Murders in the Blitz (21 page)
Eve, fed up with standing about in the field, didn’t wait to be told twice and practically skidded down the hill, reaching home in minutes. She found Grace and the kids agog for news, but she had nothing much to tell them.
‘I’m sure we’ll find out more later. The police will come and talk to us then.’
‘Who do you suppose it is?’
‘We may never know,’ said Eve. ‘Those bones may have been there for years and years.’
The children slumped off to play a game by the fire, clearly disappointed that there wasn’t more juicy information. They didn’t seem to be in the least upset by the fact that they’d found the body of a dead person. It was probably because the bones were no longer identifiable as a living, breathing human being and, in any case, it couldn’t be anyone they knew. Children can be very callous, thought Eve as she helped Grace in the kitchen. What bad luck this was. One of the reasons for them being taken away from London was to protect them from sights such as this – bodies that had met a violent death lying around for them to witness. Still, there wasn’t much she could do about it now.
Predictably, it was a long time before the authorities began to arrive from Highston. There was probably not much need to rush, thought Eve, the poor soul’s been here far too long to be helped now.
Eventually the lane began to buzz and rumble with the arrival of two police cars and the Coroner’s van, their tyres hissing on the wet tarmac. Eve and the children could no longer contain their curiosity to see what happened next and they’d left the house to stand close by the police vehicles in the lane at the foot of the steep field. A number of other villagers were already gathered there in a noisy group, speculating on the find. The lane was full of deep puddles from rain drained down from above and the children amused themselves splashing around in their wellingtons.
‘We’ll never get the van up there,’ said the Coroner’s driver, scanning the hill.
He was obviously right. Even in dry weather the field was too precipitous to allow the passage of an ordinary vehicle and with this morass it would be impossible. Someone was despatched to ask for the farmer’s help. Meanwhile two policemen, in their highly polished, regulation shoes, trudged up the hill behind the Inspector leading the short procession. The junior officers at the rear grumbled as mud squelched beneath their feet and splashed the hems of their navy blue trousers. In contrast, the dog they had with them, some sort of spaniel, was enjoying himself hugely, pulling his handler up the hill with eager anticipation, his tongue lolling out and a faint whine in his laboured breath.
They persuaded the farmer to lend his tractor to help with removal of the body, but he insisted on driving it himself. A trailer was harnessed to the back of the tractor and it toiled up the hill, squashing the young potato plants in its path, until it reached the site of the boys’ grisly discovery.
Eve, unable to contain her curiosity, followed the police to the top of the field – it took some fierce argument to stop the children from pursuing her.
‘Clear off home,’ she said, ‘the police won’t want you messing about up there. I’ll tell them what happened. Don’t look at me like that, Albert. Go home.’
The children turned away after her sharp words, sulking.
When she arrived at the trees Eve explained to the police that she’d been one of the first to find the bones. No-one objected to her presence. She collared the Inspector and explained her interest in police work.
‘You might like to stay and see what happens, then,’ he said with an amiable smile. He wasn’t at all like tall Inspector Reed with his tough, long face and dour reservations. This man stood no more than five foot seven tall and had the ruddy complexion of a countryman. Eve suspected that even in normal circumstances his uniform did not have the military precision of her mentor’s. And now mud was clinging to the turnups of his trousers, his shoes, and had even found its way on to his tunic, but his manner showed that it didn’t bother him.
One of the Coroner’s men had started to examine those bones that were visible on the surface of the ground.
‘These aren’t a complete skeleton,’ he said after his initial assessment and then he studied the area around the site with shrewd eyes. ‘It’s just a leg and a pelvis, as far as I can see. The rest of it must be nearby somewhere.’
‘How long do you think it’s been here?’ asked the Inspector.
‘It’s impossible to say at this stage. It looks as if these bones have been interfered with. Probably foxes. They’ve been dragged from somewhere else and gnawed at here. A body buried in the earth can take years to decompose, but on the surface it all happens much more quickly, what with the rain and so on. Animals and birds can clean bones in no time.’
