40

Traces of earth found on Amanda’s body had been analysed. There hadn’t been much to work with, but a tiny scraping of mud from her dressing gown had yielded some interesting results. Eileen had gathered the team together to discuss the findings.

‘So the soil didn’t come from where the body was found?’ someone asked.

Eileen merely grunted. The report concluded that the soil had come from a cultivated garden. Microscopic fibres from plants including roses and daffodil bulbs had been found, along with traces of pine bark and evidence of dog waste from a Pitweiler, a cross between a Pit bull and a Rottweiler. The report was unequivocal; the mud couldn’t have come from land adjoining the road where the body had been discovered. The findings tied in with the scene of crime officers’ judgement that Amanda was already dead when her body had been deposited there.

‘She left a single shoe outside her house,’ Eileen said. ‘Why? She must have known we would find it. Was she trying to tell us something?’

No one answered.

‘What about the dog faeces found in the mud?’ Geraldine asked. ‘Did the victim or anyone living nearby own a potentially dangerous dog like that? If it’s a dangerous cross-breed, surely it can’t be that common?’

Again the questions were met with silence. The specimen had been carefully analysed but the results were frustrating. No dog matching that description had been registered with a certificate of exemption anywhere in the area which meant that if the animal lived locally, the owner was keeping the dog illegally. That alone was cause for concern. A trained dog handler at the police station confirmed what they all knew, that such a cross-bred animal could be dangerous.

‘These dogs are required to be registered for a reason,’ the dog handler explained. ‘An animal with that genetic heritage can become vicious if it’s not properly cared for and effectively trained. The same is true of any dog, of course, but this kind of Pitweiler typically combines the strength and aggression of a Rottweiler with the temperament of a potentially belligerent Pit bull. If it’s being held somewhere in the area, we need to be notified so we can check that appropriate safety measures are in place, like keeping it muzzled in public. And we need to be sure the animal is being well cared for. We have no record of any such animal living in the York area. If you track it down, we need to speak to the owner and check the dog’s living conditions are appropriate. It would need to be properly exercised, and well trained, and of course it would have to be muzzled.’

A team was set up to question people who lived near Amanda’s house, moving in ever widening circles, searching for information about a large dog being kept somewhere in the area. Despite the slightly baffling evidence, there was an air of renewed optimism in the team as they went about their allotted tasks. They were all aware that if they could only trace the dog, they might find the killer, and an unusually large dog had to be easier to find than an unknown man. Since she had already questioned her once, Geraldine started her enquiries with Moira who had been living next door to Amanda. Moira looked slightly taken aback to see Geraldine on her doorstep, and she hesitated when Geraldine explained she would like to ask a few more questions.

From along the hallway, they heard Geoff’s voice calling out, ‘Who is it, love?’

‘It’s that policewoman come back with more questions.’

‘You’d better invite her in, then,’ he answered.

Still Moira hesitated.

‘Is there a problem?’ Geraldine asked.

Moira looked uncomfortable. ‘It’s just that, well, we’ve been thinking we’d really like to keep the poor thing. But of course, if there’s someone who has a claim to it –’

It took Geraldine a moment to work out what Moira was talking about. As soon as she realised, she hurried to reassure her.

‘I’m not here to talk about your neighbour’s cat. I’m here as part of a team conducting an investigation into Amanda’s murder. I can assure you we’re not interested in her cat, and I’m sure you’re looking after it very well.’

Ironically she had actually come to ask about a dog. When she explained what she was there for, Moira invited her in at once. Geraldine accepted so that she could speak to Moira and her husband, either one of whom might have heard or seen something about a large dog living in the vicinity. But she might as well not have bothered as neither Moira nor Geoff could offer any helpful information although they spent a long time discussing what breed of dog one of their other neighbours owned, finally agreeing it was a corgi.

‘Like the Queen’s dogs,’ Moira said.

‘But not a big dog,’ Geoff added.

Geraldine continued her enquiries, but even people who tried to be obliging came up with similar useless responses. Returning to the police station, she found her colleagues had also drawn a blank. No one had reported hearing an unknown dog barking at night, and no one had seen a large dog matching the description they were given. Opinions among the officers were divided. Some of the team concluded the dog couldn’t be living in the area, while others thought it was being kept somewhere out of sight.

‘No one could hide a dog that size,’ Ariadne said. ‘It would need to go outside to be exercised and then someone would see it.’

‘Not if it was only let out at night.’

‘But people would hear it barking.’

‘Perhaps it’s never let out at all.’

‘If it’s being cooped up somewhere, it’ll be going stir crazy.’

But whether the dog was local or not, their failure to trace it was disappointing. Even approaching dog breeders nationwide yielded no result, although if the animal was an illegally produced cross-breed, there was unlikely to be an official record of its existence. The mood around the police station was deflated that afternoon. Eileen marched out of the meeting, frowning, and once she had left the room the remaining officers dispersed quietly. Not for the first time, Geraldine felt that Eileen had let slip a chance to motivate the team with a few encouraging words, although it was difficult to know what she could have said without sounding patronising. Everyone knew they were not getting very far with the investigation. With a sigh, Geraldine returned to her desk to begin writing up her decision log for the day.