Crammed into the satchel on top of the freesheets was a jumble of articles: woollen mittens with fragments of twigs, leaves, grass, adhering; a pigskin wallet holding eighty-five pounds in notes; a man’s white handkerchief, ring of keys, tagged car keys, a leather purse containing some ten pounds in coins; a gold wristwatch engraved on the back with Harold Lingard’s name and the date of his seventieth birthday. Regimental badge, signet ring engraved with entwined initials: HWL. Ballpoint pen, pocket notebook, its last entry dated Friday, November 16, 8.47 p.m., giving details of the spray-painting episode, the names and addresses of the three boys involved.
Edgar made no move, no sound.
Next came a suitcase holding female clothing and personal items, among them a pair of brown leather knee-length boots, brown leather gloves. Beside the suitcase, a shoulder-bag containing cosmetic items, a handkerchief with the initial C embroidered in one corner, a combination purse-wallet holding ninety pounds in used notes, some four pounds in coins; a lady’s gold wristwatch, gold ring set with a solitaire diamond, wedding ring engraved inside with initials and the date of Claire Holroyd’s wedding. A centre compartment in the shoulder-bag unzipped to disclose house keys, chequebook and bank card in the name of Mrs C. Holroyd.
When the Chief ran his fingers over the inside of the bag he discovered a long, zipped pocket discreetly set into the back of the centre compartment. Inside were pedigree papers relating to Hampden Grey Beauty, two hundred pounds in new twenty-pound notes numbered in sequence and a small diary.
The diary opened at the last week in September, where a folded paper had been slipped between the pages – a receipt dated September 28 from the jeweller who had called on the Chief Inspector, acknowledging a cash deposit on a pair of gold cufflinks. The diary page carried an entry for September 28: Pd. deþ. L’s Xmas pres. Collect end Nov.
The Chief glanced rapidly through the other pages. The last two entries were for Thursday and Friday, November 15 and 16. Thursday’s entry consisted of a single word written in block capitals: POSITIVE! Friday’s entry read: And again, POSITIVE!!!
Still Edgar neither stirred nor spoke. As if, Sergeant Lambert thought, seeing the blank gaze Edgar levelled at the proceedings, a shutter had slipped down between his brain and the intolerable reality of what was taking place a few feet away.
He displayed no sign of emotion as three further objects were lifted from the pit: a cold chisel, ball-peen hammer, a length of iron piping. The chisel and hammer were large and heavy, the rounded end of the hammer stained and caked with blood and hair, fragments of bone and tissue. The chisel was similarly stained and caked, with the addition of tattered strands of wool, brown and white. The iron piping was clean and dry.
At the very bottom of the pit they came upon a bag made of heavy-duty, clear plastic, securely tied at the mouth with a length of stout cord. Visible through the plastic was the body of a grizzle-haired pup. In with the body, a collar and lead.
The pup’s head had been brutally smashed in by ferocious blows, possibly delivered from outside the bag with the length of iron piping, after the drowsy animal had been fastened into the bag alive.