Chapter 6: Hello Keith

Lifting the bucket of soil up as high as it would go, Tom got down and checked.

Whatever it was, it was just a small round patch of white about two inches in diameter level with the soil. He got back into the driver’s seat and leaving the bucket up in the air, he backed up to the bottom end of the garage.

Then returning to the white patch with his trowel, he started scraping the soil away very carefully making sure he kept the soil he had moved in one heap. He didn’t have to scrape a lot of soil away before the patch of white became much bigger and curved downwards. As soon as he uncovered the top of an eye socket, he was sure it was a human skull. ‘Hello Keith.’ he said quietly.

He stood up and checked the time. It was four thirty. One more night won’t make any difference he decided. He cut a piece of plastic six feet square and spread it over the area. He brought four small pieces of concrete in from outside and put one on each corner.

Then he lowered the bucket down onto the floor, locked everywhere up and went home, He didn’t see any point in disturbing the pathologist’s weekend.

MONDAY

The next morning Tom arrived early at eight o’clock. He opened up, started the digger and raised the bucket again. Then switched off. Next, he carried the four bits of concrete back outside before folding up the sheet of plastic.

Then he rang the Super and told him what he had found. ‘I’ll get forensics out to you.’ the Super said. Tom reminded him to cancel their police escort. ‘Well done, Tom,’ the Super said. ‘Are you ok?’ ‘Yes, thank you sir.’ Tom assured him.

He closed the garage door and went into the house. He made himself a coffee and took a chair to the front door. He sat with his coffee in the open doorway partly watching the garage and partly looking out for the pathologist.

It was three quarters of an hour before two white unmarked vans pulled up outside. Tom moved his chair back inside and closed the door. He met the pathologist halfway up the path. They introduced themselves and Tom showed him his warrant card.

He opened the garages up and over door and they went inside. Tom pointed out where the scull was and explained that the soil from directly over it was still in the bucket of the digger.

The pathologist went and checked the scull, then stood and looked around. ‘What where you doing when you found it?’ he asked. ‘Looking for a body,’ Tom said, ‘We had a tip off.’ He gave him all the details of who they thought it was and told him they wanted to keep it quiet until they were sure it was who they thought it was. His parents still live in the same road.’ Tom explained.

‘There’s usually a police car here when we arrive.’ The pathologist said. ‘I asked for it to be kept away, so it didn’t draw any attention to what was happening.’ Tom said. ‘This is highly irregular,’ the pathologist said. ‘Is anyone at home?’ ‘No,’ Tom told him, ‘They have nothing to do with it and they have two young children. They’ve taken them away for a week whilst we sort it out.’

After two hours painstaking work, the pathology team had uncovered all of the skeleton and had it laid out in a shallow tray on the garage floor. Tom was standing at the door watching them. The pathologist came over to him. ‘We’ll be away within the hour.’ he said. ‘He was just thirteen when he died,’ Tom said sadly, looking at the skeleton, ‘What a waste of a life.’

‘Have you got the killer?’ the pathologist asked. ‘Sort of,’ Tom told him, ‘He was killed attacking another child. But before he died, he gave us this and another location.’

Tom watched as they backed their van as near as they could to the garage. The tray with the skeleton on was covered with a sheet and put in the back of the van. ‘There are no identifying marks on the body,’ the pathologist said. ‘I’ll need DNA from a close relative to confirm identity.’

‘Do you have a couple of swabs?’ Tom asked, ‘I can get them from both parents now.’ The pathologist brought him three and gave him the address of his lab. ‘It may be a few days.’ Tom told him, ‘But the moment I get it I’ll bring it to you.’

‘Why the delay?’ he asked. ‘I want to be finished here and gone,’ Tom told him, ‘We don’t want them to know he was here.’ ‘Probably for the best.’ he said, He shook Toms hand, and they left.

Tom went into the house and made himself another coffee. He rang the Super and brought him up to date. ‘This pathologist wants a swab for DNA, as does the other one,’ he told him. ‘He’s given me some swabs.’

‘I can go and see Grahams parents now, but I don’t want to risk going to see the Richardsons whilst I’m still working here, so I’ll do that as soon as I’ve finished filling in.’ The Super was delighted that Tom was coping so well with it all on his own and agreed.

Tom rang the builder’s merchants where he had bought the wheelbarrow. He ordered ten ton of gravel and asked them if they had any use for ten ton of soil. ‘No,’ the girl said, ‘But I have a relative who runs a garden centre, I’m sure he would, I’ll ring him right away.’

Next, he texted Lewis, ‘Keith found.’

Then he sent a text to Bill. ‘Found your lodger this morning. He left discretely half an hour ago.’

Joe was next. ‘Just thought you’d want to know that I’ve found the other one.’

Tom had his coffee and the butties he’d brought with him. Then he went out and started moving the broken concrete back into the garage. Not having to go up and down the ramp each time, he was already halfway through when a man arrived in a three-ton pick-up truck. He introduced himself as Tony, a relative of the girl at the builder’s merchants.

Tom filled him up with his first load and away he went. By the time he returned for another load, Tom had all the concrete back in the garage. He loaded him up with another wagon full then went in for a coffee.

He was just finishing his coffee when the gravel arrived. He had that tipped in the road and then started moving it in with the digger. An hour later Tony returned for his third load. ‘I’m going to work on to get the gravel off the road,’ Tom told him, ‘So if you want to come back for the rest of it, I’ll still be here.’

At five o’clock Tony returned for the last part load. Beteem them they brushed the last bit up and rolled up the sheet of membrane. ‘Is that any use to you?’ Tom asked. ‘Yes, please.’ Tony said, so he was presented with that one and the one which had been under the concrete.

By six o’clock Tom had all the gravel heaped inside the garage with just enough room to park the digger in. He brushed up the road then after a quick swill at the kitchen sink, he locked everywhere up.

Driving over to the Roberts house, Tom tried to rehearse what he was going to say. The door was opened by a lady in her mid-forties. As soon as Tom introduced himself and showed her his warrant card she burst into tears and cried out, ‘It’s Graham isn’t it.’ She looked as if she would collapse at any moment, so Tom stepped in and put an arm around her.

Just then a man of similar age appeared, he went straight to his wife and took her in his arms. ‘He’s a policeman,’ she told him through her sobs. ‘Can we go in and sit down please.’ Tom said firmly.

They went through to the lounge and the couple sat together on the settee. Tom sat on the edge of the armchair opposite and told them, ‘I’m so sorry to have to tell you, but we have found Grahams body.’ He fielded off their questions saying, ‘Let me tell you how we came to find him first.’

‘Let me say first,’ he said, ‘Whilst I’m absolutely convinced it is Graham because of his previously broken thigh and his missing two teeth, we can’t be a hundred percent sure until we have your DNA to compare. I’ll deal with that before I leave.’

‘Recently a boy of fourteen who looked about twelve was dragged into a domestic garage and attacked. The uncle of the attacker caught him and pulled him away. The attacker then came at his uncle with a knife. The uncle managed to disarm him, but in the ensuing scuffle they fell to the floor and the nephew started to strangle him.’

‘There is little doubt that he would have killed him. The young boy who was traumatised, had stood frozen to the spot watching. Realising what was happening, he picked up a garden spade and brought it down on his attacker’s head with all the force he could muster.’