‘It secretes a sap that burns the skin and causes blisters. It’s a photosensitivity problem, I think. But it can cause temporary blindness, and in some cases serious long-term damage such as recurrent dermatitis. You daren’t cut the things down
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with a strimmer without wearing protective gear. They’re a real menace.’
‘Vernon Slack had blisters on his hands,’ said Fry.
‘He got them from touching giant hogweed while he was crossing the stream at Litton Foot.’
‘On his way to Fox House Farm.’
‘Yes.’
‘Apparently, he used to leave his motorbike at Tom Jarvis’s, then cross the stream and climb up through the woods. He told Jarvis he was doing a bit of poaching on the Alder Hall estate. He probably left him a rabbit or a pheasant occasionally, as proof.’
‘Did Jarvis ever suspect there was more to it?’
‘We don’t know,’ said Fry. ‘He doesn’t say.’
‘No, he doesn’t give much away. But it’s best to pay attention to what he does say.’
Fry frowned. ‘He was clearly being intimidated by someone. I think the poachers must have been trying to warn him away from their territory, don’t you? All that business with the dog and the bag of excreta.’
‘I never thought Tom Jarvis was the type to be easily intimidated,’ said Cooper.
‘Maybe.’
Cooper reflected that there had never been any evidence that the bag had actually existed, either. Mr Jarvis might have had reasons of his own for laying a false trail.
Fry parked at the edge of the picnic area, near enough to reach the carved miner overlooking the road. Cooper remembered these carvings from when the wood had been a sort of reddish golden brown. Now they were weathered from exposure and had developed a patina of green mould.
‘There must still be some of Audrey Steele’s bones scattered across the hillside over there,’ said Cooper. ‘I don’t suppose we’ll ever find the last bits of her.’
‘We’re not even looking for them any more,’ admitted Fry.
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‘So they’ll stay there for ever, unless they turn up in a bird’s nest some day.’
‘What’s the matter, Ben?’
‘I’m wondering whether it’ll make any difference to her family. They thought they already had all of her once. Then Audrey turns up again, but some of her is missing. I’m not sure how I’d feel about that myself. I’m trying to work it through in my mind.’
‘If you really need to know, you could ask them,’ said Fry.
Cooper looked at her, feeling a brief pity at her lack of experience in human relationships.
‘People never tell the truth about any subject that has to do with death,’ he said. ‘They only tell you what you want to hear, or what they think sounds respectable. All of it is a pretence. No one can examine their true feelings about death too closely. It’s much too frightening.’
‘You mean people don’t want to admit they’re glad someone is dead, because they’re expected to show grief?’
Cooper turned away. ‘That isn’t really what I meant. But never mind.’
On the other hand, he knew it was possible for people to accept death into their lives in unusual ways, like Mrs Askew keeping her husband’s cremated remains in her terrarium. It was practical and down to earth, yet her husband was never completely out of her memory. He just hoped Mr Askew had been fond of small reptiles.
‘What did you mean, then?’ said Fry. She sounded as though she was trying hard not to be irritable with him.
But Cooper shook his head. ‘You know, I was initially misled by Ellen Walker’s comments about the weather on the day of Audrey’s funeral. I pictured the family standing outside the crematorium chapel, admiring the floral tributes in the sleet. But they didn’t go to the crem, only to the funeral service at St Mark’s. They decided not to witness the final disposal and that was a form of denial in its way, of course. It was a
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decision that provided the opportunity for what came afterwards.’ ‘You haven’t said that to the family, surely?’
Cooper laughed. ‘Of course not.’
Fry took a deep breath, but seemed to change her mind about what she was going to say.
‘You know the teeth in the cremated remains that Vivien Gill was given?’ she said. ‘We were told they were non-human, but we had to wait for an expert opinion on what animal they came from. We just got it this morning.’
‘They were pig’s teeth, weren’t they?’ said Cooper.
‘How did you know?’
‘A dead pig is as close as you can get to a dead person, right down to the smell. The second set of remains at Ravensdale turned out to be from the carcass of a sow, didn’t they? From the cut marks on the bones, I bet it was used for practice. And Tom Jarvis used to keep pigs.’
Fry nodded. ‘We’re not sure how heavily Jarvis was involved. But he’s been trying to protect Vernon Slack, we know that.’
‘And Billy McGowan was doing that, too.’
‘Yes.’
