“Back to the case,” instructed Inspector Evans. “Sergeant Varma, what have you discovered during your interviews?”
“The accounts all add up, sir. The victim was happy yesterday evening and enjoying herself up at the standing stones until, just before dark, she complained of being tired, and her boyfriend, Theo Watson, helped her to sit down by a stone. The following morning, he tried to wake her, but he couldn’t because she was dead.”
Inspector Evans raised his eyebrows and said, “Very succinctly put.” He turned to Sujin and asked, “What can you tell us about the post-mortem?”
“Daisy Bentham died between midnight and two am, when her heart stopped beating. The reason for this has not yet been established, but there was no sign of trauma or bleeding, internal or external. The only anomaly is a large amount of fluid in her lungs, but that could have happened after her heart stopped, particularly as she was in a sitting position. Blood has been sent to the lab and I’ve also asked for a sample to test. Perhaps the answer will lie there.”
“Witnesses saw her drinking from a can and smoking something they didn’t think was a cigarette,” Keya added.
“I have an empty cider can and the butt of a roll-up, which I’ll test,” Sujin responded.
The inspector cleared his throat before asking, “Could this just be a simple heart attack? It does happen to young, seemingly healthy people.”
“A sudden cardiac arrest can occur, but the post-mortem would have highlighted the reason for it,” Sujin responded. “Either blocked arteries or the heart muscle being too thick or too hard. There was nothing like that in this case, so something else caused her heart to stop.”
Inspector Evans scratched the bald part of his head. “But we have no idea what? Or how? Or if anyone else was involved? Sergeant, have you discovered anyone who’d want to harm our victim?”
“She was well liked,” Keya replied. “She did fall out with her father over her boyfriend, Theo Watson, and he kicked her out of his house. But she moved into the mill manager’s house with Theo, and they seemed happy. And she’d recently opened a bakery in the village.”
Ryan added, “The dad’s a slob, and we know he likes to spend time in the pub. I don’t think he would have been easy to live with after Daisy’s mother left him for another man.”
“She’s back in the village, too. Doreen Skinner, she’s called, but I got the impression she’s no longer with Mr Skinner,” said Keya. “She heard about the death in the village early this morning and walked up to the standing stones. She was very upset.”
“Inspector Sue is with her now,” Inspector Evans revealed. “And then Sue’s going to see the father and younger sister.”
“She’s a funny one, sir. The sister,” Ryan said.
“Because she believes in fairies?” Keya asked him. “She does spend a lot of time with Aurora and Viv, and she probably needs somewhere to escape to rather than spending all her time looking after her father, but I know what you mean.”
“She said she’d killed her sister, because she prayed to the fairies to bring her home, and Daisy had refused them,” Ryan explained.
Inspector Evans rolled his eyes.
“We know fairies didn’t kill Daisy,” Keya said, frustration seeping into her voice.
“But something supernatural appears to have done. What other explanation is there?” Ryan asked, his voice sincere.
The room was silent.
Then Keya asked, “Sujin, was there evidence of any sexual activity before her death?” She tried to remain professional, but she felt her cheeks burn.
“Yes. Do you think that’s important? That she was assaulted? There is no sign of bruising or …”
“No, I think it was consensual. I just wanted to check. Theo didn’t mention it, but he was still in a state of shock.”
“Where do we go from here, sir?” Ryan asked.
“I’d like you to look into her bank records, her phone calls, her computer if she had one, and any social media accounts. Sergeant Varma and Constable Sparrow should check the crime scene again, now that everyone has left, not that I think you’ll find anything.” He looked at Keya.
“And then we’ll continue interviewing anyone who’s been in contact with the victim recently, starting with her mother.”
Inspector Evans looked round the room and sighed. “This may lead nowhere, but in case there is something that the post-mortem has missed, we need to ensure we have followed the correct procedure and, more importantly, that we do everything to bring justice to Daisy Bentham.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Keya drove Constable Wayne Sparrow to the Rollright Standing Stones. “What do you know about this case?” she asked.
“A young woman died during the night, and we need to establish how, and if, someone killed her.”
“Yes, I suppose that is correct, although at this stage we need to question if anyone else was involved or not. We shouldn’t just jump to the conclusion that she was murdered. At least not until we have the full results of the post-mortem.”
Several cars were parked in the first lay-by beside the field where the standing stones were located, but Keya managed to find a space in the second one between a silver Mini and a white Toyota Yaris.
Entering the coppice, Keya noticed a full black dustbin bag propped up against a fence post and, when she entered the grassy area beyond it, she spotted a small thin figure collecting rubbish inside the circle of stones.
Striding forward, she called, “Dora,” and the figure stopped and looked up. Keya ducked under the flapping white and blue police tape and approached Dora Potts, who was standing beside another open, black dustbin bag.
“What are you doing?” Keya asked.
“Someone has to tidy up,” Dora replied in a defiant voice, showing a steely side to her character. “They call themselves new age and at one with nature, but they’re still happy to leave all their litter behind. Look at this.”
Dora picked up a plastic energy drink bottle. “How long do you think it will take to decompose? And left out here, it’ll blow about and get stuck in a tree or a hedgerow, or some poor animal might try to eat it.”
“But this is a crime scene,” Keya said, with a note of understanding. She was also frustrated by younger generations calling for changes to environmental policy while happily using their mobile phones, leaving the lights on, and dropping their rubbish. And someone like Dora, from the generation they complained about, was left to tidy up after them.
Dora glared at Constable Sparrow when he joined them, as if he was personally responsible for all the debris.
