locations he made the calls from. They have two scenes now, so their chances of finding matching traces are increased with each call.’
‘And I suppose we sit here on our backsides and hope he’ll call again, just to make it a bit easier for us.’
‘Possibly,’ said Hitchens. ‘But there are plenty of other enquiries to concentrate on in the meantime.’
The DI looked up at Cooper as he came back into the room.
‘How is the Audrey Steele enquiry progressing, Ben? I’m thinking we ought to make it a higher priority before word gets out. There could be a strong public reaction to an incident like this, and we don’t want to look as though we’re not doing anything.’
Cooper hesitated. As one of the lowliest members of the department, there was always a danger of being caught between conflicting instructions from his senior officers.
‘DS Fry suggested I should pursue other avenues before considering the possibility that an unidentified body was involved,’ he said, choosing his words carefully.
‘I know. A mixing of ashes. And how are you getting on?’
200
‘All the ashes I’ve managed to collect have gone for analysis. I’m not sure if they’ll tell us anything, though. Theoretically it shouldn’t be possible to mix up bodies at the crem, unless it was done deliberately, so it may still be just the one cremation we need to explain.’
‘That’s what I’m worried about. We mustn’t appear to be ignoring the more serious possibility, Ben.’
‘No, sir.’
Cooper waited. The DI’s concerns about public perception might well supersede Diane’s judgement on the use of resources, but it was a debate he’d prefer to stay out of. Alongside him, Fry was silent, but he could feel her growing tense. He guessed the debate might continue later, when he was out of earshot.
‘The funeral directors would have to be at the centre of the business, wouldn’t they?’ said Hitchens.
‘Hudson and Slack, yes. I’ve got them listed as my next port of call.’
‘To sum up, then. We have human remains that turn out to be those of Audrey Steele, who was never reported missing because she died of natural causes and was cremated with the full works. Or so her family were led to believe. Right so far?’
‘Yes, sir.’
Hitchens tapped again, then pointed the end of the pen at Fry. She could see a trace of his saliva gleaming on the cap.
‘The question is, if the ashes weren’t mixed up, who or what was cremated in Audrey Steele’s place? You can’t just stick an empty coffin in the hearse. Its weight would be a giveaway, for a start. The bearers would notice. The cremator technicians would notice. We’d have to imagine a conspiracy involving at least half a dozen people, if not more. Very risky.’
‘We’ve been over this. The obvious thing to do would be to put something else in the coffin instead of the corpse. But the crematorium staff still might notice, if the ashes weren’t right.’
201
‘Mr Lloyd sent through the computer records for the day in question,’ said Cooper. ‘That was helpful of him, since it never occurred to me to ask for them. There’s nothing unusual about the data for Audrey Steele’s cremation.’
‘Of course, no one would notice,’ said Hitchens, ‘if you put a different body in the coffin.’
‘An actual murder victim, you think?’ said Fry.
‘What better way to dispose of the body? No victim, no forensics. Perfect.’
‘And even if the remains of Audrey Steele turned up, we would never be able to match them to a missing person.’
‘Precisely, Diane. Because she was never missing.’
‘If it hadn’t been for the facial reconstruction ‘
‘And DC Cooper’s persistence,’ said Hitchens.
‘Well, yes, and that.’
‘Have you still got the list of missing persons, Ben?’
‘From eighteen months ago? Yes. But there’s a big problem with it, isn’t there? We don’t know whether we’re looking for a male or a female. We have no idea of age, height, skin colour. Nothing. All we have are ashes.’
‘Yes, that is a problem,’ said Hitchens. He paused for a moment. ‘So what do we make of Melvyn Hudson? He’s the boss at Hudson and Slack, isn’t he? So he’d be in the best position to interfere with a body.’
‘Would it be possible on his own?’ asked Cooper.
‘The staff at Hudson and Slack might know something. They could have helped to cover up, at least. It’s one of those jobs, isn’t it? An “us and them” sort of job. No one else understands or appreciates us, so we have to stick together, no matter what,’ said Fry.
‘Could be,’ he said. Fry might just as well have been describing the police. It was definitely an ‘us and them’ sort of job. ‘You don’t think it’s any more than that? There couldn’t be somebody with a more personal reason to cover up?’
‘And we still have the crematorium staff,’ said Hitchens.
202
They’re hidden away in that room at the back of the chapel. It’s an ideal situation for the kind of person Dr Kane described just now. Imagine - he sees human beings reduced to dust every day. There’s nothing so predictable as ashes.’
Fry stood up, though she wasn’t going anywhere. She just needed to move restlessly around the room.
‘If you ask me, there’s nothing so predictable as the opinion of an expert.’
