Condemned, R.C. Bridgestock [most romantic novels TXT] 📗

shed light upon the skeleton of the female that was discovered at Crownest? Anything else that you are withholding?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘I’d swear on mother’s grave, if she had one.’

Charley looked at her questioningly.

‘It’s a long story. She was cremated, and her ashes were spread up on the hills, free, where she wanted to be.’

Back at the office, the detectives took the photographs out of their exhibit envelope with gloved hands. Charley and Mike watched, as each photograph was painstakingly fingerprinted by the CSI, and swabbed for DNA. Each picture was placed in separate see-through exhibits bags and given an exhibit number.

‘There is no doubt in my mind that these photographs were taken by a voyeur,’ said Charley as she looked down at the Incident Room table where the tagged photographs had been spread out.

With tears in her eyes, Annie tried to look brave. ‘Those poor youngsters,’ she said looking from one to another.

Mike studied one picture closely. ‘Can you pass me the magnifying glass? The one we got the boss as a joke?’

Wilkie moved to open his desk drawer and handed over the glass. ‘Getting a bit serious aren’t we, Sherlock?’

Annie and Charley moved behind Mike to look over his shoulder. ‘That young girl, she looks familiar.’

‘Lily? Josie? They all look the same to me.’

‘I can’t understand why she wouldn’t have destroyed these when Connor died,’ said Annie.

Annie was subdued. ‘She’s probably been brought up to think that this sort of thing was normal, and because of the enquiries she is having to revisit her past. She is probably having to come to terms with the fact that the person that she had thought of as her father, was not related to her at all; her mother was prostituted out by her real father, who was the man she looked up to, and a priest to boot. Not only that, by speaking to us, she has had to expose him as a voyeur.’

Silently, Mike lifted and studied photograph after photograph as the others looked on. ‘Do you think we’ve discovered an historic pedophile ring? It was, presumably, unchallenged at the time and maybe interference was dealt with by death?’ said Mike.

‘You think that it’s a possibility that the female corpse we found was a consequence of Father Connor’s debauchery?’ said Wilkie. ‘God forbid what happened to him then when he received the judgement at the pearly gates!’

‘I wonder if there is anything buried in the priest’s grave that might help us?’ said Wilkie.

‘Such as a body… or two?’ said Mike.

‘Exactly,’ said Wilkie. He turned to Charley with questioning eyes.

‘There’d be outrage if we exhumed a priest.’

‘I know that, but it’s not going to stop you, if it’s needed to solve a murder, is it? Let’s face it, it wouldn’t be the first time someone has used an existing grave to hide a body, would it?’ said Wilkie.

‘Hold that thought,’ Charley replied, ‘but, before we do we’ll lean on Lily Pritchard a bit more. I think now she’s started to revisit her past, there’ll be more forthcoming. For the moment, let’s wait and see if there are any fingerprints or DNA on the exhibits, and if so, where that leads us.’

Charley’s mind was drawn back to the Dixons. A couple of officers from the surveillance team were now on site at Primrose Pastures and had taken up position in the caravan that had been offered to them. This took all responsibility away from Sean Dean at the caravan site to inform the police of the Dixons’ return.

The last sighting of the Dixons’ motorhome tracked through the automatic number-plate recognition system was on the A64 on the day that the couple had booked into the site. However, in respect of their motorbike, there had been numerous hits, and the team had spent time trawling through the data to see if there was a repeat trip to one place. A common trip for the Dixons appeared to be on the A166, to and from The Tradesman’s Cafe, a well-known meeting place for bikers and also renowned for a good breakfast.

According to the surveillance team supervisor, a planned moving stop on the Dixon’s bike was feasible along this particular stretch of road. An isolated area, it offered no risk of interference in the operation, accidental or deliberate, from pedestrians or the public.

As she could feel the tension start to build again in the case, Charley liaised with Tim Watson on the phone regarding the firearms operation. ‘Is there any point on the A166 that can be identified in advance?’ Charley asked, wanting to know as much as she could about the details.

‘The Tactical Pursuit and Containment supervisor will call it on the day,’ he told Charley. ‘Steve Reynolds is the TPAC lead on this operation, and he has a great deal of experience in managing and terminating police pursuits. I’ve been involved with many of those with him. His forte is stopping fleeing vehicles, including rolling roadblocks, use of spike strips, and his ‘box and stop’ containment method is a joy to see. Don’t worry, we’re ready. All’s well, ma’am.’

However, Charley did worry, because this part of the operation was out of her hands. It had to be delegated to those who confronted armed criminals on a daily basis as this was their area of expertise. But thankfully things were moving at pace and she felt upbeat at the progress.

Tattie stood at Charley’s door until she had finished her call, ‘The financial investigation team have sent you an update, so I’ve printed it off for you to read.’ She handed over some paperwork to her boss.

The report identified irregularities in the business accounts of Mr Raglan.

‘The devious bastard has been money laundering, there is no other explanation!’ she exclaimed to Mike as she handed him the summary to be included on the database ten or so minutes later.

Mike pulled up a chair. ‘So, in light of this, what’s our next move?’

‘Raglan’s dug his own grave, hasn’t he? We will have enough