A Full Churchyard (5 page)

‘It does seem likely someone deliberately established a decoy situation to mislead an investigator. She was in her nightdress when you found her?'

‘No doubt about it, sir.'

‘I'm not surprised that you've nursed concerns about this case. So, Wayne, the first question we must ask is whether this death is linked to others. Remember a ninth body in only three months is destined for the grave tomorrow.'

‘And not one has come to the official notice of CID! Either the killers are very clever or there were no suspicious circumstances in any of them.'

‘There's another factor, Wayne. Looking at things from a detective's point of view, I'd remind us that all have been neatly buried with the minimum of fuss. No suspicions. No police involvement. No publicity. All neatly erased from our memories. It's time we got busy with this enquiry, Wayne. We need to talk to Dr Simpson first.'

‘Are you suggesting our cold-case review will include all the deaths?'

‘In view of what we have learned and what we suspect, we can't ignore that, Wayne. Let's begin immediately to see what comes to light, then we can decide whether to investigate all or just some of those deaths. So tell me again, Wayne, exactly what the witness said, I'm referring to the neighbour who found Miss Croucher. How did she know Mrs Croucher was lying on her utility room floor if that room has no windows?'

Chapter 4

‘S
he explains that
in her statement. She's Miss Rachel West who lived next door at Weaver's Cottage to the right of Tiler's Cottage when facing from the street. . . .'

‘And she one of the CVC Carers, you said?'

‘She is, yes.'

‘Then we must interview her. She inherited Tiler's Cottage from Miss Croucher, didn't she? And had it converted to make Weaver's Cottage and Tiler's Cottage into one large house?'

‘Yes, that's true.'

‘Then there is your motive, Wayne. A reason to speed up the death of Miss Croucher.'

‘That possibility was never investigated.'

‘It should have been! We need to question Miss West and examine her background, Wayne. Please continue.'

‘She had keys for both the back and front doors of Miss Croucher's house and had always been a good neighbour and close friend. She was always popping in over and above her carer's duties.'

‘Was it during one of those visits that she found Miss Croucher dead?'

‘Yes it was. She called in as usual after breakfast. The back door was standing open. The kitchen window was also wide open and once she was inside she noticed Miss Croucher's feet sticking out of the doorway of the former pantry.'

‘A genuine account of her discovery, you think?'

‘There was no reason to doubt her version of events.'

‘So where exactly was Miss West when she first saw Miss Croucher's body?'

‘It was when she entered the kitchen. She could haven't have seen Miss Croucher from outside the house. As you said, the former pantry has no windows.'

‘We need to be absolutely certain about that sequence of events, Wayne.'

‘It's not going to be easy, the house has been radically altered so we can't check her movements with any precision.'

‘How very convenient, Wayne! Please continue.'

‘Miss Croucher was lying on her back wearing her nightie, most of her body being inside the old pantry with its door standing open. Miss West thought her friend must have collapsed or fallen so she touched her, but found her stone cold and stiff. There was no sign of any blood, but thinking she might have been attacked she rang the police. She spoke to Sergeant Cockfield-pronounced-Cofield.'

‘Where did she ring from?'

‘Miss Croucher's own landline phone. She knew the house very well.'

‘That call would have been recorded?'

‘Yes, it was. I've listened to it. The sergeant advised her to remain where she was until his officer arrived within a few minutes. The sergeant would not know that I was going to be there too, but I turned up with PC Carey.'

‘You had ample time to make your own professional observations, Wayne?'

‘Yes, I was in the house for some time. Maybe as long as half an hour.'

‘What was your first impression?'

‘I thought it was a crime scene and said so to PC Carey. I advised him how to proceed. For a while we stood in the front doorway, visually examining the scene like good detectives, not touching or disturbing anything.'

‘So there would have been a minimal disturbance of evidence despite Miss West's presence?'