Eve shuddered, imagining a pack of hungry foxes devouring the human flesh.
The two constables were sent off with the dog to search deeper into the wood and soon the animal had found more of the body, buried under a covering of peaty soil.
‘It’s here, sir,’ called the dog’s handler. ‘Still buried. Down, Pike, good dog.’ Pike stopped scrabbling at the earth and sat beside his boss, a grin of satisfaction on his doggy features and his feathered tail thrashing the leaves on the ground.
The remainder of the corpse was much better preserved than the leg. Mummified flesh was still apparent, clinging to the bones, and the skull had a layer of flesh and hair attached. Fly larvae, water, frost and bodily chemicals had done their work and reduced the body, but these were clearly human remains. Scraps of rotting clothing still clung to the exterior of the corpse, perhaps they would help in identifying the body. Judging by the size of the skull Eve could see that the person had either been a woman or a young individual.
‘Looks like a woman, sir,’ said the Coroner’s man, echoing Eve’s thought, ‘but I’ll confirm that back at the mortuary.’
Eve watched as the men carefully gathered the scattered bones and the buried parts of the body and loaded everything into a clean box they’d brought with them and they heaved it on to the trailer on the back of the tractor, which had turned around and was now facing down the hill. The slow procession descended, the men slipping and sliding in the now smooth, glutinous surface. Eve found that by walking at the edge of the field, where grass still grew, she was able to avoid the worst of the slippery areas.
The men loaded the remains into the Coroner’s van and left for Highston and the nearest mortuary. The police Inspector, after thanking the farmer for his help, accompanied Eve back to Grace’s house to take statements from her and the children who’d found the bones. They took a constable with them.
When they arrived at the house Eve removed her boots and the two policemen scraped mud from their shoes in the porch before entering Grace’s sitting room where the children were playing a board game on the floor.
The expression of awe on Albert’s face when he saw the policemen was enough to make Eve smile. The other evacuees, less bold than their older friend, cringed behind the sofa, while Grace’s children observed with rounded eyes. The appearance of a senior police officer had not augured well in the evacuees’ former lives in London. But this man removed his cap, sat on the faded cretonne-covered sofa and, with an avuncular air and a warm smile, patted the seat beside him.
‘Well, children, come and tell me all about it,’ he said.
It took only a moment before they were crowded round him and words were tumbling from their mouths.
‘It was Albert what found them, mister,’ said Stan, wiping his perpetually runny nose on his sleeve.
‘Is it a person, mister? Was they murdered?’ The last uttered in sepulchral awe.
Within half an hour and after a welcome cup of tea delivered by Grace, the Inspector had obtained all the information he could from the children and it had all been noted down by the constable sitting on an upright chair nearby.
‘Thank you very much,’ the Inspector said, putting his empty tea cup on the table at his side. ‘You’ve been extremely helpful.’ He rose to leave and the constable flipped his notebook closed as they turned towards the door. ‘Can I have a word, Miss Duncan?’
Eve followed the inspector into the hall.
‘It doesn’t look as if any of them are going to be upset; they seem pretty excited by it all if anything. But you may get some nightmares tonight,’ he said. ‘If you need them I can get someone to come and have a word to calm their fears, but I think that between you and Mrs Pritchard they’ll be fine.’
‘Oh yes, I’m sure they will, Inspector, we can manage. Will you let me know if there’s any news? If you find out who the body belongs to, or anything else. I’d like to know.’
The inspector looked at Eve thoughtfully. ‘You’re really interested in this sort of thing aren’t you?’
‘Yes. As I said, I was involved with a couple of murders back in London. Helped the police with them, actually,’ Eve said with what she considered to be admirable modesty. ‘Perhaps I could help you too.’
The Inspector gave a light chuckle. ‘We’ll see, Miss Duncan. In any case I’ll let you know what we find out.’
He shook Eve’s hand as he left and she leaned against the stout oak door with a sigh after she closed it. It looked as if she was involved in a murder case again. Why did this kind of thing keep happening to her?
