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‘Mark said that he got up early to walk the dog,’ says Bradley, ‘and when he got back Amber had gone. He saw Emily in Leo’s car but didn’t say goodbye. Later he took the boys back to college.’
‘How did Mark get on with the male students?’ asks Nelson. ‘Did he say anything about them?’
‘He liked Emad,’ says Bradley, ‘but thought Tom was a bit stuck-up. Oldbury seems to have a thing about pampered students.’
‘Shame he’s a university lecturer then,’ says Nelson. ‘I’ve had something interesting from Ruth.’ He still feels slightly self-conscious when he says her name. He opens a file on his computer and, with Leah’s help, projects it onto the screen.
‘The report on the Red Mount Street bones– Emily’s bones– says that the fabric used to wrap the body contains traces of dog hair and chalk dust.’
‘Dog hair?’ says Bradley. ‘Mark Oldbury’s dog?’
‘Possibly. I don’t know if it’s possible to disinter the animal and find out. Besides, there might be an innocent explanation.’
‘That’s true,’ says Tanya. ‘Amber said that Odin, the dog, sometimes slept in the tent with her and Emily.’
‘The chalk dust is more interesting,’ says Nelson. ‘Ruth thinks it might have come from Grime’s Graves. She’s going to run some tests.’
‘So Emily’s body could have been kept at Grime’s Graves?’ says Tanya. ‘In one of the mine shafts? Before it was walled up in the café?’
‘It’s possible,’ says Nelson. ‘Ruth says it would fit with the preservation of the bones.’
‘That still points to Leo then,’ says Bradley. ‘He was the one who knew the site best.’
‘Mark knew it too,’ says Nelson. And so did Cathbad, he adds silently. ‘We need to talk to Leo Ballard again,’ he adds. ‘And Emily’s sister Sophie. Remember what Leo said about looking to the sister?’
‘Wasn’t he just playing games?’ says Tanya.
‘Possibly,’ says Nelson. ‘But we can’t afford to leave any stone unturned.’
It’s an unfortunate phrase, in the circumstances.
Tony had stretched the truth when talking to his parents. He doesn’t live in a one-bedroom flat but in a one-roomapartment. Most of the time this doesn’t bother him. It’s a pleasant enough space, with a kitchenette at one end and a sofa bed at the other. There’s a tiny bathroom just big enough for a triangular shower and a loo. But there are two sash windows and, if you crane your neck, a nice view towards Cow Tower and the river.
Tony has always liked the bedsit but that was before he had to spend twenty-four hours a day in there. The first day wasn’t too bad. He set up a workstation on the folding table by the window. Then he drew up a list– DCI Nelson style– of the principal characters in the case. He went through the original files, still in a pre-digital folder, and watched the CCTV footage of Emily in Ely on the day she disappeared. He printed out the picture of Emily, Tom, Cathbad and Freya and stuck it on the wall. By the end of the day he had the case running on a loop through his head.
Emily Pickering was a second-year archaeology student at St Jude’s College, Cambridge.
Emily’s parents, Gordon and Naomi, suspected her tutor, Leo Ballard.
Emily’s remains were found behind a wall.
They said they’d come from an underground land.
Some of the stories are quite horrible. . .
He let them sit there for ages over one cup of coffee.
It’s no wonder that he has some very strange dreams.
The next day it’s far harder to get to work. Tony checks his emails and goes through the files again. He finds some pictures of the Green Child café in 2002. Then, remembering Freya and Folklore Fridays, he googles ‘Fairy Cow’. He finds the legend on a fascinating site called Weird Norfolk. The cow was evidently a benevolent creature who appeared in a village called South Lopham when there was a drought and offered her milk to the villagers. When the drought ended, she stamped her hoof on a slab of sandstone, leaving a cloven print, which apparently survives to this day, and disappearing for ever. There is a less wholesome story, though, which involves a farmer mistreating the animal until she kicked the stone, leaving her mark. Pity she didn’t kick the farmer, thinks Tony. He looks at his watch. Only an hour has passed.
Tony makes himself a coffee and allows himself ten minutes of online chatting with his WhatsApp group of uni friends ‘Norfolk n’ good.’ Despite the name, most of them have moved away from the area and Tony misses them. After a brisk exchange of gifs, he goes back to his notes. He has the body-cam footage of Tanya and Bradley’s interviews with Tom, Amber, Emad and Mark.
In his scrawling handwriting (really, he should have been the doctor) he writes:
Tom: in love with Emily. Married Amber. Gave up archaeology.
Amber: in love with Tom in 2002? Married him 10 yrs later. Jealous of Emily?
