The Coopers Field Murder

by Wonny Lea

  The castle was now well out of sight, as was the impressive collection of buildings around City Hall, and with the traffic being unusually light they were making good progress back to base.

  ‘Hope that visit wasn’t too much of a waste of your time,’ Sergeant Evans enquired of Matt. ‘It was just that when I saw DCI Phelps on my return from the first visit to Parkland I had that Morris man locked into my head. I still think his reaction in the corridor was way out of the ordinary but I should have realised that the DCI was at the start of a murder investigation and could really do without this distraction.’ ‘We’ve only been gone just over an hour and who knows if that will turn out to be time well-spent. I think I will suggest to the DCI that an interview with Mr Morris is merited although I am not sure what peg we’ll hang that interview on. Maybe just the benevolent Police Force checking on a good citizen they may have inadvertently distressed. Anyway, it will be interesting to see the outcome of Sister Thomas’s deliberations.’

  Sergeant Evans gave Matt a wicked grin and couldn’t resist a different interpretation of Matt’s interest. ‘It certainly gives you a good reason for a return visit to look into the dark green eyes of a very attractive young woman.’

  ‘What!’ retorted Matt. ‘I can’t say I noticed she was about five feet nine inches tall, weighed around a shapely ten stone, had naturally curly light brown hair, a lovely smile revealing perfectly even white teeth and, as you say, dark green eyes a man could get lost in. As I said, I hardly noticed.’ Matt returned a grin of equally wicked proportions.

  Chapter Five

  Dressing the Corpse

  Matt’s initial thoughts were to make his way straight to Incident Room One, but as he got out of the squad car he checked the time and was surprised to see it was already twenty past one. The cheese omelette and mountain of toast he had eaten earlier had sustained him well, but now, just the thought of it possibly being a mealtime led him in search of food.

  Others had beat him to it and in one corner of the staff dining room, on a table set out for four people, were essentially two couples and he felt strangely reluctant to intrude. However as soon as Martin saw his sergeant walk through the door he waved and indicated to Matt that he should join them.

  Matt decided on a slice of corned beef pie and got a generous helping from Iris, who also added an extra scoop of mashed potato alongside the vegetables. He didn’t argue with her generosity, but he did make a mental note to himself that he would have to consider some new form of exercise now that he was no longer playing rugby. The waistbands of his trousers were definitely getting tighter, but as he loved his food he would have to think of a way of burning off the calories rather than restricting them.

  Charlie was one of the four at the table but as she was in her wheelchair there was a vacant seat for Matt and he joined the group. ‘Hope I’m not interrupting …’ Matt started to say when Charlie butted in.

  ‘Happy to have anyone interrupt this bizarre conversation. We’re sitting here considering why someone would be left in a field, obviously dead, stark naked, but with her clothes, including her shoes, strategically placed in a neat pile at her feet.’

  Alex and Shelley laughed at the way Charlie not only set out the scenario verbally but also mimed it with her eyes and her arms. ‘Sorry if I don’t sound very respectful, but we have wandered far into the realms of fantasy trying to come up with an explanation and nothing makes any sense.’

  Martin took up the conversation. ‘I thought it would be useful to get some independent ideas on the naked body and the set of clothes but Charlie and Shelley have made no more sense of it than I have.’

  They continued knocking ideas around while Matt made short work of his lunch, and then the group broke up.

  Charlie whizzed her wheelchair around and pointed it in the direction of the door and at the same time Shelley got to her feet. ‘If we think of anything more realistic than aliens who may or may not be being pursued by Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood, we’ll let you know,’ she said as she followed Charlie towards the door and left the three men considering whether to grab a coffee or get back to work.

  They compromised and Martin and Matt made their way to Incident Room One, leaving Alex to pick up three cardboard cups of coffee from the vending machine and follow them.

  The various teams had been hard at work and the large room was now looking exactly as it always did at the start of a murder investigation. A whole display panel had now been taken up with images of the body and the setting in which it had been found. Normally this would have been labelled the crime scene but as yet it was not clear whether the woman had been killed there or the crime committed elsewhere and the body dumped at a later stage. Saying the body was dumped was strangely inappropriate given the woman had been left lying on her back with her arms at her side and her legs out straight.

  The images went from the top to the bottom of the panel with the final pictures showing the area where the body had been. This must have been taken after Alex and his team had caught the water from the surrounding area in the plastic sheets. It now showed an area beneath the tree with nothing more than a light impression on the grassy patch – no sign of blood and looking at it no one would guess that a murdered body had just vacated the spot.

  Relevant post mortem photographs were attached to the second board and Martin skipped over these – not just because he actually attended the PM but because he knew that Prof. Moore would cover the findings in his part of the briefing session.

  Matt had, as promised, notified the relevant people of the 2 p.m. briefing session and the room was now filling up.