*
Naturally, word about the find up on the farmer’s potato field was soon round the village. The Land Girls had spread the word and the gossip mill had already embellished the story into an epic tale.
‘Like a battle field, it was. Bodies all over the place!’
‘Never! It was a girl and her dead baby. Abandoned like that, so sad.’
‘It’s tragic. Why hasn’t anyone from round here been missed?’
‘They must be from somewhere else. When will we know who it is?’
The Gossard twins were soon at Grace’s door, eager for a first hand report of the find. They could hardly send them away so Eve spent the rest of the afternoon making tea and toast for the visitors − trying not to use too much of their butter or jam rations − while Grace attempted to soothe the twins’ fears and explain that she and Eve knew no more about the body than they did.
Grace, with her placid unconcern, almost disinterest, Eve observed, was more suitable than her to impart the sparse information that they had.
‘I expect we’ll be told as soon as the police know anything. Do have another cup of tea Emily, and you too Vera. Help yourselves to milk.’
Finally the guests left, less than satisfied with the facts they’d gleaned, but determined to embellish the story to make it more interesting for their legion of friends waiting to hear the news.
After the twins departed Grace and Eve finally cooked the rabbit pies prepared that morning. The excitement of the day had rendered the children more tired than usual and they were happy to go to bed soon after supper, rather more subdued than usual and completely silent on the matter of dead bodies and mud-covered bones. But Eve didn’t think they were upset, just pensive. Grace and Eve sat in the living room with relief, praying that the night would be untroubled by nightmares. They had no wish to go over the happenings of the day any further and listened to the wireless without speaking. Grace sat with her knitting; always making some item of clothing for one of the children. At about ten o’clock they were just turning off the sound before going to bed when they heard a key turning in the lock of the front door and a deep voice called out: ‘Hello! Is anyone up?’ A tall, distinguished-looking man strode into the living room, removing his trilby hat as he came through the door. Hugh was home.
It was like some kind of minor miracle. Eve watched in dumb amazement as Hugh restored order to the chaotic household. By 9 o’clock the following day he had the children up, dressed, breakfasted and out on the back lawn in a thin, chilly drizzle, leading them in physical jerks. And they seemed to be enjoying it, bouncing up and down; throwing their arms into the air in rhythm as if their lives depended on it, while Hugh called out instructions. They didn’t seem to be grumbling at the wet and cold at all. Eve observed them from the sitting room where she’d kindled the fire and was for once free to settle down with the paper for half an hour. Hugh’s return had turned out to be a blessing.
The night before − after his unexpected entrance a day before he was scheduled to arrive – Grace had greeted him with a cry of joy. He’d gathered her into his arms in such a tender way that it made Eve flush with embarrassment and envy. They couldn’t have made it clearer how much they had missed each other and how happy they were to be re-united.
Once he was seated in his favourite chair, after a bite of supper, with Grace reclining in his lap, Hugh started to tell them about the Headmasters’ conference. But the women halted his humdrum recital in midstream when they told him their much more exciting news.
‘A body? Up in the potato field?’ Hugh appeared disinclined to believe it.
Eve, always a stickler for precision, said, ‘Well, no. Not actually in the field; in the little wood beside it. One of the boys found it when he got bored with digging up spuds.’
‘Who could it possibly be? No-one we know, surely. There’s no-one missing from the village is there, Grace?’
‘No. We’d know about it if there was. Perhaps this body’s been there ages and no-one’s found it.’
‘I’m surprised it wasn’t found when they planted the potatoes earlier in the year,’ said Eve.
‘Oh, the Land Girls were much too busy to mess about in the woods. There was so much for them to do in the spring, they could hardly keep up. And a couple of farms share the tractor now, so they had to get the work finished as soon as they could to pass it on.’ Grace snuggled closer to Hugh and leant back against his encircling arm to stroke his face. ‘We’ll hear about what the police find soon enough. Maybe tomorrow. Let’s go to bed now.’
Eve noticed that Hugh didn’t have to be asked twice; this suggestion was plainly very welcome. He stood Grace gently on her feet, said goodnight to Eve and they climbed the stairs hand in hand. Eve stood the fireguard around the dying fire before going to her room. Grace would be happier now that Hugh was back and he would certainly relieve them of some of the burden of caring for the small army of children.
