The Secrets of the Shadows (The Annie Graham series - Book 2) (12 page)

As the last one walked through the hall doors she turned and approached the woman. She needed to check that she didn’t have a pulse and although Ella had never seen a dead body except for on the television she was pretty sure that this was one. She cautiously walked over to the grave, careful not to trample anything that could be evidence - she had read enough crime thrillers and they had taught her well. Bending down she pressed two fingers against the woman’s neck to check for a pulse. Her skin was icy cold and Ella knew that it had been a while since she had last taken a breath – there was nothing she could do for her. The luminous green of Rosie’s bouncy ball made a stark contrast to the marbled blue and white of the woman’s skin; it had come to rest in the crook of her bent arm. Ella doubted that Rosie would ever be able to look at a bouncy ball again. Feeling sad for whoever this woman was she made her way back to the small black cast iron gate to wait for the police, and judging by the wail of the siren’s they would be there very soon.

Mr Michaels the head teacher came barging through the narrow door which led into the hall where the children were milling and got tangled up in a web of arms and skipping ropes. The view through the large glass patio doors made Ella turn around so he wouldn’t see the grin on her face. It was totally inappropriate but the man irritated her beyond belief. He strode across to her. ‘Are you quite sure the woman is dead and not just some drugged up homeless tramp who has dossed down in the church for the night?’

Ella tried not to roll her eyes at him and instead shook her head. ‘Well I’m no expert Mr Michaels but if you take a look yourself you will clearly see that she has been dead for some time. Although I don’t know if you should go in there.’

He ignored her and pushed past. Ella watched and wondered if he was about to trample through the crime scene like he trampled through life but she didn’t need to worry. He took one look at the grave and the colour drained from his face. ‘Dear God, how did this happen and in a church of all places?’

Ella shrugged, she had no answers. Just a feeling of desperate sadness for whoever the woman was, placed on show for everyone to see. She breathed a sigh of relief as two policemen came rushing through the hall doors and over to where she was standing. Ella pointed to the grave and was pleased to see Mr Michaels squirm his way back through into the playground, his face burning. He looked like a kid caught peeking into the girl’s locker room. The first policeman made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and she thought he said Laura, the second one stepped through the gate and his hand flew to his mouth, he muttered. ‘Oh my God.’ Ella realised that the woman was someone they both knew. Her legs began to quiver and her head felt fuzzy, she blinked a few times to try and clear her mind but she needed to sit down before she passed out. Leaning back against the rough red brick wall she felt herself begin to slide down it, her brand new Per Una cardigan snagging on all the rough bits of brick all the way down until she reached the floor. How embarrassing, she felt like an idiot but then she looked across at the two policemen and they didn’t look much better. There was a lot of shouting into the radios which were clipped to the bright yellow body armour they were wearing. Her eyes shut. Through the daze she heard the words, ambulance, CID, foxtrot but it was the last words the bigger of the two men spoke that would forever haunt her dreams.

‘It’s our Laura, I mean its Detective Constable Laura Bailiss.’

Chapter 14

Will opened his eyes. He’d only drunk two halves of lager and an orange juice but he felt as if he’d drunk ten pints. He would never drink like he had last week ever again, it had ruined his life. He thought about Annie, if he was honest she was all he thought about. He wanted to do something to make it right but he had no idea what, prove to her that he wasn’t a total screw up and that she should give him another chance. Bloody Laura, he could kill her, what had she been playing at? She hadn’t really spoken to him since he’d thrown her out of his house and he’d been relieved when she left the pub last night with the big bloke who bought her drinks all night. Let her make some other poor sod’s life a misery. His phone began to ring, he glanced at the screen, unknown number – work could bugger off. He wasn’t on duty until twelve; he still had two hours to feel sorry for himself, play a bit of Adele; that was music to slit your wrists to – if only he had the energy. He reached across the bed to the iPod docking station on his bedside table and pressed play. ‘We could have had it all’ filled the air and he buried his head underneath a pillow, feeling like shit. Half an hour of self torture then he’d get up, have a shower and go face the world of fuckwits that waited for him at work.

