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

closest to the lake but, other than that, it was quiet.

‘This is too far away, Ridpath.’ Emily pointed towards the north. ‘If he parked here, he would have had to carry the body across the river to Chorlton Ees. It’s a walk of nearly a mile. And he’s not going to take the park-and-ride, is he?’

‘I agree. You’d better request the footage anyway, Emily.’

As they stood there, a tram stopped at the station for a minute before accelerating quickly towards Central Manchester. Inside, a few lonely souls stared out of the windows, looking like mannequins in a shop window.

‘The next parking area is down Rifle Road, in a pub beside the Mersey called Jackson’s Boat.’ Ridpath got back inside his car, driving down the road followed by Emily. A minute later they reached the end of a cul-de-sac, fronting on the Mersey. Ridpath turned left and parked beside the pub.

‘Chorlton Ees is across that bridge and to the left,’ said Emily, winding down her window. Even though it was summer, there was a bitter wind racing down the river. She shivered.

‘How far?’

‘I’d guess about half a mile. Still a long way to walk.’

‘But if you were only carrying a child’s body? Not too difficult. Plus nobody would be around early in the morning.’

‘There’s that, though.’ Emily pointed upwards to a security camera on the wall of the pub, looking directly down into the car park.

‘Good. On our way back, we’ll ask the landlord for the footage.’

‘Where are we going now?’

‘To walk to Chorlton Ees.’

Ridpath strode towards the pedestrian bridge over the Mersey. It was only wide enough for two people and painted an industrial green. Emily followed, trying to keep up with him, pulling on her coat and feeling the ache in her calves from yesterday’s cycling.

They reached the other side and came to a concrete path leading in two ways. The signpost had directions but Ridpath preferred to ask Emily, ‘Which way?’

She pointed left. ‘Chorlton Ees is that way. This path goes towards Didsbury.’

‘You know the area well?’

‘I used to go running round here. It can be a bit muddy after the rain but as you can see, it’s quiet and never too busy.’

Ridpath looked around. It was peaceful. The gentle bubbling of water came from the River Mersey on his left, at the bottom of two high, steep banks. A few birds sang in the trees to the right but the whole area was devoid of people even though it was nearly one o’clock. ‘Does it ever get busy?’

‘Not really. At weekends, there are more people. Sunday afternoons there might be a crowd at the pub who go for a walk after lunch. But weekdays it’s quiet, with a few occasional dog walkers.’

Ridpath strode along the path as it wound beside the Mersey until he reached a flight of steps leading down to a path through a water meadow.

‘Chorlton Ees Nature Park is over there,’ Emily said.

‘Where was the body found?’

‘In the trees to the right of the path.’ She pointed down a bare, earthen track about 100 yards away with a large clump of trees off to one side.

Ridpath started walking with Emily trailing after him. He spotted the police tape easily, the fluorescent red and white clear against the green foliage.

‘Not far from the path.’

‘Slightly over twenty meters, according to the CSIs.’

‘But far enough to remain undiscovered for a long time.’

‘If the dogs hadn’t spotted it that morning.’

Ridpath looked all around him, doing a 360-degree turn. ‘Where did Turnbull set up his operation?’

‘Back in Chorlton, on the green.’

‘And where did the man who discovered the body park?’

‘Near a school, also near the green over there, about 300 meters away.’

‘Did Turnbull search south of the river?’

Emily shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. The search was concentrated in Chorlton. He saw the river as a boundary.’

‘A natural assumption, but as we can see, it’s not too far to walk. We did it in six minutes. We’d better check out the footage from the pub.’

‘I’ll ask the landlord.’

‘Can you also find out when the trams start running?’

‘Why?’

‘If I remember from one of my other cases, they have a camera in the cab to film in case there is an accident. You never know, it might have picked up something.’

‘OK, I’ll check them out.’

Ridpath ran his fingers through his thinning hair. ‘Coming here has told me one thing, though. The killer was the same as you, Emily.’

She frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘He’s local, a runner maybe. Somebody who knows this area well. He hadn’t just come from Scotland.’

Chapter 41

After they walked back to Jackson’s Boat, Ridpath returned to the Coroner’s Office, while Emily stayed to contact the landlord.

‘Sorry,’ he said, ‘bloody thing hasn’t worked for two years, never got around to replacing it.’

‘Do you have any other cameras?’

‘There’s one in the bar.’

‘Does that one work?’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Sometimes.’

She checked it out. It didn’t give any view onto the car park. ‘Thanks a bundle,’ she said sarcastically.

Getting back in her car, she drove to Wythenshawe to find the places where she had spotted CCTV yesterday.

The first shop said their camera was only a box with nothing in it. ‘It’s a deterrent, love, nothing actually works.’

‘Does it deter thieves?’

‘Not really. We were broken into last month.’

She left him with a suggestion. ‘Perhaps if it was a real camera it would be more of a deterrent?’

‘Nothing to do with me, love, I just work here.’

‘Give me your name and address anyway.’

‘Why?’

‘In case we need to contact you. I’ll send one of our security consultants to have a chat with you.’

‘Don’t bother. Like I said, I just work here.’ He gave her his name anyway.

The second camera was working but the hard drive on which the images was stored wasn’t. ‘Give it to me anyway. Perhaps our techies can get something from it.’

‘But if I give it to you, how do I record anything?’

‘You’re not recording anything now, are you? We might be able to get it working for you.’

‘For free?’

‘Part