Two For Mirth

Chapter Eight

19:00

Cecelia pulled her car up to where she had done earlier that day, the only difference was that it was now pitch black. She pulled on the handbrake and sat for a moment. This wasn’t good, another body in the same field. One more and this would be a serial killer. Assuming of course that it was the same killer. She sighed as Sally’s car pulled up next to hers. They both got out and went to the boots of their cars where they put on their warm waterproof jackets and trousers. Then they pulled on their boots and got out the equipment they needed.

“Ready?” Sally asked. They looked out across the field and saw that a new white tent had been erected in the field, lights were being put up and switched on so people could see what they were doing. Cecelia frowned as she realized another new white tent was also being erected. She looked around and could see officers working through the woods and in the connecting fields with dogs who were sniffing to find decomposed bodies.

“This has somewhat suddenly escalated a little quicker than I was expecting it to.” Cecelia said with another sigh as they trudged across the wet, muddy field to the first tent, obviously another one had been found as they were making their way over here. Walking in they found Greg, Suzy, Benjamin, Cherry and Riley all stood around a body.

“Doctors” Riley said as they entered. Cecelia put her equipment bag down and pulled on some gloves.

“Detectives. What can you tell me?” Cecelia said as she knelt down by the body.

“Nothing much, we were waiting for you, the dogs found this one and another one, which is being taken care of so that it’s ready for you. The other one is fresher than this one.” Greg said pointing to the decomposed body on the floor. Suddenly the sound of barking filtered through to them. They looked around just as Mark appeared at the door of the tent.

“Please don’t tell me there is another one.” Riley said with a groan.

“Sorry sir.” Mark said. “Another one in the connecting field sir.”

“Ok, then Benjamin, Cherry, can you go and co-ordinate the protection of that body please, whilst we hear what the good doctor has to say about this one.”

“Of course sir.” Benjamin smiled. The two of them left.

Cecelia looked down to where the body lay slightly unearthed from its grave. This one was also missing the skin and muscle from the hands feet and skull. The white of the skull was bright against the mud. She sighed. This was going to be a very long night indeed.

“Decomposition is pretty far along, as you can see the skin is tight, I would say she has been here at least four months, the sudden cold weather would have put a halt to the flesh decomposing.” She explained to them. “It would also have preserved the body in a way as well.”

“So four months ago is your time of death.” Riley asked.

“Better than four to six.” Suzy blurted causing Cecelia to throw a glare in her direction, shutting her up instantly. She didn’t tend to upset Cecelia if she could help it, she had learnt her lesson the hard way on that one. If she hadn’t gone over Riley’s head to the DCS, she could have been promoted to Detective Sergeant after the work they had done on the Scientist case, but her need to get a point across, even though it was a very wrong point, had cost her this.

“That’s a provisional time of death.” Sally said. “We can’t have a better one until we autopsy. In this condition, it’s harder to give a time of death due to a number of factors that surround it. For instance, the location it is buried or the weather since it was buried can greatly affect the rate of decomposition.

“Unfortunately, we can’t cut a bone in half and count the rings like you can in a tree. Although it would make life a lot easier for us I must admit.” Cecelia told Suzy before getting closer to the body to start the cursory exam. “Victim is female, rough age estimate is between twenty and twenty-five. I will get the body back to the lab. There is a stab directly through the ribs here and looks like it went right through to the heart.

She gently lifted the skull and looked at the back of it as Sally took photos. “The same unusual curve to the back of the head as our previous Jane Doe. This one is definitely linked to the first one, there is no doubt about it. Score marks to the bone’s again suggests that the skin was removed post mortem, again I would say it was boiled off. See how the bones are a different colour to those that were covered with skin. They were clean when she was buried. It’s frustrating, not only can we not get prints, I have no nails for particulates to see if she scratched the tosser.”

Riley and Greg had to do a double take when they heard the expletive escape Cecelia’s lips. Since her episode with DI Johnson, she had been a lot less sympathetic than she already was to people who could do this to defenseless women, and she had gained more of a potty mouth since.

“So we are talking about the same killer?” Riley asked.

“Without a doubt. All possible areas you could use for identification have gone, there is no teeth, hands, face and feet have had the skin tissue and muscle tissue removed.” She said as she stood up and pulled off her gloves and dropped them in to a plastic bag she kept in her briefcase ready for incineration later. “The head was caved in again and it’s a match to the first ones, so the same thing that was used to hit our first victim over the head, was also used on this one. There is also the stab to the heart, the bruising on the skin, although it is difficult to tell with the condition of the body, looks like it matches that of the first victim.”

“Well, if the next two are also a match, it looks like we have a new serial killer on our hands, not what I need right now, the last one was bad enough.” Riley muttered.

“Right then, let’s go and take a look at the next one.” Cecelia said as she closed her briefcase and picked it up.

They all walked over to the second tent, leaving Sally to finish up with the photos and to get a tech to bag the body ready to transport. They entered the white tent and found the third body illuminated by lights. Mark Fredrickson and Cody Brickman were stood waiting for them.