*
Hugh had sent the children off on a hike after their gymnastics and the adults were enjoying a quiet cuppa in the kitchen when the front door bell rang. Eve, on answering it, found the Gossard twins hovering on the doorstep again, looking as if they were in two minds whether to flee.
‘I do hope it’s not inconvenient,’ the one in red said in a barely audible whisper.
‘Can we come in? We don’t want to be a nuisance,’ said the one in blue in equally timid tones.
Eve, even after two or three encounters, was still unable to distinguish Emily from Vera.
‘No, don’t be silly, do come in. Grace and Hugh are in the kitchen. Come and have a cup of tea with us.’
‘Ooh, Hugh is home,’ they squeaked in unison, turning towards the door again. ‘We’d better go.’ They were clearly intimidated by the headmaster.
‘No. Nonsense. He’ll be glad to see you.’ Eve guided the twins into the kitchen where Hugh stood and gestured each to a seat at the table.
The twins had come to discuss the find up in the wood again. They had obviously been discussing it in detail and were hungry for more information to pass on.
‘Everyone is very scared,’ they said. ‘Is the body someone we know? Do you think there can be a murderer in the village? Some of those soldiers up at the Hall are a bit odd; could it have been done by one of them?’
Hugh tried to be reassuring and used his most soothing tones. ‘The body may have been there for years, long before the soldiers were here,’ he said. ‘Someone probably dumped it from miles away. As no-one’s absent it can’t very well be anyone we know, can it?’
The little party in the kitchen was joined by Mrs Gough, ostensibly on her way home from cleaning and polishing at the church, but ripe for more gossip that could be added to her store of rather meagre information obtained after the twins’ visit to Grace yesterday afternoon.
‘We don’t know anything else, Mabel,’ said Grace. ‘Eve has asked the police to keep us informed. But as we keep saying, there’s no-one from round here not accounted for.’
‘But...’ Vera, the twin in red, started to say something, a puzzled frown on her face, just as her sister stood up to leave. Eve looked at her with interest, but she was not to hear what Vera had to say.
‘It’s time we went home for lunch, Vee,’ Emily said. ‘We’ve taken up enough of Grace and Hugh’s time.’
Eve watched as the pair gathered their scarves, coats and umbrellas with fussy fluttering and bustled to the door where Grace said goodbye. She would have liked to question Vera further; she plainly had something she wanted to say. But just as the Gossards departed the back door burst open and the children dashed in.
‘There’s coppers all over the woods,’ said little red-headed Stan, his normally pale face, rosy pink with exertion. The last of the boys, eight year old Gerry, panted at his elbow, relishing this further eruption of thrilling events.
‘They sent us packing,’ said Diana, Grace’s little girl, in the tones of someone with a deep grievance. ‘Told us not to get in the way.’
‘But we wasn’t,’ said Stan.
‘They’re searching all over the wood now,’ intoned Albert with pleasure, ‘probably looking for more bodies.’
‘There’s no reason to think there are any more bodies, so don’t keep on about it. And don’t get in the way of the police,’ said Hugh. ‘Get cleaned up, all of you. Then sit quietly in your rooms and read those books I gave you till lunchtime.’
To Eve’s amazement the children, including Hugh’s own, turned without a grumble and clattered up the stairs. They would never have done that for her; Hugh certainly had a magic touch. Once the children had settled to their books he went into the room he used as a study and started to go through the notes he’d taken at the conference.
*
In what was left of the morning Eve and Grace prepared lunch for the ten of them. They had already made a vat of peppery onion and potato soup and cut Grace’s homemade bread into chunks. All that was left to do was lay the table and put out cheese and apples and glasses of milk for the children.
‘I can’t wait till September when there’ll be some plums on the trees. It’ll make a change from these old apples and the pears,’ said Grace.
‘There’ll be more strawberries and raspberries soon.’
