Kay let out the breath she had been holding. ‘Have you managed to glean any more information as to how he was killed?’
Lucas sighed, and gestured to the body before him. ‘It’s not straightforward, I’m afraid. He has lacerations to his forearms, several broken ribs, a broken pelvis – you can see here how badly his legs are broken. That suggests to me a large impact injury, but I’m waiting on the X-ray results to clarify that. Simon is conducting some tests on the liver, heart and pancreas over there. There are ligature marks on his wrists as well, suggestive of being bound together with plastic zip ties similar to that found around one of his ankles. On first inspection, we can see compression injuries to the vital organs – all of them, not just those that Simon has been testing. When I’m finished here, I’ll make some phone calls to some colleagues of mine in the Greater London area because there are some points I want to discuss with them before I go any further.’
‘Have you got a cause of death?’ said Kay.
The pathologist gave a mirthless chuckle, and then shrugged. ‘It’s difficult to pinpoint at the moment. Any one of those injuries would have been enough to kill him. Or, the shock of any of these injuries could have caused a heart attack. We just have to work out the order in which they were sustained. His fingertips and the skin on his hands would lead us to believe he worked as a manual labourer. There were traces of splinters in the palm of his hand, and his fingernails – the ones that aren’t broken – appear worn.’
‘So, not a white collar worker, then.’
‘I wouldn’t think so. Even if he was a keen gardener or handyman in his spare time, this sort of wear and tear accumulates over a long period of time, perhaps years.’
‘What about any old injuries?’ said Carys. ‘Is there anything like dental work or titanium plates on any leg or arm injuries for instance that could be used to identify him?’
‘There were half a dozen teeth left in his mouth by the time we got him here,’ said Lucas. ‘Two more fell loose during transportation, and of course Harriet and her team gathered up the remainder at the scene.’
‘I’ve got some of them here,’ said Simon, and held up an aluminium tray. ‘The rest have been sent off to the specialist.’
Carys wrinkled her nose as the lab assistant shook the tray and its contents rattled. ‘Any clues amongst that lot?’
‘He hadn’t been to see a dentist in a long while,’ said Simon. ‘But no, there are no dentures or bridging plates for us to work with.’
‘There’s an old injury to his ankle bone,’ said Lucas, and beckoned them along the length of the table to the man’s feet. ‘It’ll be easier to show you once I’ve got the X-rays to hand, but you can see the skin is slightly raised here – this has been broken before, and given the way the skin has healed, I’m inclined to think that this injury is several years old. He certainly didn’t sustain it at the same time as all of these other ones.’
Kay battened down the frustration that threatened. ‘What about his age? Any further ideas on that?’
‘I can’t narrow it down much more other than to say he is in his late forties to early fifties.’
‘And you can’t give us a cause of death until you hear from your colleagues in Greater London––’
‘I’m sorry, Kay.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ve asked Brian or Hugo to give me a call as soon as possible. They know it’s urgent – I’m hoping I’ll hear back from them this morning. As soon as I do, and if they can shed any light on this, I’ll give you a call.’
‘Thanks, Lucas. I understand – it’s frustrating, that’s all. We know nothing about him. We did wonder if the tattoo on his bicep might be military,’ said Kay. ‘Sharp is going to have a word with some of his ex-army contacts.’
‘Well, given the state of his physiology, he hasn’t been in the armed forces for a long time. The muscle definition just isn’t there.’
‘A real man of mystery then,’ said Kay.
As if picking up on the disappointment in her voice, Lucas wagged a finger.
‘I’m not giving up on him yet,’ he said. ‘I have some ideas about this, but I want to make sure I’ve got my facts right before I send you off down the wrong path with your enquiries.’
Chapter Eight
Ian Barnes slurped his tea, pushed his reading glasses up his nose, and rolled his chair closer to the desk.
