Chapter 2

They spent the day going through the case files. Susan had told them to keep things to themselves. Monday they would discuss the cases and see where they would go next. When she got home, she found Mervyn having a cup of tea in the kitchen.

“Hello, darling, how was the trip?”

“You wouldn’t believe what the guys in Scotland want us to do. They want the chocolate in the Flake bar made firmer so that it doesn’t melt when they fry it. They do the Mars bars dipped in batter, and it works because the thing is solid. The problem that they’re having with a batter dipped Flake is that while the outside is fried, the batter in the chocolate folds remains doughy. If they fry long enough to cook the batter, the chocolate is just liquid.”

“That’s one I haven’t heard, before. Do you want to cook now, or shall we go to bed and order take-away later.”

“Is there a choice?”

“Not if you want to sleep in our bed tonight. I can make up the spare room while the chops are cooking.”

Monday saw the open office abuzz with conversation when Susan walked in, being deliberately late to allow the team time to have a cuppa and ease into the day.

“Right then. Let’s start with a run-down on what we know, starting with the oldest case first.”

Terry led the discussion, and they worked through the cases as they saw them. The first victim, Dennis Fowler, had been dead about two weeks before the body was found. He was identified by his father, after a missing person’s report had been made, and the DNA had proved it. Then came three others who had not yet been identified, followed by two who had, and another one who hadn’t. The last two bodies had been the son of a builder and the son of the politician.

With the dumping places, all were in wooded or park areas. All four of the unidentifiable bodies had been found in open areas, in full view of passers-by. The ones in wooded areas were dead days, or weeks, before being found. All of these were near bodies of water. The dump sites were at Ryton Park, Codsall Wood, Mosely Wood, and Sutton Park. Five were next to reservoirs, Draycote Water (2), Chelmarsh Reservoir (2), and Edgbaston Reservoir. Only the last five had the other organs removed.

All the castrations had been done with a butcher's knife or a cleaver, with the first cut in the belly and the flesh being peeled down while the edges were hacked. The removal of the other organs was a whole lot different, with the cuts being done with a scalpel or thin knife, the kidneys taken from the back. One thing they all had in common was that all had died somewhere else.

Another common thing was that all were roughly between eighteen to mid-twenties, well built and muscled. The consensus was that they all lifted weights and worked out in gyms. The interviews with the parents had not produced anything positive, the team agreeing that the direction of the questions was enough to make them clam up.

“Maria, who did those interviews, it doesn’t look like you or Jenny had a hand in it?”

“That was two of the sergeants, Barnes, and Howard. They couldn’t find a ferret in a bag without a flashlight. If the ferret was gay, they’d declare that it was non-existent.”

“All right, we need to talk to all these people again. Make sure they know we’re taking this seriously and that we don’t think their sons were gay. Terry, can you organise that with Super, Jack and Porky. Lean, can you take Sky, Maria, and Andy to see all of the dumping places, with an eye to anything about them that seems odd. I already see one thing. Maria, was there any diving in the water near the bodies?”

“No, Boss. Nicholas wouldn’t approve the expenditure.”

“While you lot get on with what you have to do, I’ll see if we can get a couple of divers to have a look for us. Lean, when you’ve had a good look, mark any likely place where something could have been tossed from. You never know what may be down there. The bodies had to have been carried in something. Let’s get to it.”

After the others had left on their allotted tasks, she turned to her IT guru.

“Doggy, what I need is a list of all the gyms, martial arts studios, boxing clubs and associated places in a radius of fifteen miles from the city center. Then we will need a list of all the local suppliers of butchers and chefs equipment. Then, there are the cameras near the dumping places. You can estimate the days that were likely by the estimated time of death. Start with the ones found in open view, they’ll be closer to the discovery time. If we get a positive lead, we can look at the others to see what turns up.”

With everybody busy, Susan went back upstairs to find out how deep the pockets were, being pleasantly surprised when her request for a diving team was granted, the CS phoning the ‘aqualung section’ and approving it. She went off to see them at their station and looked at the satellite pictures of the sites with the Chief Inspector. She told him that they would have a closer idea of where to dive once all of the dumping sites had been looked at.

Meanwhile, in Ryton Park, DS Skinner was trying to calm a jittery Andy.

“I know that this is the first time back here, lad. You know that the body has long gone. Today it will be like looking under the bed for the monster and only seeing dust bunnies.”

Andy swallowed hard and led them to the place where he had stood, gazing on that terrible sight.

“This is where I stood while I waited for the Sarge, it was the worst time I can remember. It looks different, now, with the bushes cleared away for the searching and only new shoots coming up. I suppose that’s how I should see it, the old gone and new life returning.”

Maria put her hand on his arm.

“It will get better, Andy, it shook me to the core, and I only saw the photos.”

They circled the focal point, just to see how far the search had gone.

“I’ve got to say that the FSI boys were thorough here, but it looks like they didn’t go as far as the road, what say you, Lean?”

“I think you’re right, Sky. We need to go towards the road, passing by the lake, if you can call that mass of stagnant water that. It may show us a good place to toss a sack or two. It would be too far from Leamington Road or Oxford Road to carry a body, so we’ll guess that they came in through Paget’s Lane.”

They had come in from Leamington Road, past the Country Club and parked close to the dump point. That was where all the following FSI teams had come, as well. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that headlights would have been seen by club members, if the killer had come that way, and no interviews conducted the next day had prompted that observation.

They made their way towards Paget’s Lane, towards the pool, still buzzing with midges. They came to a path of sorts, that ran alongside the pool. Going further, they found a narrow gap in the hedge and stood on the lane. On the opposite side of the lane, it was a flat verge, wide enough to park a car or van. Of course, after two years, there wasn’t a possibility of seeing tyre tracks. Lean Skinner smiled.

“That’s a good result. I think that this is where they came in. Let’s get back to the car and go and see another wood. Well done, Andy, have you tossed the monster into the pool?”

“Yes, sir, I really think I have.”

Over the rest of the day, they visited another four of the dump sites, talking openly about their ideas, and pinpointing likely spots where something could have been tossed. The odd ones were two reservoirs, where there were several places along the water’s edge.

Terry, and his group had an interesting day as well. It took some time to break down the mistrust and animosity that the previous detectives had created. Once they had got through that barrier, they started learning new things. Two of the families had not changed a thing in their son’s bedrooms, so the detectives were able to gain more insight into the lifestyles of the victims. In one they found a small stash of weed, in another there were bottles of body-building tablets that had been bought through the internet. They showed pictures of the other victims, doctored to look nice, but didn’t get any reactions.

It took both teams most of the week to do things properly, and they gathered in the office on Friday afternoon. Sue watched as she saw a few smiles, always a good sign.

“Right, let’s hear it from the site inspectors, what have you got for us?”

“We had a successful number of visits, Cuz. I think we pinpointed five likely places where something could have been tossed. The other four are a bit more open, with a search width of about twenty feet, maximum. Those are in the reservoirs so the visibility should be good. Andy has drawn a map of each place which you can give the divers. We did see a number of likely parking places, but nothing presented itself after all this time.”

“Good one, Lean. I want Andy and Maria to oversee the dives, that should take all of next week. I’ll get to see the dive boss before I go home. We’ll start with the first victim; I think that the pool there will be the worst one for the divers. You two can take a car and go straight there Monday morning. I’ll see if I can get an FSI crew to join you in case you strike lucky. Now, Terry, how did the interviews go?”

“They were hard work in the beginning, but we got quite a lot more background on the victims. All of the parents said that their boys were straight as a die, into fitness and unlikely to have submitted to their attacker. We have to consider some drug use to subdue them, although nothing was found in any of the postmortems. I can’t offer a guess about that, but it does give us a window after they had been taken to purge their system. None of the forensic reports noted ligature damage, so they must have been free to move around or else the bindings were very soft. We did get a short list of their favourite places and the gyms they attended.”

“Give that list to Doggy to look at. Next week we need to catch up with our other cases, so it will be business as usual while the dives take priority. Good work, team, we’ll pick it up again when we get more information. I’ll head upstairs to report and then I’m off to see the divers. Have a good weekend.”

When she left the station, Susan felt that they had moved further in a week than the other team in two years. When she met the dive chief, they agreed on the order of the dives. He said that he could organise the Forensic Scene Investigators to attend, something that was usual with recovery dives.

Before they left the station, Andy and Maria exchanged phone numbers and Maria got Andy’s address to pick him up on Monday morning.

“Before I pick you up, get yourself a sturdy pair of workpants and boots. We’ll be likely needed to look closely at anything that is brought up. I’m confident that something will emerge from the waters, although that could just be that I want to go one up on my old boss. Oh! Get yourself some bug repellent, we could be some time by that water. Get a few bottles of water, as well, it may be a long day. I’ll put a couple of folding chairs in the car.”

Saturday evening, Susan and Mervyn had been invited to a Sales Dinner for his company. It was a good meal, some speeches about how the company was moving ahead with new ideas, and the best bit, she thought, was the vanilla ice cream in a hard chocolate covering. It was more than just a choc-ice, as the chocolate had been flavoured with something she couldn’t identify but loved. Mervyn told her, when they went to bed, that she had just tried a new product that they were trialling for an ice cream company. She knew that when it hit the market, she would have it in the fridge.

She also knew that, on Monday morning, every one of her team will be hard at work. It may seem odd for CID to work a five-day week, but it made up for the round-the-clock sessions that happened when they were approaching the end game. There were some, at other stations, where overtime was not allowed, due to cost constraints, but her CS was good with the budget, as long as you didn’t abuse it.

Monday morning, when Maria pulled up outside Andy’s house, she smiled as he got in the car.

“Don’t smirk, I feel strange enough already. I never expected to be a sleuth wearing stuff that makes me look as if I’m about to till the lower forty, following a horse.”

“It’s not that, Andy, it’s the old school satchel with the drinks in. We’ll stop at a camping store and get you a cheap backpack. If you turn up with that, word will get out that we’re employing six formers. The police are not nice when it comes to gossip.”

When they arrived at their destination, Andy had his drinks and bug spray in a new backpack that they had played football with, in the store carpark, to give it a less than brand new look.

They sat in the car and waited for the divers to arrive, talking about the cases that Maria had worked on. When the truck arrived, followed by the FSI officer, they helped the divers carry their gear to the edge of the water and showed them the stretch where they thought something may be. The divers got suited up and tested their apparatus, and then slid into the water, very carefully, turning on the powerful lights attached to a headband.

Andy and Maria sat, watching the two sets of bubbles as the divers moved away from them. About ten yards into the dive, an orange marker came to the surface. The bubbles carried on to the far edge of the pool, then returned, a bit further out. As they came back towards the watchers, another two markers came up. Andy was on the edge of his seat.

“Ease up, Andy, they might just be shopping trolleys or someone’s old bicycle. We have to be cool and see what actually comes to the surface before we get excited.”

The divers did another swim away from them and returned. When they came out of the water, the leader gave them a thumbs up. He had three lines, which he gave to his crew on the bank. Now was the time for the detectives to get excited. When the first line was pulled in, what came clear was that they had, indeed, found an old bike. The second line brought up a small case, while the third was a small sack.

The FSI officer had set up a table and put the case on it.

“If it doesn’t open easily, we’ll have to take it to the lab to look at. Now, let’s see if it’s locked, or not.”

The others all stood back as the FSI officer donned protective gear and put his hand on the case. It opened and he looked in it. He put his hand in and lifted out a nasty-looking meat cleaver. Andy and Maria breathed a sigh of relief. The cleaver was put into a bag, and the now empty case was put into another bag.

The sack was now put on the table. It was hessian and the divers said that it was obvious that there were a couple of rocks in it to keep it submerged. The FSI officer took a scalpel and made a slit in the top and pulled the hessian aside to have a good look.

“Sorry, boys and girls, this one is going to the lab before we do any more. I can tell you that it looks like clothing. We’ll take it with us, and I’ll send a couple of others to be with you at the next dive. That’s a good job in that water.”

The divers walked away from the lake, still wearing their equipment. At the truck, they had a small pump, and their crew hosed the gunk off them. Before Andy got in the car, he had a real feeling that he should give Maria a hug. She couldn’t get the smile off her face. It would take a couple of days before they would see the report, but they knew that they had made a great step this morning.

The second dive site was the last victim, found near to Blyth Hall, a country house. The body had been next to a walking track that workers at a nearby aggregate site would use if they cycled to work from Coleshill, along Blythe Road. They had found a small area where they could park, and the water was a little way past the dumping point. The dive started at the point closest to the dump site and was immediately a success. Another sack, weighted with stones, emerged from the murky depths. As this had been the son of the politician, Maria started hoping that the sacks would contain wallets that would double check the identification. It didn’t take long to be back at the vehicles and away to the next place, much to the delight of passing motorists who had been forced to cross double lines to get around them, a couple of uniformed from the nearest station acting as marshals.

The divers had said that they had enough for one more dive today, so they went across the city and arrived at the third dive spot. This one was far more complicated than the other two, not because the parking was hard, but because the dumping point was at the end of a narrow road, leading to a large, grassed area next to a body of water, simply called The Pool. To get there, they had to go to Codsall Wood, and then take the narrow road over the M54 to their destination. The grassed area was popular in summer, and the body was easily seen, much to the horror of the family that was first on the scene.

The road crossed a bridge that spanned an arm of the pool, but their earlier inspection had decided that it would be too shallow, there, and a better site was along the bank of The Pool, close to the dump site. The dive took place at the site deemed most likely, between a few trees and a more wooded area on the water’s edge. The divers were underwater a long time before a marker came up, quite some way from the edge. When they did climb back up the bank, they both had big grins on their faces.

“That one will have to wait until we can get a recovery truck here. There’s a car down there, I think it’s an Astra. The bottom is quite clear of snags, and we didn’t see anything like a sack or boxes. You’re going to have to be patient on this. We’ll organise something for tomorrow, say about ten. Getting a car out is a slow process, we’ll need to go down again to attach a hawser. It’s been a good day, so how about a drink before we go back to the station.”

When the divers were dry and dressed, they went back into Codsall Wood, stopping at the Pendrell Arms. This was all new for Andy, but Maria told him that they would get re-imbursed for any expenses, with the aims of improving inter-force relations. Maria rang Susan, to let her know the outcome of the day, explaining where they were. Susan told her to buy the divers a meal, and not to bother coming back to the station tonight, or the morning. She said that she would send Lean out to join them and see what the car contained.

They all had an early tea in the pub, Maria putting it all on her credit card and collecting the receipts. Andy was enjoying himself, here, among a group of professionals, listening to their talk and adding comments where he could. Two weeks ago, he was sitting at a computer in the clerical section, today he was starting to live his dream. None of the guys were heavy drinkers, you don’t dive if you are, so he was able to hide the fact that he didn’t hold his drink well. When Maria dropped him off, she smiled at him.

“I’ll pick you up around nine. Have a good sleep. We’ve done well today, more than I’d hoped. I think that the car recovery will be the only thing that happens, tomorrow. We’ll have to get back on track on Wednesday. If we get finished by early afternoon, we’ll go back to the station and write up our reports.”

The following morning was overcast and cool, exactly the sort of weather a movie would set an exhumation in. That’s what Maria was thinking when she picked up Andy and his backpack. After negotiating a uniformed police roadblock at the start of the narrow entrance, they arrived at the dive site before ten, finding Lean Skinner and Susan, standing next to the recovery site, talking. Maria parked well back, allowing room for the divers and the tow-truck, which she saw edging it’s way over the narrow bridge. The two of them walked over to where their superiors were.

