Surprise on the Links

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER THREE

The DS got off his car and braced one arm over the car door, looking in the distance. The view before his eyes was something to behold. James shook his head slowly, and a lazy grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Once more, Jo had outdone herself. The DI had summoned the entire forensic team and at least six constables to the scene.

On one side of the area closed with the yellow police ribbon, several men, dressed for the links, discussed quietly among themselves. Their body language disclosed not only curiosity but also discontent. They did not like the fact that their fun on the green was interrupted so gruesomely.

James noticed two constables fleeting from one player to another, taking notes, and a satisfied smile flourished on his lips. It seemed that Jo had not wasted any time and had already put the constables at work.

The DS knew that, in half an hour, all the players would be sent away from the club. The police needed to do their job, and their presence represented a nuisance. If James had to ask those people more questions, they would find them, using the notes the constables had taken.

James did not really care about the players’ dismay. He wanted to have the area cleared as soon as possible so that the forensic team could collect the evidence.

Beyond the yellow band, people swarmed all over the place, looking for evidence. From afar, they seemed like headless ants, covering the soil, but the DS noticed that there was a method in their search.

He did not expect anything less from them. They knew their job and did it well, even though McNamara was not there to chew their hides.

A half-smile crept on his lips, despite his apprehensions concerning the case. Well, maybe with the help of the other DIs, the murder might still be solved.

James needed to believe that because he could not face McNamara without something concrete. For the last forty-five minutes, James had worried that he was way over his head with that homicide.

He had always assisted McNamara, but he had never been in the situation of leading the procedures. As luck would have it, Jo proved good strategic skills, and that, maybe, would save his skin as well.

“It’s looking good,” Claire’s soft voice came from behind him.

James turned towards her with surprise. He had not realized that the woman had already got out of the car, as well. Now, she was almost next to him, and her glance skimmed the group of people before them. Curiosity danced in her silky brown eyes while the fingers of her right hand fidgeted over the top button of her blouse.

The sudden dryness of his mouth prompted the tip of his tongue to sneak out and wet his feverish lips. Not for the first time, James wondered about the power that petit round woman held over him.

With a slight shake of his head, the man shifted his eyes back to the people milling over the links, suddenly aware that he had lost focus on the investigation. The DS could not afford that. The shadow of the CDI loomed over his shoulder, and he needed to get to work if he wanted to avoid any reprimands.

“Aye, it does,” the man admitted once he cleared his head and remembered her statement.

Still, the thought that he should have been the one to build that attack plan pricked at the back of his mind and made him feel guilty. The DS was a hard-working man, but he did not possess the skills to plan something like that. That thought chafed at him.

With an inward sigh, James shut the car door with more force than necessary and then winced. When he felt Claire’s eyes on him, he shrugged and then started towards the bushes where the coroner must have been. With a brief wave of his fingers and a nod of his head, the DS invited Claire to follow him but did not stop to see if she did.

The woman stepped in line with the DS, stealing furtive glances at him. Ainsley had seemed a little strange since they left the squad, plagued with millions of thoughts. Claire would have liked to ask him what he thought, but she did not want to seem too intrusive.

When they became lovers, she had decided not to take advantage of their relationship. That was why she never called him Ainsley in public. She used his given name only in her thoughts and during their most private moments. The DS seemed to like that.

Once he reached the yellow tape, James waved Jo down. The young woman nodded briefly, but she kept talking rapidly to Steven Gilchrist for a few moments.

The leader of the forensic team listened to her words, nodding impatiently now and then. James shook his head, and a sly grin upturned the corners of his mouth. Steven did not appear to appreciate the detailed requests that Jo considered necessary. After all, the man had been doing that job for more years than the DI had done hers.

However, James did not say anything. He merely shoved his hands in his pants pockets and tried to keep his grin in check. His right foot tapped the ground somewhat impatiently, but he refrained from interfering.

When she finished expending upon her expectation, Jo thumped Steven over his shoulder and strode towards the DS with rushed steps. Behind her, a scowl contorted the forensic expert’s features, and James barely contained his mirth.

“What do you know?” James asked her without looking at the detective, his gaze sweeping over the people of the forensic team, busy at work.

The DS did not doubt for a moment that Jo had already uncovered something. He knew that the DI was excellent in her work.

“Well, we do have a body in the bushes,” Jo pointed to the place where James had thought to have seen the coroner earlier. “The old man who called didn’t lie. Someone took a bat or a club to the guy’s head and face,” the woman continued matter-of-factly. “I would go with the club, though, considering where we are,” she shrugged, waving her hand in a large circle to encompass the golf club.

