Silence of the Bones: A Murder Force Crime Thriller Read online

  A foyer, which had bare brick walls, had been turned into a makeshift reception area with the addition of a curved counter and a plexiglass screen that ran along one wall and a dozen plastic chairs that had been lined up along the opposite wall.

  A uniformed officer sat at a desk behind the counter, tapping at a keyboard. When he saw Dani, he smiled and said, “Can I help you?”

  “DI Summers,” she said, showing him her warrant card through the screen.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He stood up and came over to the counter. “The squad room is on the first floor. You can take the stairs, or there’s a disabled access lift.” He gestured to a set of wooden and steel stairs that looked like they’d been built in the seventies, and a wooden door with a disabled sign on the wall above.

  “Thanks,” Dani said. She turned towards the stairs but was stopped by the man’s voice.

  “You’ll need this, ma’am.”

  She turned to face him again. He was holding a laminated ID card that had the word Visitor printed across it in red.

  “I’m not a visitor,” she told him. “I work here.”

  “Oh, I see. I’m sorry. So, you already have an ID card, then?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then you’ll need this, ma’am. And if you’d just sign in, that would be great.” He indicated an open ledger on the counter and a pen next to it.

  She walked back to the counter and signed in before taking the proffered visitor’s ID card, which she clipped to the hem of her jumper, as she returned to the stairs. She ascended them slowly. Her ribs might have recovered from the fracture, but Dani was still hesitant to push herself physically. The memories of the agony she’d experienced over the last few weeks were too fresh in her mind for her to risk any action that might bring it back.

  She’d only recently been able to walk without pain shooting through her body, and she wanted to keep it that way. She wasn’t going to set back her recovery by sprinting up a flight of stairs.

  When she got to the top, she was faced with a double door, to which someone had taped a piece of paper bearing the printed words Murder Force.

  Either the budget for the team hadn’t arrived yet, or the builders were still on their Christmas holiday, despite the fact that it was now February.

  Dani opened the doors and was greeted by the sight of a busy, open plan office. Desks had been pushed together to form islands on the expanse of blue carpet and each was a flurry of activity, with uniformed and plainclothes officers typing into computers, answering phones, and chatting with each other.

  A number of private offices and meeting rooms had been built around the perimeter of the large room. Unlike the foyer and the stairs, this part of the building had been built to house the Murder Force.

  “Summers!” DCS Gallow was leaning out through one of the office doors and beckoning her over. She wondered if the uniform in the foyer had informed Gallow of her arrival while she’d been gingerly climbing the stairs.

  “Good morning, Sir,” she said as she approached him.

  “Not for some, it isn’t.” He stepped aside to let her into the room, which had been set up as a meeting room, with a large table in the centre and a large whiteboard fixed to one wall. Sitting around the table were DCI Battle, DC Tom Ryan, the psychologist Tony Sheridan, and Detective Sergeants Matt Flowers and Lorna Morgan.

  “Take a seat,” Gallow said, gesturing to the empty chairs around the table.

  Dani took a seat next to Sheridan, who whispered, “Glad to have you back,” as she sat down.

  “Yes, we’re all glad to have DI Summers back,” Gallow said, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. “Now, let’s focus on this new case. DCI Battle will fill us in on what we know so far.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Battle said. “He climbed out of his chair and stood at the head of the table. “These are a bit grim,” he said, handing out A4 pieces of paper.

  The papers were passed around the table and when they arrived in front of Dani, she looked down at copies of a number of crime scene photos that showed a badly decomposed body, wrapped in a white sheet, lying across what looked like a stone altar within some sort of ruins. The corpse was so badly decayed that barely any flesh was left on the skeleton and that which was still there had been stretched tightly across the bones. The skull, which was topped with long dark hair, and the shoulders poked from the sheet, but the rest of the corpse was covered.