“Good morning, boss, it looks like a good day for a recovery. The divers said that the car had been down there for a while, but looked as if the windows had all been closed when it went in. Whatever’s in it should be well preserved. This was where the sixth body was found, so I think we can guess that it went under nine months ago if it’s linked to the murders.”

“That’s why we’re both here, Maria. I’m running this by the book. Andy, your records show that you’re an amateur photographer. Lean has brought a video camera and tripod, can you set up and record the action for us? I don’t want anyone suggesting that we planted evidence when the case comes to trial. I had a call from FSI this morning; the sack that came up on Monday had clothes and a wallet in it. It’s a positive as items belonging to the first victim. The odd thing, he said, was that it’s as if the victim took them off, himself, and dropped them in the sack. The only things added were the stones, and nothing is missing. His watch and ring were in a trouser pocket and his wallet still had money in it. So, we can cross off robbery as a likely scenario.”

The divers were ready to go in, around ten-thirty, and it took them more than another thirty minutes before they were happy with attaching the hawser to the rear axle. The winch on the tow truck started to pull the car back into daylight, slowly and surely. It wasn’t too long before they could see the roof, but things slowed down from there. Getting it up the bank, past a small vertical lip, meant a couple of helpers up to their waists in the water, with shovels, creating more of a slope.

Finally, after an hour, the car was on the level ground, with water flowing out of a number of places. The FSI leader put on gloves and tested the doors to see if one was unlocked. He started with the rear, offside door, and it swung open, releasing a deluge of brackish water, which the opener deftly avoided. Maria could see that this was something he had done before.

When the flow stopped, he beckoned to Sue, who looked into the car to see a body in the back seat, with two sacks in the footwell beside it. Sue told Andy to keep filming and to bring the tripod to a point where he could film the inside of the car before anything was moved. The FSI leader opened the front door for him so he could get a complete record. Sue stood next to Andy and directed him to film certain parts of the car, in close-up. Andy was having a hard time filming the body. This wasn’t as bad as the other one he’d seen. What didn’t help was that the body was of a late-teen, blonde girl, naked and in the process of decomposition.

Marianne Gregory © 2023

Chapter 3

With the front door open, they could see a brick laid on the accelerator pedal. The FSI leader looked closely at the outside of the door and pointed out a small depression.

“I expect that there were two of them. They started the car with the brick upright and one put the automatic into drive. As it started to edge forward, he pushed the brick over onto the pedal and would have ducked out of the way. The second guy would have knocked the door closed as it went past him. I expect that we will see some damage to the grass with wheelspin.”

Sue sent Lean and Maria to walk into the park on a line back from where the car was. The starting point was found, a pair of wheel marks where it had spun the driving wheels, some two hundred yards from the water’s edge. It was closer to the dumped body than it was to the water.

“Maria, lass. You’re racking up points faster than we can count. Old Butt will have kittens when this all gets out. Missing those tracks, which would have been fresh when the body was found, is a huge demerit on his team that were here. I gather that you weren’t invited to that particular party?”

“No, boss. It was boys only, without Butt leaving the office.”

“Those guys are the mirror-image of the old Serious Crimes Unit that we had. The difference is that the old unit fabricated evidence, this lot just ignored what was in front of them. If they’d seen those tracks, that car would have been out of the water that day. I’m sure that when the CS sees these results, there will be some serious questions being asked in the upper levels, maybe leading to an audit of Butt and his case history.”

Maria went back to the car, asking the FSI team for some small marker flags so that they can photograph and measure the marks, mainly to be assured that they were caused by the Astra, and not just a hoon having fun. When the two of them had set the flags, they returned to the car, which now had the doors closed again. A tilt-tray truck was backed up to it and preparations were being made to load it to take back to the lab.

Andy gave Lean Skinner the camera and tripod, and Susan declared that lunch was on her at the local pub, telling the divers that they would need to do another dive in the afternoon. Once again, Andy found himself in a group of professionals, discussing what they had found and the ramifications of the find. The divers knew that they should have been called in, months ago, but stayed away from openly declaring that the other team had dropped the ball.

Before they left, Susan gave Andy and Maria a notebook each, and asked them to write a quick precis of their week, so far, so that they could be shown to the CS, this afternoon. That only took about twenty minutes and then they were off, following the dive truck to the next site.

“Well, Andy, you did well. Decomposing bodies are a nasty sight, that’s for sure. It reminds me of a sight at one of the cathedrals, Winchester, I think. They got a famous sculptor from Italy to carve the likeness of a famous man for the top of his coffin. When the guy finally arrived, the body was showing bones, so he carved what he saw. It’s an odd memorial that can be seen today, no-one had bothered to paint the likeness and the sculptor had never seen the guy in the flesh.”

“It wasn’t a nice sight, that’s for sure. It didn’t affect me like the first one, though. That one hit home at a terror of mine. I would have a nightmare, sometimes, where I was about to be castrated, often so that I could sing in a higher register. I used to sing in the school choir.”

What he couldn’t tell her was that other times when he was going to be castrated, there was a wardrobe full of dresses standing open behind the shadowy figure with a large knife. That was too personal to pass on.

The next dive site was easy to get to, on the edge of the Edgbaston Reservoir. It was off an open grassy area, with some trees lining a walking path along the water edge. Susan had organised a uniformed team here, to rope off the area where they would park and dive. There weren’t many spectators, but the small crowd included a few journalists, who called out questions as they were let inside the cordon.

This dive was more of a long shot, seeing how much water’s edge they had to choose from. It was a bank of around twenty yards that had been chosen, and the divers kitted themselves out and entered the water at one end, the bubbles moving away from the two, sitting on the folding chairs.

“Don’t look around, Maria, but there’s a few cameras with long lenses recording our every move.”

“That means that your smiling face could be in tomorrow’s paper. Just stay focussed on why we’re here. Looks like there’s something down there, a buoy just popped up. This place will be a favourite dumping ground for old bikes, shopping trolleys, all sorts of stuff. I expect that there could be several markers before these guys surface again.”

While they sat and looked out over the water, Susan was sitting in the Chief Superintendent’s office, bringing him up to speed on what they had already discovered. He was almost incandescent when he realised the ramifications of the missed tyre tracks. He asked Susan how the two new members of the team were doing, and she showed him their precis reports.

“Maria has a real talent for detection, now elevated with an excitement of actually being able to do what she knows she can do. Andy was lost to us when they stopped him joining the force as a probationary constable. I would like to see the two of them made permanent in my team, and I think that Andy should be given the position he really deserves. He was the main one to look at the pools and pinpoint the dive sites, so far, his drawings have been spot-on.”

“Right, give me a few days with the boys upstairs to mull this debacle over, and I may have some news for the two of them, next week. Are you sure that Andy has mastered his mental problems?”

“I had him filming the recovery this morning, and he was upset by what he had to film, anyone but a hardened detective would have been, but he was steady and did what was asked of him. Yes, I think that the horrors are now behind him. If anything, it showed that he is human, and not just an adrenalin junkie that we sometimes see coming out of that college.”

Back at the dive site, the bubbles had been up and down the chosen area, moving further out each lap, and around twenty markers were bobbing on the water when they came to the surface. Maria and Andy waited until they were free of their kit and hosed off before going over to their truck.

“There’s a lot of crap, down there, much of it just debris. There is a sack, as you had predicted, two motorcycles and three cars, all looking like they had been down there years. They were probably dumped before the trees grew and the path laid. We will have to bring it all up, tomorrow, with a bigger area closed off. There will have to be a guard here, tonight, just in case the papers get a private diver to have a look. See you tomorrow about ten, and get your boss to organise more uniforms, there could be TV cameras here when we start pulling cars out.”

Maria got Andy to call Lean and tell him what was going to happen, and the need for a guard and a bigger cordon in the morning. Lean told him that he would get it organised and that he would see them on the site in the morning. That evening, Maria and Andy went to a quiet pub and had a meal, together. They had been in each other’s company, by now, for long enough to be able to talk, openly, about their lives and ambitions.

The events of the day were not lost on either of them. Maria admitted that she was now worried about what may happen when her old boss found out about her involvement.

“I dare say that I’ll have a target on my back. That team is a bunch of bullies. I’m sure that they’ll start off by spreading rumours about me, mainly because I fended off all the advances they made. With the promises that were going around, I might have been a Chief Inspector if I had just opened my legs. Some days my arse was black and blue from the pinching.”

“Does that make you unhappy to be a girl?”

“It takes the shine off things when it’s constant, but now being with a group who treat me as a person makes it all fade into the past. Especially sitting here, with you, having a meal and a drink. If we hadn’t found another body today, it would almost feel like a date.”

“Don’t make me blush! I’ve really enjoyed being with you, at work and after. I’ve held back; you’ve no idea how many times I’ve wanted to give you a hug when we achieve one success after another. You are, though, a Detective, with all of that experience, and I’m just a lowly Special, living in a dream that I’m afraid I’ll wake up from, with someone giving me a lollipop and telling me that there’s a school crossing calling me.”

“You want to give me a hug! Well, we’ll have to break the ice on that before we get back to the car. It’s no problem when two people have enough respect for each other to have the occasional hug. If it makes you feel better, I’m sure that I’ll feel better, as well.”

They clinked their glasses and smiled at each other. Maria was true to her word when they got to the car, giving Andy a hug that may not have been the first one he had been given, but was certainly the best one.

The next day, when they arrived at the reservoir, it took a while to get through a bunch of journalists, grouped at the end of the roadway next to the Red Shed. The cordon was well away from the water’s edge, and the dive truck was already parked near the bank, with three tilt trays parked further away, next to a tow truck. A council truck was there, with a crew clearing a passage between the water and the grass.

“Looks like we brought the circus to town, eh, Andy”.

“Sure, it looks like it. I’ve never been in the thick of it like this, before. Yesterday was nothing, compared to this. We’re going to have to bring the sack up unseen. I’ll ask the divers to get the FSI van close to that passageway, and time a car emerging so that the sack can be quietly pulled in and put away.”

Maria watched him as he walked over to the dive truck. She wondered where all this new confidence had come from. If one hug did that, she wondered what would happen if she gave him a kiss. She stopped herself at that point. She was a good five years older than him, not the best looker around, but she was sure that they had hit it off last night and broken the ice.

Sue and Lean arrived with the FSI van behind them. Lean parked next to Maria’s car, while the dive leader beckoned the FSI to where he wanted them parked. Sue looked around at the crowd and then went over to one particular man. Lean smiled.

“Looks like old Jackson has heard about your party. Sue will give enough to make him happy that he’s got a scoop, but not enough to give him the real story. He is a good writer and is fair with us when we give him something to go on. It’s going to be fun, today, and I’m looking forward to what comes up. Looks like the council is expecting a few trolleys.”

He then gave Maria the morning paper. On page five there was a picture of her and Andy watching the divers. The heading was ‘CID looking for sunken treasure’ with the story wondering what the point of the obviously serious operation was.

Another truck from the council was now parked next to the tree clearing truck. The divers were suiting up and Andy came back to join Lean and Maria.

“The divers are going to connect up the smaller things first, trolleys and bikes. Then there are two motorcycles. Then one of the cars is a fifties Armstrong Siddeley. They are going to make a big thing about pulling it out, so that the cameras are all pointed at it when they pull the sack out.”

The day went as expected, After the tenth trolley, some of the onlookers found a reason to be somewhere else. The first of the motorcycles had a few cheers. It was locally made, back in the heyday of British motorcycling, a BSA Bantam. It looked as if it had been almost new when it was dumped.

After that there were more trolleys and cycles, until there were just five markers left bobbing in the water. The divers connected up the second motorcycle, and it was pulled out and taken to the grass. Lean walked over and whistled. The bike was an early sixties Triumph Bonneville, and he thought it may be a good restoration project for a keen enthusiast. Someone like himself. It would look good next to his Trophy and Tiger.

The next dive hooked up the Armstrong Siddeley. That was some way out as it must have floated a while before sinking. It took a little while getting it up the bank, then the tow truck loosened the brake on the hawser drum and drove slowly onto the grassed area, before chocking the wheels and pulling the car into full view of the watchers. The car was almost futuristic in its shape, a 234 Sapphire of the mid-fifties. The FSI guys added to the drama by suiting up before having a good look. The leader opened the back door, with a flourish, and was as shocked as the onlookers as the deluge of water included a skull, which fell out at his feet.

Sue was on her phone within a few seconds.

“Doggy, the dive has pulled out a 234 Sapphire with a body in it. I’ll text you the number. Run it through the records. If you pull up anything juicy, get Terry to give me a call and send Porky and Sky over here as quick as they can.”

She texted him the registration number and stood, waiting for a call back. As she looked around, she noticed that there were only two markers left. She walked over to where Andy and Maria stood.

“Good thinking, you two, although the show was a bit more dramatic than you thought.”

“It was all down to Andy, boss. He had the idea. The sack is with the FSI, nice and safe. I’m sure that if the papers get the idea that it was the main reason for the dive, I’m certain that our targets will be a lot more careful.”

The second car was coming up the bank and across the path when her phone rang again. She listened for a few minutes, then stood for a while, making up her mind. She gave Terry some orders and put the phone back in her pocket.

“All right, you two. Stay with this until they’ve finished and get an early day. You can come back to the station and make out proper reports. There may be some information from the FSI on the earlier finds to read. For your ears only, that car was owned by ‘Syd’ Singh, a successful supermarket owner in the sixties and seventies. Doggy has found a missing person’s report. His wife reported that he had emptied the safe, one Friday evening, and driven away, never to be seen again. What Doggy has discovered is that in the years after he had gone, his wife had declared him dead after seven years, married the shop greengrocer, and opened up three more supermarkets. Terry is organising surveillance of the pair. I’m just about to set the trap.”

She walked back to the reporter, Jackson.

“Jacko, old chum. I’m going to give you the scoop of the year. That Sapphire belonged to Syd Singh, the shop owner that disappeared in the early seventies. I think that the body is him. You might like to be the one to break the news to his wife, she may have something interesting to say for your column, tomorrow.”

Jackson left the scene, quietly so no other reporter got wind of his eagerness to get the scoop, with his phone stuck to his ear as he called his office to get the information he needed. Susan walked over to Lean Skinner with a big smile on her face.

“This is a day which keeps on giving. That skull was probably a guy who disappeared fifty years ago. I’ve put Jackson on the scoop trail, and Terry is organising some watchers. We may be able to arrest the wife before Monday if I’m an optimist. Are you going to get the bike?”

“The council guy thinks I’m a good chance, if I call in and get some paperwork to fill out. They would rather get rid of them instead of having to store them. Otherwise, they’ll just go to the dump. It’s been an interesting day, for sure. The show that Andy organised was really over the top, in the end. He’s thinking that we shouldn’t give away too much at this stage. The next dives are going to have to be a quieter operation if we don’t want to give our target too much information. We’ll need to discuss this this afternoon.”

They went and stood with Andy and Maria as the last car was pulled out. The three tray tops were loaded up, the Sapphire covered over and heading for the FSI laboratory, the Vanguard and Anglia, having been checked over to make sure they didn’t contain any bodies, would be heading for the council pound. Sue thanked the divers and told their leader that they would have a serious think about the next dives, considering the press that this one had attracted, with her calling them next week.

She sat with Lean in their car as the circus left and the crowd dispersed. Then she went and thanked the uniformed sergeant for the way his team kept everything under control. They were busy packing up their barricades and bunting and were laughing and chatting as they did so. When she was going back to the car, Porky and Sky drove onto the grass. She gave them all the information she had on the Singh situation and told them about Jackson having a head start at seeing the wife.

