The candlesticks and the cross stood on the floor and the white cloth that covered the altar between services had been folded back on itself in a heap. Moving closer she could see the cloth covered something on top of the altar itself. She moved forward. This would all have to be tidied before she could get on with the flower arranging. She supposed she ought to telephone the Rector too, but she would put the altar right first so as to avoid anyone else becoming distressed.

  She walked forwards, took hold of the cloth and tugged at the fabric, but the bundle didn’t move. She pulled again, angry now. She braced her feet against the altar foot, reached over the mass of cloth and heaved with all her strength. The cloth slid towards her, bringing whatever was wrapped up in it along too. The whole bundle slipped off the altar and knocked her backward. She crashed down on the floor and the mass of cloth tumbled on top of her. She let out a cry of pain as her back and then her head slammed onto the hard stone floor.

  The roof of the church was now spinning above her and a grey milkiness blurred her vision. A heavy weight pressed down on her chest and she felt nauseous. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself and at the same time cursing her stupidity. If only she had waited until Marjorie had arrived they could have sorted this together.

  Sighing, she tried to move, but found she was pinned to the floor, the bundle of cloth lying across her chest, something inside heavy but yielding. She extracted her right arm and moved her hand up to touch one side of her head where it throbbed like crazy. Her temple felt warm and sticky and she knew if she opened her eyes she would see blood on her fingers. Better to lie here rather than risk causing any more damage to herself. Marjorie would be along shortly and she would get help.

  To pass the time she started thinking about the flowers she had brought with her and how their colours would have complemented the carpet of autumn leaves in her design. What a pity. The display really would have been one of her finest works. Now Hilary Osbourne would be receiving the Rector’s thanks on Sunday and not her. She breathed deeply again. Strange how she could smell the fragrance of the flowers from so far away. A musky smell, sweet and sickly with a hint of peach. It was resonant of... well... sex. Those nights, so long ago now, when her late husband Albert had made love to her, when he had–

  A creak echoed through the church. Marjorie! Thank goodness for that! Footsteps tapped out as someone walked up the nave.

  ‘Jean? Where are you? What...’

  The footsteps stopped for a moment before continuing, climbing the three steps to the chancel.

  ‘Oh Jean, you poor love, whatever has happened here?’

  ‘Marjorie, thank God you have come.’

  ‘Hush, lie still, let me help you.’

  Jean stared up at Marjorie as she bent down to remove the altar cloth. She closed her eyes again, relieved she was going to be alright.

  The next sound she heard was something she would never forget as long as she lived. It was Marjorie screaming. One of those long drawn out screams that would not have been out of place in the old black and white Hitchcock films Jean had watched when she was young.

  ‘Oh my God! Jean! Jean! Jean! Help someone, please help!’

  Jean opened her eyes and glimpsed what was lying on top of her. What had caused Marjorie to scream. It was a body. Naked, dead, female from the look of the long blonde hair cascading out from the altar cloth. Thoughts flashed through Jean’s mind: The body was naked because you went to meet God in the same state as when you were born. Dead because the mess of flesh around where the gi
rl’s mouth should have been could not possibly be part of a living thing. Jean wanted to scream, scream like Marjorie had, but nothing would come out. A pressure began to build in her chest, a sharp pain spreading to her neck and shoulders. At the same time the church roof began to spin once more and the feeling of nausea returned.

  As a former nurse she recognised the symptoms only too well.

  Heart attack!

  Jean Sotherwell closed her eyes again and began to pray.

  *

  When Enders shouted the report across the room Savage couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  ‘Malstead Down? You’re sure about the information?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am. A DC Newlyn. He says they have found the body of a blonde girl. And he sends his regards, ironically I think.’

  Savage remembered the fresh-faced, eager young detective and wondered what he must be thinking, only a month on the job and already two murders on his patch. As a DC Savage had waited years for her first, and the case had been a domestic with the husband holding his hands up as they smashed down the front door.

  ‘This is bad, ma’am, isn’t it?’ Calter said, her usual chirpy manner absent. ‘I mean, I have done my serial killer 101 course and this sounds like escalation.’

