Page 5 of The Chapel of Bones

‘Gone into the woods for a pee.’ Darren shuffled his feet nervously. ‘We’re taking down some leylandii – bloody nuisance, those things are. I wanted to tell Mrs Jones we’ve found something.’

‘What have you found?’ Gerry said as he emerged from the car.

Darren suddenly looked unsure of himself, as though he regretted starting the conversation. ‘It’s a wall. Looks old. And there’s some carved stone things. Weird statues or something. George said to ignore it, but I thought Mrs Jones ought to know. It’s in her garden, so . . .’

The mention of carved stone caught Wesley’s attention. He’d studied archaeology at Exeter University and still took an interest in the subject whenever the opportunity presented itself. He’d once told Gerry that archaeology and detective work had a lot in common. Gerry had looked sceptical, but Wesley believed the statement was accurate. Both professions involved removing layers of dirt until the truth was finally revealed.

‘Mind if I take a look?’

‘Come on, Wes, we haven’t got time for that.’

‘That’s what George said,’ said Darren. ‘But I thought somebody ought to see it. In case it’s got something to do with . . . what happened in the house.’

‘Now why should you think that?’ said Gerry, arms folded.

Darren shrugged as though he couldn’t think of an answer, and Wesley suspected that he just wanted to tell someone in authority what he’d found; someone who might not dismiss it as a pointless distraction.

Wesley turned to the DCI. ‘That body looks as though it’s been there for years. Another few minutes won’t do any harm.’

‘Body?’ Darren’s eyes widened in alarm.

‘Nothing for you to worry about,’ said Wesley quickly.

Gerry looked at his watch. ‘OK. You go, but don’t be too long.’

The DCI waited by the car, arms folded impatiently, while Wesley followed Darren down a narrow path branching off the drive. It was uneven and littered with exposed tree roots. He seized the opportunity to ask Darren a question as they walked. ‘I believe the house stood empty for a while. Any idea who lived here before?’ As the Joneses had only just moved in, the obvious place to start their investigation was by tracing the property’s previous owners.

‘Dunno. But whoever they were, they really let things get out of hand. We’ve already been here for a few days seeing to the trees.’

They reached an area that appeared to have been cleared of vegetation. Large leylandii lay chopped up on the ground, ready for the chipper that stood nearby. A wiry man with close-cropped hair, an array of tattoos on his bare torso and a world-weary expression emerged from the nearby trees smoking a roll-up.

‘Who’s this?’ he said with a hint of aggression as he looked Wesley up and down with barely concealed disdain.

Wesley produced his ID. ‘Detective Inspector Wesley Peterson, Tradmouth CID. We’re here investigating human remains found in the house and your colleague says he has something to show me.’

‘Human remains? You mean a dead body?’

‘That’s right.’

The man raised his eyebrows. ‘It’s not that Mrs Jones, is it?’ He glanced at Darren. ‘She hasn’t paid us yet.’

‘Mrs Jones is fine. She had a bad shock, that’s all. We think the body’s been there for some time.’

‘Was it buried in the cellar?’ Darren asked. He sounded as though he was beginning to enjoy the drama of the situation.

Wesley ignored the question. ‘Do you know anything about the house? Who used to own it?’

‘No,’ was George’s monosyllabic reply.

‘My grandad knew the people who lived here,’ Darren chipped in. ‘Well, he didn’t exactly know them, just recognised the name, that’s all. When I told him we had a job here, he said that the man who used to own it turned it into a hippy commune.’

George took a last drag of his roll-up and threw it to the ground before stamping it out contemptuously. Wesley suspected he’d like to do the same to Darren.

‘What was the previous owner’s name?’

Darren considered the question for a few moments. ‘I think it was something double-barrelled. Posh. Fortescue-Barnes, something like that.’

‘And you don’t know anything else about him?’