“What I want you two to do is go and see her, this evening, and tell her that we think we’ve found her husband’s body. Act as if you think she might be a suspect. Terry is setting up surveillance and will notify the airport, ferries, and Eurostar to let us know if she and her new husband make a booking to leave the country. I expect that there’ll be things in their luggage that you don’t usually take on holiday. I’ll authorise weekend overtime.”

When she got back to the office, she saw Maria and Andy sitting at a desk, busy writing their reports. There was a small pile of files next to them. She left them to it and went upstairs to give the CS a verbal report on the week’s work. He was amazed at the outcome of today’s recovery operation. Before she left, he gave her a new warrant card for Andy, making him a Probationary Detective Constable. She dropped into the clerical section and told Charlie that Andy wasn’t coming back to his office, then went up to her floor, to call the canteen and order a tray of pies and cakes for her team.

When the food arrived, she called for everyone to stop what they were doing, get a cup of tea, and tuck in. When they had eaten, she got Lean to give them a report on the day’s dive recovery. Other cases were discussed, and then she said that she had an announcement.

“The Chief Super has just given me something for Andy. After seeing him in action, today, this is well deserved. Welcome to the team, Detective Constable!”

Andy was almost in tears when she gave him his new warrant card. The whole team shook his hand, except Maria, who gave him a big hug, prompting Sue to follow suit.

“Anyone who isn’t in a hurry, after work, can join me at the usual pub. We need to toast our new detective with more than tea. First two rounds are on me and then I have to go home. Porky and Sky won’t join us, they’re off talking to the wife of a certain skull that made an impressive entrance today. I expect that she’ll be in custody before Monday. Now, Andy and Maria, what did the FSI tell us?”

Maria went and picked up the files, opening one.

“The Astra gave up some interesting information, a bigger file will be coming our way when they’ve had a better look at it. The original body, according to the documents found in one of the sacks, was Sven Erikson, a Swedish national who had been in the country two months before he was found. The girl was his girlfriend, they think. Aneka Amundson, who arrived with him. She had, they think, been strangled, as they couldn’t find any other obvious cause of death. She was complete, no organs missing, which is probably because she was a junky, and there was a trace of ice still present in her system. They are still looking at the clothing, but one thing they do know is that her handbag was on the backseat and was flung forward when the car hit the water. It opened and spread the contents under the front passenger seat. It had contained all the usual things you would have expected, but one item made them sit up. It’s a napkin ring, solid silver, with the letters ‘H’ and ‘N’ picked out in gold. The picture looks as if it was something you may order for a big society wedding.”

“What about the car, itself?”

“That bit needs some more investigating. It belongs to a guy living in Coventry and had been reported stolen a week before the body was found. If we’re not diving, next week, Andy and I can go and talk to him.”

“You do that, I think that if we’re seen diving at all the dump sites, our target might get jumpy. We’ll hold off and plan the next few dives more carefully. Anything else?”

Andy put his hand up, so Sue nodded at him.

“Boss, it’s been four, or is it five weeks since we last had a body. They’ve been roughly every three months, so it’s likely that the next victim has already been picked out. I suggest that we set up a watch on all missing persons reports from now just in case one is a match to our other victims. If they were kept long enough to have no drugs in their systems, it’s possible that they’ll be abducted in the next few weeks.”

“Good thinking. Doggy, can you get that in place. Now, let’s call it a good week and I’ll see you at the pub. If I don’t get a chance to say anything, there, it’s been a good week, so well done, all of you.”

Marianne Gregory © 2023

Chapter 4

That evening, Andy had a few too many, with Maria having to help him inside when she took him home. She helped him undress and into bed, giving him a motherly kiss on his forehead as he started to snore.

She had a look around while she was there, the detective in her coming to the fore. This was her chance to learn the things he had bottled up. She decided that his place was very tidy, much tidier than she would have expected of a single guy. His wardrobe was basic, but generally good quality materials, and everything hung away properly. She took pity on him and picked up the things that had ended up on the floor, folding them and putting them on the dresser.

In the kitchen, the tidiness stood out. The fridge held packs of instant dinners and the dishes were all dry and sitting in a wire rack. If she didn’t know better, especially after tonight, that he was a guy, she could almost think that she was in a girl’s home. She wondered if he was just a bit fastidious, but that hadn’t been apparent during his time at work. She left a note on his kitchen table before walking out and pulling the door shut.

On her way home, she thought about her feelings for the younger boy. He had come into her life as a jittery lad with frightened eyes and was now a far more confident and forward-thinking man. His work, at the dives, had been inspired, and his comment at the team meeting had made her think about the cases with another viewpoint. If the bodies were taken in three-month intervals, kept quiet and well-fed for a couple of weeks, and then dumped so that everyone would see the body; it could only mean that there was a simple reason for it all. She had heard of ‘killing clubs’ in other countries. Could this be one of those, with the body having to be found to prove that the experience was all real, and not a drugged dream.

Saturday morning, she got a text from Andy. He apologised for being a drunkard and asked who took him home as he couldn’t remember much after ten. Her reply was that she had been the one and that he could make it up to her by meeting her at Jamie’s Italian in the Bullring at midday, as she needed someone to carry her shopping bags. She had an idea which may open him up.

She managed to get a table for lunch and told the waiter that she was waiting for a friend but to bring her a coffee. The coffee was nearly finished when she saw Andy came in, wearing good slacks and jacket. She gave him a wave and he came over to the table and sat down.

“Before you say anything, I have to apologise for last night. I’m not used to alcohol but getting a proper warrant card made me lose control. I’m sorry if I said or did, anything wrong. All I know that I was in the pub one minute and then waking up with a full bladder and a mouth like the bottom of a parrot cage. On top of that, I was naked.”

“Andy, I’ll say this once, and once only. You were the perfect gentleman last night. I drove you home, helped you inside and helped you get your clothes off. You have nothing I haven’t seen before. Not often enough, but I have seen a guy’s tackle. You were snoring before your head hit the pillow. Today, you will pay me back by being my helper. After you’ve bought me lunch, I need to go into Debenhams and find a dress to wear at lunch next weekend. My old friend, Jenny, is coming up to town with her husband, to see his folks. We are going to meet at Carters, and I want to look different to my old self. She was involved with the cases we’re on and I’ve texted her with some snippets of what we’ve been doing. She want to meet you, as well.”

“You’re inviting me to join you there?”

“Yes, Andy. I think you’ll like her. Her husband is a nice guy as well, so it might be a good meal. It won’t cost the earth either, as I’m happy to pay my share. She, and I, have eaten there before, to shed the pressures of that other office and all the other pricks that work there.”

They ordered an ate their meal, Andy getting easier in himself, as they talked about anything but the case and last night. They were back to normal relations when he paid, and they went the short distance to Debenhams. She expected him to baulk when they went into the dress section, but he stayed at her side. Well in, and surrounded by racks of dresses, she stopped.

“Right, young man. What style do think would look good on me?”

“I don’t know, Maria. I haven’t seen you in anything but jeans while we’ve been working, except for the slacks you had on when you first came into the office, and the ones you’re wearing now. I haven’t seen your legs to be able to pass an observation. The other thing is that I’ve only seen you in flats, heels make every girl look different.”

“Shit, you’re right. Never mind, stay with me until I try something on. Now, that dress over there looks nice. It looks like wool, and the price is keen.”

They went to the dress and Andy reached out and felt the material.

“The price is because it isn’t all wool. If I wanted to take a guess, I’d say about 60/40 and the label will just say ‘Wool Mix’.”

Maria looked inside the collar.

“O.K. Buster! How did you do that?”

“I have very sensitive fingers, with a lot of experience with fine materials. There’s one thing I haven’t told you, and I’d rather show you. You might find something better to wear, and I’ll be able to get my suit out of storage. We can take your car and I’ll give you the story on the way, it’s not far.”

They found the car without Andy saying anything. Maria was truly intrigued now, and waited until they were out of the carpark to ask what it was that he had held back.

“First, you can set out for Harborne, I expect that you can find your way there with your eyes shut. See if you can find a park in the Co-op servo on High Street, it’s only a few steps from there. Now, the story is something that you have to keep to yourself. It concerns my parents and how I was brought up. The fact is that my father was an Inspector at the Harborne station, working in Traffic for forty years. My mother had a dress shop; well, a bit more than that, it was an up-market outlet for imported garments. All my young life I was helping her in the shop, and she trained me in the art of knowing materials by feel, with the idea that I’ll take over running the business.”

“That’s why everything you wear is good quality, and why you’re so easy to get along with. You must have absorbed a lot of feminine traits during that time. When I took you home, last night, I was staggered to see how clean and tidy your place was. She had taught you well.”

“She did that, true, but she also wanted me to take any path I chose. The shop was big enough to have a manager, who is still running the place. When Dad retired, they would go over to Europe on buying trips; Mum had some contacts who would keep her up to date on what was good to buy. It was on one of these trips, in my last year in school, when they had a head-on collision with an English tourist, over there for the first time and on the wrong side of the road.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Andy. Is that why you ended up in the Police College?”

“It is, but indirectly. I always wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps, not my mother’s. I had planned on joining the force but had kept it from them. After they had been brought home and we had the funeral, I went to live with an auntie, until I finished school. The will was a bit complicated; they hadn’t expected to be dead so early, who does? Our house was sold, but the shop was kept in trust for me to take over when I turn twenty-five. When I was not allowed to actually join the force, properly, I decided to just stay in as a Special until I turn twenty-five, when I was going to do something about the shop, or just sell it as an ongoing business.”

“Do you have an income from the trust fund? I wondered how a Special could afford a two-bedroom flat with separate lounge and kitchen.”

“You’re very observant. There is a regular income from the money in the bank, almost a decent wage. What caused me to drink too much, last night, was the dilemma I’m now in. I didn’t expect to be carrying a proper detective warrant card. That’s thrown the whole plan into the air. I love doing this job, it was my dream. Now I can take the money and sell the business when the time comes.”

“There’s more, though, isn’t there? You weren’t just spooked by seeing that body because of being castrated to sing falsetto, were you?”

“No. It wasn’t just that. Some nightmares had me being transformed into being a girl so that I would be perfect to run the shop. That was fairly regular before my mother died. The other story was a lie.”

“It’s all right, everything happens for a reason. Having a solid feminine side is good if you want to be a true gentleman. You would never be one of those Neanderthals that I used to work with, and your thinking has that element of intuition that you’ll find will be your extra skill. I think that we’re close, the carpark is just up here.”

She parked next to the service station, and they got out. Andy led her across the road to a converted house.

“Jolene’s! You bloody own Jolene’s. You have no idea how many times I’ve walked or driven past here and wondered what it would be like to be able to afford to just walk in and look around.”

Andy opened the door and held it for her as she realised her dream. Inside was a surprise for Maria. She had expected to see a range of high-end clothing on mannikins; instead, there was a room that looked like a lounge, with easy chairs and coffee tables. A door opened and a middle-aged lady strolled towards them, elegant in a Paris creation.

“Andy, sweetheart, it’s been too long! I thought you had forgotten little old Collette! What brings you here on a Saturday afternoon? Hopefully looking for a going-away dress for this lady. Haven’t you bought her a ring yet?”

“Not that, Collette. We’re here to get Maria a dress, but something that will transform her for lunch at Carters, next week. Nothing too over-the-top. This is Maria, by the way, we work together in the CID at Aston. The slacks are a result of the work we do. You may have seen our picture in the papers, this week, pulling a body out of Edgbaston.”

“I thought that looked like you, but it was the farming outfit that put me off, I’d never thought that I’d see you in that sort of gear.”

“You’ve no idea what it took to be seen in public in that outfit. Anyway, what can you do for Maria? I’m going to the same lunch, so I need to get a suit out of the store.”

“Right, we’ll start there. Follow me to the back and we’ll see what we have to match with.”

Maria was bemused as she followed Collette into the back of the building, past rows of gorgeous gowns on racks, until they went into a large room that was cooler than the rest of the building. Maria had heard about climate-controlled storage for furs, but this was the first time she had ever seen one. Collette saw her look of wonder.

“There’s over a million pounds worth of furs in here, kept for our better clients. It is where we keep anything that has to be in storage for a long time, like Andy’s better things. I can see you looking around and wondering what happens if someone comes into the shop while we’re here. When we left the lounge, I electronically locked the front door. If anyone rings the bell, my phone vibrates, and I can see who they are on CCTV. This dress has, like a lot of the dresses we sell these days, a hidden pocket to carry a phone without spoiling the lines.”

There were four suits, hanging on a rack, that she led them to.

“Andy, take all four and go into a changing room and try them all on. I’ll take Maria into one of the others and see what we have to work with. Aim for the one that’s the best fit, you’re not the shape you used to be. If the best one is a bit tight, I can get it altered before next week.”

Andy took the suits and went off to see how much weight he’d put on. He found that it wasn’t as bad as he’d feared. The best fit was one that was the newest, a charcoal single-button one, quite expensive and had been bought for the funeral. He swallowed and put the memory behind him.

“Found one!” He called as he came out. Collette put her head out and nodded.

“I thought that it would be the best fit, if not the best in terms of past events. Still, it will be good to wear it at a happy time, which will let you wear it more. Go up to the lounge and make yourself a drink, we’ll be a little while.”

Andy went back into the storeroom and found a box near where the suits were hung. It contained shoes to go with the suits. There were several boxes and a couple of other racks nearby, which had a lot of his mother’s things, with some of his father’s, like his old uniform. Tears welled in his eyes as he put the shoes on and left the room. In the lounge he fired up the coffee machine and brewed himself a cup. It tasted as good as he remembered and smiled as he remembered all of the times he had sat in this room with his mother, happy that she was happy, but worried that she was turning him into a girl. Today was having an unexpected outcome, forcing him to think about what he really wanted to do.

He did as he had done, so many times before; he looked out of the glass door into the High Street and watching the people and cars go by. He wiped his eyes and started to feel good. Here he was, a newly minted detective, sitting in a business that would be his, one day soon, waiting for a woman who was his co-worker, fast becoming a friend. She now knew all those things that had haunted him for years but had smiled and stayed by his side.

When the door opened, and Collete ushered Maria into the room, he had to blink. He rose to his feet, unable to say anything. The Maria he had worked with was nowhere to be seen. In her place stood an elegant lady, in a charcoal and white dress that highlighted her beauty and showed off her good legs, now supported on four-inch heels in a matching pattern. The smile on her face said it all.

“On my account, Collette. That’s stunning. Maria, you’re beautiful.”

Maria came up to him.

“You’re not so bad, yourself. I think it might be time for a hug.”

They hugged as Collette looked on, a big grin forming.

“I can see that the two of you are more than just co-workers. I’ll take some pictures for you if you have your phones handy. You do make a striking couple. Maybe that ring isn’t as far away as you thought.”

The fact that neither of them argued with her was all the answer she needed. She took the pictures as they stood, his arm over her shoulders and hers around his waist, both with huge smiles.

“Right, go get changed, you two. I’ll sort out garment bags for you. Maria, I’m not letting you out of the shop in the clothes you came in with. We have much better for you. They may be good for work but not for a weekend lady. Andy, that suit looks good, no need to have any alterations. Whoever you wanted to impress, next week, is going to be blown away.”

When they left the shop, with Collette’s cheerio’s as she closed the door, they both had garment bags with their outfits in, while Maria had a Jolene’s bag with the outfit she had come wearing. She now had a long skirt and peasant blouse with a short woollen jacket. She unlocked the car, and they laid the bags in the boot. As they stood, Maria put a hand on his cheek and leaned in to kiss his lips.

