An Indecent Death Read Free Page A

Investigation Services Team, or as they were familiarly known, the fisties, were always called out to a suspicious death.
    “Any minute, I expect,” replied Karl.
    “Right, then, I’ll get over now to see Detective Singh, and leave things here in your capable hands. Over that way, you said?”
     
    Detective Lori Singh stood on the gravel path that was Blue Heron Trail, watching Drumm approaching, carefully inspecting the ground. The trail meandered from the parking lot taking numerous twists and turns, so that Drumm had only come into view in the last few seconds. The path cut through deciduous woods, mostly birch and maple, which were almost fully-leafed at this point in the spring. At this hour of the morning, it was cool and mostly shady, the sun having difficulty getting through the green canopy above. There were few insects about.
    Lori thought, as she had before, what a good-looking man Drumm was. About six feet one, maybe one hundred and eighty pounds, Detective Sergeant Nicholas Drumm carried his forty-eight years well. He was in good shape, maybe a few extra pounds on his stomach, but still someone she would enjoy seeing in a swimsuit. Not that she ever had; they didn’t have that kind of relationship. She liked his face too, which was somewhat square but still appealing, and the touch of grey just starting to show in the brown hair at his temples. Some people found him intimidating but she had never felt like that. She enjoyed his somewhat offbeat sense of humour, and his casual manner with his colleagues. He was professional, though, and he got good results. Casual wasn’t quite the right word, she reflected. It was a studied casualness which he could set aside quickly when the situation warranted it. She had been taken to task a number of times by him, but never when she hadn’t deserved it.
    Drumm looked up from his careful inspection of the path when he was a few feet from her. “Detective Singh, how are you this beautiful Sunday morning?” He didn’t wait for a reply. “What have we got here, then?”
    “The body’s right over there, Nick. I had a good look, but I haven’t touched anything. It looks like a dump scene, although it’s hard to tell for sure. But there’s no sign of a struggle, no blood anywhere and nothing to indicate that she was killed here.”
    Lori Singh was absently playing with her earring while she glanced periodically at her notebook. The page she was looking at was filled with neat, small handwriting.
    She went on, “The corpse is female, for sure, looking at the hand. No rings on it, but some red nail polish. Not much decomp, so she was probably buried pretty recently, although it’s hard to tell with such a small amount of flesh showing. Of course, the Coroner will tell us for sure.”
    “Did the dog do any damage?” Drumm asked.
    “I don’t think so. I couldn’t see any. The ground’s disturbed a bit, that’s all. Whoever buried her must have been in a hurry – she’s not deep. It’s a careless job, for sure. If he’d taken his time and gotten her deeper, she wouldn’t have been discovered for some time – maybe never – in a place like this. As it is, she couldn’t have been there long at all.”
    Drumm listened carefully to Lori Singh. They had worked together a couple of times before and he found her capable, efficient and keen to learn. She was attractive, maybe thirty years old with almond-shaped eyes, honey-coloured skin and dark shoulder-length hair which today, like most days, was put up in a bun. She was dressed in dark slacks, sweater and sensible shoes.
    “Right then, Lori, let’s have a look.” The two of them moved off the trail and approached the yellow crime scene tape which Singh had put up around several trees. There was a clearing behind the tape, roughly twenty feet square. Stopping at the makeshift barrier, Drumm looked carefully at the ground beyond, then lifted the tape and moved under and closer, followed by the other