Chapter 7: Steven Thinks It's All Over

Steven returned just as they were closing. They went through to the back room and shared all the food out. As they sat eating. Mike said, ‘You look a lot happier than last time I saw you.’ ‘My uncle was arrested last night,’ Steven told him sounding very happy about it. ‘Didn’t you know?’

Lewis takes confidentiality very seriously Mike told him. ‘All I know about you is that your name is Steven, and you came here to see him.’ ‘I don’t mind Mike knowing,’ he said to Lewis. Turning to Mike he said, ‘Thanks to Lewis my uncle was arrested last night for raping me.’ he told him. ‘I’m sorry to hear you have had to suffer that,’ Mike said, ‘But I’m delighted to hear it’s over now. Well, that explains why you look half asleep today,’ he added, looking at Lewis. ‘What time did you get to bed?’

‘About two o’clock, I think,’ he answered. ‘I noticed the radio alarm came back this morning,’ Mike said, ‘I guess that played its part too?’ ‘Yes,’ Lewis said, ‘What would I do without it.’

When they had finished eating and cleared away, Stephen came over to Lewis. ‘Thanks for lunch,’ he said, ‘It was lovely, but I really came to thank you again.’ He hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then he went over to Mike and gave him a hug. ‘Thanks for your part in it all.’ he said. Mike hugged him back. ‘I didn’t do much,’ he said, ‘But I’m very glad if I helped in any way.’

After Steven had gone, Lewis sat down and rang Reg. ‘Hi Reg, it’s Lewis.’ he said. ‘Do you think you could take Steven out somewhere from five o’clock until I contact you later. I don’t want him to be around whilst I check out next door.’

‘Sure,’ Reg said, ‘I’ll take him to McDonalds for dinner, I get the impression he hasn’t had many treats like that. Then I’m sure I’ll think of something afterwards.’ ‘Thanks,’ Lewis said, ‘I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.’

Seeing Mike looking at him quizzically, he said, ‘There are a few loose ends need sorting out. A policeman friend you haven’t met yet is coming to give me a hand. I just need to pop to the shops now,’ he said, ‘I’ll be back by opening time.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Mike said, ‘I can cope.’ Lewis went down the block to the hardware store which stayed open through lunch. Then into the chemists. He returned with a couple of large carrier bags full, with five minutes to spare.

Mike looked at them but said nothing. He knew Lewis would tell him if he could.

At ten to five Tom arrived, he was in civies as instructed. He came into the shop and Lewis introduced him to Mike. ‘You get off,’ Mike said, ‘I can manage now. See you next week. Good luck with whatever you’re up to.’

They drove over to Steven’s house. Lewis unloaded his carrier bags and Tom unloaded the things Lewis had asked him to bring from home. Lewis went through the house and opened the side gate.

Lewis and Tom went down the garden. He showed Tom where Steven had shown him the flower bed. Nothing about it stood out to Tom as it hadn’t to Lewis. He told Tom that Steven had said that none of the plants were in the right place for reasons Lewis hadn’t been able to grasp. Steven had left them as they were, saying that he didn’t dare put them back correctly whilst his uncle was around.

Lewis hadn’t realised until later when he thought about it, that the flower bed had already been there. Steven had only known that his uncle had done something with it because the flowers hadn’t been put back in the same place. Something someone who knew nothing about plants would never have noticed.

He had bought a tarpaulin four metres square. He and Tom laid it out on the grass with one edge along the border. The bed was six foot long, so Lewis knocked a wooden peg into the border eighteen inches in from each end. He reasoned that the middle three feet would be where they would find a hand, if there was as he suspected a body buried, no matter which end the head was.

He wanted to find what was there if anything, but not to disturb it too much and spoil things for forensics if it became necessary. Then they dug up the plants in the area of the bed where they planned to dig. They laid them out on the far corner of the tarpaulin. They put them in the exact position they dug them up from.

Lewis handed the spade they had brought to Tom. ‘In between those two pegs,’ he told him, ‘Dig out the soil to the depth of the blade of the spade. Go in from the edge of the bed the width of two spade blades.’

‘Don’t worry,’ he said, ‘That won’t be deep enough to hit a body.’ Lewis had bought two yellow builder’s buckets. So as Tom shovelled soil into one, he carried the other across the tarpaulin and tipped it in a heap next to the plants.

The area Tom was digging was only three feet long and eighteen inches wide. So, it wasn’t long before it was dug out level to the depth of nine inches, the length of the blade of the spade. The heap of soil on the tarpaulin wasn’t very big.

‘Ok,’ Lewis said, ‘We have to be more careful now.’ He took one of the buckets and a gardening trowel. After putting a pair of disposable gloves on, he started scraping the soil with the side of the trowel. When he had a small heap, he put it in the bucket. Tom took it over to the far side of the tarpaulin and started a new heap of soil as Lewis filled the other bucket.

Lewis kept scraping and filling the bucket until he was down another nine inches. Although they had discovered nothing yet, the soil was easy to move so clearly it had been disturbed relatively recently.

‘Ok, start a new heap.’ he told Tom. As he continued scaping he was beginning to wonder, and hope, that he had got it wrong. He had almost reached the next nine inches when there was a difference in feel as he scraped. He scraped more carefully and found he had uncovered what seemed to be a piece of sheet. He pointed it out to Tom.

He stood up and took a photo on his phone. Then putting a fresh pair of gloves on, he brushed as much of the soil as he could off the cloth. Then he managed to lift the cloth up a couple of inches. That meant he could push the point of a pair of scissors through the sheet and make a long cut without damaging whatever was underneath.

As he did, a terrible smell came out and he saw what he had hoped he wouldn’t see. An arm and a human hand. He stood up and took another picture. Tom had a look and went a little white. ‘That’s the same smell as the post-mortem I went to,’ he said, ‘But far worse.’

They went and sat on a nearby garden bench. ‘Ok,’ Lewis said, ‘Here’s your story. When you talked to Steven yesterday, he told you about his uncle’s row with his aunt and her leaving suddenly. He told you about finding all her clothes in bin bags in the garage.’

‘Then he told you about his uncle doing something with the flower bed. He had already told you how lazy his uncle was. So, you wondered if perhaps he had killed her in an argument and buried the body. You felt that the idea was a bit farfetched, so you didn’t want to report it and cause a stir, then look silly. So, you asked me to give you a hand.’

‘You decided that we could check it out, fill it back in and no one would be any the wiser.’

He got Tom to recite it twice then said, ‘Ok, ring it in.’

Tom rang the station and told them he had just discovered a dead body buried in a garden. He told them he believed it was the wife of the man he had arrested last night for the rape of a minor.

‘Are you certain it is a human body, and it is dead?’ the control room asked. ‘Yes, absolutely definitely.’ he answered. They took the address and told him a team would be there shortly.

As they sat and waited, Lewis got busy on his phone. He rang Ernie first. ‘I can’t explain yet,’ he said, ‘But can I send Reg and his young gardener to you to look after shortly. I will come over as soon as I can and explain. They have no idea what is going on either.’ he added. ‘Ok,’ Ernie said. He owed Lewis so much he wouldn’t have dreamt of saying no.

Then Lewis rang Reg. ‘Hi, Reg.’ he said, ‘Don’t let on you’re talking to me. When you’ve finished what you’re doing, can you take Steven to Ernie and Susan’s. Then stay there until I can come and speak to Steven later. They are expecting you. Whatever you do, keep him away from home.’ Reg was already realising that it was best not to question the strange requests Lewis made, he knew there would be a good reason. ‘Of course.’ he said.