Snow Kills (28 page)

‘Right, we need to seize the rest. We will also need elims from Barrowclough and Regan. Someone is going to have a lot of questions to answer – and hopefully it’s someone in the frame already. I’m sure Stewart will give any fingerprints we get priority, as he reckons he can do them quickly because there is some sort of blemish on the thumb. So, once you have them, take them across to him A.S.A.P. He will check them for you while you wait, if he can. Okay people, let’s have this enquiry moving forward in the next twenty four hours. I want an early start tomorrow. John, what’ve you got for me?’

‘Well I think you’ll be pleased we have got an agreement from the Council to move the rock salt to the other side of the lay-by to check for further human bones.’

‘Timescale?’

‘Tomorrow. You wanted it doing sooner rather than later, boss?’

‘I wish they were so quick repairing bloody potholes. Can you arrange then tomorrow to get one of the search team and a dog handler to have a walk around the field below once it’s done? Especially at the corner that is now directly beneath the grit where our skulls were found.’

‘Will do, boss’

‘If the person moving the grit or the dog man isn’t aware of the discovery, will you fill them in? Let them know we are actively looking for other evidence – skeletal remains that may have been buried there for some years – but that the severe weather may have also just washed them up onto the road from the stream.’

‘There’s been enough publicity surrounding the skulls, they should be aware.’

‘Never assume anything, John,’ warned Dylan. Instantly his remark came back to haunt him – for isn’t that what he was doing with Jen and Shaun?

‘I’ve made a start with the dentists, boss.’

‘Oh, yeah, any luck?’

‘No, not yet.’

‘Keep at it. That would be a good job to find out just who the skulls belong to.’

Dylan had a feeling that things were going to move forward and he was pleased with today’s progress. He kept that feeling to himself as he strolled about the office. It was too late to get a playpen tonight but tomorrow it would be the first thing on his list of things to do. He picked up his mobile phone. The message was from Jen.

Max has had a fit and we’re at the vets, can you come? I’ve tried ringing. Where are you?

He looked at his watch. That was an hour ago. He rang her mobile, he rang home, but there was no answer.

Which vets Jen? Where are you?
he texted.

Max lay still, on his side, on the table. His breathing was laboured now that the vet had administered the drugs. His filmy eyes looked up at Jen, who’d had to leave Maisy outside the surgery with the receptionist. She could hear her daughter sobbing as if her little ribs had been crushed. She spoke to Max gently.

‘Good boy Maxy,’ she said, putting her face to his. ‘I love you, please don’t leave me,’ she whispered.

Jen’s coat in which they had carried Max into the surgery lay on the lino floor at her feet. It was badly stained as he had lost control of his bodily functions.

‘A dog can be often go blind following a seizure. Don’t worry though, Mrs Dylan, it may just be temporary,’ said the vet when she walked briskly back into brightly lit room a few moments later. ‘Keep talking to him. He’ll be in a state we call postictal for a few hours, maybe longer. It probably didn’t help the poor fella with your baby crying and screaming like that,’ she said with a jerk of her head towards the door. ‘Noise can often agitate animals in this state,’ she tutted.

Jen didn’t take her eyes off Max. She nodded at the vet and made soothing noises to him as she held his paw gently in her hand.

‘Seizures are seldom fatal but if the possible cause can be determined, it will help us treat him. Has this happened before?’

Jen sighed. ‘It’s the first time I’ve seen him like this,’ she said, her words catching in her throat.

‘Good. Successive seizures and prolonged oxygen deprivation can cause permanent brain damage over time.’

Max struggled to raise his head to her face. His tongue came out and he licked her. He started to shake. Jen eyes flashed up at the vet who got a towel and put it under his head.

‘Don’t worry, he won’t swallow his tongue. Keep your hands away from his mouth, he may bite you and be unable to release your hand,’ she said.

The door was slightly ajar but the house was silent. Jen’s car was gone off the drive and there was no sign of Maisy and Max. The pram was at the foot of the stairs and Max’s lead was still on the hook. Were they still at the vets? Dylan opened the lounge door. All was as it should be. He went through to the kitchen. A chair was overturned and he picked it up. There was a vile smell, which he discovered was a pool of vomit and diarrhoea near the back door.

‘Which damn vets Jen?’ he said out loud as he read her text message again.