  Although in general there was a good working relationship between CID and uniformed officers, Martin noticed that, as always, individuals sat within their own disciplines. The only exception today was PC Cook-Watts who had joined a table with two of the detective constables. This was no surprise as Martin was aware that on Friday, she had an interview that if successful would see her transferred to CID. He obviously knew about the interview as he was to be one of the panel members with the chairman being Superintendent Bryant. Martin would be totally supporting Helen’s transfer but he would need to be careful, as he and the Superintendent had not always seen eye to eye in the past and his superior officer could be difficult, just for the sheer hell of it. Still, that worry was for Friday and for now it was back to the business in hand.

  As Martin called the briefing to order, PC Cook-Watts slid across to join her current colleagues knowing that Sergeant Evans was likely to ask for her input at the start of the session.

  ‘As you will all be aware, the extended team in this room has been charged with the responsibility of investigating the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a body on the edge of Coopers Field this morning. I’m not going to say any more at this point as I would prefer to let the various factions here tell it as it happened. I normally encourage everyone to ask questions as and when they come to you but this time I think we should leave questions and discussions until the end. Let’s start with Sergeant Evans.’

  Sergeant Evans got to his feet and confirmed the date and time the initial report of the finding of a body had been logged. Martin moved to his whiteboard and checked the information he had written under the column headed ‘Absolute Facts’.

  ‘PC Cook-Watts and PC Davies were the first on the scene, and when I arrived with PC Francis they were having a hell of a time trying to calm down Mrs Pattern, the woman whose dog had found the body and who had made the call to us. As luck would have it, a nurse was on her way to work and helped with Mrs Pattern. I have since interviewed the nurse, one Sarah Thomas, who is unable to add anything to what we already know about this part of the investigation.’

  Sergeant Evans looked towards Martin and the DCI nodded his head. They had spoken briefly before the meeting and agreed that any concerns regarding possible untoward behaviour at the nursing home should not be brought up in this session. It was unlikely that their concerns in that
direction would be well founded and Martin was anxious to keep minds focused on the actual case. He would talk to Matt and Sergeant Evans about their visit to Parkland in more detail later.

  ‘PC Cook-Watts got the story of the finding of the body from Mrs Pattern so I will let her relate it to you.’

  Helen Cook-Watts got to her feet, and as she did so it crossed her mind that her existing work team, one member of her forthcoming interview panel, and what she hoped would be her new set of colleagues were all looking in her direction. Her stomach did a bit of a wobble.

  She would keep it simple and avoid the unrelated outpourings of Mrs Pattern, who once she had recovered from the initial shock, had gone on and on about every experience she had ever had when exercising her dog.

  ‘It would appear that Mrs Pattern is a regular to this part of Bute Park and leaves her home just off Westgate Street around 7 a.m. each day to walk the dog. She almost always takes the same route and the dog enjoys a good run in the field. For the past few weeks she had avoided the grassy areas because they had been waterlogged and she has thrown the dog’s ball near to the pathways. However, this morning a couple of young lads took an interest in the dog and she was happy to let them play the usual game of throw and fetch the ball.’

  ‘Happy that was, until one of the boys mischievously threw the ball, hurling it with all his might, so that it went well over the area of soaking wet grass and into the undergrowth surrounding the trees.’

  ‘The dog took off but instead of bringing the ball back, Mrs Pattern says she could see him going in and out of the area at the base of one of the larger trees. She says he was barking madly, and that although she called repeatedly the dog was paying no attention to her. Finally she had to wade through inches of mud and water to get to him.’

  ‘The first thing she noticed was what she thought was a pile of old clothes, and the dog dropped a shoe at her feet before dragging a garment from the pile and pulling it by the sleeve. The next thing she remembers is taking hold of the dog’s collar and pulling him away, and it was when she bent down to do this that she saw the body.’

  ‘She told me she was almost sick on the spot, and that’s not surprising, but she managed to drag the dog away and dialled 999 on her mobile phone – and we were on the scene less than ten minutes later.’

  Sergeant Evans took up the story, and described the exact location of the body and the manner in which the crime scene had been secured prior to the arrival of SOCO and Professor Moore.

  ‘Seems like an appropriate place for you to tell us what you found and what, if anything, you have been able to discover since your return.’ Martin addressed Alex who had already got to his feet and signalled to Charlie to get the technology operating.

  The first images that flashed across the screen showed the tranquil setting of a lush green field with, to one side, a border of well-established trees. The lens scanned towards the trees and zoomed in on the largest one, tracing the features of the branches, leaves, and bark and panning down towards the area of bracken and shrubbery at the base.

  Here the wonders of nature came to an abrupt end, and what was likely to be the ugly handiwork of mankind came into sharp focus.

  While guiding everyone through the pictures of the scene, Alex described what he and his team had done and the order in which the tasks had been carried out. From time to time he deferred to Prof. Moore, especially when it came to the issue of whether or not the body was that of a man or a woman.

  ‘We were unable to decide on the sex of the victim but the Professor thought it was a woman, and I am sure he will tell us why in a moment.’

  ‘Not thought, Mr Griffiths,’ interrupted the professor. ‘I didn’t think it was a woman. I knew it was a woman. Thinking and knowing are two different things.’

