Cold Justice (Willis/Carter #4)(106)

‘I’ll think about what you’ve said; thanks.’

She went to find Carter. ‘What shall we do about the baby’s body from the farm?’

‘Pascoe’s taking it to the lab in Penhaligon.’

‘We should tell Kensa,’ said Willis.

‘We will, but we’re still waiting for confirmation on the DNA. It’ll take a couple more hours. If it turns out to be Kensa’s we will have a service and a proper burial.’

‘That’s good. We have Jago and Marky coming in this morning at the same time as Raymonds, guv. Which do you want to interview first?’

‘Definitely keep Raymonds waiting while we talk to Jago, then Marky. Are you all right, Eb? You seem a little tense.’

‘I’m fine. Just thinking.’

Carter stepped back as someone shouted for him from the door. ‘Dogs are on to something.’

Willis and Carter went via the veranda and walked across the garden through the gap in the shrub bushes and onto the common. The shroud of mist had dissipated so that it was wispy between the gorse bushes. Dogs’ tails could be seen wagging frantically as the cadaver springers hunted, nose to the ground. They congregated on a six-foot-long patch, which had neither gorse nor tree and only the creeping wild flower across the ground. Carter and Willis walked towards the spot.

Carter looked at the search team and gave his okay to start the digging.

As the sun rose higher in the sky and the wind and cloud gathered momentum the dig began. The sandy soil was still loose around the boards that had been laid to shore up the grave. As they reached down to lift the planks that went across width-ways, they uncovered the dismembered remains of a young adult. The white limbs were laid out in the bottom of the grave, the head had rolled from the blackened torso and it was resting against the sides of the grave.

‘We need to collect a selection of the worms,’ said Willis as she eased herself down inside the grave and gently rolled back the head by its black hair. The eyeless head was alive with insects.

‘It’s a white teenage male. I estimate he’s been in here less than eight weeks,’ Willis continued. ‘Decomposition has been fairly fast because of the amount of water in this ground but the cold air will have helped to slow it a little. The grave is approximately four feet deep and has been supported with planks inside as well as above the body to stop the grave collapsing as the body rotted.’

Sandford picked up one of the lengths of wood and set it to one side to take with him, then he reached inside and handed Willis the camera.





Chapter 47


After they left the common, Willis and Carter drove down to the beach side and the police station.

Pascoe came in and handed Willis a note just as Jago Trebethin made himself comfortable and looked around the interview room as if he felt completely at home and it was all very normal for him.

‘Martin Stokes was a nice old man – it’s a terrible shame,’ he said, shaking his head.

‘You were at the farm that morning?’ asked Willis.

‘No, you know I wasn’t, I was surfing. I saw you.’

‘What about before you went in the water, or when you left us?’

Jago smiled at Willis: she was staring at him. She was trying to work out if he was the sort of man who could stick a man through the base of the spine with a spike. She thought Jago would be a lot more discreet than that. Perhaps drowning might be more his style, or poison. Nothing too messy, she decided. The expensive shirt would be ruined.

‘Talk to others about it, Raymonds for a start.’

‘We will talk to Raymonds. I thought you’d feel quite close to him,’ Carter continued.

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Your mother and Raymonds? It’s a long-standing affair, I hear?’

A real flash of anger crossed over Jago’s face and then disappeared just as quickly. ‘Gossip, that’s all. This is a small town and tongues wag.’

He smiled and tapped the heel of his boot on the floor as if ready to leave.

‘We got it from a reliable source. Him and your mum go way back. In fact, it’s commonly understood that all your school fees, your uni fees, all paid by Raymonds,’ said Carter. ‘No wonder your dad left.’

‘My dad left because he found someone else. The affair didn’t start till after. What does it matter, anyway? I never asked him to do these things. I didn’t ask to be sent away to school.’

‘Better to get you out of the way, I suppose.’

‘Whatever – I had a good education out of it. For that, I’m grateful.’

‘I expect you came back here hoping to be one of Raymonds’ favourites but Cam seems to have worked his way in the back door. It looks like he’s set to build an empire for himself with his new restaurant on the beach while you struggle to get a licence for an icecream van, I think.’

He shrugged. His hands were clasped between his knees as he sat forward in the chair, occasionally pushing back his fringe with the heel of his hand.

‘Who knows? Dreams can come true,’ he said in a cheesy way.

‘Did Martin Stokes stand in your way?’

‘God, I wouldn’t waste my time killing an old farmer; he was always going to find a way to get that done without my help.’