‘Sergeant,’ Masters nodded at the overweight man accompanying him.
Sergeant McDonald was late forties, moustache, nicotine-stained fingers, ill-fitting clothes and dirty shoes. Probably divorced or never married, weighed up Carlos. McDonald pulled a notebook from his pocket, but couldn’t find a pen. Carlos raised an eyebrow while Masters tutted and handed one to the flushing sergeant. Poor man was probably confused at his boss’s behaviour, unless Masters always spoke to witnesses like this.
‘Yes, sir. Perhaps you could walk me through what happened this evening, Mr Jacobi.’
Carlos sighed. ‘My brother-in-law and I were taking a walk in the woods on the other side of the village with my dog when she disappeared. We heard her barking, followed her into the denser part of the trees, and she led us to the body.’
Carlos was weighing up whether DS McDonald was like his boss or had been thrown by his attitude. His tone was flat, not aggressive, but there was an edge.
‘Could you tell me what you were doing in the woods so late, Mr Jacobi?’
No-one from the police force had impressed Carlos so far this evening, which didn’t bode well for finding the killer of the next-door neighbour’s husband. If that was who Lady had found in the woods. He ran through the little he could tell them.
‘As I said just now, Sergeant, we were walking the dog. I arrived up here late from London, had dinner and the dog needed exercise. My sister suggested the woods.’
‘Fine dog, that,’ said Masters, looking over at Lady who had settled herself at Carlos’s feet, keeping one eye on Masters the whole time.
‘Yes, she is, belonged to a friend of mine. Barry Tate, I’m sure you remember him.’ Carlos couldn’t resist the challenge.
A brief flicker of fear filled Masters’s eyes. ‘Yeah. Brute of a man, and a bully, McDonald. Be thankful you never met him.’
Nothing could have been further from the truth, but Carlos resisted retaliating. Instead, he took a different tack.
‘I take it you believe the body’s that of the neighbour’s husband. The one who had done a bunk – according to the local police?’
Masters’s head shot up, ‘Don’t get smart with me, Jacobi. Just stay out of my way or—’
‘Or what?’ Carlos raised his eyebrows quizzically.
‘Or I’ll have to arrest you for obstruction. We don’t know who the body belongs to yet. In the police force, we don’t make assumptions; we wait for the evidence, and then make conclusions based on fact.’
‘Touché,’ answered Carlos, smiling for the first time.
Masters stood abruptly. He had the winning hand. ‘Right, McDonald, I think we’ve got enough from Jacobi here. We may need to interview the sister and brother-in-law tomorrow. We’ll need to know their whereabouts once we establish time of death.’ He smirked.
‘Leave them out of this, Masters. Whatever gripe you have with me doesn’t involve them.’
‘I don’t know what you mean. It’s for me to decide who does and does not have anything to do with my investigation.’ Masters smirked again. ‘Goodnight, Jacobi. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else from you. Good dog,’ Masters reached down to stroke Lady, but she let out a low growl and he withdrew the hand quickly.
Carlos would have slammed the door after them if it weren’t for Sophie and Gary being in bed and it not being his own home. He felt the familiar rage that Masters always managed to bring out in him. He was furious with himself for taking the bait about Sophie and Gary; now he’d put them firmly on the man’s radar as a weak spot.
Lady snuffled his hand and he ruffled the fur on her head. ‘You didn’t like him, either. Good girl. Shows you have taste. Why did it have to be him of all people? I thought I’d never have to see his face again. At least he didn’t wake the old lady next door, that’s something.’
Carlos sat for a while, reliving the memories of a day in Basra a few years earlier. Then he rubbed his dog’s ears.
‘Nope, Lady, he hasn’t changed one little bit. Looks like it’s down to us now.’
5
Carlos slipped out of the house at 6am. He’d heard Gary get up and turn on the shower. Sophie was more of a night person, so he assumed she would be fast asleep. The morning was still and fresh, with frost turning the previous night’s rain to ice patches.
‘Come on, girl. Let’s see what we can find.’ He removed Lady’s lead once they were at the edge of the woods and broke into a jog with Lady running in and out of the trees like she had the night before. It was still dark, but he wore a head torch. He had hardly slept, mulling over his meeting with Masters all night, but now he had a plan of action.
When they got about halfway round the circuit path, Carlos stopped, waiting for Lady to join him. He put the piece of old cloth he’d removed from the crime scene the previous night to her nose.
‘I knew it was right to keep this. Lady, find.’
Lady barked and hurtled off the main path into the denser part of the woods. He followed at a brisk walking pace, not wanting to trip over again. He still had grazed hands from the night before.
It didn’t take long to arrive at the now cordoned-off area. It was just as he’d expected: police tape surrounding the scene, but no-one had been left to guard it. There was a forensics tent over to one side where someone could be sleeping, although he doubted it. Masters was living up to expectation.
Carlos approached the spot where Lady sat. His army training helped when stealth was required; he carefully avoided snapping any twigs on approach. Thankfully the ground underfoot was still damp under the canopy of trees where the frost hadn’t managed to get through. This made his task easier.
‘Good girl,’ he whispered. ‘Stay.’
The body had been removed. He made out five sets of footprints around the area where the digging had taken place. He suspected the forensics team would be back this morning to search for anything they may have missed under floodlight in the early hours. Masters was unlikely to put the team under pressure unless his senior officer was more diligent than he was.
Carlos decided to move away from the taped-off area. Concluding it would have been thoroughly searched, he started examining the perimeter. This part of the woods didn’t appear well-used; Sophie had said that apart from kids and nature lovers, most people stuck to the main path. Even the adventurous would be more likely to venture into the denser areas during the spring when birds built their nests, attracted by the woodland and nest boxes strategically placed on trees at appropriate intervals.
Carlos called Lady softly with a low hooting sound and put the cloth to her nose again.
‘Good girl. Find.’ After turning her head back towards the cordoned-off area, she understood that he wanted her to look elsewhere, so she put her busy nose to the ground and snuffled, heading off a few metres away from where they stood. He followed cautiously. After a couple of minutes, they came to another small clearing and Lady stopped in front of a pile of leaves.
‘Good girl, but shush. You deserve mega treats now and a big breakfast. Here, girl.’ He handed her a few meat treats.
Carlos found a stick and moved the leaves slowly, using the stick to separate them. They were stiff from the frost which had reached them and moved in clumps. Underneath a large cluster, he stopped prodding as he spied something black protruding out of the soil. Carlos’s heartbeat quickened as he looked around to make sure no-one was there, knowing he shouldn’t be doing this. He donned a pair of gloves and pulled gently at the soil.