  Alex shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to the images that had now appeared and knew that the next twelve pictures were all related to the clothes that had been found. First of all there was a clear image of the whole scene with the clothes in the position the police had found them.

  Martin interrupted at this point. ‘It is important to remember that although this is the position in which we found the clothes it is not how they were before the dog found them. I believe they were in a neat pile with the shoes possibly on the top. Heaven only knows if there is any significance in that, but it is critical that we read the crime scene correctly.’

  Alex continued. ‘As you can see, a single sheet of paper was found amongst the folded clothes and I will now go on to tell you what we have discovered about the paper and the clothes following our initial examination.’

  An image of one brown shoe appeared, and Alex explained that this was the one the dog had dropped at Mrs Pattern’s feet. ‘There are traces of the dog’s saliva on this shoe and on the other one that will be shown next, and also on one of the sleeves of the jacket. Apart from that the only thing on any of the clothes is what you would expect to discover, given where they were found. So we have rainwater and pieces of the local vegetation – nothing else.’

  ‘We have analysed the fabrics and there is not a trace of washing powder or fabric softener in any of the fibres and the tread on the shoes is as one would expect on a brand new pair. Consequently we have come to the conclusion that all these clothes, including the shoes, have never been worn!’

  Martin pricked up his ears and his mind started whirling in yet a different direction, and he had to confess that he would never have considered such a possibility. He had assumed that the clothes would have for some reason been taken off the dead woman either before or after she was killed.

  ‘The shoes, as you can see, are plain brown sensible shoes with a very low heel and Velcro front lap-over fastening. Apart from being brand new, they have one other thing in common with the rest of the clothes: they were all bought in the same shop. Well at least that is a strong possibility, as they all bear the M&S label. Of course they could have been bought in different branches of Marks and Spencer but given that they are all new and seem to come as a package the one-store purchase seems most likely.’

  Martin had positioned himself at the side of the whiteboard and was pleased to be adding a few snippets to his ‘Absolute Facts’ column, even though at this stage they were random words with very little meaning.

  ‘Let’s take a closer look at the items of clothing,’ urged Alex. ‘The shoes are a size four and the clothes are all bought to fit a women’s size ten, and as I understand it that is a petite size.’

  There were nods at this from most of the women in the room and a few comments such as ‘I wish!’ and ‘Three sizes down from me’.

  For the second time Martin interrupted. ‘So although this set of clothes has never been worn by the victim, or anyone else for that matter, she could have bought them or they could have been bought specifically for her.’

  ‘I guess so,’ replied Alex. ‘As you have just mentioned a set of clothes, it leads me on to something that is missing from a complete set. We have brown sensible shoes, heavy fawn-coloured tights, plain cream cotton knickers, a wool mix black and brown checked skirt, a high-neck lightweight sweater, and the jacket that was pulled off the pile by the dog. The jacket is of the same design as the skirt so may well have been bought as a suit.’

  ‘What about the bra?’ Charlie asked. ‘Is that the missing item?’

  Alex smiled at his wife and took in a picture that he was grateful that no one else in the room would be imagining. Charlie was well endowed and it amused Alex that the first garment she reached for in the morning was always a bra – laughingly suggesting that her boobs had a will of their own without one! He kept his own thoughts as well in control as her bra kept her when he replied. ‘Yes, that appears to be the missing item, at least it is in terms of completing the normal range of clothing for a woman.’

  Some general discussion ran around the room and Martin let it continue for a few moments before asking Alex to continue.

  ‘We thought we
had struck gold when DS Pryor spotted a piece of paper amongst the folded garments but we didn’t remove it at the site and it appeared to be just a blank sheet of A5. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out to be a note explaining the circumstances surrounding the demise of the victim. However when we got things back to the laboratory it did turn out to be a very useful piece of evidence.’

  Pointing to the screen, he demonstrated how at the crime scene the clothes had been carefully lifted back to photograph the paper in-situ but not far enough to get the whole of the paper in the frame. He continued. ‘We were able to painstakingly remove the paper when we got everything back to the laboratory.’ Behind it and attached to the top right hand corner by a now-slightly-rusty staple was a till receipt.

  ‘At some point there had been writing on the piece of paper we had first noticed, but the ink from that had seeped through onto the till receipt making that item difficult, but not impossible, to read. It has also been possible by extreme enhancement to make out some of the words that were originally on what we thought was a blank piece of paper. The DCI joined us earlier to consider these findings and may have some conclusions to share with us all.’

  ‘Well,’ said Martin. ‘My part in this piece of the jigsaw was made easy thanks to Alex and his team, and I believe what we have here is a list that someone has made out for the purchase of these items of clothing. It is possible the list was taken to the shop and the items purchased, but in that event I suspect the purchaser would have kept the original list. The only scenario I can think of where a customer’s list is attached to the till receipt is one where a member of the store’s staff has been asked to aid the shopper. In which case, it could have been the victim who made the purchases, because as we will hear from Professor Moore she probably had very limited mobility.’

  ‘Off you go, Alex. I am standing here marker-pen in hand to write down the details of that till receipt – facts I believe will be crucial to solving this mystery.’