“There, that’ll make Collette happy, if she’s still watching.”

Both smiling, they sat in the car, and she left the carpark.

“I’m going to take the dress to my home and hang it properly. It’s not staying in the back any longer than it should. We can hang your suit there as well, and you can pick it up Friday after work.”

Having been working from the Harborne station, she didn’t live far away, Andy just sitting there with a smile on his face as she drove. At a semi-detached house, she parked in the driveway, and they got out.

“Welcome to my humble abode. The best bit is that I have the ground floor which also gives me the parking. The guy, upstairs, rides his bike everywhere.”

They took the bags and carried them inside, Maria leading Andy into her bedroom and hanging both bags in her wardrobe. Turning to him, she put both hands on his cheeks and pulled him into a proper kiss, his arms going round her waist and pulling her to him. As the kiss warmed them both, and the bed beckoned, her phone rang, followed by Andy’s just seconds later.

“That has to be work, they have no idea of timing, do they,” said Maria as she opened her bag and pulled it out.

They both answered their phones as they moved back out of the bedroom, Maria going to the kitchen to a notepad on the table. Andy had been called by Terry Gardiner, who told him to stay where he was and to ring Maria to let her know where to pick him up. They were, he was told, going to interview the man who most likely drove the Sapphire into the reservoir. Maria will have all the details. Overtime had been approved.

He had to wait until Maria had finished her call, her notepad now covered in writing.

“That was Sue. She told me to wait until you rang to tell me where to pick you up. The FSI guys got some prints off the steering wheel of that car. They matched a guy who has done time for nicking lead off a church roof. His sheet said that he worked for Singh back in the seventies. On top of that, we have a record of the calls that the wife has made since Friday, and one of them happened to be to this guy, Colin Entwhistle. I have the address. Sue said that if we get involved in this one, it will look more like the fact that this case was the reason we had been diving.”

They went back to the car, both thinking of what may have happened, but only letting their smiles show their feelings. On the way to the destination, they got serious and discussed how they were going to conduct the interview.

At the house, they were confronted by a large woman, who had cases stacked on the front porch.

“Who are you, then? Whatever it is, we’re not buying. I’m waiting for a taxi, so you can just bugger off!”

“Mrs. Entwhistle?” asked Andy, showing her his warrant card. “I’m afraid that if you’re traveling, it’s likely that you’ll be alone. We would like to talk to your husband, is he inside?”

The woman nodded and Andy pushed past her, leaving Maria on watch. In the house he heard some swearing, going into a bedroom to find Colin trying to close a suitcase.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Colin, but your holiday has been cancelled. If you would come down to your kitchen, and call your wife in, we need to have a serious discussion. I think you already know what it’s about.”

Colin’s shoulders drooped; he knew that Andy had been trained in keeping him where he didn’t want to be; three years inside had ground him down. Once the bags were brought back inside, and the door closed, they all went into the kitchen.

“Colin Entwhistle, this is an interview and I’m recording it so that it can be played to your lawyer, should you want one. We are here to discuss the matter of you dumping a car in Edgbaston Reservoir, back in the seventies, with the body of Syd Singh in the back seat, your employer. I’ll not beat around the bush. We know that the wife rang you and that your fingerprints are on the steering wheel. Your options are limited; either you killed him for the twenty thousand that he had supposedly taken from his safe, or you were dumping his body at the request of his wife, who then paid you the twenty thousand.”

“You bloody idiot! You told me that you had won that money on the pools. That paid for our wedding and our first house. No wonder you rushed us through that, no doubt to get rid of the cash! So, officers, what now?”

“Madam, what we want, right now, is for Colin to just tell us the truth of what happened. At the moment, he is swinging between a charge of murder and a charge of being an accessory after the fact. What is it to be, Colin?”

“All right, I’ll come clean. I worked for old Singh, back then, and his wife got all pally with me, a couple of weeks before he died. She seduced me and then told me that she would have a job for me to do. If I didn’t do it, she would tell Mabel about our one night. A couple of weeks later, she gave me the keys to the car, told me not to look in the back seat, and then told me to get rid of it. She said that she would pay me with money from the safe. Then she said that, to make sure I stayed quiet, she had kept the knife that she had stabbed him with. It was my boning knife which I used in the butcher department and had my prints on it. I was only young, and stupid, back then, and wanted to marry Mabel. The money let us get set up. I didn’t kill him; I just did what I had to. I’m sorry, Mabel, the holiday, for me, is off.”

Maria went to the front door after the bell had been rung. She sent the taxi away and then called Susan in the office.

“Sue, he just confessed to dumping the body. He said that the wife kept the knife that she used to stab Singh. It was a boning knife that he used in the supermarket. Do you want us to bring him to Aston?”

Back in the kitchen, Andy formally arrested Colin and they left his wife, weeping on the doorstep, as they put him in the back of the car, Andy beside him, and Maria drove them back to the station. Here, they handed him over to the duty sergeant to put him in the cells, to await his fate. The last thing that Andy said to Colin was that a formal statement, along the lines of what he had told them, would go a long way to keeping him from a long sentence, seeing that the longer it was, the more likely he would die in prison.

Marianne Gregory © 2023

Chapter 5

As they walked into the office, Sue was on the phone. She looked at them, smiled, and said, “I see what you mean,” then put the phone down.

“That was the duty sergeant. He wanted to know if we now had a new branch – the Fashion Police. You both look a bit different. Very elegant and absolutely right for the job I have for you, tonight. That’s if you haven’t got a couple of seats booked at the ballet. That outfit looks good on you, Maria, maybe a little more expensive than your weekly outfits.”

“Thank you, boss. You want us to do something else?”

“Yes, something very urgent and very important. First, though, what did Entwhistle say?”

Andy put the recorder on her desk and turned it on, at the start. Sue listened to it while he went to the store area, got another, and checked that it had a good battery. When he got back to her desk, she told the two of them what was intended.

“That, my friends, is ideal. Terry and I will do the official interview. What he has said, already, has cooked his goose. I hope you suggested that confession is good for the soul?”

“Oh, yes. I think that he’s hoping to get out before he dies. If what he says about the knife pans out, we could get him a short sentence.”

“We’ll work on that. Which brings us to the task we have for you. The wife made a few calls, last night. Entwhistle was the last, but before that she rang several numbers in India, as well as Air India bookings. The flight leaves the local airport at a quarter to eight, and they’re in first class. They have to be at the airport to check in a couple of hours prior, to go through all the checks. I want you two to arrest them.”

“Thank you, Cuz, we won’t let you down. Have you any idea of where we do this, somewhere in full view or quietly?”

“You’ll do the actual arrest in a side room. You can wait until the flight is called; the Air India people will lead them to a corridor where there are side rooms. You both look good enough to be in the First-Class Lounge when they arrive, then follow them until they are diverted. I’ve warned our friendly reporter to be in the public area so that he can get good pictures as you lead them out. We’ll organise some uniformed to join you, then they will bring them here. The luggage will be diverted from the loading conveyor and will be waiting for you to add it to their carry-on things. Uniformed will have a van for it. It will have to be opened by FSI. As soon as they leave their house, Sky, and a team of FSI will enter the house on a search warrant and look for the knife. With Entwhistle owning up that it was his, with his prints on it, we can then plead that he had got rid of the body because he was being blackmailed. If they find it, they’ll give you a call. Now, get off and get something to eat.”

Back in the car, Maria was deep in thought.

“Penny for them?”

“I’m wondering what else this day will bring. I’ve kissed you, been treated to a wonderful outfit, made an arrest in a murder investigation and now we’re off to arrest the likely murderer. I think that dinner is on me, tonight, and there is a place on the way to the airport, the Harvester at Hatchford Brook. I’ll give them a call and see if we can get a table.”

She found the number to call, and managed to get them a table at five, saying that they needed to be at the airport. She turned to Andy.

“It looks like we have a couple of hours to kill. Have you got any ideas?”

“Just the one, my place is closer.”

“Right, let’s go and fornicate. I must say that I’m already looking forward to it.”

At five, it was a very different couple that sat down for an early dinner at the Harvest. They looked into each other’s eyes and smiled a lot. Maria paid, once they had finished, and they went into work mode. At the airport, they spoke to the Air India supervisor and arranged the course of events. They were sitting in the First-Class lounge, with drinks in front of them, when the targets came in. Andy had to smile, as the wife was well and truly in charge, the husband following orders as she decided where they would sit, and what they would have to drink. As they all sat, Maria’s phone vibrated and she listened to Sky as he told her that the only thing left in the safe was the knife, in a plastic bag, and it was already on its way to the FSI lab.

When the flight was called, Andy and Maria waited until the others were being led to a doorway and stood to follow them. When they were in the corridor, the wife realised that something wasn’t right and started to complain that this wasn’t the usual way to the aircraft. The steward told them that it was a special way for good customers, opened a door and ushered them into an office, where two uniformed police waited.

“What’s this, take us to the plane, immediately. I’ll talk to your supervisor!”

Andy cleared his throat. “I’m afraid that this is where your flight ends, madam. I am Detective Andrew Barton; my partner is Detective Maria Holdcroft. We are arresting you in relation to the death of your first husband, Syd Singh. Anything you say will be recorded and used in evidence. This arrest is being filmed on those officer’s chest cameras. Would you please put your bags down and then put your arms out so they can handcuff you.”

The husband seemed to expand upwards as he looked at his wife.

“So, a quick business trip to see some suppliers? No wonder you’ve been running around at double speed since that reporter came by. I was thinking that you hadn’t got anything to worry about until those other detectives came by. I wondered why we were suddenly jetting off. You never helped in the shops, only wanting to live the life of a grand dame, ordering me about. It’s me that built up the business; it’s me that made us rich. All the time I was sorry for you after your husband had left you. Now I find that you killed him.”

“Oh, you silly little man. They haven’t got anything on me. I can give them the name of the guy who killed my Syd for the money he was carrying. I’ve even got evidence that will sink the stupid bastard.”

“I’m sorry, ma-am, but you don’t have that evidence that you think will save you,” said Maria. “We have it, and we also have the man whose fingerprints are on it. He has made a full statement outlining the way that you blackmailed him into dumping the car with your husband’s body in it.”

“What do you mean, you have the knife. Did you break into my house? I’ll see you in court!”

Andy just had to laugh. “That is exactly where you’ll see us, next. Take them out.”

The uniformed officers led the handcuffed couple towards the public area, Andy and Maria following with the hand luggage on a trolley. Jackson was the first to see them and nudged his photographer to start shooting. They followed the couple as they were put into two squad cars to be driven to the station. Andy collected the rest of the luggage to load it into the van. He was amazed by the sheer number of cases, and the weight of them. He guessed that she had paid several hundred pounds in excess weight. Jackson wanted some words, but they referred him to Susan, Monday.

“So, partner, that’s our job done. Two days in the job and you’ve arrested your first murderer. How does it feel?”

“It feels so good, I want to take my favourite girl dancing, it’s Saturday and the night is still young. There’s a club where we can smooch in the dark, have a few drinks and then wonder what we want to do then. One thing I do know; and that is that I want to wake up with you by my side on Sunday morning.”

“What say we leave the dancing part out of the equation and go straight to the main business. We can go via my place, so that I can pick up something to wear in the morning. We need to allow us some time to get some sleep. It’s been a big day.”

On Sunday morning, they were in Andy’s bed, cuddling, when Maria thought of something other than sex.

“Yesterday, at the dress shop, you told Collette to put my outfit on your account. How come you have an account there? Do you have another place, filled with women’s wear?”

“No other place, my sweet. The account is the owners account, which is part of the business. The way it was set up was that the shop is separate from my payment of the money that I was left. The shop is run as a separate entity, with all bills and costs coming out of the takings. After all that, the profit is split two ways. One half goes into the business account to pay for new stock and the other costs. The other half goes into the owners account. Collette has access to that if something comes up that the business can’t pay for. I can’t draw on it until I take over, but I can buy you nice things with it. Collette will charge anything I buy at cost. It does mean that I can ask Collette to buy in menswear in my size, which comes out of that account. That’s how I have some good quality things, including that expensive suit.”

“Why don’t you have a car? You taxi or bus everywhere.”

“I do have a car. It’s at my Aunt’s house, in her garage. In fact, I have two. Both were bought at auctions, by my dad. One’s a Wolseley 6/80 in full kit, bell, and all. He used to take it to rallies. It was one of the cars he started with, in traffic.”

“And the other one?”

“That one is a lot newer. He picked it up from the Northumbria police auctions, as a damaged vehicle. He had it repaired and got it resprayed at the same time. It’s a bit over the top, an Audi A4 Quattro with pursuit motor upgrades. It scares the life out of me to drive it on the city streets; it’s so responsive and you need to have done a pursuit course to handle it right. When he got it, they had removed all the special additions, but he did have a set of grill lights and a two-tone siren which he fitted. It doesn’t have a radio, or police computer, or a roof array, but we did have fun, one day on the M1 using the blues and twos.”

“I did a pursuit course, before I made it into CID. Can we go out for a drive, somewhere. I can meet your Auntie as well.”

They roused themselves, after some kisses, and took turns in the shower. Seeing that they would be going out in a pseudo-police car, Andy put on a mainly black outfit, while Maria had brought grey slacks and jacket, over a black blouse. They took her car to where his Aunt lived, in a detached house in Shelly Green, Solihull. Andy had called to let her know that he was coming over. The house was just set back from the A34 and when Maria stopped outside, she could see a car, in the drive, with a cover over it.

“That’s the Audi. The other one is in the garage. I’ve got an idea. If the cover fits this, we can swap the cars for a little while and give the Audi a bit of a run.”

Maria met his Aunt, they had the obligatory pot of tea and cake, then spent an hour before the Aunt was satisfied that Maria was good enough for her favourite nephew. Then they took the cover off the mustard-coloured Audi and coaxed it into life. Maria got in and carefully backed it into the street, then they transferred all of her things, before putting her car on the drive and struggling with the cover. After hugs and kisses and the promise that they wouldn’t be strangers, they got into the Audi, now nicely warmed up, and Maria drove them to the A34, going a short way before pulling off to the Tesco Service Station to top it up.

After that, she took them onto the M42, and they went south to join the M40 to let the car have its head. Andy could see her smile widen as she took them up to the seventy miles an hour speed limit. At one point, near Warmington, they came up behind two slower cars which were side-by-side, with teens hanging out the windows, shouting at each other. Maria looked at Andy, who nodded and reach his hand out to the two switches in the centre consol. He flicked them both and the siren started. As the car on the outer lane sped up and pulled over, he turned the siren off but kept the lights on as they passed, with Andy giving the other drivers a friendly wave as they pulled alongside, then Maria put her foot down and the Audi leapt away from the other cars like a startled gazelle. She took it up to a hundred in short order, then backed off when they were well in front. Andy switched off the lights and they both started giggling.

“Andy, my love, you know just how to make a girl happy, in more ways than one.”

They stopped in Banbury for a lunch at one of those pub chains where you don’t get anything really good, but don’t get anything really bad, either. After a stroll in the town, and pictures taken by the famous Cross, they went onto the A423 to Coventry, Andy driving this time, Maria with her arm across the seats and her hand on his shoulder.

On the way, they spoke about their future. Maria suggested that they move into her place, seeing that it had driveway parking. Andy agreed, so they went to his place and carried most of his things to the car, turning off the fridge and putting its contents into a bag. He shut off the power and locked up. At her home, they loaded all of his things into spare cupboards and drawers, then christened her bed before she made them an evening meal, both in dressing gowns, ready, and willing, for another evening session.

