Missing Lies (Reissue) by Chris Collett

Author:Chris Collett [Collett, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime, thrillers, and mysteries
Published: 2018-10-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

There was a symmetry to it, Mariner thought, as he and Glover sped out again between the Worcestershire hedgerows. When he’d last been here to view a body, it had been daybreak. Now, in the late afternoon, the light was fading and a shelf of thick cloud rolling in, bringing with it a mist that was beginning to obscure the fields and hedges. This time as they progressed through the trees at the deposition site, they veered off in a southerly direction and a way off through the gloom saw the white protective tent that had been erected over the find, all theatrically lit by arc lamps. The uniformed officer on guard stood back to let them through and they found Gray and his assistant squatting beside the bandaged body. The face had already been exposed, gleaming supernaturally white in the argentine light. Mariner took the newly acquired photo of Rosa Batista from his pocket. There was no doubt that this was her.

‘That poor kid,’ said Charlie, quietly.

Reaching out with a gloved hand, Gray directed one of the lamps to just below Rosa’s face and lifted something from her neck. It was a fine gold chain. He confirmed what they couldn’t quite see for themselves. ‘Another letter P.’

Before he and Glover left the scene, Mariner sought out Paul Sholter. ‘How much ground have you covered so far?’ he asked.

Sholter shone a powerful torch onto the large-scale map in its protective cover. ‘We’ve searched all the woodland to the west and north of where Grace was found,’ he said, indicating the area on the map, ‘including this coppice where Rosa is. All we have left now is the section over here, to the south east. It’s about another square mile, mile and a half.’

‘OK,’ said Mariner. ‘Call everyone off for now and start again tomorrow morning when it’s light. There might be one more out there.’

‘You think they’re going to find Dee Henderson?’ asked Glover as they made their way back to Granville Lane.

‘If she met the same fate as the other two, then we should receive a parcel of clothes very soon,’ said Mariner.

* * *

It was late when he got home, but after a restless night’s sleep Mariner went into work on Monday morning fully expecting to find a third parcel waiting for him. His apprehension was unfounded. He even went down to harass the clerk in the post room in person, but was told that there was nothing for either him or Superintendent Sharp. Returning to the incident room, Charlie caught his eye. ‘Nothing new, boss?’

Mariner had never noticed Glover call him ‘boss’ before. That was Tony Knox’s habit. Sharp came down from her office. She didn’t look as if she’d had a very good night either.

‘Nothing?’

Mariner shook his head. ‘She’s been gone since Wednesday night,’ he said. ‘We might have reasonably expected a delivery by now.’

‘Do you think the press coverage might have put him off?’

‘It’s possible,’ Mariner conceded. ‘Or it just might mean, as we’ve considered, that Dee Henderson is nothing to do with our washerwoman.

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