Chapter Four - Identity
"Hello?! Police officer!" Mrs. Collier hollered, stepping out of her garden and onto the dwindling road between Strensford and Aidensfield as she heard the sound of a motorcycle.
PC Steve Crane carefully eased off the throttle and slowed down until he came to a halt next to the petite old lady. "Mrs. Collier," he said with a polite smile as he killed the engine and took off his helmet. "What can I do for you?"
"Oh, I don't mean to be nosy PC Crane but I am a little worried. You see there was a young man on the train last night and if I'm not mistaken it was the same man that committed a horrible crime round here four years ago," she said in a troubled voice.
"Please forgive me…" Steve began but she waved his apology off.
"Of course, you wouldn't know now't about it. Silly me, it was before your time," she admonished herself. "You see he murdered his son…well it was said to be an accident but not many people believe it. Anyway, I thought you should now. Maybe he's got something to do with that horrible crime committed earlier on the Ashfordly Estate?"
Steve, not sure what to say, only nodded.
"He was a wild one when he was little you see. His name is Joshua Barber," she filled in.
"Thank you, Mrs. Collier. I'll…I'll check this up back at the station and have a word with my sergeant," the young police officer returned.
OOOOOO
"Morning brother!" Vernon shouted happily as he walked into the garage with David in tow.
Bernie knocked his head on the hood of the car he was currently working on at the sudden loud greeting and grimaced, doing a double take of his brother's appearance. "Vernon, what on earth…" he began as he took in the soiled clothing and the chaperon.
Vernon took of his cap and swiped his forehead, huffing slightly as he leaned against a car for a little rest as David single handedly carried a large sack of what could only be the so called fertilizer, and then put it down just inside the garage doors.
"Vernon?" Bernie called suspiciously.
"Don't you worry about a thing, we are just borrowing some space up front for our merchandize," he said happily.
"That's what I was afraid of," the undertaker muttered.
"What's that?" Vernon asked.
Ignoring the comment Bernie slowly made his way over to the desk and retrieved several notes. "Your customers," he said cryptically as he handed over a list of people that had asked for him.
"Good," Vernon broke into a wide grin as he elbowed David slightly as he hollered after his brother. "You're of little faith Bernie. I told you this would be something big."
"Big words and nothing behind it," the garage owner muttered dejectedly. "By the way, one of the women is some kind of council member back in Strensford so would you please not make a fool of yourself?"
OOOOOO
Ben Norton chuckled as he held the door for the local doctor, waiting for her to walk inside the pub in Aidensfield.
"They claimed they were purifying their souls. Mr. Rah even claimed he could feel the nature changing his immune system for the better. His Lordship lost the little faith he had when the man calling himself the seeker of the group started a campfire on his land and then began chanting," he filled in the amused doctor.
"I can imagine Lord Ashfordly's expression," Liz replied trying to contain a laugh.
Ben nodded. "That's not the end of it," he added. "Apparently the group has been around for quite some time in the vicinity, travelling short distances only. And while on their trips things have…shall we say disappeared."
"In the sense of?" Liz asked curiously.
"Well, such as garden figurines, garden equipment. Lord Harold Doley even claimed they took off with his tennis court," he said unable to contain his laugh anymore.
Oscar Blaketon looked up from where he was standing, behind the counter, at the Aidensfield Arms as Ben and Liz burst out laughing while heading for the bar.
"Ah," he began.
"What can I get you two?" Gina interrupted with a smile before he had a chance to say anything more.
Liz frowned and looked at Ben and then back again. "What's going on here?" She asked.
"Detective work, don't mind them," Gina replied. "They have too little to do," she added, nodding at Oscar and Alf, who sat at the end of the counter with a half-filled pint and a fag.
Ben eyed the two cunning former police officers.
"Orange juice for me, Gina," Liz said and gently nudged Ben to get his attention.
"Oh, a pint, please Gina," he said with a charming smile.
"By the lack of police officers hanging about, I'd say they're still busy trying to find something," Oscar deduced cunningly. "Merton's stuck."
"It's not overly easy, Oscar," Alf drawled to his sergeant's defense, causing his old friend and former sergeant to raise a skeptical eyebrow.
"Someone must know something," Blaketon reasoned, his voice sharpening.
"We have circulated a description of the man, put an advertisement in the paper, CID is trying to dig up something. Although so far everyone seem to have drawn a blank," Alf returned.
Oscar turned to Liz. "What does the hospital say?" He asked curiously.
Liz frowned. "What do you mean, Oscar?" She returned.
"There must be medical records, dental cards, fingerprints," he suggested.
"The fingerprints are for the police, as you very well know," she answered with a disapproving glare.
"The man must come from somewhere. He's not named John Doe for real," the bar owner muttered.
Gina pursed her lips and turned to Oscar with a look of contempt before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Like I said, Liz, don't pay too much attention to them. Enjoy your drinks," she said softly.
"Thanks," Ben offered to Gina and then nodded at a table close to the fireplace.
"I think Dennis better watch out or he'll have competition," Ben whispered close to Liz's ear as they made their way over.
Liz broke into a grin. "I don't think he will appreciate that," she let on.
OOOOOO
Precisely one minute before his shift started in the morning PC Steve Crane walked through the door to the police station. Despite the ongoing murder investigation things seemed quite slow around the precinct. Sergeant Merton seemed to be nowhere in sight, Bellamy's desk wasn't cleared since the day before indicating that he hadn't been anywhere near the place last night and he wasn't present now either.