“You might be right,” James nodded. The DS doubted that someone would have needed a bat when clubs abounded around. “Do we have any idea who the man is?” he asked Jo.

“Aye, that is not an issue,” the woman nodded with a smile. “The killer might have bashed the man’s skull in and shattered his face, but he left the ID. I don’t think he had any intention of concealing the victim’s identity,” the DI shook her head, tapping her fingers to her thigh. “I think that he merely wanted to have some revenge, I suppose. It looks like someone did hate the man’s guts,” she pursed her lips. “The attack was ferocious, and the murderer didn’t stop until he slaked his thirst,” she pointed out, scrunching her nose.

“So, who was he?” James asked through his tight teeth.

The DS did not possess McNamara’s boldness to ask the woman not to stray with her story, but he wished he had. Jo did like to entertain the troupes with her opinion about every b****y blessed thing.

“His name was Peter Walsh,” Jo read from her notebook in an indifferent tone of voice as if she had not noticed his rebuke.

James clenched his teeth once more, watching the woman with displeasure. Jo looked rather unimpressed with his exasperation, and the man pursed his lips. Her dismissal cut the DS to the bone. At least once, he would have liked that one of the detective inspectors would pay heed to him.

“Any witnesses?” the man thought to ask her, hoping that, at least that way, she might give him some straight answers.

He knew from experience that Jo could lead him in a merry chase if he let her to her own devices. James believed that some questions to the point might do the trick, though, and save all of them some time.

“I wouldn’t quite say witnesses,” the DI shook her head, and a faint smile curved her pouty lips.

It was not the first time the DS had noticed those full rosy lips. James knew that most of the men in the squad were crazy after the woman. Nevertheless, that fever had never touched him.

Jo might have possessed an uncommon beauty with her pale, transparent, blue eyes and wispy red hair. Still, James believed that she could not hold a candle to Claire, and he could not understand why the others within the team did not see that.

“But we do have the men who found the body,” the young DI continued, unaware of the direction of his thoughts. She pointed toward two older men, who kept to the side, about ten inches beyond the other side of the yellow band.

James glanced at the so-called witnesses with curiosity. To him, the two men looked like any other old Scotsmen, addicted to golf.

Although he did not understand the reason, the DS knew that people around took their game seriously. His Welsh heritage should have nudged James to play the game as well, but that bug missed his target with him.

“One of them lost his breakfast right there,” Jo pointed towards the bushes. “The other says that he didn’t throw more than a glance to the body,” Jo informed the DS. “The latter seems a bit squeamish if you know what I mean,” she said, and humorous lights danced in her eyes.

“Have you talked to them already?” James inquired, tightening his right hand in a fist.

The DS felt cheated. Usually, James asked all those preliminary questions, and he was b****y good at that, even if he said so himself. Talking to people and making them tell him certain things represented his best skill. The thought that the DI had questioned the two men who stumbled over the body stirred his jealousy, considering that he had already failed in making a sound plan for the investigation.

“Not really,” the woman shook her head. “I thought you would like to do it. You know to conduct those interviews better than I,” she explained to the DS with a shrug. “Besides, maybe my skills are better used if I observed the scene while the forensic experts work,” the DI waved her hand around. At the same time, her eyes darted here and there to monitor the people in the field.

Those negligent words, coming from her mouth, tugged at the sergeant’s heart. Now, he remembered that he liked Jo most of the time because of her thoughtfulness. The rush of gratitude brought colour to the man’s face, and the DS averted his eyes so that the woman would not read too much in them.

“Thank you, Jo. You are right that you might observe more than I if you survey the scene,” he nodded, glancing at her briefly. Then, he tried to hide his eyes from the intrigued look of his colleague. James did not want her to see the relief he experienced.

“Well, then I leave you two with the two curmudgeons,” Jo looked from James to Claire and back.

She smiled thinly at them, a sign that her earlier encounter with their two witnesses did not go too smooth. Jo did not have a very careful tongue, and the men had proved rather unpleasant.

“I wish you luck,” the young woman added under her breath. “You will need it,” she nodded decisively, already starting towards Steven Gilchrist.

Jo did not have any intention of letting James know what he would be against right then. She was afraid that the DS would stick her with the witnesses. Still, her words reached his ears, and his brows arched. The sergeant feared that the DI’s previous discussion with the two old men did not bode well for his future interview with them.