Her phone lit the darkened room up. ‘Jacob? Everything all right?’ She clasped it between her ears and pulled the cord tighter on the hotel bathrobe. It had to be important if DS Driscoll was calling her during holiday time.
‘Sorry to disturb you, guv. We’ve just had a call and I knew straight away that you’d want in on this. Me and Jennifer were just sitting down to dinner when it came in. Are you okay to talk?’ One of the other women rolled her eyes and another tutted.
‘Give me a second.’ She grabbed her unread book and left the room, squinting as the bright lights from the gymnasium almost blinded her. ‘Okay. Go for it.’
‘There’s been a report of something resembling a grave in the Cleevesford Woods. Two teenagers taking a shortcut to their school Halloween party happened upon a bell hanging in the bushes. They followed a piece of string leading from it and it led them to a heap of freshly dug up earth. Are you in?’
She pulled the towel turban from her hair and dropped it into the communal linen basket before hurrying to her room. ‘No, but I’ve had enough of this place. I was only sticking it out so as not to waste my money. I definitely won’t be booking another spa break.’
‘Where are you, guv?’
‘Only Stratford – Warwickshire not London. I can be there in about forty minutes. Give me a chance to throw some clothes on and I’ll be on the road.’
‘Great. Forensics have been alerted and PCs Smith and Kapoor have left to set up the cordon and assist.’
Gina hurried to her room and was soon throwing her toiletries into a bag. ‘Let’s hope it turns out to be nothing more than a Halloween joke. See you there.’
Jacob cleared his throat. ‘Get this. One of the girls reported that there was blood on the end of the string that they pulled. They dug a little and found what they think was a coffin.’
Gina felt a shiver run through her as she dropped the dressing gown onto the floor.
‘On my way.’
‘Guv?’
‘Yes.’
‘Drive safely. It’s treacherous out there. All these sudden downpours are creating havoc on the roads with flash flooding.’ He ended the call.
An image passed through her mind; that of her own nails scratching against wood as damp earth chilled her to the bone. She inhaled and shook her head. She prayed it was just a prank, but something told her it wasn’t.
Chapter Six
‘Guv, over here.’ Jacob waved at her from a distance, his raincoat flapping under the portable lighting. The sloshing of the River Arrow could be heard, along with the howling wind and the steady falling rain.
Gina squelched in a puddle along the beaten track, stepping over a fallen branch. Voices called out, people in rain macs and forensics suits bustled around. Two paramedics were gesturing as they finally managed to put the tent up.
She wished she had better footwear with her when she’d had the call. The new trainers she’d bought for the spa break would be ruined. She shivered as the cold water seeped in through the fibres, dampening her feet. She waved back at Jacob as she charged forward through the branches.
PC Smith finished wrapping the police tape around the last tree. Gina ducked underneath. ‘Good night for it.’
Rain bounced off his cap and drizzled off the end of his nose. ‘You’re telling me.’
Her heartbeat quickened as she headed towards the crowd. The lights flickered as tree branches wavered in the light. A gust of wind turned an umbrella inside out. Everyone but her was wearing wellies and raincoats. Her light fleece and skinny jeans were no protection against this level of weather and, to top it all off, her tangled hair kept blowing into her mouth.
Jacob and crime scene manager, Bernard Small, were huddled against a tree as she slid on the mud below and smiled as she successfully righted herself and remained standing. Bernard’s wiry frame arched over Jacob, their profiles silhouetted against the moon’s light.
‘That was close and I made it in one piece. Have you found anything out yet?’ She swiped the rain from her face with her arm and wrapped her annoying hair in a bun and tucked it under the nape of her neck. It would stick like that for a while given how wet it was. Bernard’s long grey beard had escaped from his beard cover and Jacob pulled the hood of his raincoat further over his extreme Action Man-shaped hairline. Despite the harsh weather, his smooth skin and clean-shaven face made him look completely unaffected by the elements. His relationship with crime scene assistant, Jennifer, had done him the world of good. Gina only wished she’d found the magic formula to such contentment and happiness.
‘As you can see, this scene is a nightmare. We have, however, managed to remove some of the soil and just to confirm, what we have is indeed a coffin. There’s a crack in the wood and when we shone a torch in it, we could see what looked like a hand. We prised the lid open and paramedics confirmed that we have a dead male looking to be any age from his late twenties to mid-thirties. It’s going to be a long night.’
Her heart rate quickened and for a moment she didn’t care that she was standing in the middle of the woods, soaked to the skin and feeling close to getting the uncontrollable shivers. It was possible that a person had been buried alive and left for dead. If that was the case, it didn’t get any more sinister than that, especially in the run up to Halloween. ‘What’s the plan?’
‘Finish getting the tent up properly to secure the scene and start working it more thoroughly. I just hope the rain hasn’t ruined or washed away all the evidence. The casket was tightly sealed so hopefully we’ll find something in it that can help. We have the bell and the string too. After we’ve photographed everything, we’ll start filling evidence bags.’
Gina’s shoulders slumped. It wasn’t ideal weather for collecting evidence. It was more likely to be blown away and sloshed down the River Arrow than sent to the lab. ‘Don’t let me stop you. Have you got any forensics suits?’
He pointed to where the light stand was. ‘Over there in the plastic box.’
‘I’ll see you in a moment.’ She glanced back at Jacob. ‘We best take a look. At the very least, I wouldn’t mind seeing who’s in the coffin. We can run the description through missing persons if there are no visible clues to their identity.’
As they pushed through the shrubbery, almost sliding as they hurried towards the lights, Gina glanced around. They were between what she’d always referred to as the wealthier end of Cleevesford and the town centre. Wealthier as the housing estates backed onto this particular area were all privately owned houses, mostly large and detached. The woods eventually came out at the back of the church where anyone walking would then arrive at the top end of the high street. In the midst of the estate there was a country club with vast amounts of land. Whoever chose this spot, knew it was a quiet one. A person could easily dig a hole that was surrounded by bushes without being disturbed. It was far enough away from the houses and the town and, most of all, prying people. With the weather being unpredictable, even dog walkers had stayed away. ‘You know. There’s a high chance that whoever is in that coffin was murdered here.’
‘Here?’ Jacob waited for more as she pulled the forensics suit over her sodden clothes. He pulled out a tissue and wiped the rain from his eyes and nose.