Pounding on the front door awoke him from his dream, he had managed to go back to sleep. Adele was still reminding him that he could have had it all. The knocking didn’t cease, he was going to get whoever it was by the scruff of their neck and ram their bloody heads right through his letterbox. Pulling his trousers and a sweatshirt on he ran down the stairs to the front door, throwing it open about to shout at whoever it was. He was greeted by a white-faced Stu.

‘This better be bloody good Stu, I’m not due in until twelve.’ Will turned away, expecting Stu to follow him inside but he didn’t. ‘Stu what are you doing, has Debs finally thrown you out?’

He watched Stu gulp, struggling to find the words to say. ‘It’s Laura. She’s dead.’

Will continued moaning at him, not really taking in what he just said and then he stopped. ‘What did you just say?’

Stu’s face contorted into a mask of pain and his eyes filled with tears. ‘Sarge, Laura is dead. Some kid found her body on a grave in St Mary’s church grounds.’

Will felt a surge of regret about the bad things he’d been thinking about her less than an hour ago. ‘Are you sure it’s our Laura?’

Stu nodded his head, sniffling into his hand. Tears were falling down his cheeks; he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Will pulled a pair of trainers on and grabbed his keys off the table. ‘I don’t believe this, how? Are you in a fit state to drive because if not let me. I don’t want you crashing on the way and blowing eighty five on the breathalyser.’

‘Of course I can drive, I came here to get you didn’t I? I never had that much to drink; it’s just the shock of it all, you know. I mean we were with her until about half ten when she left with the big bloke. Do you think he did it? He must have but why, why would he kill her?’

Will couldn’t think clearly, one of his officers was dead. They sat in silence on the journey until Stu turned the car into the quiet road that led to the church. He felt sick and hoped the shock wasn’t going to make him sick. There were several police cars and vans abandoned all over the place, blue and red lights flashing. Stu stopped the car in the middle of the road and they got out. The familiar sight of Kav standing by the entrance to the church reminded Will of the events not that long ago, when the town had been turned into a killing field by a man obsessed with the old mansion in the woods and Annie. Kav had also been on duty when the bodies were found last time, he looked ill, his face was grey. One of the response officers brought Will a white scene suit, latex gloves, face mask and boot covers, he took them and whispered his thanks. The young officer offered another set to Stu who shook his head and turned to look in any direction other than that of the church.

The officer spoke in a hushed voice. ‘Sarge, the Detective Inspector said he would be here very shortly. CSI are ready, they are waiting for the go ahead from you. They have just gone back to get a scene tent. That photographer from the paper showed up before with a kid in tow holding a half-dead bunch of flowers, the crafty bastard tried to keep Kav talking while the kid sneaked around the back with one of those little flip camera things that video.’

Will felt his knuckles bunch into tight, white fists. That man caused the same reaction in him every single time. ‘Did you stop him?’

‘Kav did, arrested the photographer and the kid for section five. The kid started blubbing like a baby; he dragged them both into the back of that van over there.’

Will felt a wave of relief because he knew if he saw that smug face he would knock him out. ‘Thanks Smithy.’

