She’d sat on the same rotten bench to wait for the bus as he did. Whoever had decided to take Jayne’s life had changed everything in one night. Jacob thought of the shoes that Maggie was wearing that day they went to the café, the shiny red shoes that belonged to her cousin, and shuddered. It was almost as though it could have been Maggie found dead in the woods. That was ridiculous, he knew it was and yet that was how it felt. The thought of almost losing her made him feel sick inside.
They’d found Jayne in the woods – their woods. Everything was tainted. Worse than that, Maggie changed. She stopped hanging out with him and when he did see her, it was like the life had been sucked out of her too. Without her there was a missing piece. Jacob felt anxious. That last day they’d been out together, she had been so much fun, her cheeks pink with the cold and her eyes bright with life. It was the last day when things were normal – when the rest of the world didn’t matter. That was the day that he lost her.
As Maggie drove down the road in her mother’s Cortina, back to the house where her family sat together in grief, none of them paid any attention to Jacob’s next-door neighbour, Mr Anderson, as he pushed his bicycle through the snow and back towards his house. He was the local librarian and they barely saw him as he passed. He was as inconsequential as the grass that lay hidden under the mounds of snow. He was always there, a part of the town that existed beside them. He saw them though. Mr Anderson saw a lot. He’d seen Jacob at the library earlier too and heard him the night before, through the thin walls of the house. He’d seen Jayne Hargreaves too. He’d watched her walking as he went for his late-night stroll. He had followed behind as she walked down the snowy path towards the woods.
*
Mist rose over through the trees as Joyce Taylor and Harry Worthington stood over the newly discovered body of Jayne Hargreaves. The grass stuck up in frozen slivers around the body. A line of blood had run down her head and over her mouth onto the snow. Her clothes were cleanly ironed and her hair lacquered, dressed up for a night out. Harry nodded towards the trees.
‘Maybe she came from that way?’
Joyce curled her nose. ‘What’s going on? That thing at Lyme Park and then this?’
Harry looked around. There were houses behind the path near the pond, but the area wasn’t overlooked. ‘Doesn’t feel the same. The homeless guy wasn’t like this.’
‘No, but still…’
He glanced at her. ‘Half-scalped and hair stuck on a doll. I mean what kind of sick fuck even thinks of doing that? And takes it to Lyme Park?’
Joyce scratched the back of her neck. ‘Yeah, just don’t dismiss it. Whoever did that, is capable of anything.’
She looked down at the girl in the snow, so young, only a teenager.
‘You think it’s the girl reported missing?’
Joyce nodded. ‘Poor kid.’
A dog whined, breath hanging in the January air, and it started to wag and strain. Its enthusiasm felt wrong.
‘Can we get that thing out of here?’ Joyce said, as she started moving towards it.
‘Looks like she dropped like a stone.’
Joyce nodded. There was no evidence of a struggle. ‘Happened from behind?’ she continued.
‘Head trauma to the back of the head, she fell forwards.’ Harry faced the bushes by the side of the path. ‘Probably didn’t even see him coming.’
She tilted her head sideways and leant over the body. ‘Or her.’
‘Right. What are you looking for?’ Harry asked.
‘Her hair’s all still intact anyway.’
‘Jesus,’ replied Harry.
Joyce looked over where the path opened up. ‘They need to secure that side too, looks like there’s a cut through. It shouldn’t just be me that notices these things,’ Joyce said.
‘You eaten?’ he asked.
She shook her head. ‘I’m starving.’
Harry watched as she walked towards the back of the houses.
‘You always get tetchy when you don’t eat.’
She waved her hand. ‘So bring me breakfast, what’s up with you?’ Joyce took a step nearer to where the dog was tethered and it wagged its tail as she got closer. She glanced on the ground, but it was only the pawprints of the dog left on the crushed snow.
She turned towards the trees near the path, resisting the urge to go and pat the dog in case she contaminated any of the evidence. The dog shivered and strained as she took out a cigarette and lit it. Harry hated her smoking and it was one of the reasons that she’d brought them with her. She’d cut back to a couple a day and kept them for when they were together to wind him up. It was petty, but it amused her.
Joyce walked back towards him. She could tell that he was distracted.
‘Justin let the dog off the lead and then tied it back up again when he was here. He walked all over the scene chasing the bloody thing and trying to get it back.’
‘Idiot.’
‘He’s got a lot on at home.’
Joyce looked over at the body in the snow and the pair walked towards the path. The area was overgrown and the curves of the path through the long grasses had reduced the visibility almost to nothing.
‘We’re all tired. We’ve all got things on,’ Joyce said, staring forwards.
‘Fancy a drink later? There’s a few of us going out after work.’
Joyce just wanted to go home. ‘Can’t be arsed tonight.’
‘Don’t say I never ask.’
She frowned. ‘Thanks anyway.’
The woods were empty. She wondered how lonely the girl felt. If she knew what was coming. She felt lonely herself, even stood here with him.
‘Still got the handbag with her,’ Harry said.
‘It’s not a mugging.’
‘No.’
‘No obvious sexual assault either.’
‘No.’
‘We need to look at boyfriends. Family. Friends.’
Harry’s mind was elsewhere. He doesn’t realise, she thought, but there was something attractive about him when he was like that. She could smell his aftershave on the breeze, something expensive, too good for wearing for work, and told herself to focus. He rubbed the side of his head.
‘I come here with the walking group.’ He nodded towards the trees.
‘And?’
Harry looked into the distance.
‘It’s not the most popular place for dog walking. All the trees. People go by the field usually.’ He paused. ‘You OK? You look distracted,’ he said.
Joyce laughed. The sound sent a couple of pigeons flying up from the trees. They circled above them before landing further over towards the path.
‘Just thinking.’
He half-smiled. ‘That’s why it looked odd. Not used to it.’
‘Funny. We can ask around if anyone knows the dog. It can’t be hers. The family would have mentioned it.’
‘Scruffy little beggar. Looks like one that’s always in the drive up at the top of the hill.’
Joyce shuddered. The thought of the girl’s family went through her. She wondered how much longer it would be before this job was too much.
‘I’m worried that this is the beginning of something,’ she said, as he walked towards the uniformed officer.