below each nostril. ‘Ask him for any names of other anglers he knows who like to fish here. Maybe someone saw the body being dumped or at least noticed someone suspicious who didn’t belong. Then get on to the station and see if an ID for our Derwent body has come through; also tell Forensics to make the cloth we found in the river a priority. Unless it’s a monogrammed towel, they probably won’t get much from it, but at least we now know it could be significant.’ Noble nodded and turned to leave. ‘And John. Get on to DS Gadd, Morton and Cooper as well. Tell them to clear the decks. We meet in my office in two hours.’
Noble caught Brook’s eye briefly. They exchanged a nod. He could see his DI had that feeling again. It was the dread he got when something big and nasty fell into their lap.
While he waited for Noble, Gadd and the others, Brook sat at his desk with his hands cupped under his chin. He stared at his monitor showing the Google map of the terrain east of Derby, the dumping ground of both corpses. He would have booked one of the smaller Incident Rooms for the briefing with its large, detailed map of Derby, but didn’t want Chief Super-intendent Charlton to get wind that he was scaling up an inquiry into a pair of deaths that hadn’t yet been declared murders.
Noble entered the office and pinned a few grisly photographs to the display board before sitting down on the one available chair. Detective Sergeants Jane Gadd, Rob Morton and Detective Constable Dave Cooper followed, carrying their own chairs.
Brook looked at his watch and addressed his fellow officers. ‘We’re all here. Sorry we’re briefing on a Saturday night, but there it is.’ Gadd and Morton raised their eyebrows at Noble. Apologies from Brook were rare. Noble raised his eyebrows back at them as though it were the most natural thing in the world. ‘I want this inquiry up and running first thing tomorrow morning as we may only have a couple of days on this.’
‘Sunday morning!’ exclaimed Gadd, before she could stop herself. ‘No problem,’ she added quickly.
‘Good. John, how much does everyone know?’
‘Only that we found a body in the Derwent. And now another in Shardlow.’
‘They’re connected?’ said Rob Morton.
‘They are,’ Brook replied tersely. A vision flashed across his mind of soft wrinkled flesh parting like a dismembered jellyfish less than two hours ago. He would never forget the noise as the wound in the dead man’s side had been pulled open and the heart, though roughly attached to tissue in the cavity, had rolled out on to the plastic sheet. ‘It’s the same MO.’
‘So we have a serial killer on the loose,’ said Cooper, trying not to sound pleased.
‘Hold that thought, Constable,’ retorted Brook, before gesturing to Noble, who produced his notebook to begin the briefing.
‘We’ve got an ID on the first body, a vagrant found in the River Derwent on Thursday morning, east of the Borrowash Bridge.’
‘That’s a long way from spare change,’ said Morton.
‘He wasn’t there by choice,’ said Brook. ‘He was already dead when he was dumped in the water, almost certainly from that same bridge in the early hours of Tuesday the seventeenth.’
‘When the road was closed?’ said Jane Gadd.
‘Correct.’ Noble pointed to the head shot of the deceased. ‘Tommy McTiernan was from Aberdeen. He was fifty-five years old and had convictions for vagrancy, theft, aggravated assault, drunk and disorderly and a string of other offences which led to a grand total of nine years inside, served at various times and institutions. He has no family and no fixed abode.
‘Why he was in Derby we don’t know, but we do know he was in the city as recently as three weeks ago because he signed into Millstone House Hostel on the twenty-fifth of April and spent a couple of nights there. We checked with the director. He’s sending us whatever information he’s got on other residents staying on the same nights. There’s no CCTV for the time Tommy was there but as far as we’re aware, nothing untoward happened while he was at the Shelter. The few staff there are low paid but dedicated to their work. One of those, Daniel O’Shea, has convictions for affray and GBH, but that was twenty years ago — before he found Jesus,’ he added.
‘McTiernan’s movements after leaving the Hostel are unknown until we found him in the Derwent. Fortunately the body was caught on a fallen tree or it would have been further downriver. Even so, it wasn’t spotted for a couple of days until two lads saw it from the bridge and went to investigate. The body was naked although we now think McTiernan may originally have been wearing some kind of cloth to cover his genitalia, because a piece of material was recovered nearby and our second body found yesterday was similarly dressed.’
Noble looked up to shake out any questions then continued. ‘You won’t be surprised to hear that Forensics don’t have a lot to go on after immersion. However, Tommy McTiernan’s corpse had undergone an unusual. .’ He paused, looking for the right word before glancing at his superior for vocabulary.
‘Procedure,’ finished Brook.
‘Procedure,’ echoed Noble. ‘McTiernan’s body was drained of blood and his internal organs and intestines had been removed.’
‘Not while he was alive?’ asked Gadd.
‘No. McTiernan was already dead. He died of alcohol poisoning.’
Gadd’s face clouded over. ‘Alcohol poisoning? That’s usually self-inflicted.’
Noble looked at Brook then back at DS Gadd. ‘Yes.’
‘So he wasn’t murdered?’
‘Probably not,’ replied Brook softly. He paused to look across at Jane Gadd, wondering if she was going to ask why five CID officers were about to spend their weekend on this. It was a legitimate question but she’d clearly decided against it.
Noble continued. ‘Shortly after death, Tommy’s organs were removed and, we assume, whoever removed them began the process of preparing his body for embalming. His hair was cut, he was shaved, his nails were clipped and the body was washed and treated with chemicals.’
‘So if he wasn’t murdered, McTiernan’s disposal is what? A DIY burial gone wrong?’ asked Morton. ‘Or a funeral home mix-up, maybe.’
‘It has been known, especially where there’s no next-of-kin to claim the body, or kick up a fuss,’ continued Noble. ‘Given the nature of the procedure, we’re fairly sure McTiernan hasn’t been in the state system and hasn’t had an official post mortem. But right now we don’t know.’
‘There was a case in Colchester five or six years ago,’ said Cooper. ‘A trainee undertaker sent the wrong number of corpses for cremation and before he knew it, he had a spare stiff on his hands. Rather than fess up to his boss and risk the can, he panicked and buried it in a field.’
Noble winced, awaiting the inevitable.
‘Fess up?’ queried Brook. ‘Are you American, Detective Constable?’
‘Sorry, sir,’ replied Cooper with a sheepish grin. ‘I pick up all sorts of slang from the kids.’
‘Do you?’ said Brook, unmoved. But a second later he smiled after a sudden inspiration. ‘How
Cooper’s mouth fell open. ‘Erm, they’re fine. Sir.’
‘Good. Glad to hear it, er. . Dave. You must bring in some pictures some time.’ Brook caught the amused glance from Noble, who quickly returned his eyes to his notebook.
‘The funeral home angle isn’t a bad one,’ continued Noble, ‘because of the degree of cosmetic care. And we will look into the possibility of a mix-up tomorrow, but there are problems with that theory. Whoever dumped the body went to the trouble of stealing bollards and at least one
‘Pretty cool-headed,’ agreed Cooper. ‘Seems to point away from a random undertaker panicking.’
‘And the fact that we now have a second body, as yet unidentified, but in similar condition, would seem to confirm that,’ said Brook. ‘So tomorrow we’re going to get on the phone and talk to all the funeral directors in the surrounding area. We don’t have time to visit face to face yet, and they may be closed on a Sunday, but if we ring them, they’re likely to have an answering service to redirect calls or provide a contact number so they don’t lose business. Speak to them at home if necessary and if you have a website, follow up with an email.’
‘You’re not expecting them to admit they’ve dumped bodies illegally.’
‘Course not,’ said Brook, ‘but use your experience. Shortlist any firm that reacts badly to the question or rings
