The previous night had been the coldest of the year so far. The air had been heavy with the smell of de-icer, as Warren and his next-door neighbour scraped the frost off their cars.
Warren hadn’t seen his gloves since the previous winter and could barely feel his fingers as he drove into work. The journey was almost over by the time the hot air blowers finally stopped blasting ice-cold air into the car and started to do their job properly. His thoughts turned to the whereabouts of Joey McGhee. It had always been a long shot, hoping that the man would return, and Warren was resigned to the fact that a potential lead had vanished. He knew from previous experience that some members of Middlesbury’s homeless community were often happier living under the radar, and that despite the best efforts of outreach workers could be almost impossible to track down if they really didn’t want to be found.
He was surprised though. McGhee had actually approached the police directly, and although he was clearly prepared to sleep rough when necessary, he was engaging with the support workers. On top of that, he had yet to claim his reward money from Crimestoppers. The forty-five pounds that Warren had given him wouldn’t last long, and it seemed strange that he hadn’t returned to earn more money. No tips had been received via the anonymous helpline, suggesting that he hadn’t decided to earn the money that way.
Parking up, he saw Ruskin’s bicycle in the bike rack, and knew he would be showering downstairs. After he and Mags Richardson had both managed personal bests in the local half-marathon the previous spring, the man was now training for a triathlon. Where he found the time to train, work so much overtime, and organize a wedding was a mystery to Warren. Did he ever sleep?
The briefing room was standing room only, with Warren’s Middlesbury-based team outnumbered more than two-to-one by seconded officers from Welwyn. Warren recognized many of the faces from previous investigations, but a substantial number of the junior officers were new to him. He’d decided to place Shaun Grimshaw and Jorge Martinez in charge of dividing the visiting detectives into smaller work groups headed by his own, Middlesbury-based team. It was the sort of job that they would be expected to do as inspectors.
The meeting started with some positive news from Rachel Pymm. ‘The knife that was used to kill Stevie Cullen belonged to the victim.’
She projected an image of the weapon recovered from the riverbank. Beneath it, a second image was recognisably the same knife.
‘Stevie Cullen was arrested for driving without a licence or insurance two years ago. The arresting officers searched his vehicle and found this knife in the boot. They photographed it as a matter of routine, but since it was in the boot and hadn’t been identified as used in any crime, it was returned to him.’
‘Why would he have had it on the day of his murder?’ asked Hutchinson.
‘Forensics have examined the blade and the handle, and they think it was a working knife. His best friend, Benny Masterson, claims that Stevie brought it back from France years ago after a family holiday and rarely went anywhere without it. He used it all the time when he was on the farm. He shouldn’t have been carrying it in a public place but as we know, the Cullens weren’t really ones for following the rules.’
‘If Stevie Cullen was killed with his own knife, then maybe Silvija Wilson is right, and it was self-defence?’ said Pymm.
Warren pinched his bottom lip.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough on its own to exonerate Annie. An initial extension to custody had been granted already, and the time was soon approaching that she would have to be charged with murder or released. He would check with the Crown Prosecution Service, but it was obvious that as things stood, she met the threshold for charging.
‘Moving on, many of you may have heard that the decision has been made for us NOT to hand over the investigation of yesterday’s find in Farley Woods to a different team,’ said Warren.
He raised his voice above the chorus of groans, and muttering. ‘The reasons for that will hopefully become clear in a moment, and it isn’t because the powers-that-be think we have too much free time on our hands.’
There had been numerous finds overnight by the forensic teams out the in woods, and arrangements had been made for the body to be transported to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage for a post-mortem later that day. A new discovery had made the examination of the body the pathologist’s number-one priority.
‘Cause of death won’t be fully determined until the PM has been completed, but an in-situ examination of the body reveals that the injury to the victim’s left leg appears to have been caused by a shotgun,’ revealed Warren. The announcement was news to many of the team who had only just started their shift.
‘Any progress on identification?’ asked a DS from Welwyn.
‘Not yet, though the victim has been provisionally identified as an adult male. Fingerprints are unlikely, due to the decomposition of the body, but DNA should be possible, and the jaw is intact, so dental records are an option. The body hasn’t been moved yet, so we haven’t been able to check all of his pockets, although the uppermost pocket doesn’t appear to contain a wallet.’
Warren switched the image on the wall projector to one of the corpse. It was clear that the elements had not been kind. Lying with its right-hand side against the tree, much of the exposed soft flesh had either decomposed or been eaten. A cap of what appeared to be dark brown hair partly covered the exposed skull.
‘Is that a logo on the T-shirt?’ asked Moray Ruskin. ‘I don’t recognize it.’
‘We’ll get clearer photos when the pathologist removes the clothing during the PM, but from this angle it appears to be foreign,’ said Warren.
‘The badge on those trainers doesn’t look British, either,’ somebody from the back commented, ‘although it’s hard to tell these days, with all the budget brands now available on the high street. I did some work a few months ago on a case that required shoe identification. I’d be happy to take a look.’
‘Thank you. I’ll leave that to you, DC?’
‘Marshall, Sir.’
Warren highlighted the body’s left leg. ‘It looks as though the victim was not shot where he was found. As soon as it’s light, a team will be looking to see if they can find any blood residue to track back to where he was originally injured, but even in the past few weeks there has been plenty of rain. If we’re lucky we might find more pellets, or even a cartridge casing.’
Warren flicked to another image, this time of a pair of what appeared to be garden secateurs lying next to the body.
‘These secateurs were found next to the body. We won’t know for sure until Forensics have finished analysing them, but we are currently operating under the assumption that the victim accessed the woods from the direction of the nearby farmland, rather than the road.’
He flicked to the next slide, showing a plastic-coated mesh fence, with a hole snipped into it large enough for a person to squeeze through.
‘This fence acts as a barrier between the woodland, and a field owned by Ray Dorridge, a local farmer who was seen arguing with Stevie Cullen shortly before his death. We had all but eliminated him from that inquiry, but this is too big a coincidence to ignore. A possible link between this unexplained death and Mr Cullen is why we are currently investigating the two deaths in parallel.’
Warren switched to a close-up of the jagged hole.
‘The cutting blade on the secateurs showed evidence of regular sharpening, so probably could have cut the fence if enough force was applied. Forensics have found a number of different fibres on the fence edges, which we will be seeking to match to the clothing on the body. They have also found what appear to be traces of blood; they’ll be testing the samples to see if it is human, and if so, whether it matches our victim.’
The next photograph was taken from a slightly different angle.
‘There is also what appears to be some animal fur caught on some of the bottom strands. It’s probably from local wildlife traipsing through the gap in the fence, but again, we’ve sent it off for testing.’
‘Any ideas yet how long the body has been lying there?’ asked Hutchinson.
‘Too early to say, but as you can see it’s significantly decomposed. We’re getting entomologists in to collect insect samples, and we’re waiting for a botanist to assess if the local flora can give us some indication how long the body has lain there.
‘The main priority in the meantime is to revisit our old friend Mr Dorridge. Two hours ago, an extended search warrant was executed to search his entire property again, including his fields, outbuildings and any vehicles. He has a licence for two shotguns, both of which have been seized, and we’ll be looking for anything else that might link him to the killing of Stevie Cullen. I’m still not entirely convinced that he wasn’t involved in some way. He’s currently downstairs awaiting his lawyer. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say for himself.’