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Authors: Vic Marelle
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fireplace. Davies guessed that they were now on the
opposite side of the wall that had first barred their way. He saw that it was
actually part of yet another old chimney breast, but that this one had a
smaller quite simple brick fireplace. Had only those walls that held fireplaces
or mullioned windows survived? It certainly looked like it. Two paramedics, a
uniformed constable and a tall man that Davies recognised as the police doctor
were huddled in conversation near the fireplace.
‘Morning Sir.’ Said the constable. ‘It looks
like you’ve been called out for nothing. The doc thinks that this bloke just
had a heart attack.’
‘What have we got John?’ Davies asked the
doctor.
‘Not sure yet Frank,’ he responded. ‘But heart
attack looks to be favourite. He’s got a nasty gash on his head but that could
be from a fall. Other than that there are no obvious signs of foul play, so
until he’s been opened up the only thing I can say for sure is that he is dead.
He was found leaning against the back of the fireplace so he could have felt
unwell, sat down and died. Or he could have tripped and got that gash on the
head then sat down to recover. Who knows? There is so much rubble and stone
around here anything is possible. And to the obvious question, rigor is only just beginning so we are
looking at about three hours since death. At this point I would put it between three
and three and a half hours max.’
‘OK John, if you say it’s not suspicious then
we can get him packed off to the morgue.’ Then turning, ‘Who found him?’
‘A young couple sir,’ replied the constable.
‘They were over there just behind that low wall doing, well, doing what young
couples do, and the girl spied what she thought was a peeping Tom watching
them. Apparently they tidied themselves up a bit and made to go back to their
car but the lad flung some abuse at the bloke as they went past and they
realised something was wrong when our corpse remained perfectly still.’
‘Where are they now?’
‘The girl was a bit shaken up so my opo took them to the coffee shop that’s part of the farm,
you must have seen it when you parked your car.’
What a huge waste of time the whole escapade
was turning out to be thought Davies. If there was anything that the Chief
hated it was sloppy timekeeping, particularly from his favourite inspector, but
with the state his shoes and trousers were in he would have to detour back home
for a clean up before hightailing it the ten miles into Southport. And all that
for a simple heart attack. Clearly there was nothing more that they could do at
that point and no need for forensics either.
‘Any identification?’ he asked.
‘No sir. There’s no wallet, nothing much in his
pockets at all.
Turning to his sergeant he gave instructions
for the body to be moved, everyone cleared from the death site and then finally
to go and talk to the couple and get a statement from them. The whole thing
could then be turned over to the Coroner.
……….
‘OK, just tell me what you saw and what you
did.’
I didn’t know he was dead. At first we thought
he was watching us while we were . . . .’ his voice tailed off and he looked
down sheepishly. ‘Then when he didn’t move and didn’t say anything I thought
that he was sick, or unconscious. That’s why I phoned the ambulance on my
mobile. The paramedics must have called you lot because I didn’t. Can we go
now? Only Kate’s mum will be wondering where she is. You won’t tell her will
you? I mean, not that we were – you know? We were supposed to be going to
the car boot sale at the scout hut further along the road and if she finds out
that we found the bloke she’ll want to know what we were doing at the old hall,
and then we’ve a problem. Kate’s, er , um, well her
mum keeps tabs on her if you know what I mean and the balloon would go up well
and truly.
‘No problem. You did right. You weren’t to
know.’ Then, turning to
opposite side of the wall that had first barred their way. He saw that it was
actually part of yet another old chimney breast, but that this one had a
smaller quite simple brick fireplace. Had only those walls that held fireplaces
or mullioned windows survived? It certainly looked like it. Two paramedics, a
uniformed constable and a tall man that Davies recognised as the police doctor
were huddled in conversation near the fireplace.
‘Morning Sir.’ Said the constable. ‘It looks
like you’ve been called out for nothing. The doc thinks that this bloke just
had a heart attack.’
‘What have we got John?’ Davies asked the
doctor.
‘Not sure yet Frank,’ he responded. ‘But heart
attack looks to be favourite. He’s got a nasty gash on his head but that could
be from a fall. Other than that there are no obvious signs of foul play, so
until he’s been opened up the only thing I can say for sure is that he is dead.
He was found leaning against the back of the fireplace so he could have felt
unwell, sat down and died. Or he could have tripped and got that gash on the
head then sat down to recover. Who knows? There is so much rubble and stone
around here anything is possible. And to the obvious question, rigor is only just beginning so we are
looking at about three hours since death. At this point I would put it between three
and three and a half hours max.’
‘OK John, if you say it’s not suspicious then
we can get him packed off to the morgue.’ Then turning, ‘Who found him?’
‘A young couple sir,’ replied the constable.
‘They were over there just behind that low wall doing, well, doing what young
couples do, and the girl spied what she thought was a peeping Tom watching
them. Apparently they tidied themselves up a bit and made to go back to their
car but the lad flung some abuse at the bloke as they went past and they
realised something was wrong when our corpse remained perfectly still.’
‘Where are they now?’
‘The girl was a bit shaken up so my opo took them to the coffee shop that’s part of the farm,
you must have seen it when you parked your car.’
What a huge waste of time the whole escapade
was turning out to be thought Davies. If there was anything that the Chief
hated it was sloppy timekeeping, particularly from his favourite inspector, but
with the state his shoes and trousers were in he would have to detour back home
for a clean up before hightailing it the ten miles into Southport. And all that
for a simple heart attack. Clearly there was nothing more that they could do at
that point and no need for forensics either.
‘Any identification?’ he asked.
‘No sir. There’s no wallet, nothing much in his
pockets at all.
Turning to his sergeant he gave instructions
for the body to be moved, everyone cleared from the death site and then finally
to go and talk to the couple and get a statement from them. The whole thing
could then be turned over to the Coroner.
……….
‘OK, just tell me what you saw and what you
did.’
I didn’t know he was dead. At first we thought
he was watching us while we were . . . .’ his voice tailed off and he looked
down sheepishly. ‘Then when he didn’t move and didn’t say anything I thought
that he was sick, or unconscious. That’s why I phoned the ambulance on my
mobile. The paramedics must have called you lot because I didn’t. Can we go
now? Only Kate’s mum will be wondering where she is. You won’t tell her will
you? I mean, not that we were – you know? We were supposed to be going to
the car boot sale at the scout hut further along the road and if she finds out
that we found the bloke she’ll want to know what we were doing at the old hall,
and then we’ve a problem. Kate’s, er , um, well her
mum keeps tabs on her if you know what I mean and the balloon would go up well
and truly.
‘No problem. You did right. You weren’t to
know.’ Then, turning to
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