Monday morning, they were in the office before most of the team. Terry was there, looking at paperwork, as they walked in.

“Good morning, crime busters. That was a good weekend. We’ve let Entwhistle go, with a warning not to leave town. The husband had nothing to do with the murder, he didn’t start at the supermarket until five years later and was a long way away before that. The wife is still screaming blue murder, but her lawyer has looked at what we’ve got so is likely to plead a crime of passion, to get a short sentence. Whatever happens to her, the husband is now the owner of a string of supermarkets which he already has plans for. He will be helped by the cash that was in her cases, not counting the jewellery. After the tax man has had a look at his books, he’ll still be a rich man and free of her. Not a bad outcome for a guy who was only given his detective card on Friday. I think you may have created a record.”

When the team were all in, Susan brought them up to date with that case, and the two of them had a short round of applause. She then brought them all up to date with the castrated bodies case.

“What we have now, is that bag that came out of Edgbaston had the clothing and ID for Jason Worthington, aged 26, and he was a local, from Rotton Park. Andy and Maria, this is yours. You also have the two bodies from the Pool at Codsall Wood. The guy, we know, was a Swedish National, Sven Erikson, and the girl was a druggy, Aneka Amundson. The address is here, although it was a rental and is likely to have been cleaned out. You two can follow that up to see where they used to work and hang out. The owner of the Astra was Jordan Franklin, a truck driver who has an explosives transport licence. He is worth talking to, as well. The Ryton Park victim we know, and the sack gave up no more information, neither did the sack taken from Moseley Wood. The places left are Chelmarsh, where there should be two sacks, with another two from Draycote Water, with the builder’s son found near the Remembrance Gardens, and the other by the Bird Hide. The only access to both sites is the National Cycle Route and the water is pretty shallow.”

“If that’s the case, boss, Andy, and I can do that one with a couple of the divers, in waders. We can get the council to lend us a park groundsman truck that they use to look after the gardens.”

“That’s a good idea, without the circus that Edgbaston created. Chelmarsh can be done disguised as an inspection of the dam wall, both bodies found near the road to the sailing club. That could take a while, as the dumps were some way apart. I’ll see if the divers can do that as a favour to the council, in full view but hidden. That just leaves a dive in Sutton Park. That one was near the Pedal Boat hire, so we need to do that in an evening, after closing the roadway to their bit of riverbank. We can take a little while, planning these, and I want you two to follow up on the names we know. None of them have any record, so they’re all clean-living, law-abiding, bodybuilders who have all turned up dead. The rest of you, business as usual, now, let’s get moving, chop-chop!”

Andy picked up the files, plus a couple more recorders, while Maria wrote up the official report of the Edgbaston dive and following consequences. He had his nose buried in the files when she had finished. He co-signed the report, gathered his things and they went out to the car. The first stop was at Rotton Park. Here, they had to break the news to Jason’s parents that their son was now identified as the body that had been found near the reservoir, over a year before. They had left his room as it was, in case he came back, and allowed them to search it carefully. He had a girlfriend, at the time, and they found a name and address for her. Otherwise, the room was typical for a manly male, a bit untidy.

After leaving the parents, with instructions on how to gain access to the body in the morgue, they went to the address of the girlfriend, only to be re-directed to the café where she worked. They took the opportunity to order a coffee as they asked for Belle. She was the waitress and sat at their table as they drank their coffees and asked her about her time with Jason. She had a little cry when she was told that he had been dead more than a year.

“He was a lovely guy, big and tough but kept himself in check. We went to a few good restaurants, I don’t know how he could afford it, but we had some lovely meals. Just before he disappeared, he told me that he had found a great new place and was going to check it out before he would take me there. I was beginning to think about a wedding day and couldn’t believe it when I didn’t see him again. I thought he may have run off with Mary Greensborough, she was hovering around him, trying to take him away. She worked in a team at Maccy D’s fast food. I haven’t seen her since about the same time.”

Back in the car, Andy rang the office and gave this new name to Doggy, then they were off to talk to the Astra owner. They had called him and found out that he would be at the truck depot, all day, as he doubled as a diesel mechanic. On the way, Doggy rang Andy to tell him that Mary Greensborough, former fast-food worker, had been found in a parking bay, naked, raped, and strangled, in the industrial area at Tamworth, a long, distance from home, and two days before Jason had turned up next to the reservoir.

“Doggy, can you please set up a local map, with all these dump points with pins. It looks like a pattern is forming, with the guys being dumped in special places, and the girls being just discarded. We could be looking for a gay guy who considered them as trash.”

The owner of the Astra was happy enough to talk to them. He had reported it stolen and had been paid out by the insurance company, now the legal owner of the wreck.

“I don’t know how I can help you, officers. One minute it was there, next day it was gone.”

“With the keys in it, sir. I don’t believe you. Did you know Sven Erikson and Aneka Amundson?”

“You’ve found it? Where was it? I don’t want it back, though. What about Sven?”

“That’s my question to you, Jordan. You loaned him the car and that’s the last you saw of him, isn’t that the true story?”

“Does that put me up as lying to the insurance company? I was sure that it was gone but I didn’t want to put Sven into any sort of trouble. I wouldn’t have worried about that skank he went around with; she was heading for prison as soon as someone tested her blood. He was a good guy, drove a truck for us for a couple of months. His only complaint was that there wasn’t anywhere decent to get Swedish food in this town. He had some weird ideas about food, some of the meals he described almost made me want to chuck. I was sure that he went off somewhere and the car would be found in a carpark, a long way from here.”

“I have to tell you, sir, that the car has been found, not that far away, and near where Sven was found, nine months ago. The car contained his clothes and his girlfriend. It had been under water all that time. Now, can you please come with us to Aston Station, where you will be asked more questions, under caution. I suggest that on the way, you try and remember everything you can. Any detail can be important in helping to catch their murderers.”

Maria rang Sue to tell her that they were on their way, and Andy got in the back with Jordan, now sweating as he realised that it was far more serious than he had imagined. They left Jordan with the duty sergeant to take to an interview room, then went upstairs to give Susan the recorder with what had been said. She would do the interview later in the day.

Back in the car, they went to have lunch before they went to find where Svens belongings had ended up. His rooms had, of course, been cleared, cleaned, and relet ages before, but the belongings were still in a storeroom. Andy wrote out a receipt for the building manager and they put everything in the car, to take to the FSI lab.

“Andy, where did Doggy say that the girl was found, at Tamworth. I’ve only ever been to the big box stores there. There’s a big B&M, and a bedding place, but most of the area is industrial, mainly transport and engineering.”

“He said it wasn’t far from the B&M, but out of sight in a cul-de-sac off Claymore. She was there when the late shift in one of the buildings left work, about one in the morning.”

“We’ve got some time, so we can go and have a look at that dump site, it’s now the only one we haven’t seen and, strangely, the only one that’s not near any water. I’d say that if she was with Jason, when he was taken, it was someone else that dumped her. She just doesn’t fit the others. The original investigation was on the lines of a straight rape and murder. Perhaps we’ll find something that they missed if we cruise around.”

Marianne Gregory © 2023

Chapter 6

They arrived at the Tamworth Industrial Park, turning off Watling Street into Claymore, and then into the roadway where the body had been found. To one side of the road was the back of factories in the next road, the other side was a big automotive spares warehouse. At the end of the short road was the factory whose workers had come out to find the body. They parked in a space and stood in the road looking around them. Maria was the first to speak.

“I don’t know about you, but this looks like it was a deliberate spot, not just a random dump. Whoever left the body knew that the factory ran a late shift and placed it to be found. It had to have been dumped between ten and midnight. The place makes industrial lifts for invalids. The dumper may have worked there, or had a lift made by them. I think it’s worth a visit. If we take photos of their order book and personnel records, there may be something that links up with things we might come across.”

They went to the factory office, showed their warrant cards, and asked to speak to the person in charge. It turned out to be a middle-aged lady, so Maria took the lead.

“We are following up on that girl whose body was found outside this factory, some time ago. We think that it wasn’t a random dumping, and that there may be some link to this business. I’m not saying that the company is directly involved, more that it may be linked to a previous employee, with a grudge, or even to one of your customers who may have been less than happy with the lift you supplied. Can you think back and tell us if there are any employees over the last five years who we should talk to.”

“We have a very stable workforce, detective. Most have been with us more than ten years. It is a niche market, and the guys who build the lifts have particular skills that would only be transferrable to another lift manufacturer. Invalid lifts are superior to normal passenger lifts. They have to be super smooth in operation, and they must stop exactly in line with the floor level to minimise tripping hazards. There’s only one man who left under a cloud, and that was because we found that he was doing two, full-time, jobs. He would come in the morning, half asleep, and his productivity was lousy.”

“Can we have his name and last known address, please? Did you know what other job he was doing? That would have been during the evenings.”

“He was working in a restaurant, I think, he was a waiter and general hand. It stayed open, some nights, until the early hours. Actually, now I think about it, he was a problem, a year or so later, when we were asked to install a lift at a new restaurant project. He was, at that time, part of that management. I thought that having an invalid lift in a restaurant was especially crazy, at the time. It was a big job, as it went from a basement and up two more floors. My installation manager would come in and complain about the man being a real pain, expecting perfection and then trying to get a better price.”

“How would he get a better price?”

“It was the basement part. Joe, my installer, said the basement was just a rough floor in a large room, and the customer told him to set the lift a few inches off the floor as they would be resurfacing the floor to suit the lift. The main eating area was on the ground floor, and they had another area that they were developing upstairs from that. Joe said that he was told that it would be a private function room. It took some patience to deal with them, but they paid up, and we moved on. I think that there are some pictures in our sales records.”

In the back office, she got one of the girls to pull the employee records, finding the man that had been sacked and then getting his employment file. Andy gave them a receipt to put into the file drawer and tucked the file under his arm. In the sales area, there was a big folder with pictures in clear plastic sleeves. The manager found the pictures that she had been talking about. Looking closely, they could see that the rooms that the lift opened out to were all in some state of development. Unfortunately, there were no photos of the rooms, only those of the lift, in various states of installation. The one picture that made Maria gasp, showed the lift doors, closed, and there was a fancy gold ‘H’ on the left one, with a similar gold ‘N’ on the right.

When they were back in the car, with the employee file, the plastic sleeve of pictures and the address of the restaurant, Maria took a deep breath.

“This could be important, Andy. It might have been all above board and I wouldn’t suggest a raid with just a nasty man as reason, but the napkin ring in that Astra could have come from there.”

“I agree. We’ll have to build a better case before we can do something drastic. We can ask Doggy to look into the restaurant. We can go and have a look at the place, ourselves, though. The address is, if I’m reading this map correctly, in an old manor house, just to the south of Walton on Trent. They might have a board, outside, with a menu to read.”

Andy drove them north, taking it easy, until they reached Walton-on-Trent. They found the restaurant, thanks to a few helpful signposts. There was a big board at the entrance to the carpark. They stopped and took a look at it. The restaurant was called, now it was open, Hyp-Nouvelle. The prices that they saw took their breath away, not somewhere that you would go on a detective’s salary. Part of the board was set aside for special occasion dining, with a picture of the upstairs room, now with white covered tables and gold cutlery. Prices were not given. Andy took pictures of the board, with close-ups of the details. As they got back into the car, a Rolls Royce came in, past them, and headed closer to the house. Andy turned the Audi around and they left the carpark, going the short distance that led them onto the A38 back to Birmingham.

As it was now late afternoon, as they went south Maria rang the office to see if they were needed, finding out that they could call it a day, but to meet the divers at the Chelmarsh Reservoir, in the morning. Arrangements had been made to inspect the dam wall. They went home to Maria’s flat, made themselves an evening meal and sat watching television until the strain proved too much and they went to bed.

Tuesday morning saw them parked off the road, at the Chelmarsh dam wall. The divers were there, with black plastic covering all the police signage, along with a truck from the council. The plan was for the divers to go in at one end of the wall, and work along, taking as long as it took. The leader suggested that it may take up to three days to do it properly as they were going to give the council a proper inspection report, as long as they kept quiet about anything odd that may be hauled up.

It wasn’t the most enjoyable couple of days that they had, but they had to be there until both bags had been, hopefully, found and recovered. The first came out late on Tuesday afternoon, being put into a double thickness of plastic bag, secured, and put into the back of the Audi, FSI not needed to be on site. Wednesday was spent just watching the bubbles and helping to pull out bicycles. When the second sack was recovered on Thursday afternoon, they left the divers to the rest of their task, taking both sacks into the FSI office for inspection.

Friday morning, they met a couple of divers, and the gardeners, at the Thurlaston Village Hall. They loaded up what they needed on a trailer behind a quad as the cycle trail was quite narrow. At the first site, they donned waders and started looking for a sack in the shallows. It took an hour but was recovered. The next site, further along, by the Remembrance Gardens, didn’t take as long, now they knew roughly how far out to go before starting the search. Back at the village hall, they thanked the divers, put the waders into plastic bags next to the two sacks, and went back to the station to hand the sacks over to FSI.

That afternoon, they wrote up their reports, told the team about their interviews, and then went off to get something to eat before meeting the divers, once again, at the paddleboat site next to Blackroot Pool, Sutton Park. This was the last dive in the series. Andy was hoping for a clean sweep of sacks, seeing that they now had eight out of the nine. The dive started after six, and it took until eight before a marker came up, a line attached and the last sack pulled to shore, to be put into the back of the Audi. They dropped the sack off with the duty officer at the FSI and went home to bed.

It was the Saturday of their lunch with Jenny and her husband. When he asked, Andy was told that Dave, the husband, was also a serving officer but that he did a lot of work from home, on his computer. Maria didn’t know his exact job, the only thing she did know was that he was an Inspector. They took it easy through the morning, clearing up after breakfast and taking their showers. They both took a lot of care with getting ready, Andy shaving twice to ensure that smooth look. Finally, they went out to the car, looking like a couple of stars.

At the restaurant, Jenny almost fell off her chair when they walked in, then got up to hug Maria.

“Maria, honey, is that really you? That dress is fabulous, looks expensive. And this must be Andy. My, what a couple you look, and I do mean couple. Obviously, a lot has happened since I left. It’s going to take more than one lunch to cover your story. Andy, this is Dave, my husband.”

They all had handshakes and hugs, then sat down for a meal. During the course of the meal, they discussed Maria’s change from a duckling to a swan, with Andy’s ownership of the shop, as yet unnamed, hinted at. The meal was good, and that led the talk to good dining. Maria told them about the prices on the board that they had seen this week. When she said that the restaurant was called Hyp-Nouvelle, Dave put his knife down.

“Say that again.”

“It’s called Hyp-Nouvelle. They have silver napkin rings with ‘H’ and ‘N’ in gold on then, in a fancy lettering. We were out there in relation to the case that Jenny and I had been working on, which has now been given to another team. It’s the team that Andy and I are on.”

“You mean that body every three months one that old Butt passed on to us. How far have you got?”

“We have identified all of the victims, all nine of them, so far. We’re hoping that we’ll solve it before they drop number ten somewhere.”

Dave made up his mind, put his fork down as well, and leaned towards them.

