WARNING: This chapter mentions violence and is gorier than the other chapters.
Chapter 6
Daphne and Fred followed in their car – with the lights flashing – Fischer, who was following Detective Wheeler inside a police car. There was another police car parked a few yards away and Fred guessed this must have been the policeman who reported to Wheeler.
They heard police sirens in the distance.
Daphne and Fred climbed out of their cars, and Fischer climbed out of her's. Detective Wheeler and the police officer climbed out of the police car. It was lucky the roads had been cleared again this morning, otherwise, that would have been an awfully dangerous ride.
'A guy was out walking his dog this morning.' He began, Daphne knew where this was going, the dog found something. She looked back at the town, they were less than 100 yards away from the nearest building but not quite on the outskirts of town.
Then something hit her, and Fred noticed it too, 'What's that smell?' Daphne asked, she knew it was not the smell of a body but something else, she recognised it but couldn't think what it was.
'There's a manhole somewhere along this road and the sewer runs through it.' Commissioner Fischer explained.
Detective Wheeler led them towards a mound of snow, surrounded by some trees. Off to the left, it was all clear and Daphne guessed that must be the road that led to the next town.
They trudged through the snow towards the snow mound, and Wheeler climbed over it, then others followed. It was crunchy under their feet which indicated that it was colder last night.
As they climbed over the mound, Wheeler stopped on the other side and he looked to the ground. The other's came next to him and looked at what he was seeing.
Daphne squatted to get a closer look at what was partially buried under the snow, Fischer followed suite. Fred looked away and he saw a police officer talking to a man who had his dog on a lead. The man looked like he was in his 60's-70's, and his dog sat by his feet. The officer was taking notes.
'Gloves, Detective?' Fischer asked, pulling a pair of latex gloves out of her pocket, offering them to Daphne. But Daphne already had some of her own and never worked a case without a pair of gloves in her pocket.
Fischer smiled as she slid on her gloves.
Fred and Wheeler squatted next to them.
Daphne, with her gloves on, pushed a lump of snow to one side to reveal what was underneath.
A human head in the snow. In the early stages of decomposition but it was recognisable that this body belonged to Liam or Alfie Harleson as she recognised the face from the photographs, but obviously a family member would have to come to confirm the identification.
She moved some more snow away from the body and noticed some marks on the victim's neck, 'Looks like he was strangled.' She said.
As she moved more snow away from the body, with the help of Fischer, they discovered that the body was intact and fully clothed.
Daphne fished in the jacket pockets, then the inside pockets and she found what she was looking for, a wallet.
She opened it and read the name on the driver's licence, 'Alfie Harleson.' She said showing the licence to the others.
Wheeler looked around, 'This whole area is covered in snow, where do we begin to look for Liam?'
The police sirens grew louder and louder, and finally, the police cars skidded to a stop next to the other cars and the officers immediately jumped out and began setting up police lines around the area.
Where do we look for Liam? Daphne thought. She tried to remember all the other cases where one brother was found close to the other brother. Either a few feet apart or right next to each other.
Fred studied Daphne, he watched as she stood up. Fischer and Wheeler watched her too.
Daphne turned around to the police officers as they busied themselves with the police lines. Then she looked at the policeman who was speaking to the man with his dog.
The dog could smell Alfie's body, but he's not indicating to anywhere Liam could be? And it stumped her.
'Daphne?' Fred asked.
The more she thought the harder it was to conclude. So she took a deep breath.
'Are you ok, detective?' Fischer asked.
Daphne was deep in thought; the dog could smell Alfie because he's exposed, but he can't smell Liam? The body should be nearby. If he's close, why can't the dog smell Liam?
'Commissioner.' Daphne finally spoke.
'Detective?' Fischer asked.
'Can you have someone look inside the manhole?' Daphne asked. Fischer put it together right away, Fred looked up at Daphne and he realised what she meant; the body could be hidden in the sewers.
Fischer made her way over to the group of officers.
Fred and Wheeler stood up. Fred asked, 'Are you sure about this?' And Daphne nodded.
'You want us to look in the sewers, Commish?' One of the officers asked, and Fischer nodded.
The officer went to his police car, rummaged around in the trunk and returned with a crowbar.
'Oh uh…looks like someone has been at this manhole, Fischer.' Another office spoke.
'Why? What have you found?' Fischer asked, Daphne, Fred and Wheeler followed her over to the group of officers who stood around the manhole.
It was only partially covered in snow, unlike the rest of the ground. It could have been possible that the drain company came to inspect the manhole, but the night before a body is found?
The police officers cleared the manhole of the little snow that covered it, and the officer pried it open with the crowbar and another pulled the manhole cover off.
Everyone around the manhole was repulsed by the smell.
But this was a team of law enforcement officers, along with three trained detectives and a police commissioner, who all at some point in their careers would have had to search a sewer for some reason or other.
As Fred and Daphne watched the officer remove the manhole cover, Fred recalled a case a little while ago where he and Daphne had to search the sewers under the city after a robbery at the jewellers and it was suspected that the thief had hidden in the sewers to evade law enforcement. But he was unsuccessful.
Daphne and Fred recalled the smell of the sewers, and they remembered that it did not smell as awful as this.
Fischer decided she should investigate and Daphne volunteered herself to go in with her.
The two climbed into the manhole. The smell worsened as they went further down into the sewers.
Daphne pulled her phone out of her pocket and turned on the flashlight, 'There.' She pointed and shone her flashlight on the body that was slumped against the wall of the sewers.
'Oh, Jesus.' Fischer muttered, 'What did this guy do to deserve this?' She called up to the officers, 'We need some help in here!'
'This is unlike him.' Fischer muttered.
'Huh?' Daphne asked.
'This is not like our killer. He has been leaving them in plain sight, and leaving the victims close to each other.' Fischer explained.
'He knows.' Daphne commented, 'He knows we're gonna be onto him soon. And he's gonna make it harder and harder for us to find the victims, and himself.'
It has taken its time, but finally, Liam Harleson's body was removed from the sewers and taken to the morgue along with his brother Alfie.
Daphne and Fischer had gotten themselves cleaned up a little bit at the station before they headed to the morgue to hear the coroners report.
'Strangulation, in both cases.' Fred said, reading the report, 'There are no other markings on the bodies, no fingerprints because our killer was wearing gloves.'
He was annoyed, Daphne could tell.
Fred dropped the report onto the table and ran his fingers through his hair.
'You think he's gonna start hiding them now?' He asked.
Daphne nodded, 'He knows we're here. He knows he needs to be careful now or he'll get caught.'
'What do you wanna do?' Fred asked.
'I want to stick to our original plan. I want to speak to the families and the other witnesses, starting with the first victim's family.'
'Ok, let's go.'
As Daphne and Fred walked out of the morgue, they bumped into Detective Wheeler, 'Oh hey, guys.' He spoke, 'I've just come to collect the autopsy report for Fischer. She's going ahead with a press conference in a couple of hours, she wants you guys there.'
'Why?' Daphne asked.
Wheeler shrugged, ' I guess to reassure the town that we have the help we need. I'll catch you guys later.'
'I suppose we'll have to hold off the meetings.' Daphne suggested.
'Maybe it'll be better, at least then the families and the witnesses will know that we're here to help them.' Fred said, Daphne, shrugged, she knew he was right, it was a good idea.