Hidden ( CSI Reilly Steel #3) (25 page)

Over a period of many years, twelve family members had died and been buried on the ranch. Reilly had been part of the team that had spent weeks exhuming and examining
their remains.

The memory sent a fresh chill down her spine.

There had been a wide cross-section of remains from the very old to still-born babies. The corpses were buried simply – no caskets, no embalming, just a hole in the ground and a coating of quick-lime to prevent odors or disease. Reilly had been tasked with collecting DNA to cross-reference with missing persons. It had been a grim undertaking, and in truth the prospect of facing similar horrors with Jennifer Hutchinson today filled her with dread.

‘
They’re pretty straightforward,’ she said. ‘We just need to be careful and ensure as much as possible remains intact and in good condition.’ She was unwilling to elaborate on the finer details so as not to unsettle him.

‘
Do you think we’ll find much at this stage though?’ Gary asked. ‘She’s been down there for a long time.’

‘
It’s hard to say.’

The girl’s
burial records didn’t state whether or not she had been embalmed.

If she had,
any tox screens they wanted to carry out would be pointless, notwithstanding that the deterioration of the corpse meant they would be pretty difficult anyway.

Reilly looked out the window at the world around them as the GFU van went by. Life was carrying on regardless: bin men collected rubbish, mothers brought kids home from school and commuters made their way back from work, all oblivious to what was about to happen.

In the back lay a box of protective clothing and face masks, two five-gallon drums of disinfectant, and an oversized plywood casket.

The casket was tarred and  lined with zinc. It was in this that the remains would make their next journey; a journey that Reilly hoped would end in justice and a proper reburial in the presence of her only living relative who’d flown in from the UK earlier that day.

‘What I’m really hoping for is sound DNA, so that at least we can confirm whether or not she is Jennifer Hutchinson,’ Reilly said.

They would also be able to
use DNA analysis to compare the remaining personal effects and, depending on decomposition, further investigate the tattoo.

‘So who else will be here this evening?’ Gary asked as the traffic lights turned green.

‘Well, the aunt of course, a
couple of suits from the Environmental Department along with the excavation operators, I would think.’ Chris and Kennedy would be making an appearance too, as well as a representative from the Press Office, anxious that what was typically considered a ghoulish process would not cause a public relations stir.

Gary turned the bend so th
ey could see the entrance to Glasnevin cemetery.

‘
Looks like there’s a good turn out; doubt there were as many around when the poor girl was buried,’ he said, indicating the line of vehicles parked either side of the road outside the gates.

Reilly’s heart sank as she saw photographers and journalists
crowding round the entrance as they passed.

‘
Damn, that’s all we need.’

They approached the entrance which had a large tarpaulin screen ready to be pulled across to give some privacy and security. A uniformed officer stood out on the road and
, recognizing the GFU van, waved them on through the gates.

‘Just pull in over here,’ she instructed, spotting Chris waving for their attention a little further down.

‘
So much for low key...’ he said, by way of greeting. He looked back towards the gate where already lenses were being trained on them. ‘They’re still calling it an Angel Cult. Maybe we should put them right – tell them the tattoos are actually swan wings. That might soften their coughs for them,’ he said, as Kennedy walked toward them, a small officious-looking man trailing him.

‘
What’s up?’ Chris asked. His partner’s bright red face gave away the fact there was some kind of problem.

‘
Ask  Mr Fucking Self-Important here,’ Kennedy grumbled.

‘
George Mullins. I was sent as overseer by the DOE. Are you Ms Steel?’ he asked, directing his question to Reilly.

‘Yes.
I have the paperwork from the coroner’s office right here,’ she replied, retrieving the documentation from her kitbag.

‘
The paperwork is not an issue. What
is
an issue is the security cordon, or should I say lack of,’ he blustered. ‘I simply cannot allow this to proceed in full view of all these people. As our directives clearly state, our obligations are to the deceased and next of kin.’

‘
And I have told the
gentleman
,’ Kennedy barked, suggesting that Mullins was anything but, ‘that once the screen is pulled across and your van parked across the entrance, we will have enough privacy for a Royal visit.’

‘
Look, Detective, I am merely doing my job,’ the official continued. ‘Such matters are very sensitive, and I would be in a world of trouble if the front page of tomorrow’s papers carried photographs of a muddied coffin being pulled from the ground, especially relating to such a high-profile investigation.’

‘
Ah, for feck’s sake…’ Kennedy started, but Chris cut in.

‘
Mr Mullins, we understand your position, but please consider ours. This exhumation may well be pivotal to an ongoing abduction case. What do you need from us to make this happen?’

‘Well
, can’t you get rid of them?’ he asked, referring to the journalists. ‘Even with the screen and van in place there are still several vantage points where those snappers and their big lenses can clearly see the grave plot.’ Mullins indicated the sides of the graveyard, one sharing a boundary with a church and the other a sports ground.

They all stood looking  around
, searching for a solution.

‘
I have a suggestion which might work,’ Reilly offered eventually. ‘We have several tarps and a tent in the van. We can surround the plot with them and back the van up when removing the casket. That way the grave will be shielded at all times.’

Mullins nodded reluctantly.
‘Sounds good in theory but I will need to see it in practise before I can sign it off.’

‘OK
, let’s get it done then.’ Chris walked away, beckoning Kennedy to do the same before he said anything else to upset the guy.