“I shouldn’t be saying this, but I work from home, a lot. I’m with the anti-terrorist squad and my main job is monitoring the internet, specifically the dark web. There is a site which pops up, lately, about every three months. It has ‘H’ and ‘N’ as a logo, and it supposedly offers a dining experience that surpasses all others. In the last couple of weeks, it has been touting what it called a ‘Decadent Dinner’. We’ve been thinking that it could be a front for home-grown terrorists. There’s no contact details, so it has to be aimed at people that know what it is, where it is, but just have to be told when it is. In this case, the when is next Saturday evening, and the price, if it’s to be believed, is fifteen thousand pounds a head. If this is any help, it wasn’t me that told you.”

Andy sat for a while before he spoke.

“You know - that fits. Decadent, the tenth victim. Even what has been taken from the victims could fit. I really don’t want to believe it but, if we only have a week, then we’ve got to start moving to get a search warrant. The boss is going to have kittens. I’m sorry, Jenny and Dave, but I think that Maria and I have pressing business to discuss with our DCI.”

They all stood, hugged, and shook hands again, and Andy went to pay for all the meals, with a good tip, apologising for rushing off and assuring the cashier that the food was magnificent. Maria was on her phone to Susan. When she put the phone in her bag, she held her hand out.

“Keys, please. Sue is at home, and she’s told me the address. All I’ve said is that we think that we have a breakthrough and she’ll see us as soon as we get there. I know the street where she lives, so I’m driving. You’re finished there, my love, so let’s get going.”

She didn’t hang around on the way, using the lights a few times when someone wouldn’t let them through. When they pulled up outside Sue’s home, Andy had a new respect for his partners driving skills. They rang the bell and Sue let them in.

“Come through to the kitchen. Mervyn, my husband, is whipping up a light lunch and gets upset if I’m not there to start eating it when it’s hot. My, I thought you two looked good the other day; that dress isn’t cheap, and nor was your suit, Andy. After you tell me about your new idea, we’re going to have to talk about how you’re paying for those threads on a copper’s wage.”

They sat at the kitchen table, just as Mervyn put a plate in front of Sue, then sat down with his. Andy tried to remember how to give a precis, as Sue had taught him at the college.

“Maria and I had been talking to the other people that you had given us, on Monday morning. Jason had a girlfriend, Belle, and we went to see her where she worked as a waitress. She said that Jason used to take her out for meals in good places, and that he was going to check out a new place before taking her. That’s the last time she saw him. She then made a comment about another girl who had been hovering around Jason, Mary Greensborough, who had worked in a fast-food joint. We spoke to Doggy, asking if he could give us her address. Doggy called back to tell us that she had been found, in Tamworth, two days before Jason had been found. She had been beaten, raped, and strangled.”

“That’s interesting. If she had been with Jason when he had been taken, then it looks like she was extra baggage, like the Swedish girl.”

“That’s what we thought. Monday afternoon we went to Tamworth and parked where she had been found. Something about the site struck us both as looking like it had been chosen, specifically for the late shift workers of the factory to see as they left, after midnight. The factory makes lifts; not just ordinary lifts, but invalid lifts, which the manager told us had to be super smooth and accurate in where they stop in relation to the floor.”

“Ah! A grumpy ex-employee, perhaps?”

“Yes, that was our thinking, as well. When we asked about that, she remembered an employee who had been sacked for poor performance, due to doing another job late into the night. He worked in hospitality, and turned up, later on, at a new restaurant project where they wanted an invalid lift to go three floors, from the basement up. The basement, we were told, was just rough floor and undeveloped at the time.”

“That’s an odd one, a lot of money when a normal lift would do.”

“That’s what we thought. We went out to have a look at the place. It’s on an old manor house just south of Walton-on-Trent. The board, outside, had a menu and some eye-watering prices. It’s called Hyp-Nouvelle, so I guess that it’s one of those places where you get a small helping of food on large plates and pay the earth for the dining privilege. We were given pictures of the lift being installed and one shows the doors closed, with the letters ‘H’ and ‘N’ on them in gold flowery letters, just the same as that napkin ring we found in the Astra.”

“Wow, a definite link between Jason and Sven. Sven was into strange food, wasn’t he?”

“Yes. Now here’s where the story gets interesting. We were having lunch with a friend of Maria, and her husband, today. We mentioned the name of the restaurant. He got a bit excited and told us that his job includes monitoring the dark web. He told us that a site that has the logo of the ‘H’ and ‘N’ in flowery writing, is currently promoting a special event, which they called a Decadent Dinner, and the entry price was fifteen grand a head.”

“Explain that a bit, please?”

“It was the Decadent bit that we picked up on. We’re investigating the nine bodies, all with bits missing. What if this is the tenth?”

Mervyn spoke quietly.

“Sue, sweetheart, is this is what’s under your skin at the moment. I know you don’t speak about your work at home, but I’ve read the papers and it hasn’t said much about the injuries. Can you please tell me what parts were missing?”

“We’ve kept it from the press because it would have created a shitstorm of publicity. The other team that were looking at the cases kept everything quiet. Actually, their silence was from doing practically nothing. Maria was on that team and had been given the files but hadn’t been allowed to do much. The other woman at lunch, today, was the other girl who had left to move south?”

Maria nodded.

“Her husband told us – but didn’t tell us anything. I think he’s with the Anti-Terrorist boys. He thought the site might be a front for a meeting.”

Sue put her hand on her husband’s and decided.

“This is totally between us, darling, but the missing bit on the first four victims was the groin, including the genitals, taken from just below the navel and going pretty deep. The last five were the same, but all had the liver and kidneys removed as well.”

Mervyn looked at the other two as he thought a bit.

“If you didn’t know, I’m a nutritionist working at Bourneville. To get to be a nutritionist I had to first learn how to cook. I studied all different cooking methods, and a lot of different cooking styles. One thing I do know, is that the items that you have described are perfect for the sort of dish that a fine dining enthusiast would love. The belly fat can be cooked like a pork belly; the genitals could be split down the middle and served like a half a lobster; the liver and kidneys are crying out for an inventive chef to create something marvelous. I think you may have found a place that is making a huge profit by catering to cannibals.”

They all sat, in silence, for a few minutes, as the idea permeated their brains, and they matched that statement with everything else they knew. Sue was the first to speak.

“Was there anything else that you were told about this site?”

Maria sighed. “Yes, boss, the dinner is on next Saturday evening. That means that another fit young man has been collected and held.”

Mervyn looked at Sue.

“Held? In what way, and do you know how long?”

“We think that it must be a week or more. There were no traces of bindings, and no traces of any toxic substances in their bloods, what was left of it after they had bled out.”

“So, they were held for some time, no doubt fed good things to make them tasty, and purge the body of bad things, and now you’re telling me that they were castrated while alive! That’s not just fine dining, that’s performance art! I bet that when you arrest the criminals, you’ll find one that’s been on the stage, in some way or another.”

Sue stood and went into the lounge, coming back with her phone to her ear.

“Doggy, this is Sue. Can you take some time before Monday to get me everything you can on a restaurant called Hyp-Nouvelle in Walton. Yes, that’s Hyp with a ‘Y’. It’s an expensive place. We need the company records, any employee lists, backers. They started about four years ago, we think. Yes, you can book it up as overtime, but we need it all on Monday morning. Thanks for that, see you then.”

She speed-dialled another number.

“Terry, I’m calling an all-hands meeting first thing Monday. See who is around to issue a search warrant, someone who can keep a secret and will give us one on conjecture. I’ll talk to the CS after our meeting and see if he’ll back us up. And tell the team to keep next weekend free, there may be a lot to do.”

She put her phone down and then turned to Maria.

“You two heard that. Office on Monday, first thing, and bring your main game, with as much as you have. Now, talk to me about those expensive outfits.”

It took a few minutes for Maria and Andy to explain his particular situation. When he mentioned that he had wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, Sue asked him what his father had done.

“He was a career copper, ended up as an Inspector in the Traffic Division, working out of Harborne. He spent most of his working life chasing cars. He often used to joke that if there was another life, he would be coming back as a dog.”

“I knew a Richard Barton when I was a young detective at that station. He had pulled over some famous people. I believe he used to have a signed picture of Paul McCartney on his desk, sent to him after he had let the guy off with a caution.”

“Yes, that one is in the office of the dress shop, along with other pictures; mostly ones my mother had been given.”

“Like what?”

“The shop is called Jolene’s because she was a huge Dolly Parton fan. She wrote to ask if she could call the shop Jolene’s after the song and got a nice reply. She sent a dress that she thought Dolly would like and got a signed picture of Dolly wearing it. She went to the US to see a show and there’s another picture of the two of them together. She sent over a few more dresses and got a replica gold disc for Jolene, now on the office wall. I think it’s gold coloured plastic, but it looks real.”

He then turned to Mervyn.

“Sir, one thing still worries me about the scenario. We have only ever had one victim a time. Surely there wouldn’t be enough to feed a number of diners. From what you’ve described, I can’t see more than four, at a single sitting.”

“That’s the bit about nouvelle cuisine, Andy. If the victim had been bled out, there would be pints of blood to use in the creations. All you have to do is cook animal products in the same way, make it all look and taste the same, and the punter won’t know the difference. You could feed a dozen or more and they would all swear that they had eaten part of a man. That may even be part of the experience; a bit like a firing squad where only one rifle has the real bullet, and the guns are handed out at random. Every man who fired thinks that he was the one with the fatal shot. By the same token, every man can allow himself to think that it wasn’t him that made the kill.”

Marianne Gregory © 2023

Chapter 7

Andy and Maria spent much of Sunday sorting out the evidence that they had gathered. They knew that it would have to be believable to swing the hard-nosed members of the team. It would be a hectic week, if they were to raid the restaurant before the victim had been ritually sacrificed.

Monday morning, they all gathered in the office. Sue left the floor to Andy, who was a little worried as the Chief Superintendent had joined them. Everyone stayed quiet as Andy and Maria took them through the situation as it now stood, with all the names that they had been given linked to other names, with each body dump being explained in sequence. Then they moved to the finding of Mary Greensborough and what they had subsequently found out, along with the one bit of conjecture, what the body parts had been used for.

Doggy then took over, with what he had found out about the restaurant.

“Hyp-Nouvelle, in a building bought five years ago. Renovations started a couple of years later, with the lift being installed at that time. They opened the main dining room a little after that and the records show that they were making a profit in the first year. The registered owner is Maximillian Quincey, who had been working as a hypnotist, on stage, for about twenty years.”

He had a partner who, when named, made Maria gasp.

“That man is someone who old DCI Nicholas knows. They do shows and civic occasions together. He’s been into Harborne, more than once.”

The manager was Harry Parks, the ex- employee of the lift company. Doggy read out the man’s rap-sheet, which included attempted rape, assault with bodily harm and several arrests after pub brawls. Other employees, the chefs, the waiting staff, and others, were all casuals except one. That was the head chef, an Algerian native, who had been in the country nearly three years. They wondered if he had been the one who had thought of the ‘special events’.

When the whole thing had been laid out, the CS stood and cleared his throat.

“What you’ve shown me, this morning, is something out of a horror novel. However, it does all fit together and I’m behind you with going for a search warrant. I’ll also be talking to Internal Affairs about this link between the Chief Inspector who sat on this for two years, and his friendship with one of the suspects. Susan, your team has done wonders in the time you’ve had the files. Has Nicholas been told anything or are there any things the papers might have picked up on.”

“We haven’t said anything to Nicholas, and there hasn’t been any sign that he’s interested. He doesn’t know that we’ve recovered the belongings and identification of every victim. The only dive that drew the press was the one which discovered the remains of Syd Singh, which they all thought had been the main aim of the dive. All the other dives had no onlookers. I’d say that we’re still off their radar, and the raid will be a total surprise. We will aim to do it Saturday lunchtime, so that we can rescue the intended victim. I think that we’ll set up a sting, for Saturday evening, so that we get all the special diners together. If we can’t arrest them, we can give them a bloody big shock.”

“All right. I’ll authorise any overtime you’ll need and tell the uniformed to expect you to call. Who do you think you’ll need for the sting?”

“It would have to be people who would fit the scene. I expect that we would need up to six WPCs. They’ll have to be outfitted with good dresses, but I have an idea of where we may be able to borrow some. We should be able to do the raid with our team and about six to eight uniforms. If we can clear the casuals, we can have them on site in the evening to give authenticity.”

After the CS left, they got down to making plans. Sue started to give them tasks.

“Doggy, I need as much background as we can get. See if you can find any pictures of the Manor House, before and after the renovations. Andy has some pictures of the lift installation that can add some detail. There are the dimensions so it will help to draw up a floor plan. There may be drawings with the council building inspectors.”

“Right, Cuz, I’ll get on to that.”

“Terry, start planning for Saturday, with the personnel that will be needed, and we’ll get some reinforcements up to speed before we go in. Now, Lean, Super and Jack, I want you to get changed and look like birdwatchers. Doggy can give you the satellite picture of the Manor House and the surrounding countryside. Get out there and get us current information on entry points to the grounds and what you can see of the house, with pictures. If you can photograph any of the workers, all the better. Doggy should be able to give us pictures of the main players, from passport, stage, and mug shots.”

“Porky and Sky, I want you to go down to the uniformed office and put together a team to go in Saturday morning, they should be ready to be with us all day and into the evening. Organise a bus for them and the rest of the team that Andy and Maria will get. You two, take yourself off the Burton-on-Trent station. I’ll give them a call to expect you. See if you can put together a team of girls to be part of the raid, as well as to carry out the sting as hostesses in the evening. We can kit out a few of the team, hopefully none of the targets would have met them. I doubt that Butt will turn up, but, if he does, he hardly ever looks hard at underlings. I think that we should approach the door as prospective diners and secure the entrance. We’ll need to have the uniforms out of sight until that’s done.”

They all went about their tasks. When Andy and Maria got to the station at Burton, they were shown into the office of the uniform Chief Inspector, and they let him into a little of what was going to happen, not telling him the full story. They asked for four or five presentable WPCs who would be part of a raid, and then kitted out to act as hostesses, on Saturday. The CI thought that it might be an illegal gambling den, and they didn’t dissuade him of that idea.

They were shown to a spare office and waited until five female officers joined them. They took the names and then asked the girls for their dress sizes, letting them know that they would be in a raid and a sting on Saturday, and to wear good underwear, with a pair of black heels in a bag. Telling the girls that a minibus would pick them up at around ten on Saturday morning, they left Burton and travelled back to Harborne to go and see Collette. Collette went into the store and came out with five dresses.

“These are old stock, Andy, last year’s fashion. They’ll look good with a bunch of costume jewellery, and I can write them off at less than cost if we call them a donation. Will you be wearing one, Maria?”

“No, Collette, there’s one person who may be joining us who knows me, so I’ll be in the background. This is a complicated operation, and you’ll read all about it in coming weeks. We’ll bring the girls in about three on Saturday afternoon.”

Over the next few days, they made detailed plans of what each person would be doing on Saturday. They knew that the main kitchen was on the ground floor and surmised that there must be a small one upstairs. Doggy had managed to get some plans of the old house. They took the gamble that it would only be the main dining room in use at lunch so the main moves would be aimed there. Sue, Terry, and the two sergeants would concentrate on making sure that the upper-class diners were not upset, while Sky, Andy, and a couple of uniformed would go straight to the kitchen to round up the cooks. They expected that the Algerian would be back there, with Quincey and Parks likely in the dining room.

Jack would be leading some uniforms and paramedics downstairs in the lift, as they hoped to find the future victim in the basement. Porky would go up one floor to the function room via the main stairs. They didn’t expect there to be anyone upstairs, but it needed to be checked out.

