Michael Fowler - Secret of the Dead

For a second his head was in turmoil. There was no reason in this world why this should be the same person. There was no link between Jeffery Howson and Jodie. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, committing the description to memory and then let out a heavy sigh. If it was the same man, then that was the second time he had let him slip. There wouldn’t be a third, he told himself as he thumped the handrail in frustration.

Taking another deep breath, he felt his strength returning and delved into his jacket pocket for his mobile. He needed to call this in. Back-up would be too late to capture the fugitive, but he needed to preserve the scene and get forensic support here quickly. He was confident now that Jodie’s death was no accident, that he may have just missed her killer, and that this was as fresh as a crime scene as he could possibly have.

As he speed-dialled the communications room, he realised he was bleeding at the mouth — he could taste and smell the coppery tang of blood upon his lips. He was running his tongue around them as an operator came on the line.

* * * * *

The marked Response Car got to Hunter inside five minutes. He quickly briefed the driver and his partner as to what had happened and gave them the offender’s description, such as it was, and left them to get on with coordinating a search, while he began to fathom out how best to secure the premises. He knew this wasn’t going to go down too well, given the nature of some of the residents. Already, one of the male tenants had stuck his head around his door and demanded to know what the fuck was going on.

Still angry about losing his attacker, Hunter was in no mood to appease him, and had thrust his warrant card in his face and told him to “Get back in his room and shut the fuck up.” The young man had obliged without argument. Next to arrive was Grace and Mike Sampson. They had been about to set off to Bakewell, to interview Lucy’s parents, when they’d picked up his distress call and had immediately diverted.

“Which way did he run?” said Grace.

Hunter shrugged. “Don’t know. Best guess is he made a left into the side streets. There’re quite a few alleyways he could’ve shot down and from there he could have made the town centre or out towards the hospital. I don’t even know if he had a car or not. I didn’t hear one. But to be honest it took me a good couple of minutes to get my breath back and get down the stairs.” He could feel the blood again on his lips. “He caught me off guard and packed a hell of a punch.” He dabbed at his mouth with the side of a hand. A small circle of red covered the area around his thumb and forefinger. “I’ll punch his fucking lights out when I get hold of him.”

Grace shook her head.

He said “What?”

She pointed to his mouth and said, “Don’t worry, it’s not made any difference to your looks. You’re still as ugly.” Then she smiled. “Come on then Sergeant Kerr, start dishing out the orders, tell us what you want us to do.”

“Uniform are covering a lot of the ground, and CCTV are looking in and around the town centre, so there’s not a lot to do about him at the moment. I could do with finding out who lives in these flats and who’s in at the moment. I’ve spoken to one of the tenants already.” He pointed back down the hall. “I’m going to secure the area between the first floor and second floor, I’ve got SOCO on their way.”

Within ten minutes Hunter had donned a white forensic over-suit from the boot of his car and sealed off the staircase between the first and second floors. He had listened to the sounds of Grace and Mike knocking on doors below and knew that the pair were currently in the flat belonging to the resident he had encountered immediately after his assault. He wondered if the guy would make a complaint about him swearing. Then he dismissed the thought from his head he could trust his team mates to talk him out of it.

He heard the front entrance door click open below, then slowly close, followed by the clipped sound of heels on the tiled hall floor. Hunter peered over the banister and caught sight of Detective Superintendent Dawn Leggate coming up the staircase towards him. He recognised her distinct auburn tinged bob of ginger hair.

In her Scottish brogue she called out, “Hello. DS Kerr?”

“Up here ma’am.”

She craned her neck, swapping glances, as she continued climbing the stairs. “Please don’t call me ma’am Hunter, I bloody hate that word. Makes me sound like the Queen. Just call me boss or guv.” She paused on the last step before the landing and faced Hunter. She was wearing a brown checked duffel coat. With a leather gloved hand she began un-pegging it.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to put up with me, DS Kerr. Mr Robshaw’s going to run the Howson enquiry and I’m running this one. I hope you’re okay with that?”

Hunter licked his bottom lip and nodded. He felt a sharp tinge from the cut at the side of his mouth and winced.

“Bloody good job, ’cos I wasn’t giving you an option.” The Detective Superintendent flashed him a mischievous smile, reached up and tapped his shoulder, “Anyway, it will give me the chance to work closely with someone on my new team.” She removed her gloved hand. “Getting my teeth into my own investigation is just what I needed. Right Hunter, tell me what you’ve got? I’ve heard over the radio that they’re still searching for the guy who slugged you, though it looks as though he’s gone to ground.”

Hunter felt his face flush. He was still smarting. Not just from letting someone thump him without any form of retaliation, but also knowing that he let his quarry get away. He gave his SIO a resume of the background to the case, explaining how he had initially thought that Jodie’s death was the result of a drugs overdose. “I have to confess I took my eye off the case because of the Howson enquiry. The information given to me by her Probation Officer this morning made me want to check out her flat.” He relayed the earlier conversation with Ray Austin. “Especially that bit about the secret she said she had about someone, which was going to make her lots of money.”

“And so, like me, you’re thinking that this guy who you’ve disturbed had something to do with that secret and her death.”

Hunter nodded. “It’s a fair bet, yes, although she didn’t tell her probation officer what the secret was, or who it was about.”

“And you got the impression that this guy was the same one you chased at Jeffery Howson’s funeral?”

He tightened his mouth again and rolled his head. “I couldn’t swear on it. Not exactly a hundred per cent and it doesn’t make sense why the same guy at Jeffery Howson’s funeral should turn up here. But it was just the way he was dressed. It looked as though he was still wearing the same gear. And I know I only got a fleeting glance of him at the churchyard, and my view of him today was from up here, but there were so many similarities to his shape and build that makes me think it’s the same man.”

“Just hold onto those thoughts for now. We’ve got a lot of enquiries ahead and you say that uniform are still out there searching for him, as well as the camera boys in the CCTV suite, so we might be able to rule him either in or out later on, okay?”

Hunter agreed with a nod.

“Okay, now show me what you’ve got so far.”

Earlier, he had removed Jodie’s file from the MIT car. It was now tucked beneath his arm. He slipped it out, flipped open the folder and half-turned it toward the Detective Superintendent for her to view. “This is what I’ve got in terms of evidence.” He balanced the folder across an open palm and picked out the Scenes of Crime photograph booklet within it. “These are shots of the pub and the cellar where Jodie’s body was found and also of her PM.”