Tuesday, 3 November
Gina headed over to where forensics and uniform had congregated. A short dog sniffed at her ankle. She leaned over and stroked its long body as she continued over the rubble and mud. The three houses struck her. The symbol on the back of the diary extract had been as accurate as it could be. If that one was accurate and the woods had been accurate, what was with the ghost and question mark? That one was certainly more symbolic.
‘Ah, DI Harte. We’re certainly being kept busy this week. I’ve had to cancel afternoon tea. The girlfriend’s not happy at all.’ Bernard tucked his beard into the cover and pulled his forensics suit hood over his thinning grey hair. As he walked closer, his height almost blocked out what was ahead.
‘I’m sure our victim would apologise if they could. Saying that, do we know if there is a victim as yet?’ A part of her hoped that this was nothing more than a sick joke in response to what the papers had reported.
‘Jennifer and the rest of the team are already on it. There is definitely a body. It seems our coffin killer has struck again.’ Bernard handed her a couple of crime scene suits. ‘One for you and one for DS Driscoll.’
‘I didn’t know you had a girlfriend?’
‘I didn’t tell you. We met on a dating site a couple of months ago. I decided it was time to put myself out there again.’
‘Ah, nice one.’ Gina glanced back and watched as Jacob ran. He might resemble Action Man when still but he looked quite awkward at speed. ‘Thanks.’ As she started to slip it over her tracksuit bottoms, Jacob ran over and grabbed one too.
‘Sorry, got stuck in temporary lights.’ He grabbed a suit and began pulling it over his trousers and coat. He waved at Jennifer and she waved back. ‘Do we have another body?’
‘Afraid so.’ Gina turned back to Bernard. ‘Any description as yet? I need to know if the body is Penny Burton’s.’
He glanced back and caught Jennifer’s attention. ‘Is the casket fully open yet?’
She shook her head, removed a glove and held up five fingers.
‘Should be able to answer that question in five minutes. When I was over there, we’d managed to prise the box open a little but one of the hinges had stuck. The team were trying to ease it so that we can open it fully. The body will be ready for formal identification sometime later.’
‘I see. Anything else you can tell us?’
‘Only that it’s looking exactly like the one in the woods, but this time we have had less rain to contend with so I’m hopeful of a better outcome on the forensics front. It’s early doors at the moment so not much to report, I’m afraid. We also have a few members of the team going back and forth with uniform searching for anything that the killer may have left behind. I can tell you that a trolley was used to get the coffin into place as there are wheel marks, quite thick tracks. There is sign of smaller wheel tracks on top of the larger ones. I would say it is a fold-up trolley so would easily fit into any vehicle. I have some ideas of what would be used so I’ll send you a photo of it in an email later.’
Jacob finished zipping up his forensics suit. ‘Transporting the coffin would be another matter. We are talking a long car or a van.’
‘Yes. Ah, it looks like Jennifer is ready for us to go over.’
Gina was grateful she hadn’t eaten too much, only taking one of the muffins that O’Connor’s wife had baked. She caught sight of a woman watching from outside a Portakabin and realised how she must look in her spare suit jacket and the dowdy grey tracksuit bottoms that had been given to her after her clothes had been bagged for evidence. Her unruly hair and scratched face were an accurate show of how her evening had gone. At least the trainers were comfortable.
‘Alright, guv?’ PC Smith lifted the outer cordon to let her through and she followed Bernard carefully over the small fence until she reached the metal stepping plates. Her shoes clunked on each one. Pushing through the brambles, she could see the clearing now.
A small trodden mud path led in from one of the walking routes. She knew that there was a road and a car park close by. This location would have been much less of a challenge for their killer than the woods. She leaned in and peered at the corpse. Mouth open, eyes closed. It was, without a doubt, Penny Burton.
‘That’s our missing woman.’ The body lay still, her mouth almost contorted in fear. Her toes and fingernails bloodied from scratching her way out. Gina closed her eyes, tuning in to her own fear only a few hours ago. She felt her chest tightening as she remembered trying to claw her way through the hole, not knowing if she would die. ‘Thanks, Bernard.’
She walked off, leaving Jacob and Bernard talking about the body. Staring back at the three houses, she tried to take her focus from being trapped in the coffin back to the case. They had found Penny. She could only hope that the murderer had slipped up this time. Her mind bounced from one theory to the next. The dinner party crew. Isaac: she didn’t trust him. The wolf carved into the coffin. What did a wolf mean? Ghosts, the squat, the kids all dressed as creepy figures, long black coats and bells. Marcus: he and Penny were having problems and he definitely wasn’t telling all.
She hurried back to Bernard. ‘Is there an engraving in the coffin?’
Bernard nodded to Jennifer.
She kneeled down on a plate and leaned in, moving the woman’s feet a little. The clean CSI zoomed in with the camera and took a photo before walking over to Gina and showing her and Jacob the image on the display.
Jacob screwed his eyes and they both moved in closer. ‘That looks a little bit less wolf-like than the last engraving, guv. The artist has improved. It could be a lion. Look at the carving marks; they’re a little more defined than on the last engraving. It’s a lion. Does that look more like a lion to you?’
Bernard nodded.
‘You’re right.’ Gina paused as she tried to recall what the vicar, Sally Stevens had said to her. ‘“Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” It’s from the Bible.’
‘I didn’t have you down as an expert in the Bible.’
‘I’m not.’ She went blank as the letter she’d received that day came back to her. You need to stand up and roar. Another lion reference. ‘It’s just this verse stood out to me. Sally Stevens said it the other day as we left the vicarage. I remembered thinking about it after; it gave me the creeps and it was such a weird thing to say. It’s more than just a coincidence. We have to go back and speak to her. She knows something. As soon as we’re done here, we’re heading over. Will you call it in? We need the team to check her out and we need some backup. Wyre and O’Connor can drop whatever they’re doing and head over. What does a graveyard have?’