Will couldn’t wait for the DI to arrive he had to take a look now; just in case they all had it wrong. Dressing himself in the clothes he walked over to the gate that was the main entrance to the church and everyone on the perimeter turned to watch him. Claire, one of the PCSOs, was standing with the scene log and he nodded at her, the sadness in her eyes said it all. He felt as if time had stood still, the only sound in the area which was full of people was that of a small bird chirping and the crunch of the gravel underneath his feet. The sun was breaking through the clouds, and he had to force himself to look up from the ground and in front of him instead. He could see her body a short distance away and felt his breath catch in the back of his throat, from where he was standing she looked like she was asleep. Whoever had done this had covered her body with twigs and leaves just like the woman last week; she was posed in a similar position. He forced himself to step closer; trying to stop his mind from associating the pretty blonde woman he worked with with the cold, dead body in front of him, on display for the world to look at. There was no colour in her face and her lips were tinged with blue. Will knew that the minute they moved her the skin underneath would be mottled red where the blood had pooled causing liver mortis. He reached the grave and pulled on the pair of latex gloves that he had been clutching, then bent down. He could hear the sound of his heart thudding inside his head it was so loud. Her hands looked clean; it didn’t look as if she had put up a fight against her killer. The perfectly manicured nails didn’t have a chip on them. He took hold of one and gently turned it, from what he could see there was nothing underneath the nails but his friend Matt who was the local the pathologist would scrape them to make sure. He couldn’t see any blood or marks on her skin. He’d have to wait for Matt to do a post mortem to determine the cause of death but at least Laura looked peaceful, as if she’d fallen asleep. Will knew that he would have struggled if there had been a lot of blood and the signs of a violent attack because it was hard enough looking at her now. He prayed that however she died she hadn’t suffered.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. What happened Laura? You are supposed to be in work nursing a hangover and going on the dinner run for greasy bacon butties. Not lying here dead
.

He turned to see the Detective Inspector, Dave Martin, walking along the path. ‘Jesus Will, what’s going on? I’m supposed to be going on annual leave today, it’s my daughter’s wedding down in Northampton tomorrow.’

Will waited for it to register with him who it was that was lying dead in front of them and give the man his due it only took him twenty seconds before the shock registered on his face. ‘No – tell me that’s not Laura, our Laura? What the hell.’

Will knew that his boss wouldn’t have listened to the phone call properly, he would have been expecting to see Laura here, working the scene not lying dead and being the scene. Will often wondered how the man had got this far, he was a great guy and very clever but he didn’t really listen to what anyone had to say, his mind would wander or switch off totally.

‘I wish I knew boss. She was with the rest of us until half ten last night in the Black Dog when she left with some bodybuilder guy. She was drunk but happy to go with him and nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary.’

The DI, whose face was now the same colour as Laura’s, unzipped his paper suit and loosened his collar and tie underneath.

‘I can’t believe it’s Laura.’ He shook his head, ‘Right, everything by the book, not that we don’t but she’s one of us and I want the bastard caught now, not three weeks later. Is this exactly the same modus operandi as the woman last week?’

‘Yes it looks like it, I’m not thinking straight. That’s two women in just over a week, both murdered and left on show on top of old graves.’

‘Then we have a serious problem Will. Is Laura married? Oh God does she have kids?’

‘No boss, she’s single and her mum is elderly and has Alzheimer’s and lives in a home on Abbey Road.’

The DI sighed, ‘Good. I don’t mean good that she hasn’t got much family, I just mean that its better she doesn’t have a doting husband and three young kids who are waiting for her to come home.’

Will thought that maybe if she had she would still be alive. Debs, who was duty CSI, walked down the path followed by the new boy who was carrying a white scene tent. Will had no idea what he was called but he looked about fourteen. He left them to it and turned to walk back out the way they had walked in, time to let the experts do their part. Will knew that Laura was in excellent hands, Debs wouldn’t leave until she’d checked every square inch for evidence. Matt appeared at the gate, carrying his heavy briefcase over to where the new boy was struggling with the tent. He nodded at Will who was walking towards Kav. ‘It’s a sad day to see one of our own like this Will. Why would anyone want to hurt Laura, let alone kill her?’

Will shook his head but wondered briefly how many relationships she’d messed up. Less than two hours ago he’d thought about killing her himself – hypothetically of course. He wasn’t a violent man unless it was defending himself or anyone he cared about. The only exception would be the man who had wanted to kill Annie last year; given the chance Will would very much like to be left alone in a locked room with him for five minutes. ‘I’m not sure but we have a major problem, this is the second murder in just over a week and as far as I know Laura had no connection to the first victim Tracy Hale because she worked that crime scene with me. She would have said something if she’d known her.’

The DI began making his way towards them and his colour hadn’t improved any. Fresh from his secondment at headquarters in Penrith he was obviously figuring out the world of shit that was about to come crashing down on his shoulders. ‘Will what have we got so far, anything that’s concrete, witnesses, CCTV, anything?’