  The last word hung for a moment, the room’s usual buzz stilled apart from a trilling phone. A knocking sound made everyone turn to where Riley stood at the whiteboard tapping his fingers on the picture of Simone Ashton.

  ‘The question is who is the unlucky one this time?’

  Savage shivered at Riley’s words. The pretty face in the photograph smiled out, the expression unaltered from a minute ago. And yet now it was possible the girl might be dead.

  ‘Answer that, someone!’ Savage broke the spell, pointing at the ringing phone. ‘Darius, inform Hardin and wait here until I call. If I can get an ID, and the body belongs to one of the misper girls, then I want you at her place of work pronto. Jane, you are with me, come on!’

  Everyone became animated again, the phone answered, a babble of conversation starting up, people moving with renewed vigour. Savage looked on for a few seconds and then she was sprinting from the room with her trusty DC in tow.

  *

  The blustery weather that had brought sunshine and showers for their last visit to Malstead Down was gone and now rain fell vertically from a blackened sky. Without a breath of wind to shift the clouds it seemed to Savage as if the rain might continue forever. She parked the car on the edge of the green, well away from the church. With the engine off the only noise was the drumming of water on the car roof. They sat for a couple of minutes, almost as if not moving would freeze the passing of time and maybe prevent anything bad from ever happening again. It was Calter who brought some lightness to the occasion.

  ‘Grim, ma’am,’ she said, peering out of the windscreen. ‘But if that is your DC Newlyn then I might just move to Totnes.’

  Newlyn was walking over the green toward the church. Well-wrapped in waterproofs, his handsome, boyish face poked out from the hood. He spotted their car, waved at them and jogged across. Savage lowered the window.

  ‘Morning, Constable. This is becoming a habit. Who discovered the body?’ Savage asked.

  ‘Morning, ma’am,’ Newlyn nodded at Savage and beamed in at Calter. ‘Jean Sotherwell.’

  ‘Oh no, please tell me you are joking?’

  ‘No, I am afraid not. She was doing the flowers for the Sunday service. She went to the church first thing this morning. When she found the body she had a heart attack.’

  ‘Bloody hell. That’s not good.’

  ‘Not for us or her. Thankfully she was conscious when the ambulance arrived and the paramedics seemed hopeful.’

  ‘Well, that’s something. I bet it won’t be long before old Foxy starts poking his nose in.’

  ‘Apparently he is at a Chief Constables’ conference in Birmingham. On his way back this afternoon.’

  ‘We had better get a move on then.’ Savage looked around at the mixture of cottages and larger dwellings dotted about the green. They had a good view of the church. ‘All these houses will need to be door-stepped again.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am.’

  Savage got out of the car and put waterproofs on, leaving Calter flirting with Newlyn. She walked over to where a SOC van stood near the church. Next to it a stepladder was leaning against the churchyard wall. Savage spotted another familiar face as John Layton got out of the van, pulling on his raincoat and plonking his Tilley hat on his head.

  ‘We must stop meeting like this,’ Savage said. Then she pointed at the ladder and the tape running to the church. ‘You like your ladders, don’t you?’

  Layton grinned. ‘We are pretty sure the perpetrator came through the main entrance since the vestry is always locked. This is an alternative way in, keeping us clear of the evidence trail, such as there is.’

  ‘Can I go in?’

  ‘Through the vestry, yes. The police surgeon has been and gone and Nesbit is on his way.’

  ‘He will be cross I beat him to the scene again.’

  ‘He is cross already. I had to break the news that the ambulance crew had moved the body.’

  ‘Careless of them.’

  ‘They didn’t have much choice. Either that or leave the old dear crushed underneath.’

  ‘I’ll take a peek inside if you don’t mind?’ Savage said.

  ‘Be my guest. There are some PPE packs inside the door on the left.’

  Savage signed the log that Layton proffered and clambered over the ladder into the churchyard.

  The blue and white tape leading to the vestry door weaved among the gravestones, and as she passed each stone she had the weird sense that she was walking over long dead bodies in order to view a fresh one.