Alf Ventress sauntered in at a slow pace and gently lowered himself in his chair behind the desk. "You're looking troubled," he said kindly to the young officer.
"Where is everybody?" Steve asked.
"Phil is trying to come to terms with his life. You know how he's been ever since they lost the child," Alf returned somberly. "It's a month ago this day so I wouldn't want to call him. I figure he's at the cemetery."
Steve sighed. It had been hard on all of them when Daniel had died. He couldn't even begin to understand what Phil and Gina was going through, he didn't have the experience and for that he was grateful. "What does Shiner have to say about that?" he asked carefully.
"He understands but he also specifically told Merton that if Phil's deemed a liability due to recent events he's to be taken off duty effective immediately," Alf returned.
Steve couldn't help but to smirk. "And how exactly do you know that?" He said.
"The door to the office happened to be open when I put the kettle on," he let on casually.
"I see. Well, anyway, what do you know about some villain returning home?" Steve questioned.
Ventress sighed. "Joshua Barber?" He asked, looking at Steve for confirmation.
He nodded.
"Was a bit of a hothead when he was little. Managed to create quite a stir in the village. Sergeant Craddock wasn't too fond of the guy," Alf chuckled. "Joshua spray-colored his car in neon pink as a rite to get into a gang."
"I can see why Sergeant Craddock objected to that," Crane offered with a smirk.
"Oh, he was quite harmless. His father was a heavy drinker and the kid didn't get a proper upbringing. No one had time for the poor boy. Then, when he was sixteen, he met a girl, Rose Chambers. She was a bit of a posh from uptown Ashfordly and a couple of months after they began seeing each other she got pregnant. It was a big scandal in the society's upper class. Rose Chambers was sent away to deliver her baby but Joshua found them. Despite everyone being against their relationship the pair decided to keep it together and raise their son on their own. They stayed uphill from here at a place called Ranger's Peak. When everything finally seemed to go their way an accident was reported up at the farm. The little kid died from his injuries," Alf finished sadly.
"So the father was blamed for it?" Steve asked, uncertain as of where Alf was going with the story.
"Rose was blamed, her parents, Joshua, his father, the list was long but their neighbours claimed they could prove Joshua was at fault and so he got sentenced. Rose, unable to bear the memories of her child and her imprisoned husband moved away from here. That was three years ago and no one's seen her since. The case was opened up again and new evidence showed it had been an accident and that no one was to blame so Joshua was released recently, after a long legal process. However, folks up here…they believe in rumours and not necessarily the truth. Mrs. Collier, the nice little lady you had a chat with, is one of those people," the former copper explained.
"So she's not on to something then?" Steve asked dejectedly.
"No, Steve, let the lad be. If he's here it's probably to pick up the pieces of his early life," Alf deduced. "And before you ask, Sarge is at the hospital. The coroner's report is finished."
OOOOOO
Dennis Merton sighed as he walked through the entrance doors to Ashfordly General Hospital. He nodded at the administration clerk and set a brisk pace toward the mortuary. At this early hour the hospital was milling with people on the first floor. Patients, attendants, nurses and doctors crowded the corridors along the emergency admission section, the vaccination center, the large waiting room and the information disks. Gloomily he came to realize it was Monday and that they'd been working with the murder case for almost four days without as much as a proper clue. Having been so wrapped up in the case he hardly had any recollection of the weekend that had passed. He had been hard at work most of the time.
He sighed again, this time deeply, as he neared the double doors to the mortuary. Despite the morning rush he had no trouble getting around the hospital, his dark blue uniform carrying enough weight, telling the patients and interns that he was a man of the law. The fact that his coat carried grade marks only highlighted that he was a man of importance in the police force. Despite the years he'd been back into uniform Merton still wasn't used to people recognizing him as a law enforcer. Being a DC in CID he used to work in plain clothes and had come to appreciate the freedom it gave him.
"Sergeant Merton," the coroner acknowledged as he walked out in the corridor to greet him. "My apologies it's taken this long but the chap proved to be a tricky man to identify."
The Scottish sergeant gave him a small nod, his mind having been miles away. "I do hope, Doctor Craven, that you've got something for me," he said.
"As a matter of fact I believe that you would be pleased," the balding man in his sixties returned with an upward curl to his lips. "In my business there usually are few surprises when it comes to the cause of death but occasionally the identification process proves tricky."
Merton nodded impatiently.
"I finally got a match down in Liverpool. As you've already discovered the man wasn't in any registers. That's why you didn't get a match on his fingerprints. His dental records had been destroyed and as you know CID wasn't able to match him against any missing person in the area," the doctor explained.
"Go on," Merton urged.
"Jeremy Watson," Doctor Craven let on cryptically. "The man you found on the Ashfordly Estate matches the description of Jeremy Watson, a junior doctor in Liverpool. I didn't mean to crack the case for you. It just so happens that my nephew is currently doing an intern year at the General Hospital over there and…well, we talked about it and he mentioned that a former colleague of his had disappeared but I thought it was just a coincidence…"
Merton waved his hand as if to indicate that heard enough. "Thank you Doctor Craven. We'll take it from here," he said.
OOOOOO
To be continued
/Thank you for the support and for encouraging me to write more of this ;) You guys are wonderful!