Dave Slater Mystery Novels Box Set One

by Ford, P. F.

  “I hope this isn’t going to turn into another bent copper investigation,” said Slater, wearily. “Who’s the investigating officer?”

  “It’s a DS Nash,” said Norman, reading from the cover of the file.

  “DS?” asked Slater. “Don’t you mean DI?”

  “Says DS here,” replied Norman. “Why? D’you know him?”

  “Of course. That was 15 years ago, wasn’t it?” asked Slater. “That was before he was a DI. Yeah. I know him. He was my boss for a while. He should have been booted out years ago. He only got where he was because his old man was in charge back then. They’re both behind bars now. As bent as nine bob notes, both of them.”

  “Oh, wow,” said Norman, sarcastically. “That’s really encouraging to know. So should I ignore this report?”

  “Does it tell us anything we don’t know?” asked Slater.

  “Don’t think so,” said Norman, in disgust. “Would it be worth going to see this Nash guy?”

  “Personally I don’t think he’s worth the time of day,” said Slater. “I suggest we leave him right out of the equation unless we get seriously desperate.”

  “Looking at this, I think you’re right.” Norman closed the file and tossed it to one side.

  “What a waste of a morning,” he said, sighing.

  “Come on.” Slater smiled at him. “Let’s go get some lunch. Maybe that’ll cheer you up.”

  “Are you buying?”

  “Surely it’s not my turn again?” asked Slater, incredulously.

  “I thought you wanted to cheer me up,” said Norman.

  “Okay, okay,” Slater said, sighing. “I’m buying.”

  “See? It works.” Norman laughed. “I feel better already.

  “It gets better.” Slater paused, as if for dramatic effect. “We have to report to the mortuary at two o’clock. They’ve got some news for us.”

  “Oh boy,” said Norman, a little less enthusiastically. “Friday afternoon in the mortuary. I can’t wait. You sure know how to give a guy a good time.”

  Slater was glad they had already eaten by the time they turned up at the mortuary. Even though, on this occasion, there wouldn’t be any “dicing and slicing”, as Norman called it, it still wasn’t a pleasant place to visit.

  Dr Henry Cutter greeted them when they arrived.

  “Hi guys.” He smiled at them and shook their hands. “I hope this is going to help you out. I’m going to take a back seat this afternoon and hand you over to my colleague.”

  Slater was quite dazzled by the tiny Nadira and her brilliant smile, and he totally missed her surname, which seemed very long and complicated.

  “You’ll be relieved to know everyone has problems with Nadira’s surname,” said Cutter, as if he could read Slater’s mind. “So, to make life easier for everyone, we refer to her as Doctor Nadira.”

  Nadira bowed her head in acknowledgement as she was introduced.

  “Good afternoon, gentlemen,” she said. “We will be working together closely for a while I’m sure, so I will be happy for you to call me Nadira. We all know I’m a doctor so you don’t need to keep reminding me.”

  She gave them another one of her dazzling smiles. Slater glanced over at Norman and saw he was beaming back at her. She was a hit with both of them, then.

  “That works for me,” said Norman. “I’m Norman, or Norm for short.”

  “And I’m Dave,” Slater said.

  “That’s good,” she said. “Too much formality just gets in the way. Now come over here and I’ll show you what we’ve got for you.”

  The two detectives followed her through to a large area which had been cleared except for two stainless steel tables that stood side by side. Cutter followed along behind.

  The two skeletons were laid out on the tables. One was so much smaller than the other it was obviously a child. Slater had never had to deal with the death of a child before, and the idea that he was almost certainly looking at a murdered one made his stomach lurch. He looked across at Norman, who looked equally unhappy at the sight of the tiny skeleton.

  “The first thing we can say for sure,” began Nadira. “Is that they have been under the ground for somewhere in the region of 15 years.”

  “Right so far,” Norman said.

  “The skeleton of the adult woman is a match for the DNA sample provided by Mrs Townley,” continued Nadira. “I can confirm this is her daughter.”

