The Puppet Show (Washington Poe)

‘Yes, Poe.’

He paused. ‘And try not to worry about those idiots, Tilly. If it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else. Look at it this way, you’re in the NCA. Imagine what it would have been like for someone who wasn’t. Look at it as a glass half-full kind of thing.’

Bradshaw removed her glasses and polished them with a special cloth she kept in her bag. When they were back on, she tucked some hair behind her ear and said, ‘The glass isn’t half full, Poe. And neither is it half empty.’

‘What is it then?’

She grinned. ‘It’s twice as big as it needs to be.’

She was going to be fine.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Parkside was one of two cemeteries the district council ran in the Kendal area. Poe had been to funerals there so didn’t need directions. It was huge, extended to both

sides of Parkside Road, and was sectioned according to denomination and religion.

He needed K-section. It was the furthest from the chapel and the car park; and why wouldn’t it be? No one would ever visit it.

Finding the grave was more difficult than he imagined it would be. The cloud covering – while keeping the ambient temperature warm – made the blanket of blackness shrouding the cemetery complete. It robbed him of his senses and he cursed himself for not having had the foresight to bring a working torch. He had one in his car but it was little more than a tube for carrying dead batteries. The BlackBerry’s torch was barely making a dent in the darkness.

After half an hour of stumbling, tripping over exposed tree roots and walking through cobwebs, he eventually found K-section. Some of the sections were situated in light woodland but K-section was in one of the more open areas.

He began reading headstones. It was an old section of the grounds and most of the graves were simple monuments; weathered stones with fading inscriptions. Names, dates and simple messages of love. The occasional military rank. Some were clean, and others were stained green; half a dozen or so had the full moss overcoat. Some of the older ones leaned together like old friends. He shuddered; how could a place be so full and yet so empty at the same time?

Eventually he found it. It was at the very edge of K-section in a small area he hadn’t noticed earlier, hidden from view by a large mausoleum. The reason he’d missed it earlier was because none of the graves had headstones.

The area was slightly covered by a maple tree. He looked down and saw seven wooden plaques in a neat row. Poe knew this was what he’d been looking for.

Logic – and in this part of K-section logic probably did play a part – dictated he should start at the end of the row. He could smell freshly turned earth, and when he shone his light on the plaque to the far right, he found what he’d come for.

The plaque simply said, ‘Unknown Male’. The date of interment was there in smaller writing along with an eight-digit reference number that matched the one Reid had told him. The number that was now on the fax van Zyl had sent.

Poe stepped back and viewed the surrounding area. He didn’t know what he was looking for and found nothing amiss. It was one of the reasons he’d wanted to get there before the council cavalry arrived; he wanted to look at the area before it was molested and trampled on. See if it had been interfered with. It didn’t look as though it had; the grave of Tollund Man was fresh but not new fresh.

If he were going to find anything, it was below ground.

He sat down to wait. He checked his watch. It wouldn’t be long.

The environmental health officer was called Freya Ackley. She had a shock of ginger hair and spoke with a Newcastle accent. She seemed relieved someone had been there to meet her. ‘DS Poe?’

Poe showed her his ID. ‘You have things to do before the circus starts?’

She nodded. ‘I’m supposed to get five days to do my checks. I was woken by South Lakeland District Council’s director of environmental health two hours ago and told the Ministry of Justice had a job that couldn’t wait.’

She wasn’t moaning; she was nervous. Poe could tell it was the first exhumation she’d officiated. She removed a large file from her rucksack and went to the summary sheet.

‘I need to find the grave,’ she said.

‘Over there,’ Poe pointed. ‘New one on the end.’

Ackley removed a document from the file’s inside pocket. It was the same one Poe had. She walked over to the grave and shone her torch down onto the wooden plaque. She checked it three times then called Poe over.

‘I can confirm that this is the grave on the exhumation order.’

‘Agreed,’ Poe said.

‘And can you confirm the reason for the exhumation?’