A steady hum of activity filled the room around him, a white noise that fluctuated in and out of his consciousness as he worked. The rattle of the photocopier as it juddered to a halt jarred with the constant ringing of desk phones and mobiles as each of the investigating officers worked through the tasks Kay had given them at that morning’s briefing, trying to progress their enquiries.
A thin veil of condensation clung to the windowpanes as the steady hum of traffic on Palace Avenue passed by below. In the distance, a siren wailed and he paused in his work for a moment before gauging that it belonged to an ambulance, and not one of his colleagues’ patrol cars.
The door burst open as Kay hurried into the room with Carys at her heels, their excitement palpable.
‘Everyone, to the front of the room now,’ she said. ‘We’ve had a breakthrough, and I need your full attention.’
Barnes raised an eyebrow at her as she threw her bag under the desk after pulling out her notebook. ‘I take it Lucas has struck gold?’
‘You’re not going to believe this, Ian,’ she said, ‘but I think he has. Come on, I’ll explain everything.’
He locked his screen, shoved his keyboard across the desk and followed the DI as she weaved her way between the gathering police officers and administration staff, their expressions a mixture of confusion and intrigue.
The voices died down when Kay reached the whiteboard and turned to face them, and Barnes nodded to Gavin in thanks as he took a spare chair beside the detective constable.
Carys hovered at the perimeter of the group, her focus on Kay. Barnes could sense his colleague’s impatience as the last of the investigation team joined them, jostling for space.
‘Okay, everybody here?’ said Kay. ‘Carys and I attended the post mortem of our victim this morning, whose identity remains unknown at the moment. Lucas Anderson’s report has been emailed across to Debbie – is that in HOLMES2 yet?’
‘I’ll do it straight after this briefing, guv,’ said the police constable.
‘Please, do – it’ll help if everyone has a read through to familiarise themselves with the extent of our victim’s injuries and what I’m about to tell you.’ Kay rapped her knuckle on the photograph in the middle of the whiteboard, an image that showed the victim spreadeagled amongst the muddy furrows of the field. ‘Lucas was waiting to hear back from one of his colleagues in the Greater London area before he was willing to give his final opinion on cause of death following the post mortem, but he rang me while we were travelling back. According to his contact – and Lucas has confirmed that as far as he’s concerned, the victim’s injuries fully support his assertions – our man here fell from an aircraft.’
Barnes jumped in his seat as voices exploded around him.
Shocked faces turned to one another, the cacophony reaching a crescendo before Kay’s voice cut through them all.
‘Quiet, please. Settle down and I’ll go through what we’ve learned in the past half an hour.’
He shuffled in his seat and turned to a new page in his notebook, keen to find out what his colleagues knew, and almost – almost – wishing he’d been the one who’d gone to the post mortem instead.
Carys leaned against a filing cabinet as her gaze swept the room, a knowing smile on her lips as she gauged her colleagues’ reactions.
‘Before I take you through the news we’ve just received, I’ll run through the basics of the report. Our victim is in his late forties to early fifties, weighs about ninety-four kilograms – that’s just under fifteen stone for those of you already reaching for your calculator apps – and before he hit the ground, Lucas estimates his he
ight to be about six foot tall or about one hundred and eighty centimetres. The impact broke his legs in several places, which is why in the photographs he appears to be shorter.’
‘He wasn’t a small bloke, then,’ said Gavin.
‘Right,’ said Kay. ‘Lucas’s contact in Central London reviewed his findings and said that the only time he’s seen injuries such as those found on our victim was in a case where a stowaway fell from the undercarriage of an aircraft as it descended into Heathrow. That stowaway landed in a skate park, and luckily didn’t kill anyone who was in the park at the time. However, in that instance the victim would’ve suffered from lack of oxygen and hypothermia first, then fallen because he would’ve been unconscious – if not near death – when the undercarriage was lowered. The other issue we have is that in addition to the injuries the London-bound stowaway had, he was covered in ice – and a lot of it, because of the aircraft’s cruising altitude before coming in to land. So, we’re close, but there are still gaps in our knowledge of the facts.’