The ‘birdwatchers’ had brought back some good pictures of the outside, including all the access points where they would have to put someone to stop any escapees. They had talked it over and, hopefully, covered all the bases by Friday lunchtime. Sue gave them all a light lunch in their usual pub and then an early day so that they could get a good sleep, it would be a long day on Saturday.

Saturday morning, they assembled at the station, checked that they had covered everything and then went off to Walton, with Maria in the Audi and Andy in the coach. The staging point was a carpark behind the Swan Hotel. The coach carried on into Burton to pick up the WPCs. On the way back to the staging point, Andy gave the uniformed officers the news that they were going to be involved in a very important operation which would finalise the investigations of eleven murders.

The timing was that the team would go to the main entrance in three cars, with Maria and Andy driving Sue and Terry. The others would have parked as they arrived and should be getting close to the doors. The paramedic fast-response team, and the coach, would be in the side road, just outside the entrance to the carpark. It all went as planned.

Sue and Terry went in and were greeted by a girl in a cocktail dress.

“I’m sorry, folks, but we’re fully booked for lunch, and we have full bookings for the next few weeks. You can phone to book if you wish.”

Sue held up her warrant card.

“We don’t wish, young lady. What I want is for you to stay quiet, and go outside, where you will be taken to a coach to be held for an interview.”

Andy had called in the others and some of the uniformed were at their posts at the other doors. One of the WPCs took charge of the girl, then they carried out the rest of the raid. Sue and Terry took the sergeants and a couple of uniformed with them into the dining room, with her calling out for everyone to remain calm and remain seated. Quincey and Parks were quickly identified and cuffed, complaining bitterly that they were all totally innocent and that the force would pay for the intrusion.

Jack, with his group, had already gone down in the lift and Porky was going up the stairs. Andy, Sky, and three of the WPCs went through the dining room and into the kitchen. They called out for everyone to stay where they were, and not to make any sudden moves. As they moved in, a man leapt out from behind a refrigerator with a large knife in his hand. He lunged at Sky and plunged the knife into his torso. Andy acted instinctively, hitting the man in the forehead with the heel of his hand, on the end of a straight arm jab.

The man staggered back, pulling the knife out, then collapsed on the ground, the knife clattering away from him.

“Cuff him to something solid. Is there blue tape here?”

One of the other chefs reached behind him and tossed Andy a roll of blue chef’s tape. Sky was on the floor and Andy tore his shirt to see the wound, which wasn’t bleeding much but was bubbling. Andy taped the wound, then turned Sky over, finding another wound in his back. He taped that wound as well and turned to the other WPC.

“Where’s the nearest hospital with an ED?”

“The closest is the Queen in Burton. I can show you where it is.”

“Right, we have to get Sky there as soon as we can, the Paramedics are in the basement. Help me get him up and outside, there’s a mustard Audi out there.”

They managed to get Sky up and put his arms over their shoulders, taking him towards the main doors. Andy saw Maria and called out for her to open the Audi and give him the keys. She did so, then helped them put Sky in the back seat. Sky was able to help himself a bit now that the shock was receding. The WPC got in the back with him, and Andy got into the driving seat and fired up the engine.

“Right, which way do I go? I’m Andy, by the way, who are you?”

“I’m Sally Brown. Do you know the way to the motorway?”

“Been that way before, buckle up and hang on.”

As he left the carpark, he flicked the switches and put his foot down. As they approached the highway Sally started to give him more directions. They went north on the highway for a little way, long enough for the speedo to get past a hundred. They took the exit for Burton and Sally directed him along a road past some shops and then into the town itself. After a hard right and a hard left, Sally shouted.

“There’s a road coming up on the left, Dallow Street, there should be a hospital direction sign. Take that and we go under the motorway and the ED is further along. There are signs and it’s a little complicated so once we make a left turn at the top of the road, you’ll have to slow down. I’ve called them to tell them that we’re coming.”

When he pulled up outside the ED, there was a team with a trolley. They eased Sky out of the back, put him on the trolly and put an oxygen mask on him. As he was taken away, a doctor asked Andy, now standing by the car, what the wound was.

“Long kitchen knife looked like it missed the ribs. Not much blood but the two wounds, front and back, were bubbling. I blue taped them. I hope it was the right thing to do.”

“Anything to seal the lungs is a good thing. Park your car, I’ll come out and let you know how he’s doing, once we’ve had a good look. The nurses will guide you to the waiting area.”

Andy went and found a parking spot, switching the flashing lights off. He then joined Sally where she had waited, and they found the seating area. He took out his phone and called Maria.

“Hi, there, it’s Andy. We’ll be here for a little while. How’s it going?”

“We have started processing the chefs and the diners. The waitresses are all in the coach and being questioned. The victim was in the basement, in a bolted room. His girlfriend was next door, in another cell. She wasn’t in a good way, and the paramedics have called an ambulance for her. They think that she’s been raped, more than once. Parks looked worried when she was brought up. Quincey is still adamant that they haven’t done anything wrong. Sue has found a booking journal. They have twenty booked for tonight, with names. Guess who I know among the guests?”

“What, Nicholas?”

“Yes. Sue has called the CS and we will be joined by a couple of heavies from Internal Affairs tonight. How’s Sky?”

“The doc will let us know when they’ve had a good look. I don’t think it’s too bad, but he will need to be here for a while. I didn’t have time to get a good look at the attacker, but I’ll take a guess that it’s the Algerian. We’ll be back when we can, give me a call if the coach is ready to take the girls to see Collette: I’d hate to have Sally miss out on tonight.”

“Sally, is it? Take her on a short car ride and you’re on first name basis. Wait until we get home, buster, I’ll show you who’s your woman.”

“OK, you’re on. See you when we get back.”

He put the phone in his pocket and sat back. Sally put her hand on his arm.

“You can tell her that I’m a happily married woman, with a kiddie. That drive here was a bit different, though. How come you get a pursuit car as a detective?”

Andy smiled.

“Actually, it was my dad’s. He was in traffic and bought it at an auction. The extra bits come in handy at times. You did well, back there, I appreciate your calmness and directions; it really helped.”

“That’s OK. What about the rest of the day?”

“We take all you girls down to the city, where you’ll be outfitted with hostess gowns at Jolene’s. You’ll get to keep the dresses after the operation. Then we go back to the restaurant and set it up to look as if everything is normal. We then hope that we can arrest the diners at a special meal where they expect to be eating bits of a young man who was in the basement.”

“What! That place was serving guys to people. That’s gross! What sort of person would do that?”

“Very well-heeled ones, it appears. Tonight, the meal is fifteen grand a head. It’s the tenth one they’ve held, every three months. I had the dubious honour of finding the first victim. I think that he may have been a test run, seeing that they tossed a cleaver away when they dumped him.”

They sat for a while, then Sally went and got them both a hot drink. Andy couldn’t tell if it was strong tea or weak coffee, but at least it was wet and warm. Finally, the doctor strode into the waiting area, his scrubs streaked with blood.

“Good, you’re still here. Your friend will live but will need to be with us for a while. The knife went right through his lung, and you may have saved his life by sealing the wounds. He had a lot of blood loss inside, but we could suck most of it out. We did have to open him up a little more to repair the holes in the lung and seal the damaged blood vessels. You two did well. You can’t see him, so you’d better get back to whatever you were doing.”

“Thank you, doctor. I expect that our boss will come by to see him in a couple of days.”

Andy led Sally back to where he’d parked and they went back to Hyp-Nouvelle, a lot slower than the previous trip. When they went in, Sue saw them and rushed over to ask how Sky was and Andy gave her the latest news, then asked how the raid had proceeded.

“Absolutely great, Andy. It’s the result we’ve wanted. In his office, Quincey had a scrapbook of the other nine dinners, names, photos, the menu with the name of the dinner. There’s twenty expected tonight and the main dining room is fully booked. We’ve interviewed all the workers and their stories all coincide. They had nothing to do with upstairs, once the diners were seated, so we’ve asked the chefs to stay and cook the usual meal. They all said that the Algerian had nothing to do in the main room, as he would be upstairs, preparing something special. They never saw the victims, with the lift doors staying shut after the guests had gone up.”

“So, we’ll just need to make it look normal when those twenty arrive. I think that it would have been usual for them to have free drinks, seeing how much they have paid, so we might be able to keep them happy until they’re all here. I suppose that we can make the normal folks, down here, happy with a free meal and drinks, seeing that it’s the last one they’re likely to get here.”

“Right. Now, I think that you had better have a good look around and then get the girls together for a trip to be kitted out. Give me a call when you’re about to leave, I think I may treat myself to something really nice, seeing that I’ll be here when old Butt gets himself led out, in cuffs. The CS has rung me, again, telling me that Butt will be spending the night in the cells, possibly the first night of many more.”

Andy went up the stairs and looked around the function room. He saw a small, but well equipped, kitchen and a well-stocked bar. Another door took him to the office, where he found Maria, sitting at the desk, and going through some paperwork, an open safe in the wall behind her.

“Hi, Andy. Had enough time with Sally? This lot is going to sink our friend Quincey with the tax man, probably be up for a stretch for avoidance after we’ve done with him. Have you had a look downstairs, yet? That’s a sophisticated set-up, I can tell you. The intended dinner had been kept in a sort of bondage kit, with his hands in gloves that were fastened to the belt, and a gag with a hole, big enough for a straw. There was enough bottles of different vitamins and hormones to open a store in a gym. He told Jack that Quincey would hypnotise him, and he would lose minutes, or hours. That’s probably how the victims were kept calm while they were murdered.”

“What about the girl?”

“Poor kid, it’ll take a lot of time with a shrink to get her past this. She said that Parks, and only Parks, raped her. She was kept in a similar harness so couldn’t do anything to fight him off, the bastard! Both of them were happy to see their clothes, which were in sacks, just as the others. There was a third sack with Mary’s things in it, pushed into a corner. Sue wants the two of us to be with her when Butt gets arrested. I think she’s looking forward to it.”

“I’ve never met the man, but I think that it will make me happy, as well. I’ll go and have a look at the basement and the round up the girls for the trip. Sue wants to come as well, how about picking something to look good in, for your moment of triumph?”

“As long as you can afford it, my love, I’ll be happy to do so.”

Andy went down, in the lift that had cracked the case, pulled on gloves, and looked into the basement. The cells looked reasonably comfortable, as far as cells go, and, beyond that, the area was sparse, with only the lift as the entry and exit. He wondered if any of the victims had been given any idea of what lay in store for them. The one thing that made him shudder, was a trolley, similar to a working table in a morgue, with a drain for blood and a tank underneath. It had soft straps either side, for wrists, and another one long enough to go over a chest.

Back on the ground floor, he rounded up all of the WPCs, Sue, and Maria, and they all boarded the coach. On the way, Sue congratulated the girls on their work, so far, and outlined what she expected would happen this evening. When they got to Jolene’s, they all went in, and Andy took Sue and Maria into the upstairs office to see the pictures and other memorabilia while Collette worked her magic on the WPCs. She had pulled in a couple of friends from a nearby salon, to help out. That was something that Andy remembered his mother doing.

While Sue and Maria were being fitted, Andy went to the back store and picked a suit that his father had worn to civic dinners. It was a good fit, and with black brogues, he thought it looked smart. It was also something that he thought would honour his father’s memory. In the office, he opened a drawer and pulled out the two wedding bands that had belonged to his parents. He threaded them onto a gold chain which he tucked into his shirt before he put the tie on.

The police coach driver had a big smile on his face when they all emerged from the shop. The girls had left the coach in full police kit, with bags holding their shoes. Now they emerged looking like angels with their kit in the bags. In busy High Street, the girls looked totally out of place, but he had seen the inside of the restaurant and knew that there, they would enhance the place. Now he knew what they had achieved, that day, he was also looking forward to shipping the well-off cannibals to the cells, even if most of them would only be staying overnight.

Marianne Gregory © 2023

Chapter 8

The trip back to Walton was taken in high spirits, every girl feeling extra special. When they got there, they found that Terry had organised pizza to be delivered, along with some chicken meals. Everyone made sure that they didn’t soil their clothes as they ate.

The team had transported the arrested men to Burton station, to be kept until they could be taken into the city. The diners had all been interviewed, and had shown identification, in case there were any repercussions. They still didn’t know why the raid had taken place, and some even asked if their future bookings would be honoured.

The chefs and the waitresses were back inside, with the chefs making them all some normal food. Most of them realised that it was the last time they would be working there, and Sue looked the other way as cases of drinks were carried out to the carpark.

They were joined by the Internal Affairs guys, looking resplendent in good suits. They told Sue that they wanted to act as barman and wine waiter, seeing that both of them had good experience in bar work, even if it was from the customer perspective. They were sent to have a look around, and to look at the journal which would underpin their case against Nicholas.

The plan was for the main dining room to operate, as normal, with Terry and Lean acting as barmen to make sure there was no trouble. The chefs would produce the meals as ordered from the menu, and there was hope that what happened upstairs, would stay upstairs.

Andy and Sally were to be at the main entry, to direct the guests to the dining room or to the lift. Andy had a clipboard with the list of Decadent Diners. One of the other girls manned the lift. Sue, Maria, and Super Henderson were going to stay in the, now empty, kitchen, waiting for Andy to tell them that everyone had arrived. Jack and Porky were also going to wait, with the uniformed men, in a side room at the top of the stairs. They had one of the hostesses at the bottom of the stairs in case anyone wanted to go up, who wasn’t on the list.

With the IA men working the bar, and the rest of the hostesses working the tables with drinks, they thought that they had everything covered. Sue had organised two more coaches, to take those diners who were arrested into the city. These were now waiting behind the Swan. Nicholas would be going with the IA officers.

When the first of the normal diners started arriving, they were directed to the main room and sat at tables, with the usual staff serving them. If any asked where Quincey or Parks were, they were told that they were very busy, with a special event, upstairs in the function room. As the special guests arrived, they were directed to the lift where they went up, to be seated at designated places. If they asked where Quincey and Parks were, they were told that they were downstairs with some special diners but would join them later.

When Nicholas arrived, with his wife and his friends, the partner in the business insisted that he wanted to see Quincey, but Andy was able to assure him that, although Quincey wasn’t immediately available, due to pressing business in the basement, he would join them shortly.

As Andy ticked off the names, he was staggered at the sort of people who would pay good money to eat human flesh, especially as there were a few that he knew had high-profile positions. Finally, all the booked diners had arrived. Andy went into the main dining room and told Terry and Lean that the main event could now go ahead. Terry stood at the entrance to the kitchen and called for some quiet.

“Ladies and gentlemen. It is my sad duty to have to tell you that this is the last meal to be served at Hyp-Nouvelle. As such, it will not cost you a penny. I am Detective Inspector Gardiner, of the CID, and we have arrested the owner, manager, and head chef. You will, no doubt, be able to read why in the newspapers over the coming week. Now, seeing that the meal is free, please make sure that you eat well. I have put a bowl on the bar so that you can donate the cost of your meal to the excellent chefs, and other staff, who will not have a job tomorrow.”

Leaving Lean to keep the peace, he then joined Andy to go up the staircase, to be there when the main business of the night takes place. On the way he spoke quietly.

“I didn’t tell those fat cats that we’ve put a booze bus on the motorway into the city. There’s a few in there that’ll be paying a lot more than they expected for tonight’s meal.”

They walked into the function room and Andy went to the kitchen to tell the others that everything downstairs was set. The men from the side room were now gathered by the entrance, out of sight. The diners were all talking among themselves, only Nicholas looking around, as if he suspected that something wasn’t right. He was proved correct when Sue led Maria and Andy out of the kitchen. The two IA men came out from behind the bar and walked towards his table. The blood drained from his face as he realised what was about to happen.