  “You can see right away why this one has caught a lot of media interest,” Battle said. “A few hours ago, the body of a young girl was found in a ruined chapel in the village of Temple Well, Derbyshire. A family from Leicester came across the body while they were visiting the chapel. The body was completely wrapped in the shroud but the father, curious about what was inside, partially unwrapped it. He won’t do anything like that again in a hurry.”

  Holding up a photo that showed the ruined chapel from a distance, Battle said. “This is Temple Well Chapel, built by the Knights Templar in the 12th Century. The press have caught wind of this one and are going with the ritualistic elements on their front pages.”

  “We need to get a result quickly,” Gallow said. “Before the public believe there are satanic cults lurking in every village from here to Land’s End.”

  Tony Sheridan held up one of the photos. “This isn’t a ritualistic killing.”

  “What are you talking about?” Gallow said. “The girl was found on an altar.”

  Sheridan nodded. “Yes, she was. But ritual murder involves the killing of a live victim, an offering to some higher power. This girl has been dead for, what, ten years? There’s soil in her hair and inside the shroud. It looks like she’s been dug up from somewhere else and simply placed on the altar. That isn’t a ritualistic killing.”

  Gallow opened his mouth to speak, but Battle beat him to it. “That doesn’t really matter to the media, Tony. They’ll run with the ritualistic angle because it’s a better story.”

  Sheridan nodded. “Fine, but we need to bear in mind that this girl was dead long before she ended up in this chapel. The location might have been chosen to make us think this is something it isn’t.”

  “We’ll keep an open mind,” Battle said.

  Gallow pushed away from the wall and said, “You can work out the finer points when you get to Derbyshire. By the time you get there, the press will be all over this, so let’s try to get a speedy resolution to this case. Work with the pathologist and identify the girl. Then find out how she ended up in that chapel. Who put her there? We’re arranging accommodation for each of you in Temple Well and the surrounding district. We’ll also be employing a number of uniformed officers to assist with things like door-to-door enquiries.”

  “Will we have a base down there, sir?” Ryan asked. “A temporary HQ?”

  “We’ll find somewhere suitable,” Gallow said. “Everyone clear about what they’re doing?” There were no murmurs of dissent, so he said, “Right, let’s get this one sorted out quickly and efficiently. Dismissed.” He left the room.

  “Looks like you came back at the right time, guv,” Ryan said to Dani. “We’ve been sitting on our arses for a month doing bugger all. The day you return, we land a case. You must be a good luck charm.”

  “Not so lucky for this poor girl,” Dani said, tapping her finger on the crime photo.

  One by one, the team filtered out of the meeting room. Battle leaned over the table, staring at the photo of the shrouded corpse.

  “Everything all right, guv?” Dani asked.

  He looked up and paused for a fraction of a second before saying, “Yes, I think so. I’m just thinking of a missing persons case from fifteen years ago.” He jabbed a finger at the photo of Temple Well Chapel. “Not too far from here.”

  “Do you think this is the missing girl?”

  He shrugged. “It could be. I hope not. I promised her family I’d find her, but the case hit a dead end. If this is her, I’m going to have to go back to her parents and tell them
I failed. Their daughter is dead.”

  “You haven’t failed, guv. I’m sure you did everything you could at the time.”

  “I did,” he said. “But if the girl on that altar is Daisy Riddle, then I didn’t do enough.”

  Chapter 4

  Dani got to her neighbours’ house an hour later. She needed to sort out the dogs before she made the long drive to Derbyshire. Thanks to her neighbours, Elsie and Bob Carmichael, the dogs were always cared for when she spent too long away from the cottage.

  Elsie and Bob, who lived less than a quarter of a mile up the road, knew that if Dani’s car was gone for long, it meant she was probably stuck at work. That sent them into action, and the elderly couple would use the key Dani had given them some time ago to let themselves into the cottage and take Barney and Jack for regular walks until Dani returned. They’d also cared for the dogs while Dani had been in recovery.