  She opened the door to the vestry and stepped out of the rain into the silence of the church. Someone had put up a written note on the door leading to the main part. The message said ‘Coats off, suits on BEFORE YOU OPEN THIS DOOR.’

  Savage took off her wet coat and hung it up on a peg next to a row of cassocks and surplices. Then she opened one of the PPE packs, put on the disposable suit and tied her hair back, pulling the suit hood up and making sure the elastic was drawn snug around her face. Next on went the paper face mask covering her nose and mouth and a pair of plastic overshoes. Finally she pulled on the nitrile gloves. These days you couldn’t be too careful.

  The heavy oak door swung open without a sound and she left the vestry and entered the church.

  A harsh light flared up at the altar for a split second and for a moment the two white cloaked figures there looked like angels, frozen in time as if they were on a giant canvas. The light flashed again and the angels moved about their business. The illusion was dispelled when one of them spotted her and called out a warning muffled by his mask.

  ‘Keep to the right if you wouldn’t mind, ma’am.’

  The main aisle had been taped off, but she could walk up the right hand side of the pews and go behind the choir stalls to view the chancel.

  As she emerged from behind the stalls she caught sight of the girl’s body. It was lying tumbled on the floor, half-covered by a white sheet or cloth. Savage looked at the face. Simone Ashton, no question about the identity this time. Simone’s beautiful blonde hair contrasted with the horrific mess of flesh at the mouth and Calter’s earlier comment about escalation came back to her.

  ‘Worse than last time, isn’t it?’ The voice belonged to Rod Oliver, unrecognisable behind the mask. No sign of his stupid assistant. ‘Same cut in the belly too, but like before it hasn’t bled and there is nothing else suggesting trauma.’

  ‘The CSM said the body had been moved?’

  ‘The casualty was underneath the body. The paramedics didn’t have a lot of choice. We believe it was on the altar wrapped in the white cloth.’

  ‘And Foxy’s mother-in-law pulled the cloth off?’

  ‘Yes, seems that way. Under UV we might be able to get
some idea of how it was positioned. Turin shroud sort of thing.’

  Savage left Oliver and wandered back the way she had come. A third CSI knelt on the floor near the entrance and he beckoned Savage over, pointing to a set of muddy footprints.

  ‘They are good prints and we believe the church was cleaned yesterday so they could well belong to whoever brought her here.’

  ‘They are certainly too large for the flower lady.’

  ‘Yup. And the print is something like a welly boot.’

  The CSI told her they would be doing a fingertip search of the church once Rod Oliver had finished taking his photographs. In the meantime she could walk around if she didn’t touch anything and kept away from the entrance, the aisle and the chancel.

  Savage moved towards the rear of the church to view the whole tableau. At the back there were several stacks of chairs and a little play area with a soft rug and some plastic toys she thought would have occupied Jamie for precisely two and a half minutes. Next to the play area the font stood atop a stone pedestal. The font itself was an elaborate marble affair with many carvings on the outside. The wooden lid lay half-open, balanced on the edge in a precarious position.

  Savage reached to move the lid back into place before remembering she shouldn’t touch anything. Then something soft and white inside the font caught her eye. Material of some kind. She peered in.

  The lid cast a dark shadow but she could distinguish what the material was now. Cotton. A pair of white cotton knickers and a plain white cotton bra. Something else too, wrapped in the knickers, reddish-pink with little rivulets of blood. Something resembling a small piece of steak if you wanted a slim-line dinner for one.

  Chapter 30

  Crownhill Police Station, Plymouth. Monday 8th November. 10.14 am

  Despite the latest developments Savage had managed to take Sunday afternoon off. She had been glad to spend half a day away from the case at home with the kids. They had played some board games, romped in the garden, made a big chocolate cake and watched a DVD. The rest of the weekend had been taken up with administration. These days each case produced a mountain of tasks to complete, forms to fill in and procedure that had to be followed. Hardin had dumped the lot on her, pleading a weekend long engagement he couldn’t get out of. Golf, Savage suspected.