‘But what was he doing up there, if so? And there’s no ladder. How would he have got there?’
Drew shook his head. ‘Not our problem. We have to call the police.’
Thea had managed to get the resisting dogs a few feet away, relieved to see her own spaniel nosing about in a distant section of the barn and ignoring the fact of a dead man. ‘Help me with these two,’ she ordered Drew. ‘Then make the phone call. This is such a …’ She wanted to say nuisance or pain , but they would both sound outrageously insensitive. Nonetheless, they were the words that best fitted her feelings.
‘Quick, then,’ said Drew. It was obvious that in his opinion the animals were quite definitely a nuisance. Impatiently he took both leads and heartlessly dragged the orphaned dogs outside. ‘We can tie them up here, look.’ There were horizontal and vertical metal poles creating barriers alongside an odd construction that Thea had noticed on her rapid rush into the barn. ‘What is this?’ Drew asked.
‘Could be where they dipped the sheep,’ she ventured. It was a long narrow alleyway made of concrete blocks, about the width of a sheep, with a parallel section running alongside. It was weedy and rusty and clearly long disused. But it offered a useful place to tie dogs, for the time being.
The 999 call took the usual protracted time while details were laboriously repeated and fatuous questions asked. For a man who conducted sensitive business on the telephone every week of his life, he made something of a mess of it, offering irrelevant information and finally shouting, for the third time, that he had no idea what the road number was. As far as he was aware, itwas far too small to have a number at all. Thea itched to take over from him, despite knowing nothing more than he did about the geography of the place.
Finally, he ended the call, and said irritably to Thea, ‘You know these people. Detective Inspector whatshisname and that nice woman I met in Stanton.’
‘Gladwin. She’s a superintendent. The other one is Higgins. They’ll probably only get involved if it really is murder.’ She spoke distractedly, struggling to get to grips with the appalling turn of events. It had been so far from what she had expected, her mind was taking its time in catching up.
‘You think it might not be, then?’ he sounded hopeful, as if a reprieve had been offered.
‘I don’t know, Drew. He’s got dreadful injuries. A broken neck and his skull – what can have done that to his skull?’ She flinched at the vivid image of the crusted crack in the front of the man’s head. His very short hair had done nothing to cover the stark sight. ‘Let’s not go back in there, okay.’
‘We have to watch out for the police car, anyway. That’s if they ever manage to locate this road.’
‘It’s not a very efficient system, is it?’ she said. ‘It’s not the first time I’ve almost given up explaining to some girl in Bristol or Birmingham how a little village works. They never listen properly, that’s the trouble.’
‘They think it can all be done by satellite.’
‘It probably could, if they used the right technology. I mean – doesn’t your phone send a signal that gives thelocation? The police are always talking about finding criminals through their phones.’
‘I think that’s more on TV than in the real world. They only use it for very high-powered terrorist stuff.’
‘Ironic, really,’ she said, mainly for the sake of talking about something other than a dead man with a cracked head. ‘I hate all this surveillance and CCTV and stuff, but when you want to be found, everything falls apart.’
Drew was more than willing to keep up this line of conversation, finding it helpful in soothing his own distress. ‘We don’t know it’s fallen apart, yet. They could turn up at any moment and prove us wrong.’
‘The trouble is that Chedworth really is hopelessly complicated. I’m not even sure I could get back to
Drew shook his head. ‘Not our problem. We have to call the police.’
Thea had managed to get the resisting dogs a few feet away, relieved to see her own spaniel nosing about in a distant section of the barn and ignoring the fact of a dead man. ‘Help me with these two,’ she ordered Drew. ‘Then make the phone call. This is such a …’ She wanted to say nuisance or pain , but they would both sound outrageously insensitive. Nonetheless, they were the words that best fitted her feelings.
‘Quick, then,’ said Drew. It was obvious that in his opinion the animals were quite definitely a nuisance. Impatiently he took both leads and heartlessly dragged the orphaned dogs outside. ‘We can tie them up here, look.’ There were horizontal and vertical metal poles creating barriers alongside an odd construction that Thea had noticed on her rapid rush into the barn. ‘What is this?’ Drew asked.
‘Could be where they dipped the sheep,’ she ventured. It was a long narrow alleyway made of concrete blocks, about the width of a sheep, with a parallel section running alongside. It was weedy and rusty and clearly long disused. But it offered a useful place to tie dogs, for the time being.
The 999 call took the usual protracted time while details were laboriously repeated and fatuous questions asked. For a man who conducted sensitive business on the telephone every week of his life, he made something of a mess of it, offering irrelevant information and finally shouting, for the third time, that he had no idea what the road number was. As far as he was aware, itwas far too small to have a number at all. Thea itched to take over from him, despite knowing nothing more than he did about the geography of the place.
Finally, he ended the call, and said irritably to Thea, ‘You know these people. Detective Inspector whatshisname and that nice woman I met in Stanton.’
‘Gladwin. She’s a superintendent. The other one is Higgins. They’ll probably only get involved if it really is murder.’ She spoke distractedly, struggling to get to grips with the appalling turn of events. It had been so far from what she had expected, her mind was taking its time in catching up.
‘You think it might not be, then?’ he sounded hopeful, as if a reprieve had been offered.
‘I don’t know, Drew. He’s got dreadful injuries. A broken neck and his skull – what can have done that to his skull?’ She flinched at the vivid image of the crusted crack in the front of the man’s head. His very short hair had done nothing to cover the stark sight. ‘Let’s not go back in there, okay.’
‘We have to watch out for the police car, anyway. That’s if they ever manage to locate this road.’
‘It’s not a very efficient system, is it?’ she said. ‘It’s not the first time I’ve almost given up explaining to some girl in Bristol or Birmingham how a little village works. They never listen properly, that’s the trouble.’
‘They think it can all be done by satellite.’
‘It probably could, if they used the right technology. I mean – doesn’t your phone send a signal that gives thelocation? The police are always talking about finding criminals through their phones.’
‘I think that’s more on TV than in the real world. They only use it for very high-powered terrorist stuff.’
‘Ironic, really,’ she said, mainly for the sake of talking about something other than a dead man with a cracked head. ‘I hate all this surveillance and CCTV and stuff, but when you want to be found, everything falls apart.’
Drew was more than willing to keep up this line of conversation, finding it helpful in soothing his own distress. ‘We don’t know it’s fallen apart, yet. They could turn up at any moment and prove us wrong.’
‘The trouble is that Chedworth really is hopelessly complicated. I’m not even sure I could get back to
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