Imposture (DI Gardener 6)

Reilly nodded. “There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye. She hasn’t been hit by a vehicle.”

“Maybe she was a witness to an accident,” suggested Gardener, “and someone’s tried to silence her.”

Reilly stood up, glancing around. His eyes suddenly stopped and focused on something behind Gardener.

“You might just be right.”

Chapter Three

Reilly shone the torch toward a green enamel electric box about twelve feet away from his partner, across a grass verge, located next to a fence leading into a field. The beam picked up a pair of feet.

Gardener scurried toward the box. The only noise he registered in the dead of night was the buzzing of the damaged street light, which created an eerie atmosphere.

At that point, a car on Ilkley Road approached the roundabout and Gardener could quite clearly see from the signal that the driver wanted to enter the village via Main Street.

“Can you stop him? Send him back the other way,” Gardener asked PC Roberts, who quickly ran off.

The second body that no one had noticed was mostly in the shadow behind the electric box, as if someone wanted it hidden. Either that or they were drunk and had passed out, which he seriously doubted.

As Reilly shone the torch, Gardener noticed a pair of legs, dressed in trousers that almost certainly belonged to a suit. Peering further in, he caught sight of a sensible pair of walking boots, both of which were soiled with mud and grass stains to name but two. He wore a thick camel hair coat and his clothes spoke of money so it was very unlikely he was intoxicated, or here of his own accord.

Had they found what Ann Marie Hunter had been a witness to?

The gap between the electric box and the fence was narrow. Gardener took the torch from Reilly, leaned in closer, casting the beam further. One arm was by the victim’s side, the other draped across his stomach. The left hand had a wedding ring and bore scratches but from what, Gardener had no idea. A hat covered the man’s face.

Gardener pointed the torch at the man’s chest. He could see no movement, indicating he wasn’t breathing.

“Hello,” said Gardener, feeling stupid. “Are you okay?”

No response.

Gardener pulled a pair of latex gloves from his pocket, slipped his hands into them and carefully removed the hat. He detected no breathing and asked if Reilly might have a small mirror in the car. He then checked for a pulse but found none. The sergeant returned within minutes, clutching the remains of a broken wing mirror, which he mentioned was from the boot of their own vehicle. He held it over the mouth of the male victim – to no avail. He was definitely deceased.

Gardener stood up and glanced at his partner. He removed his own hat and scratched his head. “I can’t make any sense of this.”

“Without CCTV we’re not likely to.” Reilly glanced around. “And there doesn’t seem to be much of that.”

“I have a really bad feeling about it all,” continued Gardener. “We have a heavy car travelling at some speed, that smashes into a brick wall back there. It appears to have bounced off the wall and still continued at high speed before finishing up here. Look at the clumps of overturned soil and the damage to the railings and the street lamp. Why did it stop here?” He glanced quickly at both bodies. “It doesn’t look like either of these have actually been hit.”

“I don’t think we can rule him out as not being hit yet, boss,” said Reilly, staring at the body behind the electric box. “I’ve seen some strange things over the years. I once saw a bloke hit by a car and he flew into the air, landed some distance away, but when the ambulance got to him there wasn’t a scratch – he hadn’t even lost a drop of blood. Happens that way sometimes.”

Gardener knelt back down and rummaged through the suit pockets of the male victim retrieving a leather wallet. Pulling out a credit card, he read it, rolled his eyes, and then passed it to Reilly.

“David Hunter. The plot thickens.”

Gardener grabbed his mobile and punched in a series of numbers. “Time to call this in, Sean. We need everyone here.”

Chapter Four

The scene in the village switched in an instant, in the shape of four police cars, four vans and two trucks. Gardener left Reilly with PC Roberts and Edward Makepeace, while he met with Scenes of Crime Officers and issued some tasks; he wanted an inner and outer cordon put into place immediately, with marquees constructed. Burley was sealed off in record time, resembling something out of The Quatermass Experiment.

Gardener raised his head, took it all in. A quiet country village locked down, the scene of mysterious murders. Floating between here and the roundabout to the main A65 were a number of SOCOs, all in white paper suits. There were cars all over the place with flashing blue lights, headlights still burning; resembling an abandon

ed film set.

A bunch of spectators had finally gathered at either end of the crime scene tape, as they always did. Where had they been when he’d needed them? And where the hell had they come from? The amount of people that had gathered due to noise from the scene and the bright lights was now around twenty, and growing. What was the betting that no one had seen or heard anything?

Reilly had checked the statement Roberts had taken from Edward Makepeace and then asked the young PC to take the old man home. Gardener dragged his team to one side at the edge of the inner cordon: Colin Sharp, Paul Benson, Patrick Edwards and Dave Rawson were huddled together. He was also pleased to see the two newer recruits in the shape of Julie Longstaff and Sarah Gates.