The DI crossed her arms as she began to pace the carpet. ‘I have three problems with Lucas’s findings. I’m not saying he’s wrong, but the implications for this investigation are going to test us. First, unless there was a major issue with an international flight last week that hasn’t been released by the authorities at Heathrow or Gatwick, no aircraft would lower its undercarriage this far out from those airports. Second, we would’ve received hundreds of complaints from residents if a commercial aircraft was flying that low over Kent. It’s bad enough when the air shows are on. Third, our victim was naked. Where are his clothes? Lucas’s contact in London says the only instance he’s seen where bodies have fallen from the sky in that state is when the airliner they were travelling in broke apart mid-flight. The sudden effect of wind speeds at altitude or a slipstream can strip the clothes from bodies.’
Laura Hanway raised her hand. ‘Guv, sorry to state the obvious, but if our man was hiding in the undercarriage and froze to death, surely any ice would’ve quickly melted. Did Lucas find any traces of frostbite in amongst the victim’s other injuries?’
‘No, he didn’t. Nor did he find any traces of hypothermia, which would’ve been consistent with those extreme temperatures.’ Kay’s face was grim when her eyes locked with Barnes’s. ‘There’s no easy way to say this, but Lucas states categorically in his report that given the facts and evidence available to him at this time, our victim wasn’t unconscious when he fell. His lungs contained particles of soil that match the samples taken from the field where he was found. He took his dying breaths face down in that mud.’
A stunned silence greeted her words, and Barnes swallowed.
‘Poor bastard,’ he said.
‘I know,’ said Kay. She cast her eyes over the assembled officers. ‘So, we have a dead man, with similar injuries to that sustained by a stowaway last year, with no signs of frostbite that would indicate he fell from an identical height to known stowaway incidents, and we’ve had no reports from local residents of large aircraft passing overhead last week. That leaves me with one conclusion at present – that our victim fell from an aircraft, but not one as large as a commercial airliner, and not from such a height that he’d pass out before hitting the ground. And, given that we’ve received no reports from members of the public of seeing it happen, it most likely happened at night. As for his clothes, I have no idea.’
‘Do you think it was an accident?’ said Barnes, tapping the end of his pen on his knee. ‘Perhaps some sort of skydiving club prank gone wrong?’
‘Maybe,’ said Kay. ‘I’m certainly not ruling it out until we know otherwise.’
‘There was nothing reported from the search teams in the adjacent fields, guv,’ said Carys. ‘And Harriet’s CSI team didn’t find anything like a parachute in any hedgerows or undergrowth near where the body was found.’
‘Well, if anything changes, make sure it’s reported,’ said Kay. ‘In the meantime, these are your actions for the remainder of this week, everyone. I want you to contact local skydiving clubs and parachute clubs, to find out if there have been any reports of extra-curricular activities in the area. I want a record of all registered airfields in the area collated and made available to the team, and I want our search to include anyone with a pilot’s licence, to include ultralights and microlights. We also need to establish what the rules are regarding night-time jumps, because I can’t imagine anyone not noticing a bloke falling through the air in daylight. Flag anything unusual for each briefing and we’ll make a decision when and how to follow it up, especially if those activities include anyone deciding to jump from a plane with no clothes on.’
When she ran a hand through her hair, Barnes could see his colleague’s efforts not to let the swift turn of events overwhelm her, and a surge of pride rose in his chest.
‘That’s all, everyone,’ she said, and forced a smile. ‘I didn’t say it was going to be easy, did I?’
Chapter Nine
Kay returned to her desk and exhaled as the team dispersed around her, pairing up or working in smaller groups to disseminate the information and tasks she’d set them for the next forty-eight hours.
She sent a text message to Adam to let him know she’d be home late, and then looked up as Barnes walked over.
‘That was a hell of a result, guv.’
‘Wasn’t it just? Everything else okay here?’