Sue stood by the bar and called out, in a loud voice.

“All right, you lot, be quiet! I have something to tell you that is going to change your lives, and not for the better. You have booked in for this meal, expecting to eat various parts of a human. Some, if not all of you, have been at affairs like this before. Maximillian Quincey kept good records, including pictures, of the other nine times he had hosted his special dinner. Now, there is a loophole in committing cannibalism, but that only works with stranded sailors. I don’t see a ship anywhere close, so that won’t save you. What we’re going to do is formally arrest each and every one of you with suspicion of being an accessory after the fact to nine murders. You will all be taken to the city, where you will spend your night in cells. The property, here, will be fenced off and guarded so that you will be able to collect your cars later. Should you be able to prove that you were not at any of the previous dinners, you will still be charged with intended cannibalism and released, on bail.”

The IA officers charged Nicholas, leading him out to their car in cuffs. His wife fainted as she realised that the high life was over. Andy and Maria charged the partner with being an accessory before, and after, the murders. Passing him to the uniformed officers who were now guarding the entrance. Amid demands that they were innocent, in raised voices, each of the other diners were arrested and cuffed, to be taken out to the coaches, now waiting outside.

When the room was cleared, Sue suggested that they had a very fine champagne behind the bar and that it was time for a celebratory drink, but just the one. As they all left the building, a contingent of nightshift uniformed were arriving. Terry told them to make sure that all of the remaining diners in the main room got away, safely, and that the building was cleared of the staff. The FSI would be around, on Sunday, with a team to go through the whole place.

The coach for the Burton girls had arrived and they all boarded to be taken home. Sue and Maria regained their bags with the mornings outfits. The men from the city would be going back with the prisoners, in the other two coaches. The team stood in the carpark and Sue told them that there would be a meeting, on Monday morning. As the rest of them walked to their cars, she turned to Andy.

“The evening is still young. I think that we can go and see how Sky is doing. Then you can take me home, young Andy. You youngsters did well, today. I can see commendations coming down from on high. My own reward was to watch Butt as his face went white. I don’t think that IA will go easy on him, now they’ve seen the basement and read the case that you two put together.”

Andy drove them to the Queens Hospital, where they were given special dispensation to visit Sky Walker. Sky was awake but hooked up to several machines. He still managed a smile when they went into his room.

“Well, look who the cat dragged in!” He wheezed. “How did it go, boss? I’m sorry that I didn’t make the big show. The doc has told me that I wasn’t far from making it at all. It was thanks to Andy and that lass from Burton who got me here in time to stop me drowning in my own blood.”

“We got them all, Sky, including Butt and his pal. The victim was saved, unharmed and bit fatter than he had been before he was taken. The only downside was that his girlfriend was there and had been abused by Parks. Like you, though, they will live. We’ve been told that we only have a few minutes, but I’ll be back to see you through the week. Make sure that you see the morning papers. I rang old Jackson to tell him to pitch a tent outside the station, to see a couple of coachloads of highly placed felons arrive. We arrested them all with accessory to murder. None of them can say that they didn’t know what they were about to eat.”

As she stepped back, Sky beckoned to Andy to come closer. He took Andy’s hand in both of his and used the last bit of his strength to grip the hand tightly.

“Thank you, Andy, and thank your dad for that car. The doc told me that if we had been five minutes late, I would have been DOA. It was a hell of a trip, especially with that girl holding me steady.”

“Sorry to tell you, Sky, but she’s married with a kid.”

They all smiled, and Sky fell back on the pillow to sleep. The three of them left the hospital and were back on the motorway, going south. On the way they passed a traffic stop where the breathalyser boys were doing a roaring trade. After that, Sue, from the back seat, laughed.

“Andy, why don’t you show me a little of what this mild-looking car can do? Just for a couple of miles, though.”

Andy flicked the switches and planted his foot to the floor, throwing Sue back in her seat with the acceleration. At a hundred and twenty, he slowed down and turned off the lights and siren. Sue was in the back seat, laughing fit to bust.

“Don’t ever do that again, without an official reason. You’re a real chip off your dads block. Thank you for the dress, by the way. Collette told me that it was on your account. You’ll find that such gifts won’t bring you special favour in the office, it will only be your future work that will bring you that. You cemented your places in the team, both of you. When I see good detectives, I hang on to you with everything I have. I’m sure that the Chief Super will want a word, or two, next week. After you drop me off, go somewhere that you can enjoy those glad rags. I’ll see you both on Monday morning.”

After they had dropped her off, at her home, they went to a night club where they knew that they could get a reasonable meal, even though it was late. They ate, and they danced, until they decided that there was a bed, calling them to it.

Sunday morning, Sue was eating a late breakfast when her phone rang.

“Good morning, Susan Cousins here.”

“Susan, lovely lady. It’s Jacksom. Thanks for the heads-up for last night. We got some pictures of some very well-known people being led into the station in cuffs. One of them is a sub-editor at my paper. I have a photographer camped outside there, today. What I’d like to know is what all these high-profile folks were up to, illegal gambling, perhaps?”

“No, Jacko, old pal. It’s a lot more serious than that. My boss is likely to call a press conference on Monday, but to whet your appetite, I suggest that you go and look into your records for nine cases where a young man had been found, naked, about every three months, with the first being at the woods near the Police College. All of those that we arrested were at a restaurant called Hyp-Nouvelle, in Walton. The manager, owner, and the head chef are in the Burton nick until we bring them to the city, later today. One of my team, Sky Walker, is in the Queens, recovering from being stabbed. There was another that has been arrested, but you’ll have to wait for the briefing to find out more. I think that you have enough to get something out for Monday morning.”

“Thanks, Sue, sweetheart. I’ll get on to it straight away. Thanks for the scoop with the Singh case, that made a good story, especially when your lot arrested the wife. There’s a lot of back-story there. It will be in the paper for some time to come. Can’t you just give me a pointer on these from Saturday night?”

“I’ll give you one clue, which you should treat carefully. You should look in your records for the trial of Dudley and Stephens. That’s all you’re getting, now go and do your homework. I’ll see you at the briefing.”

Across town, Andy and Maria were also at breakfast, decidedly a lot wearier than Sue. They were both feeling a little let down after all of the excitement. Andy was berating himself for not being able to protect Sky from the knife. Maria had to bolster his spirits.

“Andy, love. You couldn’t do anything. I spoke to the other WPC who was with you. She told me that you hit the Algerian like greased lightning once he’d stabbed Sky. She reckoned that she could see the bruise on his forehead starting as she cuffed him. She was in awe of you and asked me if we were a couple. When I told her that we were, she called me a ‘lucky beggar’ and I know that’s what I am; lucky that we met, and lucky you are my lover.”

“They were a good bunch, those girls. Efficient and hard working. Burton are lucky to have such a good team at the station. Sally was a rock, when she guided me to the hospital, steady and calm. I only got the shakes when we were waiting to see if Sky had made it. I didn’t have time to be scared as we took him in, just after as I relived some of the other cars getting out of my way. I now see what made my dad the man he was. When you hit those switches, you have no idea whether you’ll be safe at the end of the chase. He lived life to the full, and when you’re standing next to your car, afterwards, it’s a whole new life, waiting to be enjoyed.”

“You did him proud, yesterday. It was a long, but good day. I almost felt sorry for old Nicholas as his face went white. He’s had a lot of years as the top man in that office. Now his team are going to get interrogated. I expect that IA will need to talk to me and Jenny. Speaking of Jenny, I’ll give her a call, down south, we might be able to take a quiet drive and treat them to lunch, and a little hint on what has happened. Jenny will be amazed at how it ended, and her husband will keep it quiet. Let’s see if they’re home.”

She picked up her phone and made the call. By lunchtime, they were well south of the city, sitting in a country pub that Jenny had suggested. As Maria laid out the case, and what she had been doing since she moved to Aston, Jenny became more amazed. Her husband said very little until they got to the nub of the matter, the matter of serial cannibalism, in a popular, and expensive, restaurant. He then put out his hand to shake Andy’s, and then Maria’s.

“That is a great piece of detective work that you and your team have done. What’s going to happen to the team from the other station?”

“We expect that they’ll get grilled by IA. Nicholas is over and done with, as far as his career goes, considering that he was one of those arrested last night. He must have known what they were doing, considering that he shuffled all the cases to Jenny and me, then not allowing us to do any actual detecting. It’s only when we started the dives that we started finding the clues we needed. He might get done for accessory to murder, times eight, if he was sucked in by being a guest at the first dinner. Then there’s the two girls, the Swede and Mary. Parks is going to get a long stretch for rape and murder with those.”

“I’m going to make sure I read the papers, over the next few weeks. Is there going to be a briefing?”

“Yes, I think that the higher-ups will call one for Monday. It should be interesting when we reveal the reason for the arrests.”

“Were there any problems with the operation?”

“Just the one, when the head chef stabbed one of our team with a kitchen knife. Andy hit him with a karate strike and then taped Sky’s wounds with blue chefs tape, before getting him to the Queens at Burton. They say that it was touch and go. We had paramedics, but they were in the basement with the intended victim and his girlfriend. If we had waited for them, Sky wouldn’t have made it; he would have drowned in his own blood.”

“Looks like you earned your place in that team, Andy. How long have you been a copper?”

“I think it might be three, or is it four, weeks. Time goes by so fast when you’re having fun!”

“Tell me more.”

“I was at the police college when I found the first victim in the woods. It hit me, hard, and the psychiatrist wouldn’t let me join the force as a working copper. I spent two years as a ‘special’ doing clerical work and shuffling papers until Sue called me up to her office. She thought that my first-hand knowledge would help with the case.”

They had a good, long, lunch. When they got home, they were tired, as the events of the previous day were catching up with them. That evening, they had a light tea and went to bed, this time to sleep.

Monday morning, at the office, Sue called them all to be quiet as she outlined the events of the day.

“We have a press briefing at eleven. I want you all there, looking positively intelligent. The CS will lead it off, but there may be questions. If we don’t want to answer any, Terry or I will interrupt. Before that, we have a little housekeeping to do. During Sunday, IA interrogated Nicholas and are, as we speak, at Harborne talking seriously to his team. Maria, I expect that they’ll need to see you sometime later. When they talk to you, be open and tell them everything. I can tell you that all of the arrested diners were released, on bail, but their photos are likely to be in the paper, tomorrow. There is a small coverage of them being pulled in, gracing today’s paper, but the wet stuff will hit the blades after this morning. We should be getting the reports of the interviews later today, so that we can go through them to see how many are in the scrapbook, once FSI have done with it.”

“Who did we keep, boss?”

‘Well, there are the three main players that are still at Burton. Terry, take Andy and Lean, with three cars and three uniforms, up there this morning, and bring them back. That should give the press another photo opportunity. Nicholas is at headquarters, in solitary, unless he’s somewhere with a bright light shining in his face. The business partner is also being kept, seeing that he must have known what they were eating with the first dinner, so that he could blackmail Nicholas. OK, it was a good operation, team. Let’s get to it and enjoy the day.”

Terry, Lean and Andy left the office, to go downstairs and get three cars, with drivers. They were driven to the station at Burton, where they signed for the three felons, taking them, one at a time, to the cars, with hands cuffed behind them. They drove back, in convoy, to Aston, where the expected crowd was waiting for them, the arrested men unable to shield their faces.

After handing their charges over to the duty sergeant to be put into cells, they joined the rest of the team to go into the briefing. It was, as expected, a packed conference room. The CS called for quiet and asked them to stay quiet as there would be an opportunity for questions, after. He then left the floor to Susan, who shocked the reporters with her first words.

“Most of you would have, by now, found out who we arrested on Saturday evening. They were, undoubtedly, the cream of society. Every one of them have been charged with being an accessory to a number of murders, as well as being also charged with cannibalism.”

At that, there was no holding back. She was able, eventually, to outline the particular victims and the fact that parts of them had been served at expensive dinners at Hyp-Nouvelle. She also alluded to two other murders, of young girls, who had been in the wrong place, at the wrong time, as their boyfriends had been taken. She congratulated her team on exemplary work in taking these cases from another team and solving them.

“We believe that these murderers got away with the deeds because one of those arrested was a serving police officer, in charge of the team given the cases to solve. One of the others was the sub-editor of one of the local newspapers, who made sure that all the reports of the discovery of the victims was kept low-key. They only made one mistake, that led us to the right conclusion, and that was someone wanting to scare some people who had upset them. It will all be revealed as the cases go to court.”

When they were out of the room, the team kept out of the limelight. Back in their office it was difficult to start anything else, so Sue told them to just go to the canteen and get some lunch, while she had a meeting to attend to. She went upstairs to the Chief Super’s office, wondering what he wanted to talk about. She thought that everything that needed to be said, had been said, this morning. She was told to go straight in, finding more than the CS inside.

“Come on in and sit down, Cousins. I think you’ve met the Assistant Commissioner before; he came up from London after he found out about the job your team has done, and to make sure that none of the high rollers try to browbeat us. He’ll be here a week or so.”

“Quite so! I have met several of those who you had in your cells, and they are not to be toyed with. They do have friends in very high places. This stain might not last as long as you think it will. Mind you, between us, you’ve given them a hell of a fright!”

“Thank you, sir. Is that all?”

“Not quite. There are a few commendations coming down from on high. Have your team in the conference room tomorrow afternoon, about two. There’ll be a commendation for Walker once he gets out of hospital. Nearly dying on duty is always rewarded, although not dying can be reward of its own. Tell him that, when you see him, next. That’s all, Susan; that was a slick operation, overall, a real credit to the force.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll see you, tomorrow, with my team. Thank you for your help, Assistant Commissioner.”

The AC nodded and Sue left the room. Back down in the office, she sat at her desk and thought about what sort of future Andy and Maria were going to have, as it looked, to her, to be a serious affair. When the others came back from their lunch, she told them that they had a meeting, the next day, in the conference room. She gave them all the rest of the day off, and to front up, bright and ready for work, in the morning.

Andy and Maria went off to see Sky, finding him a lot brighter and able to talk for a bit longer.

“That nice girl, Sally Brown, came to see me this morning. She was such a strong person in the ride here. She told me a lot about the operation after she had got back. It was such a different experience for her. She is in awe of the work that detectives do, and how we get to the answers. We had quite a discussion. I also had a short talk with a spook. You can tell them from a mile away. He wanted to talk about you two, to get my thoughts on how much you put into this case. I told him that it was all down to you, with the rest of us just acting as back-up.”

“Never! You know that it wouldn’t have been solved without the whole team. We had the briefing this morning, it was a hoot. Sue hit them between the eyes with the news that all the high rollers were charged with accessory, with cannibalism as a fall-back. The press went into a frenzy. We’ve been told that there’s another meeting, tomorrow.”

“That will be when they hand out the commendations, with a promotion sometimes thrown in. Enjoy it, while you can. You’ll have to excuse me now, kids, I need to get some sleep.”

Andy gripped his hand, and Maria gave him a kiss on his forehead before they left. They stayed in Burton for an early tea and the went home. That night, they slowly undressed. Andy stood, in more ways than one, and looked at Maria.

“You’re beautiful, my love, you look almost good enough to eat.”

“Bloody hell, Andy. A month in the job and you’ve already learned how to use black humour! I want the entrée, first; then you can have mains, hopefully with a second helping. Then, my love, we shall both enjoy dessert, as long as you have recovered by then.”

Andy just smiled and went to hold her. It was going to be a good night.

Marianne Gregory © 2023