Read Online The Calling of the Grave by Simon Beckett - Free Book Online Page B

tantrum after lights out. That's why the guards
call him laughing boy. He seems to find it all very funny if no one else does.
Hello, now what's happening?'
        There
was a commotion up ahead. The German shepherd was being held back by its
handler, barking at the group with Monk. At first I couldn't see what was
happening for the surrounding uniforms, then two of them moved aside.
        Monk
had fallen. The big man was down in the muddy grass, struggling to get up.
Police officers and the prison guards swarmed round him, unsure whether to haul
him to his feet or not.
        '. .
. get the fuck off me!' He was clumsily trying to lever himself up in his handcuffs
as his solicitor confronted Terry.
        'Now
are you satisfied? This is completely unacceptable!'
        'He's
not hurt,' Terry said, but he sounded sullen and defensive.
        'I
hope not, because if he is I'm holding you responsible. There is absolutely no
reason for my client to remain handcuffed out here. He doesn't pose any escape
risk, and in this terrain it's positively dangerous.'
        'I'm
not taking them off.'
        'In
that case you can take us back to the van, because we're done here.'
        'Oh,
for—'
        'I
will not have my client injured because of police intransigence. Either the
restraints come off or he stops cooperating with the search.'
        Monk
was still lying in a heap, breath steaming as he glared up at them. 'You want
to try walking with these on?' he demanded, holding out his cuffed hands.
        Terry
took a step towards him, and for a second I actually thought he would launch a
kick at his face. Then he stopped, his entire body clenched and rigid.
        'You
want me to call the SIO?' Roper asked.
        If I
hadn't heard him reporting back to Simms I might have believed he was trying to
help. His suggestion decided Terry.
        'No.'
Tight-lipped, he gave a nod to a police officer. 'Take them off.'
        The
officer stepped forward and unlocked the handcuffs. Monk's expression never
changed as he climbed to his feet, clothes soaking wet and smeared with mud. He
flexed his wrists, the big hands opening and closing like clamps.
        'OK?'
Terry asked Dobbs. Without giving him a chance to answer he stepped up to Monk.
They were of a height, but the convict somehow seemed twice his size. 'You want
to make me really happy? Try something. Please.'
        Monk
didn't speak. His mouth was still curved in its illusory half- smile, but the
black eyes were stone dead.
        'I
really don't think—' Dobbs began.
        'Shut
it.' Terry didn't take his eyes off Monk. 'How much further?'
        The
convict's big head turned to look back out at the moor, but then there was a
distant shout.
        ' Here!
Over here !'
        Everyone
looked round. Sophie was standing on a low rise some way away, waving her hands
over her head. Her excitement was obvious even through the drizzle and mist.
        ' I've
found something !'
    ----
        

Chapter 6
        
        A
buried body always leaves signs. At first the body will displace the earth used
to refill the grave, leaving a visible mound on the surface. But as the slow
process of decay begins, causing flesh and muscle to leach their substance into
the soil, the mound begins to settle. Eventually, when the body has rotted away
to bone, a slight depression will be left in the earth to mark the grave's
location.
        Vegetation,
too, can provide useful clues. Plants and grasses disturbed by the digging will
take time to re-establish themselves, even when they've been carefully
replaced. As months pass and the corpse begins to decompose, the nutrients it
releases will feed the flora on the grave, causing faster growth and more
luxuriant foliage than in the surrounding vegetation. The distinctions are
subtle and often unreliable, but there if you know what to look for.
        Sophie
was standing by a low mound that lay in the centre