Just as he finished cleaning up, Jack heard the front door open. Dylan’s eyes were fixed on the sleeping bundle in Jen’s arms as she emerged through it. His sleeves were rolled up and he held a cloth. The house stank of bleach. He looked past her.

‘Where is he? Where’s Max?’

‘They’re keeping him in,’ she said, her face was red and tear-stained, her eyes big and black.

‘What happened?’ he said putting the cloth down and taking Maisy.

‘I tried to get hold of you. The vet says he’s had a seizure. He was just lying on the floor. I noticed him start to tremble, he tried to get up but couldn’t. I went to him. He was trying to crawl to the back door; he must have known he needed to go out. I was so scared. He looked so disorientated. Then he lay down and stiffened.’ Jen looked at Jack, her eyes were wide and staring. ‘Max might just be just a dog to you – but for a while, when I left the Island,’ she swallowed hard. ‘I had nothing. He was my whole life and all I had when...’ she said, her eyes filling with tears. Her hands trembled as she wiped her eyes with the tissue that she had screwed into a ball. She took a big gulp of air.

‘When what?’

Jen shut her eyes and shook her head. Jack opened the lounge door and laid Maisy on the settee. He pulled a cushion from its arm and gently placed it under her head. She had been sweating with the exertion of crying and her hair curled at her temples and the nape of her neck. He kissed her gently on her forehead. Jen watched his tenderness with his daughter and her face screwed up as she fought back the tears.

Jen sat down. Jack sat beside her. ‘When he was a pup he wouldn’t ever come to me to say goodbye, you know,’ she said, with a sigh. Jack took her hand in his and watched her intently. ‘If I was going out he would always know, even before I reached for my coat and he’d flop down under the kitchen table with a groan,’ she smiled through her tears.

‘Will he be okay?’

‘I’ve got to ring in the morning.’

‘And I’ve got an early start,’ Dylan said, uncomfortably. Jen shrugged her shoulder with an acceptance of the situation.

‘Am I difficult to live with, Jen?’ he said.

Jen smiled weakly. ‘Difficult no, wrapped up in your work that leaves no room for anything else, yes, but I knew that. I’ve no complaints,’ she said touching his worried face.

Dylan’s office faced north and looked out over the secure back yard of the police station. Police files requiring attention cluttered his desk as usual the next morning. There was also an old knife, a blotting pad, an ‘in’ and ‘out’ tray which sat on top of one another, an old wooden ink stand with pens, pencils and a ruler and a glass paperweight, his computer and his phone. Each object had its appointed place. His phone rang and he quickly snatched it up.

‘Mr Dylan, I had to ring you, I’ve been seeing a mountain of skulls all night. You’ve disturbed an ancient burial ground and the spirits are not happy with you,’ said a woman, in a high-pitched, sing-song voice.

‘Sorry, who is this?’ Dylan said, somewhat bemused.

‘Rosie, Mr Dylan. The tea leaves tell me you will find more bodies, I have had the visions.’

‘I’m sure you have, Rosie. And your last name would be?’

‘Lee,’ she said.

‘I also had a vision you were going to say that and that we were going to be cut off,’ he said, slamming the phone down. Dylan picked up the glass paperweight, tossing it in the air with one hand and catching it with the other. People had often asked if it was a crystal ball, by God, he wished it was right now. Dylan got up from behind his desk and walked into the incident room where the staff were busy at their terminals.’

‘No news yet?’ asked Lisa.

 He shook his head.

‘Kettle’s just boiled sir, do you fancy a cuppa?’

‘Yes please, better make it a strong coffee.’

‘Why?’ she asked.

‘Well it appears our local Rosie Lee has predicted an uncovering of a burial ground,’ he said, nodding in the direction of his office.

‘Oh Jesus, what if we do find an old graveyard now?’ she said.

‘I don’t need a graveyard to find numbskulls, just look over there,’ he said. ‘We already have dead men walking in here.’ The pair watched as Ned strolled towards them.

‘What you laughing at?’ said Ned, looking uneasy.

‘I got the elim prints from Marlene,’ said Andy. His face had a rosy glow.

‘Charging the date as overtime?’ said Vicky, who walked in behind him. Andy threw her a look that said the comment wasn’t worthy of a reply. She smiled sweetly.

‘How’d you get on with Regan?’ asked Dylan.

‘He didn’t want to give them to us, until Vicky used her womanly charms,’ said Ned. ‘Got to give it to her boss, she’s a right dick tease.’