  “So this is Sandra Bressler,” said Slater.

  “We can also confirm,” added Cutter, “that the body you found in the field is also a match. This is the sister of your body.”

  “The child,” continued Nadira, “is Sandra’s daughter.”

  Slater heard Norman let out a breath beside him, and realised he, too, had been holding his.

  “Jeez,” Norman said sadly. “Two daughters and a granddaughter all found within a couple of hundred yards. It’s difficult to think it’s a coincidence, isn’t it?”

  “Can you tell us how they died?” asked Slater.

  “Oh yes,” said Nadira. “I can even tell you what weapon was used to kill them both.”

  “So they were definitely murdered then? No way it could have been anything else?” asked Slater, knowing full well it had to be murder.

  “I’m afraid not,” said Nadira, “and I would imagine it was a very brutal and painful way to die.”

  “Come on then,” Norman said, sighing heavily. “Let’s hear the gory details.”

  Nadira leaned across the first table and lifted the right scapula free.

  “If you look here,” she said, pointing to a deep gouge on the back of the bone, “you can see where she was hit from behind with a heavy blade. Henry will show you what we’re sure the weapon was.”

  Cutter produced an axe head from under the table and showed how it was a good match for the wound to the scapula.

  “She was hit from behind with an axe?” asked Slater in disbelief.

  “Jesus!” Norman sounded shocked.

  “I’m afraid so,” said Nadira. “And not just once.”

  She pointed to the broken right femur.

  “You can see where she was hit here, breaking her leg.”

  She pointed to the right arm.

  “Also here, and here.”

  The humerus was also broken, just above the elbow, and the hand had been smashed.

  “And, finally, the back of her skull.”

  She turned over the skull to reveal a huge split fracture. Again, the axe head appeared to be the perfect fit for the centre of the fracture.

  Slater didn’t know what he had been expecting – but it wasn’t this. Judging by the look on Norman’s face, he was just as shocked, too.

  “So, what have we got?” asked Norman. “A mad axeman?”

  “Not necessarily a man,” said Nadira. “A woman could easily have done this if she knew how to use an axe properly.”

  “I don’t think using an axe to chop people up is using it properly,” said Norman.

  “No, of course not. But my point is simply that whoever did this knew how to use an axe.”

  “Any idea how it might have happened?” Slater dreaded to think.

  “My guess,” said Nadira, “based on the damage to the skeleton, is that she was chased through the woods. Henry and I will demonstrate what we think might have happened. I will be the attacker, just to show that a woman could easily have done this.”

  Cutter came across and stood in front of Nadira with his back to her.

  “The first blow, is struck as Sandra is running away,” began Nadira. “It’s from behind, to the right leg.”

  She swung an imaginary axe from her right shoulder towards Cutter’s right femur.

  “That breaks her leg, stops her running, and she falls to the ground face down.”

  Cutter indicated where the blow would have landed, and then dropped to the floor face down.

  “Now she’s down, the attacker approaches from behind,” continued Nadira,
moving so she was astride Cutter’s waist.

  “Sandra then puts her hands over her head to try to protect herself.”

  Cutter did likewise, and Nadira swung her imaginary axe again.

  “The second blow smashes into the back of her right hand. Then the third blow is aimed at her arm. As you can see from the skeleton, the arm gets broken. Now her arm is useless and she cannot protect her head anymore.”

  Cutter moved his right arm down to his side, exposing the back of his head.

  “Now the attacker has clear sight of the back of Sandra’s head and delivers the fourth blow. This proves to be the final blow, smashing her skull and killing her.”

  This final time she raised the imaginary axe above her head and swung it straight down.

  “Shit,” said Norman quietly. “What about the kid?”

  “One blow, fracturing the skull,” said Nadira, moving back to the two tables to hold up the child’s skull and show them the clear fracture at the back. “This time, with the back of the axe.”

