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Authors: Peter Turnbull
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dark in there.’
‘So I see,’ Hennessey replied as he noted the dim and gloomy interior of the house, and as he and Yellich both detected the strong smell of questionable hygiene mixed with the unmistakable odour of damp. ‘Thank you anyway.’ Hennessey paused. ‘We have information which suggests that the body or bodies were buried about thirty years ago. In fact we can be more precise and say that they were buried thirty years ago this month. Were you the tenant of Blue Jay Farm then, thirty years ago?’
‘Aye . . . we took over the tenancy ten years before he were born.’ Francis Bowler made a slovenly indication to the youth who still stood some distance behind Hennessey and Yellich. ‘Don’t mind him, gentlemen, he’s harmless. The doctor said something about oxygen starvation when he was born, but if you give him a job he’ll do it; can’t drive the tractor though, or any vehicle but he carries his weight. He’s my son, he’s part of the farm . . . he’s twenty-two years old now . . . so yes . . . we came here thirty-two years ago.’
‘I see,’ Hennessey nodded.
‘He’s our last born, mother and I had two before him. Both left home now but he’s all the help I need. I contract out the harvesting, that really eats into any profit I make, but it’s all we can do . . . we being me and the other tenant farmers round here. We don’t have a lot of money coming in and we have to pay for the harvest.’
‘Still cheaper than buying a combine harvester and having it stand idle for fifty weeks of the year,’ Yellich commented.
‘Aye . . . possibly,’ Bowler growled.
‘So . . .’ Hennessey asked, ‘were you aware of any activity in the five acre field thirty years ago this month? It is a long time ago, but a large hole was dug. It would seem to me to be an obvious thing and would not have gone unnoticed.’
‘Aye . . . you’d think so, I’ll grant you that and it could only have been done at one of two times of the year, that is just after the winter wheat has been harvested and before the summer wheat is sowed, and just after the summer wheat has been harvested before the winter wheat goes in. We have two wheat crops a year, you see, so any hole like that would be dug after harvest and before the next ploughing and sowing. September, after the summer wheat is harvested, is when I used to take my family on holiday; low season you see, cheaper rates, much cheaper. We went to a holiday camp in Skegness.’
‘I see.’ Hennessey felt the damp from within the house grip his chest, making it difficult to breath even outside the building. ‘So you would not have been here then?’
‘Unlikely, chief, not very likely at all in fact, and I wouldn’t have noticed anything when I returned from Skeggie because the five acre is a wet field, like I just said, and any disturbance would not be seen after a day or two. I mean by that that it wouldn’t seem to be seen . . . might be a gap in the stubble but that would be all and then it would be ploughed over and you know, quite honestly, when a farmer ploughs his old field, you don’t look forwards all the time like when you’re driving a car, you look backwards at the plough. That’s the only way to make sure that you’re ploughing a straight furrow, just glance forwards once every few seconds or so but mostly you look backwards, keeping the plough level with the edge of the field or level with the previous furrow. Every old farmer likes his straight furrow, take it from me.’
‘So,’ Hennessey said, ‘you’d likely drive over the disturbed soil and not see it because you’d be looking backwards?’
‘Yes.’ Francis Bowler sucked on his empty pipe. ‘That’s exactly what I am saying, chief, exactly what I am saying.’
‘And once the plough has gone over the disturbed soil,’ Hennessey continued, ‘it is then indistinct from the rest of the field?’
‘Indistinct?’ Bowler raised his eyebrows. ‘You have a good way with
‘So I see,’ Hennessey replied as he noted the dim and gloomy interior of the house, and as he and Yellich both detected the strong smell of questionable hygiene mixed with the unmistakable odour of damp. ‘Thank you anyway.’ Hennessey paused. ‘We have information which suggests that the body or bodies were buried about thirty years ago. In fact we can be more precise and say that they were buried thirty years ago this month. Were you the tenant of Blue Jay Farm then, thirty years ago?’
‘Aye . . . we took over the tenancy ten years before he were born.’ Francis Bowler made a slovenly indication to the youth who still stood some distance behind Hennessey and Yellich. ‘Don’t mind him, gentlemen, he’s harmless. The doctor said something about oxygen starvation when he was born, but if you give him a job he’ll do it; can’t drive the tractor though, or any vehicle but he carries his weight. He’s my son, he’s part of the farm . . . he’s twenty-two years old now . . . so yes . . . we came here thirty-two years ago.’
‘I see,’ Hennessey nodded.
‘He’s our last born, mother and I had two before him. Both left home now but he’s all the help I need. I contract out the harvesting, that really eats into any profit I make, but it’s all we can do . . . we being me and the other tenant farmers round here. We don’t have a lot of money coming in and we have to pay for the harvest.’
‘Still cheaper than buying a combine harvester and having it stand idle for fifty weeks of the year,’ Yellich commented.
‘Aye . . . possibly,’ Bowler growled.
‘So . . .’ Hennessey asked, ‘were you aware of any activity in the five acre field thirty years ago this month? It is a long time ago, but a large hole was dug. It would seem to me to be an obvious thing and would not have gone unnoticed.’
‘Aye . . . you’d think so, I’ll grant you that and it could only have been done at one of two times of the year, that is just after the winter wheat has been harvested and before the summer wheat is sowed, and just after the summer wheat has been harvested before the winter wheat goes in. We have two wheat crops a year, you see, so any hole like that would be dug after harvest and before the next ploughing and sowing. September, after the summer wheat is harvested, is when I used to take my family on holiday; low season you see, cheaper rates, much cheaper. We went to a holiday camp in Skegness.’
‘I see.’ Hennessey felt the damp from within the house grip his chest, making it difficult to breath even outside the building. ‘So you would not have been here then?’
‘Unlikely, chief, not very likely at all in fact, and I wouldn’t have noticed anything when I returned from Skeggie because the five acre is a wet field, like I just said, and any disturbance would not be seen after a day or two. I mean by that that it wouldn’t seem to be seen . . . might be a gap in the stubble but that would be all and then it would be ploughed over and you know, quite honestly, when a farmer ploughs his old field, you don’t look forwards all the time like when you’re driving a car, you look backwards at the plough. That’s the only way to make sure that you’re ploughing a straight furrow, just glance forwards once every few seconds or so but mostly you look backwards, keeping the plough level with the edge of the field or level with the previous furrow. Every old farmer likes his straight furrow, take it from me.’
‘So,’ Hennessey said, ‘you’d likely drive over the disturbed soil and not see it because you’d be looking backwards?’
‘Yes.’ Francis Bowler sucked on his empty pipe. ‘That’s exactly what I am saying, chief, exactly what I am saying.’
‘And once the plough has gone over the disturbed soil,’ Hennessey continued, ‘it is then indistinct from the rest of the field?’
‘Indistinct?’ Bowler raised his eyebrows. ‘You have a good way with
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