‘I did what I had to do to get a set of elimination prints off him, boss,’ she said indignantly.

‘What a bloody martyr,’ said Ned dramatically.

‘Look here though, the thumb on his left hand has a blank patch, there is a break in the ridges,’ she said. ‘Cut it on a corned beef tin, he says.’

She passed the piece of paper with his fingerprints on to Dylan to see. ‘Interesting, let’s get them over to Fingerprints with the others straight away.’

‘If I have to go to that house again boss, I’m wearing overalls.’

‘We might all well be Vicky, if the marks are his,’ he said. ‘We’re going to be having the briefings and debriefings in the incident room now that more information is coming in. I want to keep the HOLMES staff up to speed too.’

‘And talking of speed, come on Ned, get your fat arse off that chair. There’s no time for drinking tea,’ said Vicky.

‘I’ve only just sat down,’ he protested.

‘I’ll tell them to ring you A.S.A.P boss,’ said Vicky.

Dylan nodded and went back to his office. He looked over the overnight reports on his computer and The Chief Constable‘s Log. Sadly, it showed that Sergeant Maude had been found dead in his vehicle by officers from the St Leonard’s Police Station in central Edinburgh. If he hadn’t been a copper, would he still be alive? wondered Dylan. He hadn’t been worried about the threats made towards him, neither had he mentioned them to Jen, now there was no need. He switched the screen off and glanced out of the window.

‘Hey, don’t be doing that so early boss,’ said John from the doorway.

‘Eh?’ said Dylan.

‘You know what they say, you’ll have nothing to do this afternoon,’ he laughed.

‘Oh, yeah,’ Dylan smiled half heartedly.

‘It’s Maude, they’ve found him dead.’

‘They have? Sadly, he won’t be the last bad egg, I guess,’ John sighed.

‘Jackie May’s back and Vicky has gone to see Stewart Viney at Fingerprints. Could you see to her ’til Vicky gets back for me please? I think they’re off to see Kayleigh’s boyfriend and her Mum later.’

‘Yeah, sure. Are you having a briefing?’

‘I’m not having one for the sake of it, we’ll have an update about two o’clock today if you’ll put a note in the book for the others.’

John sat down.

‘The Council have started moving the grit from one side of the lay-by to the other this morning. It shouldn’t take them long, I’m told, as they used a vast amount over the last few weeks Usually they would have replaced it, but they’re waiting for new financial year – how time flies.’

‘Time seems to pass much quicker when you’re older?’ said John. ‘When I was a child it seemed like I was forever waiting for the Christmas or the summer holidays, but now...’

Dylan stood at his filing cabinet, tense with expectation. His office phone rang. ‘Will you?’ said Dylan as his mobile vibrated in his shirt pocket at the same time. He put his hand in to retrieve it.

‘It’s Stewart Viney, they’ve got a match,’ said John eagerly offering him the receiver.

His mobile screen flashed ‘Jen calling!’ Dylan took the phone off John.

‘Inspector! First time, that doesn’t happen very often!’

‘Whose?’ Dylan said impatiently.

‘Norris Regan, no hesitation whatsoever.’

‘Say it again. He had definitely touched a biscuit wrapper that was found in Kayleigh’s car?’

‘The Kit Kat wrapper, the prints the officer took were good. I’ll go over them to see if they are of a sufficient standard for Court purposes. I think they actually might be...’

‘That’s excellent news,’ Dylan said smiling with relief. ‘I’ll pass on your comments to the officer.’

‘Yes please do. It’s a rare thing, quality prints, and people don’t always co-operate when they are having them taken. I’ll be sending the report through to you.’

‘Thanks again, Stewart.’

Dylan put down the phone and dialled Jen’s mobile. ‘I’ll be with you in a minute John,’ he said.

John nodded. Jen picked up immediately. Her crying was more of a wail.

‘Is it bad news?’ Dylan felt his stomach tighten. Her answer felt like a lifetime coming.

‘No good, it’s good,’ she sobbed. ‘He’s going to be alright.’

For a moment he couldn’t say anything but felt a lump in his throat and he put his head in his hands. He could hear Maisy screeching in the background.

‘No, Maisy,’ Jen called. ‘I’ll have to go. She’s just opened the cupboard under the sink.’

The line went dead. ‘I think I might be fitting latches to off-limits cupboard doors on my next day off,’ said Dylan with a tired smile and tears in his eyes.