The group moved inside the imposing gates of the cemetery. Wendy called them to order. ‘Rose and Brad, we need to recreate this accurately. No being coy because we’re present, and Rose, disregard your mother. If she doesn’t like it, she’ll have to close her eyes.’
‘Mum’s alright; Dad wouldn’t have been.’
‘I’m not that comfortable,’ the mother said. ‘But I’ll not interfere. After tonight, you and I will need to sit down and have a good talk.’
Rose whispered to Brad, ‘They’re just worried about me, that’s all.’
‘Something I never had. A violent father who thankfully left us; my mother’s decent enough, but she drinks.’
Rose, even though she was young, felt motherly towards Brad, although she didn’t understand why.
The instruction was that Brad and Rose were to act as they had on the night when she had pretended to be staying at a friend’s house.
Brad had no difficulty in putting his arm around Rose and kissing her, although Rose kept looking over at her mother.
It was always tricky when dealing with children; the need for a responsible adult to be present, a parent.
‘Mrs Winston,’ Isaac said. ‘If you don’t mind, can I have a word with you.’
Wendy could see that her DCI had sensed the situation, and he could play a part in taking the mother away, letting the daughter relax.
‘Okay, Rose, your mother’s not looking now,’ Larry said. ‘Show us what happened on the night.’
‘I didn’t want to walk through,’ Rose said. ‘Not after the movie that Steph and I had watched.’
Brad put his arm around Rose; she responded and puts hers around him, leaning over to give him a kiss.
‘We walked down the path, over to Kilburn Lane,’ Brad said.
A member of Gordon Windsor’s crime scene team was present as an observer. The area had been checked and heavy rain had removed the possibility of further evidence.
The group moved forward, Brad and Rose in front. Allowances had to be made, as it wasn’t dark and Rose wasn’t scared, just embarrassed; Brad Robinson appeared to be enjoying himself. Over in the distance, Isaac and the mother walked.
‘It was here,’ Rose said, ‘when the man walked by.’
‘The limp?’
‘I didn’t see it,’ Brad said.
‘If you were to the left of Rose, you would have been looking ahead or towards her,’ Larry said. ‘She would have been looking in your direction, the direction of the man and the grave. That’s why she saw the body and not you.’
‘Why the limp?’ Wendy asked. ‘How can you be certain?’
‘I can’t, not really. Other than what I saw.’
‘A limp isn’t always noticeable, not in the dark.’‘
‘I saw him before Brad. I saw him over near where the woman was.’
‘You’ve not mentioned this before.’
‘I don’t know. Maybe I just forgot.’
It was understandable, Wendy conceded. A young woman disobeying her parents, late at night, a scary movie. Too many issues for a young mind to comprehend.
‘What did you see?’ Larry asked.
‘I think I saw the murder. I can remember something. I thought it was a statue or something like that, but now I think it was the man and the woman.’
Wendy messaged for Isaac to bring the mother back; if Rose was going to get emotional, hysterical even, the result of the realisation, delayed shock, then it was for Maeve Winston to console her daughter.
‘Can you remember any more than that?’
‘Nothing more, only that he moved away and onto the path. It was just the way he walked, as though he had hurt one of his legs.’
‘We never found any indication of a limp,’ the CSI said.
‘A kick to the shin?’ Larry said.
‘The woman fought back, is that what you’re saying?’
‘It’s possible. Any sign on the woman’s sandal or on her feet to indicate that she did?’
‘Pathology might be able to tell you, but as for the sandal, it wasn’t the best quality, new as has been recorded, but one wear and there would be scuffing. Nigh on impossible to be certain, but she could have reacted.’
Maeve Winston arrived, took one look at her daughter and put her arm around her.
‘I saw the woman die,’ Rose said to her mother. She was tearful but bearing up.
‘No more tonight,’ the mother said.
‘No more,’ Wendy agreed.
‘We’ll give Brad a lift,’ Maeve Winston said.
‘Thanks, Mrs Winston, but I don’t live far. I can walk.’
Brad Robinson walked away in the direction of Compton Road and his mother, almost certainly the worse for wear after an encounter with alcohol. He was sad, but he didn’t know why.
***
Isaac would have said that the day was over and that the team would meet at Challis Street in the morning at six, except that as the activity at the cemetery was winding up, Bridget phoned from the office.
Larry was too hungry to continue without sustenance, and Wendy was too tired, but both issues were resolved by Larry buying a McDonald’s cheeseburger, and Wendy joining him, taking the opportunity to rest, closing her eyes for five minutes. Isaac, younger and definitely fitter than the other two, drove straight back to the office, grabbed himself a coffee, a biscuit out of the tin that Bridget always kept filled. Bridget would want an audience for what she had discovered. He didn’t intend to steal her thunder.
Twenty-five minutes later, Larry and Wendy walked into the office.
Bridget handed folders to the three police officers once they were all in Isaac’s office. ‘Of the credit cards that were used, I’ve eliminated virtually all of them.’
‘How?’ Isaac asked.
‘It’s not conclusive, and we may have to go back over some of them