  Cutter was back on his feet and now leaned over and lined up the back of the axe with the damaged skull.

  “Do you think the kid would have been first or second?” asked Norman.

  “If you mean did the child have to watch her mother being chased and slaughtered, I’m afraid I can’t answer that,” said Nadira. “I just hope the child was first to die.”

  There was a deadly silence as the two detectives absorbed what Nadira had told them.

  “So they were brought to the woods and then hunted by someone with an axe,” said Slater, struggling to make sense of the horror

  “That’s my theory,” she said. “It would be impossible to prove after all this time, but that’s what I believe happened.”

  “That’s a particularly brutal way to kill someone, isn’t it?” asked Slater.

  “It’s certainly not something we come across every day,” said Cutter. “It takes a very special kind of cold person to do something like this.”

  There were a few more moments of stunned silence as Slater tried to imagine the scenario. He knew Norman would be doing the same. It was Henry Cutter who finally broke the silence.

  “Obviously we’ll put this all together for you in our reports, and we’ll let you know if anything else comes to light after that. But right now, guys, I think this might be a good time to break for a cup of tea and some fresh air, don’t you?” he suggested. “Nadira’s found a nice little courtyard area just out the back with a couple of benches. A change of scenery and a change of topic usually works for me.”

  He headed for the kettle.

  “Nadira, take the guys outside while I rustle up some tea.”

  It was gone 4pm by the time Slater and Norman were ready to leave. Cutter had been right, there was a neat little courtyard just behind the mortuary. And, ably assisted by Nadira, he proved to be very good at leading Slater away from his morbid thoughts and lightening the mood. By the time they left, Slater was feeling more like himself, and Norman was becoming his usual chatty self.

  “I think this calls for an urgent appointment with the boss, don’t you?” Slater asked Norman, as they drove away.

  “I can’t think of any other way we’re going to get reinforcements,” agreed Norman. “And we certainly need them now it looks like we’re going to be re-investigating something that should have been sorted out 15 years ago.”

  To Slater’s surprise, Bob Murray was already ahead of the game. He’d obviously got wind of how their case was developing, (“I’ve known Henry Cutter for years,” he told them) and he was busy re-allocating his staff to create a bigger team.

  “I’ve only got limited numbers, as you know,” he told them. “So it’s going to be hard work for everyone. But try and make it work or I’ll have to go cap in hand for help from elsewhere. If that happens, we’ll lose control of the whole case. We don’t want that, do we?”

  It was a rhetorical question and Slater and Norman stayed quiet.

  “I’ll expect you two to give your team a full briefing first thing in the morning,” warned Murray. “I’ll make sure everyone knows they have to be there for 8am, so make sure you’re both there so I don’t look like an idiot, alright?”

  “Right, Boss,” said Norman.

  “Thank you, Boss,” said Slater. “We’ll get on it right away.”

  “Fine. That’ll be all,” growled Murray, returning to his paperwork.

  Norman and Slater knew that meant the meeting was over so they stood and made their way over to the door. Just as Slater was turning the handle, Murray added a little footnote.

  “Don’t forget the other cases you have,” he said.

  “Yes, but-” began Slater.

  “You have a team, David,” Murray said, sighing. “Do I need to tell you how to use it?”

  “Don’t worry, boss,” Norman butted in. “We’ve got it covered.”

  He hustled Slater out of the door before he could get another word in.

  “How many pairs of bloody hands does he think we have?” asked Slater grumpily as Norman ushered him away from Murray’s office. “Aren’t we under enough pressure as it is?”

  “There you go again,” chided Norman. “Mr Negative is back. Moan, moan, moan.”

  “What?” said Slater, in dismay. “What can you find about this that’s positive?”

  “Will you open your eyes just for once,” snapped Norman. “Don’t you think he’s under pressure as well? He told you he’s got limited numbers to work with. Or perhaps you think Detective Sergeant Slater is too important to have to dirty his hands with small cases?”