‘Yes, if the birds don’t get them first, or if they haven’t all rotted in the rain. I must get Hugh to check the nets. Anyway, this lot will gobble them up in no time.’
Eve constantly marvelled at the volume of produce that Grace managed to grow in her garden to supplement the rations. Beans and peas, marrows and tomatoes, soft fruits and rhubarb, a cornucopia of food. In London many of the things that they took for granted here were as rare as pigs’ wings. Even onions were in short supply in town nowadays and she was sure no-one had seen a strawberry since 1939. The vegetable stalls in Shepherds Bush market were, compared to pre-war standards, unremarkable and sparse. Potatoes, turnips, cabbages, occasional parsnips, that awful orange swede and sprouts in season, were about all they saw and they sold out very quickly. A varied diet was a thing of the past for Londoners.
*
They’d cleared up after lunch and Hugh had taken the boys outside to help repair the strawberry nets when another visitor came to the back door. A policeman came into the lobby where the boots and coats were kept. He was the man that Eve had first encountered up in the field before the police realised that the bones belonged to a human body.
‘Afternoon, Miss Duncan,’ he said with puzzled respect, as if he could not understand why Eve had been given the honour of this information. ‘Inspector said to come over and tell you what they’ve found out at the mortuary. Seems that them bones belonged to a woman aged between thirty and forty what had given birth at some time. They’re not sure how long she’s been dead. At least six months, they say, but could be a couple of years. Apparently the foxes and so on have got at them.’
Eve shuddered. ‘You mean she was eaten by animals?’
‘The bits that got dug up were. The rest of the body was more intact as it’d still been buried in the peat, so they could tell more from that.’
‘Could they identify her?’ asked Grace.
‘No. There’s no clothes you could make out properly, just rags, nor jewellery or nothing. She had dark brown hair and was about five foot five tall, but that’s all they can tell. No fingerprints any more. And we probably wouldn’t have a record of them in any case. They’re still looking for a cause of death, but it mayn’t be possible to find out how she died.’ The policeman closed the notebook he’d been consulting with a conclusive snap.
‘Thank you very much for letting me know, constable,’ said Eve with a smile. ‘I hope you’ll thank the inspector too and say I’d love to know if you find out anything else. Will there be an inquest do you think?’
‘Oh, sure to be, Miss. I’ll tell you when it is, shall I?’
‘Yes, I’d be grateful. The Coroner may want me to be a witness rather than the children as I was one of the first to see her. We don’t want to get them all worked up again.’
The constable took his leave and Eve wandered back to the kitchen where Grace was pounding at a huge lump of bread dough. Eve repeated what the policeman had said.
‘Poor woman. She may have been taken ill up in the woods and died there and nobody knew where she was,’ Grace said.
‘She couldn’t very well have buried herself, Grace. Anyway, wouldn’t someone have put out an alarm for a missing person in that case? Though I suppose people go missing all the time in London, what with the bombing and everything.’
‘Perhaps she wasn’t from anywhere round here; just out in the country for the day. They may be looking for her in one of the cities. She may have run away from home for some reason. Oh dear, it doesn’t bear thinking about; dying all alone like that.’
‘Don’t upset yourself, Grace, we’ll hear about it soon enough. The inquest may turn up something. I hope they don’t hold it till the children are back at school.’
*
As it turned out Eve was sent a written request to attend the inquest in Highston on Wednesday week, just two days after the children started back at school for the autumn term.
Hugh, clearly exhilarated by the prospect of the start of a new school year, teased the children.
‘Well, you lot of layabouts,’ he said, ‘enjoy your last week of freedom. Next week it’s back to the grindstone and I expect you to be the best in the school because you live with me. And don’t imagine you’ll have any special treatment either.’
The kids groaned at the thought, grinning at the same time, knowing that Hugh’s rule might be strict, but it was never harsh. As headmasters go, he was obviously a pussy cat compared to the stern and uncompromising headmistress at Eve and Charlie’s elementary school; a regime where the ruler or switch were regularly applied for the smallest misdemeanour. Eve thought these kids were damned lucky.