‘Right. When Miss West went to attend Miss Croucher, she may have unwittingly disturbed something of significance but as things transpired, it was of little consequence. It was not a crime scene. Apart from testing Miss Croucher for signs of life, she handled the telephone. Nothing else.'

‘Can you be sure of that?'

‘Not a hundred per cent, no. Probably eighty per cent. The front door was standing open when I arrived with PC Carey, Miss West was waiting in the hall having already found Miss Croucher. She said the inner door was standing open too when she arrived, and that puzzled her.'

‘So what did you do at that stage?'

‘I remained awhile to help PC Carey because this had the appearance of a crime scene. He called Control Room to request a police photographer, a Scenes of Crime officer and the police doctor, then before they arrived, I invited him to examine the corpse. After all, this was his case so that was his job. At that stage he became the coroner's officer and he'd have to identify the deceased to the coroner. It was essential he viewed the body. He touched her face and tested her pulse. She was, of course, in a state of
rigor mortis
. Undoubtedly dead.'

‘Good training for the constable. Then what?'

‘Due to the odd position of Miss Croucher, perhaps due to attack, I advised PC Carey to search the house in case an intruder was hiding on the premises.'

‘And?'

‘He carried out the search with the least possible disturbance of evidence, but found nothing and no one.'

‘Was it thorough?'

‘I'd say it was more of a cursory search, bearing in mind that we did not wish to disturb any possible evidence. I made sure he searched the loft, then while we were awaiting the doctor and photographer, we made further careful searches for evidence of a physical attack or a break-in but found nothing.'

‘And after that?'

‘Dr Simpson arrived, he's one of the partners in Crickledale surgery as I'm sure you know. He was on the scene very quickly, confirmed the death and, knowing Miss Croucher's medical history, said she'd died from natural causes – old age. He was prepared to certify that.'

‘So this was all very routine police work? In many respects a perfectly ordinary sudden death investigation?'

‘It was. I left PC Carey to cope and took no further part. I was not there when SOCO and the photographer arrived but by then, of course, their presence was not necessary although the photographer took a few photographs, merely for the record. In transpired that that was a sensible thing to do – the position of Miss Croucher was somewhat unusual, the photographs explained a lot.'

‘So when you left the house, you continued your normal duties?'

‘Yes I did. I had to interview a witness for a statement about a crime in Manchester. However before leaving Miss Croucher's house I advised PC Carey not to forget that the deceased had been found in that rather strange position, along with all the other attendant circumstances such as the open doors and windows. I suggested he recorded those facts in his official notebook, just in case the information was needed in the future. And I advised him to obtain a statement from Dr Simpson to record his decision that death was from natural causes. He did so.'

‘Now, Wayne, from your own recollections can you tell me whether Miss Croucher was wearing bedroom slippers as she lay on the floor?'

Wayne frowned. ‘Slippers? To be honest, I'm not sure. Certainly she was in her nightdress and nothing else – no cardigan or dressing gown – and at first she looked as though she was asleep. But bedroom slippers? I can't be sure.'

‘I would have thought that if she had come downstairs for something – a drink of cocoa or warm milk – she might have risked walking down if only to test her own abilities but surely she would have worn slippers? Especially with such a cold stone floor.'

‘That's the sort of thing the photographs might show us,' suggested Wayne.

Pluke opened the file and located the collection of official photographs – he found several depicting the body of Miss Croucher lying on the floor. Her feet were bare with no discarded slippers in sight.

‘There we are, Wayne. Bare feet. I think that's another indication she didn't walk downstairs. I'm beginning to think someone carried her down, but if that happened, was she alive or dead at the time? It wouldn't be easy even for a very strong man to carry her on his own but there were no signs of her being dragged down the stairs, were there? Dead bodies are notoriously difficult to carry even if there are two or three carriers – living people of all shapes and sizes are much easier.'

‘The stair carpet wasn't ruffled and her body bore no signs of rough treatment before death. No bruises or abrasions. The doctor's report confirms that.'