  Slater was affronted at Norman’s verbal attack.

  “Of course I don’t think I’m too bloody important,” said Slater. “I’m a team player, you know that.”

  “So start acting like a team player,” said Norman. “Don’t you think Murray’s part of the team?”

  “Well, yeah,” agreed Slater, not really following Norman’s train of thought. “I suppose he’s the captain.”

  “So, he’s being a team player by rearranging things to give us more help, right?” asked Norman.

  “I suppose so, yes,” agreed Slater reluctantly.

  “Do you think that’s going to make his life any easier?”

  “Well, no. I suppose not.” Slater knew Norman was making sense

  “So don’t you owe it to your captain to be a team player and repay his support?”

  “Well, yeah. Of course I do.”

  “So stop griping, and get on with it,” said Norman. “We have a team of our own. Surely we can utilise one or two people here and there to keep their eyes and ears open, can’t we? He didn’t say ‘solve them tomorrow’, he just said ‘don’t forget them’.”

  Slater looked contrite. Of course Norman was right. Again.

  “I think you need to teach me more about how this positive stuff works,” he said gloomily. “I still don’t understand how you always seem to find positives in just about everything.”

  “It’s simply because you focus on negatives and I don’t.” Norman grinned at him. “Let’s go grab a coffee before we put this briefing together. We can talk better with coffee.”

  Slater wrapped his hands round the warm mug as he listened to Norman.

  “Here’s some advice you can have for free,” Norman said, sipping his coffee. “First of all, you take things too personally. That wasn’t a bollocking from Murray, it was just a reminder. He knows damn well you won’t forget, but he wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t say it. It’s no different to you telling Steve Biddeford to restrict his airfield search. Steve should know to do that, and you know he probably would, but you still told him.”

  “Okay. Point taken,” said Slater, slowly nodding his agreement.

  “Another thing you need to learn is to stop and think before you react,” said Norman.

  Slater started to protest, but Norman waved his hand.

  “Yeah. I know you don’t always do it,”
he said. “But this goes with my first point. It’s when you take things personally that you jump in with both feet before you’ve thought about what’s been said. Listen to the comment and then think before you answer. Ask yourself ‘is this comment really aimed at me, or am I just taking it too personally’.”

  “Alright, smartarse,” said Slater, with grudging admiration. “So tell me, what was positive in what Murray said earlier, because I obviously missed it.”

  “Oh it was there alright.” Norman said, smiling. “And yes you did miss it. And I’ll tell you why you missed it. You missed it because you were too busy focusing on what you thought was a negative, by taking a comment personally that wasn’t personal at all.”

  “You can be a right arsehole sometimes, Norm,” said Slater. “You’re loving this, aren’t you? So what was this great big positive I missed, then?”

  “Murray paid you several compliments in there and you missed them all. One, he has confidence in you and me to lead this team. Two, he trusts us to brief the team. And three, and this is the one you took completely the wrong way, he trusts in your ability to solve more than one case at the same time. Don’t you think that’s all positive stuff?”

  Slater was briefly lost for words. Norman was right. He had missed all those positives.

  “So how come you saw that and I missed it?” he finally managed to ask.

  “You need to ask yourself that question,” said Norman. “You were in the same room as me, hearing the same words as me. Yet we have almost opposing views of what was said.”

  “That’s what I mean,” said Slater wearily. “How does that happen?”

  “It happens because I have a positive outlook and look for the best in a situation, while you have a negative outlook and expect the worst.”

  Slater considered this. He’d heard Norman prattle on about this stuff before, and he had promised himself he would try to change, but then he’d got busy and forgotten all about it.

  “So how do I change?” he asked.

  “First you have to want to change. And then you just have to train yourself to stop and think.”

  “So how come you’re such an expert?”

  “I’m not an expert,” said Norman. “I just know this stuff changed my life. If I hadn’t learnt it, I wouldn’t still be here. I would have got so depressed I would have topped myself a long time ago.”