When the Evil Waits by M Lee (top fiction books of all time txt) 📕

‘What?’

‘I said, the guvnor has asked me to look into the Carsley case from the beginning. Go through all the evidence, check assumptions, see if there is anything we missed.’

They were back in the Situation Room. With Turnbull gone, it was as good a place as any to meet. On the walls, pictures of the victim, a playground, the place where the body was found and photofits of possible witnesses, along with the usual detritus of any investigation; scribbled notes, questions to be answered and actions to be taken.

‘I heard you the first time. But what’s that got to do with us?’ She pointed to Chrissy sitting next to her, the right foot in the cast sticking out from beneath the desk.

‘I asked for you two to be assigned to help me.’

‘But that’s Turnbull’s case. He’s going to go apeshit when he finds out.’

‘He’s not supposed to find out.’

‘What? We’re supposed to go back over a case without him knowing?’

‘Those are the instructions from the guvnor. Are you in or out?’

Chrissy smiled broadly. ‘I’m in. I think we got this case wrong from the beginning.’

‘And you, Emily? If you don’t want to be part of it, I’ll understand and ask for somebody else.’

‘Who else? Harry Makepeace? He’d tell Turnbull what you were doing within five minutes and the rest are his poodles.’

‘Is that an in then?’

‘It’s a “there’s not a lot I can do about it” in.’

‘Good enough. Tell me about the case, starting from the beginning.’

Emily tapped her fingers on the desk. ‘Look, whatever you think about Turnbull, he’s run this investigation by the book. I was part of the team from the start. We were called in at 9.10 on 23 July. A child’s body had been found at Chorlton Ees by a man walking his dog.’

‘How quickly was it identified as David Carsley?’

‘Almost immediately. We’d been looking for a boy for a couple of days since he was reported missing from Wythenshawe Park.’

‘Who identified the body?’

‘The father, Michael Carsley. We showed him a pair of shoes and a United shirt found close to it first. He recognised them immediately and then identified his son.’

‘Poor man,’ said Chrissy. ‘Imagine being the one asked to look at your dead seven-year-old’s corpse.’

‘You were there when he made the ID?’

Emily nodded.

‘What was his reaction?’

‘Stunned and then disbelief. He wanted to go back in and check he hadn’t made a mistake. We had to restrain him, stop him from returning to the mortuary.’

‘There was a post-mortem?’

‘Yeah, done by Schofield. As detailed as ever.’

‘Could you download the report for me, Chrissy?’

‘Is there a case number for this job?’

‘I don’t know but could you ask Claire Trent and set one up?’

‘Will do.’

‘What was the cause of death?’

‘Strangulation. The rope was still around the child’s neck.’

‘No DNA?’

‘According to Schofield, the body showed signs of being washed and cleaned before being deposited.’

‘So no fingerprints either?’

Emily shook her head. ‘The boy’s underpants were missing, though. We searched the area thoroughly and didn’t find them.’

‘A trophy taker?’

‘Possibly, or they may have been lost when the boy was transported.’

‘Any witnesses or CCTV?’

‘None around the area, unfortunately. There were reports after we posted the photofit pictures of a woman seen walking away from the area around the time the body was discovered. She hasn’t come forward.’

‘A woman? That’s a pretty detailed description,’ said Ridpath sarcastically. ‘Covers about half the population of Manchester.’

‘Yeah, we’ve also checked all the traffic footage from both the Wythenshawe park area and Chorlton Ees, running a comparison to see if any car had been in both areas at the time of the kidnap of David Carsley and the disposal of his body.’

‘And?’

‘Nothing. Not a sausage.’

‘It means the killer used two different cars, that’s all,’ said Chrissy.

‘Or we haven’t compared the right footage at the right time,’ added Ridpath.

‘Four of the cameras were down. Budget cuts, according to the Highway Authority. They hadn’t got round to repairing them yet.’

‘How long were they not working?’

‘At least a month before the abduction of the boy.’

‘Shit.’

‘My words exactly, Ridpath.’

He thought for a moment, his eyes darting left and right as he considered the possibilities. ‘Where did we get the photofit?’ he eventually asked.

Chrissy answered. ‘David’s brother Daniel was with him in the park.’

‘They were together?’

‘No. Daniel was playing basketball with his school friends while David was playing on the swings. Daniel said he stopped playing and ran over to David when he saw a man talking to his brother.’

‘What time was this?’

‘One twenty roughly. Daniel ran over and spoke to the man, telling him to leave his brother alone.’

‘What happened after Daniel spoke to the man?’

‘Apparently, he hurried away after Daniel said he would call the police.’

‘Good lad,’ said Chrissy.

‘And the man’s not come forward?’

They both shook their heads. Emily carried on speaking. ‘After the man left, Daniel ran back to his friends and they continued their game.’

‘When did he notice David was missing?’

‘About ten minutes later. He looked up from his game and he couldn’t see his brother anywhere.’

‘What did he do?’

‘He panicked, I think, because he was supposed to be looking after David. He ran straight home to check whether David had got bored and gone home without him…’

‘A seven-year-old walking home on his own?’

‘Listen, he’s a young kid. Anyway, he wasn’t there so he screwed up the courage and told his dad.’

‘What time was this?’

‘About two o’clock. The dad went back to the park with him and they spent an hour looking for the boy, shouting his name and checking everywhere, but couldn’t see him.’

‘When did he call 999?’

‘He didn’t. One of the horsey brigade called it in a few minutes before three p.m. The local plod hesitated, they were short-staffed. Then there was another call a couple of hours later, so they finally got their act together and began searching too. It was escalated when the boy was still missing as the sun went down.’

‘So they had been searching for six hours and found nothing?’

‘That’s right. The search was called off that night, and a proper search