  Their own dogs—a French poodle named Bella and a shitzu called Alfie—were friends with Dani’s German shepherds, and she’d looked after them while Elsie and Bob had been on holiday in Spain last year.

  As she pulled up onto the drive of the Carmichael house, she saw Bella and Alfie leaping up at the living room window, triggered into a paroxysm of barking and tail wagging by the arrival of Dani’s car.

  By the time she got out of the Discovery, the house’s front door was already open, and the poodle and shitzu were bounding up her legs.

  “Alfie! Bella!” Bob Carmichael called from the open doorway. “Behave!” He smiled at Dani and said, “Don’t tell me; you’re going away for a while.”

  “I’m afraid so,” Dani said, approaching the doorway with the two dogs still circling excitedly around her legs.

  “I suppose it’s something to do with that girl they found in that ruined church.” Elsie appeared behind her husband, a mixing bowl beneath her arm and a wooden spoon in her hand. She wore a floral-patterned apron, and the smell of something sweet and delicious drifted out of the house.

  “It’s been on the telly,” Elsie said, “and I said to Bob, that’s the kind of thing that Dani’s team deals with.”

  “Sounds like a job for the Murder Force,” Bob added with a wink.

  “Yes, I’ll be driving down there as soon as I’ve packed a bag.”

  “Well, don’t worry about Barney and Jack,” he said. “We’ll take good care of them.”

  “Thank you, I know you will. And they’ll be happy to see Bella and Alfie again.”

  He grinned. “Of course they will.”

  “Ooh, before you go, I’ve got something for you,” Elsie said, before disappearing into the house. She returned a minute later with a large Tupperware container, which she gave to Dani. “I cooked those ginger biscuits half an hour ago. They’re still nice and warm. They should keep you going during the drive.”

  There must have been at least two dozen biscuits in the container, separated into layers by neat folds of baking parchment paper.

  “Thank you,” Dani said. “Now, I’m afraid I really must go. I’ll let you know when I’m back.”

  “You take as long as you need,” Bob said. “Just make sure you catch whoever needs to be caught.”

  She smiled and walked back to the Discovery, still being followed by the dogs. “I will.” She reached down and stroked Bella and Alfie before climbing into the car. As she reversed off the drive, the elderly couple waved to her from the doorway.

  She pulled up on her own drive a minute later and got out of the car. Unlike the Carmichaels’ dogs, Jack and Barney didn’t make an appearance at the window. The two German shepherds preferred to lie in wait inside the door and ambush her when she entered the cottage. God help any burglar who managed to get inside.

  As she put her key into the lock, she heard scrabbling inside, and when she pushed open the door, the two big dogs leapt up and moved in tight circles, their huge tails pounding on the floor.

  “Hello, you two,” she said. “It isn’t long since I left, is it? You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here.” It was only a couple of hours ago that she’d left the house for her appointment with the psychiatrist.

  “Uncle Bob and Auntie Elsie are going to take care of you for a little while,” she said, making her way to the kitchen and opening the cupboard where she kept the dog treats. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She hugged the big dogs and gave each of them a bone-shaped treat before heading to the bedroom and taking a large black suitcase from the top of the wardrobe.

  She placed it on the bed, opened it, and began filling it with items she’d need in Derbyshire such as underwear, jeans, trousers, T-shirts, and tops. After filling a toiletry bag with various items from the bathroom, she packed that into the case, along with the clothes. She threw her laptop and charger on top of everything and added two paperback thrillers she’d been meaning to get around to reading.

  During her recovery, she’d devoured a huge number of books and had reacquired a love of reading that she’d lost at some point during the past couple of years. Now that she’d rediscovered the lost passion, she couldn’t imagine travelling without taking a book.

  As an afterthought, she added a third novel to the suitcase; she had no idea how long she’d be in Derbyshire.

  She doubted this case was going to be concluded quickly. The girl had been dead for over a decade at least, which meant trails would have gone cold, witnesses could have moved away or even died, and memories would have become dulled.