‘We've learned a good deal already, Wayne but the question remains – how did she get downstairs? And was she dead or alive at that time? Now, when all the experts had had their say, what was PC Carey's attitude?'

‘I saw him later. I think he did very well, sir, but he did explain that he felt sorry he had not found any explanation for Miss Croucher's curious death. He felt he had let her down by leaving so many unanswered questions.'

‘He is speaking like a true detective, Wayne, who wants to find answers to every question, however difficult and obscure the answers might be. So where is PC Carey? We should talk to him, he might have had more recollections of the case.'

‘He's been away for a few weeks on a residential police driving course but I believe he's now back in Crickledale. I think Miss Croucher's case upset him, he felt there was something not right about it but couldn't convince his superiors. I think her sad death has been forgotten by most of us.'

‘Except you, Wayne. You said Miss Croucher is buried in Crickledale? In the Anglican churchyard?'

‘She is. You're not thinking of an exhumation are you?'

‘Not at this stage but if our cold-case review suggests a crime was committed and covered up, that's something I'll have to consider.'

‘It won't be easy establishing the truth after all this time, will it? I'll find PC Carey and will have a chat with him but reconstructing events in a house that no longer exists, tracing witnesses, obtaining scientific and forensic evidence will make things difficult.'

‘Nothing is impossible, Wayne. Where there's a will, there's a way, as the saying goes. You've certainly provided food for thought and there's one fortunate aspect to this. It is that Miss Croucher had lots of people caring for her, official and unofficial. They're our witnesses, Wayne, so we must interview every one of them.'

‘Including Mrs Pluke?'

‘She was in Italy at the time, Wayne. I can vouch for that!'

‘I still think she must be interviewed if she attended Miss Croucher. She may have observed something relevant that occurred at other times.'

‘Then you must interview her, Wayne, it would not be ethical for me to do so.'

‘She will not be alone, we're not picking on her! All the carers had access to Miss Croucher's house so all must be interviewed. They wouldn't be interviewed at the time because it wasn't considered a suspicious death.'

‘If I had been on duty at that time, Wayne, and if the suspicions surrounding this death had been made known to me, I would have spoken to every carer and every visitor who had been to her house before her death and even on the day of her death. Neighbours and friends too. I would have interviewed the undertaker – you've indicated he felt the circumstances were odd. I would want to know if anyone had noticed anything unusual about the comings and goings at Miss Croucher's. And what about her relationships with other people?'

‘You make me feel I should have done more, sir, but it was out of my hands.'

‘Experts and senior police officers can be wrong, Wayne. So let's re-investigate this death as if it was a case of homicide or even murder. It will make a splendid cold-case review.'

‘Won't it spark off a panic in town and attract journalists? Surely we don't want rumours of a serial murderer at large in Crickledale with all the official carers being considered suspects!'

‘As I said earlier, we must adopt some subterfuge to conceal our true purpose. What we must remember as police officers, Wayne, is that crimes cannot go unpunished even if our activities do alarm the general public. We must undertake our duties without fear or favour.'

‘You're admitting it's a crime then?'

‘I'm saying there are suspicious circumstances, Wayne, nothing more than that at this stage. However, it means we must strike whilst the subject is hot in our minds.'

‘Aren't we spending too much time and effort on Miss Croucher's case, sir? Searching for motives and crimes when none might exist?'

‘If we are to investigate possible cases of multiple murders, Wayne, we need a yardstick by which to judge future enquiries. Serial killers work to a pattern, and if that pattern has been formed in the case of Miss Croucher, it will have been used in other cases. Now we shall recognize it.'

‘Ah, thank you. Yes, I understand.'

‘If this was a case of murder, Wayne, it was achieved in such a way that it did not raise suspicion in the minds of our experts. That suggests the killer or killers are very skilled and very clever, well able to conceal evidence of their activities. Just suppose they are committing, or have committed, more crimes? Are they committing murder right under our noses without a hint of suspicion arising?'