Aftermath Read Free Page A

sir.’
    â€˜What do we have?’
    â€˜So far . . . so far we have five skeletons. Seem to my untrained eye to be exhibiting different rates of decomposition. One is completely skeletal; one still has tissue in evidence.’
    â€˜Five?’ Hennessey raised an eyebrow. ‘So far?’
    â€˜Yes, sir, so far.’ Webster glanced at the garden where three white-shirted constables were carefully probing the vegetation. ‘As you see, sir, the garden is badly overgrown . . . a few more skeletons, or corpses may still be concealed but we’re moving carefully . . . don’t want to damage the evidence.’
    â€˜Yes . . . a large area search. You don’t need more men?’
    â€˜I think not, sir.’ Webster brushed a fly from his face. ‘Many hands might well make light work but in this case I think it is more true that too many cooks will spoil the broth.’
    â€˜I see.’
    â€˜It’s also the apparent case that all the bodies are localized within this area . . . within these walls, eventually we’ll locate them and do so quite rapidly.’
    â€˜So in this . . . remnant of the kitchen garden? Not within the house or the grounds?’
    â€˜They’ll be searched, of course, sir, but the gentleman who found them mentioned that the hinges of the garden door have been lubricated, uniquely in the house and grounds.’
    â€˜I see,’ Hennessey watched a constable part the branches of a laurel bush, ‘that is a fair point.’ He turned again to Webster. ‘You look shaken, Webster. It’s not like you.’
    â€˜I am, sir. It’s not just the skeletons; it’s the way that they were restrained.’
    â€˜They were restrained?’
    â€˜Yes, sir . . . wrists chained together behind their backs and one of their ankles was attached to a long, heavy chain which ran the length of the garden, anchored certainly at this end in a block of concrete. They also seem to have remnants of some type of gag in their mouths.’
    â€˜A gag,’ Hennessey gasped, ‘so suggesting they were alive when left here . . . attached to a chain . . .?’
    â€˜Yes, sir . . . in full view of the previous skeletons . . . and left to succumb to thirst or cold. If left in the summer thirst would have taken them, if in winter hypothermia.’
    â€˜Better show me.’ Hennessey followed Webster who led him to the skeleton which was closest to the door of the garden. ‘I’ve asked the pathologist to attend, sir,’ Webster explained, ‘no need for the police surgeon to confirm life extinct in the matter of corpses, as per regulations.’
    â€˜Yes . . . good.’
    â€˜This is what I mean, sir.’ Webster stood over the skeleton of the human being. ‘The SOCO have taken all photographs.’
    Hennessey looked at the corpse and as he did so, he noticed a silence about the scene, even the birds were silent. Hennessey saw instantly that the scene was exactly as Webster had described. The skeleton lay on its side with what appeared to be a length of rope fastened in its mouth tied behind the neck. The rope had largely rotted to the point of disintegration but it was a clear illustration of a simple but efficient gag. It was all that was needed to prevent the victim screaming or shouting for assistance. The wrists, as Webster had further indicated, were fastened closely together by a small length of lightweight chain and fastened with two small brass padlocks, and the left ankle had been fastened with a similar length of lightweight chain to a long length of heavy chain. The heavy chain would, by itself, be difficult to pull or drag along the ground but it was, as Webster had indicated, buried at one end and doubtless at the other end also, into large blocks of concrete. ‘Premeditated,’ he