  If the girl on the altar was the missing girl Battle had referred to—Daisy Riddle—then they would at least have a starting point for the investigation, but Daisy’s case hadn’t been solved when her disappearance had been fresh in the memory of everyone involved. Getting those same people to remember details from fifteen years ago would be an almost impossible task, which meant a killer could escape the net simply because of the passage of time.

  The only advantage to finding the body now rather than a decade ago was that methods of detection, particularly in the field of forensics, had advanced over time, and the body would probably contain evidence, particularly DNA, that could bring a swift conclusion to the case.

  The only thing Dani knew for sure at this moment was that the girl on the altar—whether she was Daisy Riddle or not—deserved justice. And it was Dani’s job to help her get that.

  She zipped up the suitcase and took it to the front door.

  Barney and Jack, having finished their treats, watched her with sorrowful eyes from the living room rug.

  She felt a pang of guilt at leaving the dogs, who had become used to her constant company during the last couple of months, while she went away, but knew she had no choice.

  Crouching down, she held her arms out, and the dogs came over to her, resting their heads on her shoulders. “I’m going to miss you two,” she said. Now that Shaun was gone and Charlie spent most of her time at uni, the dogs were her only real company, other than her work colleagues.

  Jack’s ears pricked up and he turned his face towards the front door. His tail began swishing over the floor.

  A moment later, Barney was doing the same thing.

  Dani heard voices outside. She went to the window and saw Bob and Elsie out there, being led across the drive by Bella and Alfie, who were pulling against their leads in an attempt to get to the cottage faster.

  Jack and Barney were going crazy now, bounding up at the front door and yapping excitedly.

  Dani got their leads from where they hung by the door and attached them to the dogs’ collars. She opened the door, and now all four dogs were barking at each other.

  “We thought we’d take them all for a walk on the moors,” Bob said. “Let you get on with packing.”

  “Thanks,” she said, stepping out onto the drive and trying to keep Jack and Barney in check. That wasn’t an easy task; each dog weighed in excess of seventy pounds. She handed the leads to Bob.

  “Don’t you worry about them,” he told her. “They’re in good hands.
They’ll be glad to see you when you get back.”

  She gave the dogs a final stroke and the elderly couple led them away. Anxious to get onto the moors, Jack and Barney barely looked back.

  Dani grabbed the suitcase from the hall, loaded it into the back of the Discovery and climbed behind the wheel. She typed Temple Well into the SatNav and waited for the computer to find a satellite.

  Her phone buzzed. She checked it and found a text that read, Chapel View Guest House B&B, Temple Well, and a postcode.

  The SatNav connected and planned out the route to the Derbyshire village. Apparently, it was going to take almost three hours to get there. Dani didn’t bother changing the destination to the address she’d just been texted; she’d find the B&B when she got to there. The village wasn’t that big, after all, so she shouldn’t have any problem.

  She wondered how big the Chapel View Guest House was; surely the whole force wouldn’t be staying there. If everyone was going to be spread out in and around the village, it would create logistical problems, unless they had a central base to work from.

  She reversed off the drive and headed towards Tollby. The route would eventually lead her to York on the A64, and then south on the A1 to Derbyshire.

  Clicking on the radio to keep her company, she heard the tail end of a drama about a violinist and then the news came on.

  The female newsreader’s voice filled the car. “Derbyshire police still haven’t identified the body of a young girl found in the ruins of Temple Well chapel this morning…”

  Chapter 5

  “James Gibson was a private man,” the vicar said from the pulpit. “That is reflected by the small number of people here today, but he left behind his loving son Robert and his grandchildren, Sam and Olivia.”

  Sitting in the front pew, Rob Gibson turned his head slightly so he could see his wife, Sonia, who was sitting next to him. She was staring straight ahead, her emotions unreadable. She knew as much as he did that the vicar’s words were bullshit. The man lying in the coffin in front of them had never even seen his grandkids. Rob had made sure of that. And as for “loving son,” it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.