She heaved herself into the seat, switched on the engine and the heat full power, and felt her brain starting to work again. ‘Let’s get some padlocks organized for those barriers. Stop the gawpers and the press driving in. Get on the phone to Joe, tell him to get it sorted as soon as.’
‘Won’t he be asleep?’
‘If he is, wake him up! The idle bugger’s been in the warm all night. Fill him in with all we know. Let’s get this investigation under way. I’ll drop you at the station for your car, then we can both get home for a hot bath and a couple of hours’ shut-eye. We’ll put the briefing back for an hour to give the forensic-science team some time to see the wood from the trees . . .’ Vera gave a chortle. Holly joined in. Vera felt a moment of triumph. Usually Hol saw it as a point of honour not to laugh at her jokes. ‘Tell everyone to be there at nine. Sharp.’
Chapter Thirty-One
JOE HADN’T BEEN IN BED WHEN Holly called, though he was dozing, in the armchair downstairs, covered by a fancy throw that Sal had bought to keep the new sofa clean. He thought Vera should have taken him to the crime scene with her. He wasn’t sexist, but some situations were best dealt with by a man.
The phone call wasn’t unexpected. Vera always did need him, his reason and his common sense. He was surprised that it was Holly who called.
‘The boss is driving.’
‘Is it definitely Browne’s body?’ Sometimes the public called in a pile of bones that turned out to be hundreds of years old, or which had once belonged to a horse or a cow.
‘Oh, yes.’ A pause. ‘It was all a bit Gothic, actually. This place in the middle of the forest. If the forester hadn’t found her, Miss Browne could have been there for years.’
Joe didn’t think that sounded like Holly. She wasn’t usually given to fancies. ‘Cause of death?’
‘The boss thinks she was strangled.’
‘Different from Lorna Falstone, then?’
He heard Vera shouting in the background, above the incessant rumble of the Land Rover’s engine. ‘So? What’s he going on about? Does he think there are two killers in a place like Kirkhill? Just because there are different causes of death.’
‘No,’ Joe said. ‘Just making a point.’ He thought Vera would be feeling bad because they hadn’t managed to prevent Constance’s death. Guilt always made her ratty.
Then there came a list of instructions, all sent via Holly, about grid references and padlocks, and keeping a lid on things until they could think properly about a media release. Later he got a text from Holly. The boss stayed with the body on her own while we fetched the team. I think she was knocked by Browne’s death. She seemed very frail when we got back to her. We need to keep an eye on her. You know what she’s like.
He was in the station before the rest of them, making sure all the demands had been met. Vera breezed in, bright-eyed and eager.
‘Eh, pet, do me a favour. Pop out and get me a bacon stottie. I had nothing in the house. Don’t forget the brown sauce.’
She seemed her normal self. If it hadn’t been for Holly’s text, Joe would have been angry; he thought that sometimes Sal had a point about Vera taking the piss. As it was, he just had a few words of complaint for appearance’s sake and then he went. He brought back coffee and a doughnut too.
Vera looked at him with suspicion. ‘What’s this then? You not feeling well?’
Joe didn’t know how to reply. He thought Holly was making a fuss about nothing. ‘Thought you might need a sugar and caffeine boost after a night in the cold.’
‘Aye, well.’ A moment of silence. ‘Poor woman. Nobody should be left like that. Let’s find the killer, shall we?’ She bit into the stottie, and brown sauce squirted onto her chin.
Joe sat at the back of the room and watched Vera take them through the details of Constance Browne’s death.
‘As I see it, she got up on Monday morning as usual, expecting to go along to the art class. The CSIs have been into her house and are protecting it as a potential crime scene but I don’t think she was murdered there. She was wearing a thick waterproof jacket when the forester found her, and she wouldn’t have been dressed like that if she was in the house. She’d laid the table for breakfast and the curtains were open, she’d put out food for the cat, so I think she was preparing for a normal day.’
‘Could she have been killed on the Sunday?’ Joe had stuck up his hand and was responding to Vera’s nod. ‘I don’t think any of the team saw her that day.’
‘Nah, when I went looking for her on the Monday morning the kettle was still warm. Not hot, but it had been used that morning.’ Vera paused. ‘That’s a good point about Sunday, though. Let’s track down what she was doing. I think she was a churchgoer. Let’s check with the vicar. There was a priest at the party at Brockburn the night Lorna was killed, so we’ve got her contact details.’ A pause. ‘The folk from the big house were at church too that day. Did they spend any time with Connie? Share any information about Lorna’s murder?’ She looked around the room. ‘Joe, that’s for you.’
‘Okay.’
‘The way I see it, she was disturbed early that Monday morning. Either by someone she knew knocking at the door or a phone call. CSIs in the forest still haven’t found a mobile, though we know she had one. It’s interesting that Lorna’s mobile and laptop have disappeared too.’
‘You think the killer has them all?’ Joe asked.
‘Or has disposed