‘Where’s the aunt?’ Reilly asked, the presen
ce of Jennifer’s next of kin unsettling her a little. If she’d had her way, the woman would be waiting for results back in the warmth of her hotel. But when the coroner’s office originally sought out the woman’s consent for the exhumation, she’d been insistent about attending. 

‘In the back of the squad car.’ Chris indicated a parked
garda car a hundred yards from the main entrance.

Reilly decided to introduce herself and familiari
ze the woman with the lay of the land.

‘Ms Rogers, my name is Reilly Steel.’ She offered her hand through the open window to a nervous-looking middle
-aged woman, who seemed shaken by the sight of the machinery and heavy police presence.

‘Hello.’ 

‘I believe my colleagues at the coroner’s office explained the process to you, but just so you know, you aren’t expected to do anything today,’ Reilly said gently, hoping to put her at ease. ‘We’ll take care of everything and when it’s done, you’ll be taken back to your hotel and we will be sending anything we find to the lab for analysis. We should have the initial results back very shortly and then we’ll be in touch again to discuss the outcome and next steps. Did you fly over on your own today?’

The woman nodded. ‘My husband flies in tonight. He can’t get off work until later. I wish Lisa were here,’ she added, referring to girl’s mother. ‘It was Jenny going missing that killed her really.’ She took out a handkerchief and blew
her nose. ‘I just hope it is her down there so we can bury the poor little thing with her mum and dad where she belongs.’

Reilly swallowed the lump in her throat. ‘Me too. You take care for the moment and I’ll talk to you again soon
, OK?’ She patted Dawn Rogers’s hand before heading back to the GFU van.

Some time afterwards, the tent
and supporting concealments were erected.

A large
tent had been set up with one end open to allow the small digger access. The GFU van was parked with its rear doors facing the open end of the tent, with two sets of privacy tarpaulin screens either side of the van. This gave Reilly and Gary enough room for the zinc-lined shell into which they would manouevre the casket once it was out of the ground.

The press and photographers had to make do with pictures of a white forensic tent and the GFU van which would surely not be graphic enough for the front pages.

This was enough to satisfy the DOE officer, who retreated to the comfort of his car while he waited to verify the casket number and finish his paperwork.

Any other police and officials on the scene stood off to the side
, leaving room for the mini-digger, which proceeded to peel back the first few layers of soil. A workman with a shovel would carefully uncover the rest.

‘
So what are you hoping to find once you get her up?’ Kennedy asked, blowing out cigarette smoke, while they waited for the heavy digging to finish.

‘
Hopefully, a casket in relatively good shape and a corpse that will, at the very least, enable us to confirm ID,’ Reilly said, raising her voice over the churning noise of the excavator.

And if they were lucky perhaps a few more clues that would help them figure out where she,
Sarah and Conn had been held.

T
he machine noise stopped.

They
all stood back and waited as one of the workers continued unearthing the layers of soil immediately above the casket. He needed to be more careful than the excavator for fear of damaging anything, but the sound of the shovel scraping through the soil in the falling darkness of the cemetery was still bone-chilling.

‘
Looks like he’s reached the coffin,’ Chris said, when eventually the worker stopped and shouted something to one of his colleagues above the grave. 

All turned and looked back expectantly into the hole.

‘Excuse me, Detectives?’ one of the corporation workers called out. ‘I think you need to come and look at this.’

‘
Have you found it?’ Kennedy asked.

The man shook his head.
‘That’s what I’m trying to tell you,’ he said, a little uncomfortably. ‘Come and see. This grave is empty, there’s nothing to find.’

A little while later, Reilly and the detectives reconvened back at the incident room, trying to make sense of what they’d just discovered.

Or not.
The interment records for the cold case clearly showed the date and time of burial, as well as a casket number. As there was no record of a family member coming forward to claim the body or request removal to a family plot, they could only conclude that the grave had been tampered with. The task of telling Dawn Rogers that her niece had not, after all, been located, and that her visit had been in vain would be awkward to say the least.

‘
Somebody dug her up,’ Kennedy said, stating the obvious. ‘But who? And more to the point, why?’

‘
With regard to who at this stage we can only conclude that it’s him,’ Chris replied, referring to the abductor.

‘
Agreed, but why, and where’s the body now?’

Chris breathed out deeply.
‘Maybe we’ll find the answer to that when we find Tir Na Nog.’

Reilly rubbed her eyes.
Taking into account the information Conn had given Chris about his former ‘home’, she’d spent the last few hours on Google Earth studying the topography of the area closest to where both dead girls were found, in the hope that she might be able to figure out the location. She talked as she typed on her laptop. ‘I’ve been trying to pinpoint a possible location for Tír na nÓg,’ she said. ‘Reuben set me thinking before when he said that there couldn’t be many places in Wicklow that could be considered
anyone’s
private heaven on earth.’

‘
I think he was just being a smart-ass about Wicklow,’ Chris said.

‘Of course
, but he was also right in a way. And based on the geographical information we already have, the location of the girls’ bodies, and what Conn told us about it being close to a body of water, I’ve narrowed it down to a few possiblities.’

‘
How many possibilites?’

She clicked
on the mouse, and turned the screen so the others could see.  ‘Look, here’s Sarah’s hit-and-run location and …’ She made the area map bigger. ‘The cold-case body was found here.’