He nodded. ‘All under control. Debbie’s got all the house-to-house statements into the system, and she and Phillip will cross-reference those once she’s uploaded Lucas’s report. Gavin and Laura have moved on to reviewing the remainder of the CCTV footage we’ve received this morning from a couple of motels in the area, and I’m dying for a coffee. Coming for a walk?’
She slipped her phone into her bag and smiled. ‘You know what? That sounds like a bloody good idea. God knows when we’re next going to get a break, so let’s find something to eat as well. My treat.’
Barnes’s face lit up. ‘I knew I liked you for a reason, guv.’
‘Ha ha.’
Five minutes later, Kay and Barnes had crossed Palace Avenue and were strolling up East Street past a row of solicitors’ offices spread out the length of the busy road.
‘Good timing, Ian. Another half an hour and we’d have had this lot to contend with,’ said Kay. ‘Where do you fancy going?’
He checked over his shoulder, and then led the way over to the pedestrianised zone of Bank Street. ‘It’s not too cold. Shall we get something from the café along here and go and sit by the river? Less chance of being overheard.’
‘Sounds like a plan. Is half an hour all right with you? I wanted to check in with Gavin to see how Laura’s getting on before I try to catch up with Sharp.’
‘No problem. Here you go.’
‘Thanks.’
Kay stepped through the door he held open, the aroma of freshly baked savoury pastries, herbs and spices wrapping itself around her as she eyed the menu on the blackboard nailed to the wall. She cast aside the plan to have a meagre sandwich and ordered one of the pasties, almost salivating as the café owner used tongs to place it in a paper bag before handing it over.
Once her colleague held his takeaway lunch of a chicken pie, and their coffees were ready, they set out for a favourite spot on the river towpath only a short walk away.
By the time Kay lowered herself onto the wooden bench behind the Archbishop’s Palace, the pastry had grown cool enough to eat and she groaned with pleasure as she took the first bite.
‘Good call, Ian. I haven’t had one of these for ages.’
‘Don’t tell Pia, for goodness’ sakes. I’m supposed to be losing weight before we go on holiday in June.’
‘Your secret’s safe with me.’
‘What time are you heading over to Headquarters?’
‘About two o’clock. Sharp was going to have a ring around some old army contacts about that tattoo, and I’m hoping he might have some news for me about our victim. Anyt
hing would be a help at the moment, even if it’s a particular regiment or group of people we could contact. I don’t fancy the prospect of having to trawl through all the personnel they must have on record living in Kent. And that’s if our victim is from this area. If he was living further away, I don’t know what we’re going to do.’
‘Why do you think he fell into that field, then?’ said Barnes, using a napkin to dab at the gravy that had dribbled onto his chin. ‘You must have some sort of theory you weren’t willing to put forward to the team, in case that’s all they focused on.’
She shrugged, finished her mouthful and then squinted along the waterway to where the tourist boats were moored. ‘I don’t know, to be honest. There’s part of me that wonders if it’s something like a stag night dare gone wrong – I mean, let’s face it, we’ve seen enough stupid naked drunks who’ve ended up in the Accident and Emergency department over the years, or dead.’
‘All skydiving clubs and that sort of thing have to be registered though, don’t they?’
‘Yes. That’s why I wanted all pilots’ licences in the area checked and accounted for, not just the ones relating to clubs. If it is the case it’s an accident, then a private party rather than one through an established club might’ve been flouting the rules and so it’d make sense they’d keep quiet about an accident.’
‘That’d take some doing.’ Barnes finished his pie, held out his hand for Kay’s discarded paper bag, and walked over to the bin beside the path. He was frowning when he returned. ‘Guilt isn’t an easy emotion to hide, and a secret like that within a group of people would be hard to contain. Someone will break eventually.’
‘I know.’ Kay rose from the seat and dusted off the back of her trousers before falling into step beside him.
She tipped her head back until she could take in the ornate stonework of All Saints Church as they passed. She enjoyed this pocket of stillness within the busy town centre, and savoured the lush green surroundings that softened the concrete and asphalt architecture beyond the landscaped gardens.
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