Written In Blood

Chapter Five

Mitchell frowned at that. "Why can't you be sure it's her?" he asked. "You've been treating Georgina since she was a baby, you must have some idea whether it's her or not."

"The face is too badly damaged to say for definite who it might be. Georgina has a mole in that position," Kelly said, indicating the grown near the girl's left armpit. "But I wouldn't want to base an identification on it. You're good friends with the family, you've probably seen more of Georgina over the years than me, can't you say if it's her?"

Reluctantly, Mitchell was forced to admit that he couldn't. "I don't think I could be certain, if I thought I was looking at my own daughter," he said unhappily. "Could it be Lucy Goulding, rather than Georgina Ryder?"

"My gut feeling," Kelly said. "Is that this is Georgina, but I think you're going to have to rely on blood tests or dental records to be certain. Sorry, I wish I could be more help."

Mitchell clapped the doctor on the shoulder. "No need for you to be sorry. If I can't be sure who she is, I can't expect you to be. Can you give me any idea how she was killed?" he asked. "Obviously, she was beaten, severely, but was that enough..." Before he could finish, the phone in his pocket began ringing. He quickly excused himself so he could answer it, though he was sure, even without looking, that he knew who was trying to get hold of him.

Kelly used the excuse of giving Mitchell privacy for his call to get away from the body. He moved to where Melissa was standing with the village's newcomer and found them in conversation.

"Why do you say I'll be lucky if I don't see more murders like this?"

Melissa's face was ashen and her voice trembled in a way that made Kelly worry she was suffering from shock.

"Because a murder like this is often only a beginning," Zack told her. "It's usually the result of someone bottling up frustration and anger until something or someone pushes them over the edge and they explode. When that happens, they generally react in one of three ways: they either immediately commit suicide out of remorse, hand themselves in to the police, or they go back to bottling things up until they explode again. If they do that then each explosion is likely to be worse than the one before. Not only that, but there's a risk they'll have enjoyed killing the girl, and will actively want to duplicate the thrills. If that's the case, you're in real trouble."

Mitchell moved away from the body on the ground as he took his phone from his pocket. He preferred not to look at the young girl any more than necessary, and he was going to have to pay enough attention to her while investigating what had happened to her. "Inspector," he answered the phone. "I wondered how long it would be before you called."

"Paul said he received a phone call from our new resident, Wild, saying he found the body of a murdered girl, is that true?" Robert Stevens, who commanded Oakhurst's small police force asked in a concerned voice.

"Yes," Mitchell said. The bloody mess that had been made of the girl's stomach sickened him but he couldn't keep his eyes from straying to it repeatedly, despite him dragging them away every time it happened. "I'm at the scene now. There's no doubt about it, I'm afraid...she's been murdered."

"Jesus!" Stevens swore. "Paul also said Lucy Goulding has been reported missing by her mother. Is it..." His voice faltered, and it was a moment before he regained it. "Is it Lucy or...or Georgina?"

"I can't say for sure," Mitchell admitted. "She's quite a mess, she's been pretty badly worked over. It's hard enough to tell she's a girl from the state her face is in, without trying to work out who she is. If you push me, I'd say it's Georgina; the girl has dark hair, and the last time I saw Lucy, which was only yesterday or the day before, she had blonde hair. Not only that, but Lucy was only reported missing yesterday, and I'm pretty sure the – the body has been here for at least a couple of days, not that I'm an expert or anything."

"What's Kelly got to say?"

"He's as unsure as I am," Mitchell said. "There's a mole he recognises, but he doesn't want to hang his hat on it." He could hardly blame the doctor for that. "He said it's probably going to take a blood test or dental records to be sure if we've found Georgina or someone else."

"What about her parents?" Stevens asked. "Can't John or Verity make an identification? Surely they're best suited to say one way or another if the girl you've found is Georgina."

Mitchell didn't answer that straight away, instead he thought back to his last visit to the Ryders. "I don't think so," he said. "They're not coping with things very well, Verity especially, and the body isn't very recognisable. Georgina, if it is her, must have gone through hell; her killer - he left her bruised and battered all over by the looks of it, especially her face, and something was...something was carved into her stomach – words, I couldn't make out what because of all the blood. I don't think either John or Verity would have much luck identifying her, and even if I thought they could, I wouldn't want to put them through it.

"I'm sure it will be a simple enough job for the pathologist to identify her from dental records or medical records or something."

"Okay, that's your decision, Lewis." Stevens changed the subject then. "I know you haven't long got there, and this is your first time dealing with a murder, but have you got any idea who could be responsible? I find it hard to believe that it could be anyone we know."

"I wish I had a clue," Mitchell said. "I don't, though. Like you, I can't believe anyone in the village, anyone we know, could be responsible for this, but that only leaves Mr Wild." He dropped his voice as he said that, not wanting the person in question to hear him. "I've never met the guy before today, so I don't have a clue what he might be capable of, though, to be honest, I can't see why he would tell us about the body if he's responsible for it. Especially since, if it is Georgina, she's been here for up to a week without being found.

"Chances are, she would have remained here almost indefinitely without us knowing she was here."

Stevens was silent for a few moments. "I know what you're going to say; it doesn't make sense, at least to us," he said eventually. "But you do hear of people who commit crimes and then almost dare the police to catch them. I can't say I understand why anyone would do that, but they do; like the parents who go on TV to make an appeal for the return of a missing child, when they're responsible for the child's disappearance. Maybe Mr Wild is one of those kinds of people." He sighed, unhappy with the thought that someone like that might have moved to Oakhurst. "There is another possibility," he said, his mind racing as he sought alternatives to the unpalatable thought that someone he knew was a murderer.

"What's that?" Mitchell asked. He couldn't think of a single other possibility – he was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that there had been a murder in his quiet little village.

"Someone from outside the village could be responsible," Stevens said. "It might even be that the girl is neither Georgina nor Lucy, but someone from town, or even elsewhere. I realise it's pretty unlikely, but it is something we have to consider."

"Yes, sir." Mitchell had his doubts about his superior's suggestion, but chose not to mention them. "While I've got you, I need you to arrange a few things for me. I need a coroner and a forensics team, Mike to come out here and keep an eye on the body until they can get here, and I need to know if you're going to get a detective to come in and handle the investigation."

"I think that's something we should discuss when we get to the station."

"...don't you drive that Aston Martin I've seen around the village?"

Zack had to laugh at the question from the young constable, though he quickly stopped when he remembered they were at the scene of a murder. "You mean, how can I afford such an expensive car on a detective inspector's salary, especially when I'm not one anymore."

Melissa flushed but didn't deny that that was the question she really wanted to ask. Before she could get an answer, however, Mitchell interrupted.

"You were a detective inspector?" he asked, more than a little surprised, not just because Zack Wild looked too young to have reached inspector's rank, but also because, like Melissa, he couldn't work out how he could own a car that had to be worth more than many of the houses in the village.

"I was, now I'm an author," Zack said. He might have elaborated on his answer if she was still talking to just Constable Turner and the doctor; he sensed the sergeant's dislike of him, however, and was reluctant to reveal too much of himself to the man.