“Now this one is more like it.” Cecelia said. She pulled on a pair of gloves and knelt down by the naked body. “Time of death is within the last two weeks, again I will narrow it down once I get to the morgue. Age between thirty and thirty-five.”

“From looking at all of the bodies, this one looks like it is the newest one.” Suzy told her.

“Yeah, she hasn’t been here long, again, the same circumstances as the other two, face hands and feet have had the skin and muscle removed and the teeth are gone. This is definitely made to make it difficult for you to find out who she is.” Cecelia said pointing to what she was on about,

“Was she r***d?” Riley asked.

“I can’t tell you that until we get back to the lab and do the autopsies, if we can get a possible match once we get the facial reconstructions done, if you can get me some sort of sample, like hair from a hairbrush, or a toothbrush or something I can do a match.”

“Ooh, that’s more like it, it's better when they have skin on them.” Sally said with a grin as she suddenly appeared by them all in the tent making the detectives jump. She began to take photos of this one to go with the other one. “Is there much different?”

“This one was buried within the last two weeks is my guess.” Cecelia said.

“So we have four to six months, four months and two weeks.” Riley said.

“Yes, I am guessing the other one will be either two or three months, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we find one more.” She said. “Looks like it’s a monthly thing, so, I would say you have about two weeks to catch this sicko before you find another one. That is of course if you find another one. He won't be able to bury them here anymore.”

“We will try and keep it covered anyway, just in case they try it.” Riley said. “They may think once we have the bodies out, that we won’t come back here to check. I will get some beat cops on that.”

“Right, same blunt force trauma again, and the same stab to the chest, this guy is very particular indeed.” Cecelia said as she continued on.

“The blunt force trauma, the shape of it, it could match that of a wheel arch in the back of a van maybe.” Sally said. Cecelia frowned and looked closer. “I had a think about it when I was just taking photos of the wound.”

“You could be right Sally, I will cast it when we get back and look into it.” Cecelia said.

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Riley asked.

“Nothing more until they are back at the lab.” Cecelia said with a sigh as she stood up.

“Right Greg, I want you and Suzy to concentrate on the two new bodies, I will leave Mark and Cody on the original one and then Benjamin and Cherry can deal with the newest one.” Riley said to Greg.

“As you wish boss.” Greg said with a smile. Riley walked out of the tent with Cecelia and Sally in tow just as the dogs started barking again in the next field.

“And there is the fifth one.” Cecelia said with a sigh. “I don’t think we are going home tonight somehow.”

“Why don’t you go home and get some rest and we can start afresh tomorrow morning at nine.” Riley suggested. “We still have our first Jane Doe to work on, so it’s not like we have nothing to do.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Sally said looking at her watch. It was now half nine, they had been there since six and had only managed to get through the scenes of two of the bodies. She sighed to herself.

“I will see how it goes with these two, but yes, no doubt I will start early tomorrow.” Cecelia said as they walked into the next tent to find Benjamin and Cherry waiting for them.

“Benjamin, Cherry.” Riley said as they walked in. “What can you tell me?”

They went on late into the night as they carefully examined the body. No more bodies were found after that, leaving the total body count for the end of the day to be five. Cecelia was stood by her car having stripped off her wet weather gear and dumped it in the boot of her car. Sally was in the process of talking to Mr. Cardew of Cardew and sons about the transport of the four new bodies. Cecelia yawned which soon changed into a smile when she saw Riley making his way over to her.

“Are you going to make your way home now love?” He asked as he came closer to her.

“Yeah, I need a good night sleep, I am going to be a busy girl tomorrow morning.” She told him. “I need to have a good rest, or I won't be any good to anyone.

“Let’s get you home then shall we.” He grinned as he helped her into her car.

11:50

Riley pulled his car to a stop behind Cecelia’s and pulled on the hand break before turning of the engine and taking out the keys. Getting out of the car he closed the door and locked it before going over to help Cecelia get the remainder of her stuff out of the boot of her car.

“How are you feeling?” Riley asked as he took her briefcase and handbag from her.

“Not too bad actually, tired, and I need a good sleep before I go on to doing the autopsy in the morning. It’s safer for me and it’s also safer for any court case if I am more awake when I do this.”

“Come on then let’s take you to bed shall we.” He said, a grin on his face.

“You had that earlier.” She told him with a chuckle.

“And?” He said with a grin as he unlocked the front door. Once they were in and they had locked the door, he turned to her and swept her into his arms, his lips pressing hard against hers. Lifting her impossibly light frame into his arms, he made sure she was holding on to him tightly, he carried her up the stairs and down the hallway into their bedroom. Dropping her on the bed he climbed on top of her, his lips going to her neck leaving light kisses in his wake as he worked them down her neck to her chest. He began to undo her buttons of her blouse so her bra was exposed. Sitting back he admired her. He noticed that her breathing was shallow as she looked back up at him. She never could understand how he could manage to disarm her so easily.

“Oh how lucky a man I am.” He said with a loving smile.

“Yes, very.” She said with a smile.. He leant back down and kissed the mound of her breast as he ran his hand softly up her leg and under her skirt.

For the second time that day, Cecelia was lost to the man she loved with all her heart.