Chapter 5: The Body Next Door

Monday night, Danny had been reading late, it had gone midnight as he put his book down and switched the light out. His brain was still in the story, and he had laid awake for a while trying to sleep.

Half an hour later he was just drifting off when he heard the crash of breaking glass nearby. There had been a lot of burglaries recently, so he jumped out of bed and looked out. He couldn’t see any movement at first, then as he watched he saw the landing light come on next door.

He stood in the darkness watching and saw a head looking out. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought it was Paul, the builder who lived next door, judging from his outline.

He watched him look out of the broken window and down towards the ground. He stayed looking down for a while then went back in. Danny decided to investigate further. He threw some clothes on and went downstairs.

His mum didn’t seem to have disturbed, so he let himself out of the back door without putting any lights on. He heard the kitchen door open next door, so he kept quiet. He moved further down the garden, then carefully peeped over the fence looking back up towards the house.

He could see the back door was open and the kitchen light was on. It looked like Paul was kneeling over something in the side path below the landing window. He had a torch and Danny caught a few glimpses of what very much appeared to be a body lying on the path.

There was a ladder lying on the path too. Danny knew Paul kept a ladder on hooks down the side of the house, but it was usually securely chained up.

He watched as Paul went back into the house then returned soon after. He opened his side gate and his van which was parked outside. He brought in a sheet of builder’s black plastic.

Whatever was on the path was wrapped up in the plastic and bound up with adhesive tape. Paul struggled to heave it up into a wheelbarrow and took it out to his van. Danny couldn’t see properly, but it seemed like he was putting it in his van.

Then he opened his garage and seemed to be loading all his builder’s stuff into the back of the van. Danny had often seen him emptying it or loading it. Indeed, on several occasions he had helped him do it. But doing it in the middle of the night seemed very odd.

He heard the van being locked up, then the gate. Paul put the ladder back in its rack and went back inside. Danny heard the back door being locked so he went back in and looked out from upstairs for a while.

Paul seemed to stay in the kitchen for a bit, then the light went out and the landing light came on. He watched Paul tape a piece of cardboard over the broken landing window then soon all the lights went out.

Assuming he had gone back to bed, Danny did likewise. He soon fell asleep, his mind turning over what he had seen.

TUESDAY

The next morning, he looked out and saw the cardboard still over the window. In daylight everything else looked normal. After breakfast Danny looked over the fence. There was no sign of Paul, so he put his head right over and studied the path. He could see fragments of broken glass glistening on the path in the grooves of the concrete.

He also noticed that the chain that usually secured the ladders had been cut. The lock itself was still in place but looked to be considerably out of shape.

Paul had lived next door to them since he was married about ten years previously. Danny remembered his wife dying a year ago. It had been a very sad occasion and it had taken Paul quite some time to get over it. Having lost his dad, he and his mum had been very sympathetic to him. Paul had joined them for several meals in the aftermath.

Paul and his wife had been popular with the neighbours and Danny had always got on well with them both. There seemed to be nothing else to see so Danny went off to school.

When he came home, Danny looked out from upstairs and saw that Paul had replaced the glass in the landing window and the ladder was now chained up once more with a new, but heavier chain and lock.

FRIDAY EVENING

Danny and his mum had just finished their evening meal when there was a knock on the door. Danny went to answer it and found Aiden standing on the step.

‘Hi,’ he said, ‘I’m doing a door to door.’ Danny brought him in and offered him a drink which he accepted. He had previously met Dannys mum so as he had his cuppa, he told them why he was there.

‘You’ve probably seen in the local paper about the burglar we’ve been plagued with recently,’ he said. ‘Well, in the post this morning we got an anonymous message to tell us that his van was parked a few doors down from here.’

‘Included in the envelope were his keys plus a number of stolen credit cards as well as his own card. His van started first go so there’s nothing wrong with it. We have also recovered a lot of stolen goods from it.’

‘Is that the one who attacked the elderly pensioner recently and left her badly injured?’ Danny asked. ‘Yes,’ Aiden said, ‘I’d like ten minutes alone with him when we catch him, but unfortunately we’re not allowed such pleasures.’

‘I’m visiting every house in the road to ask if anyone noticed the van or has seen or heard anything. As far as we can make out it was parked there since last Monday evening.’

‘The lady whose house it was parked outside says it definitely wasn’t there Monday afternoon as she had visitors and they were parked in that spot. But when she looked out at midnight, just before going to bed it was there then.’

‘I certainly haven’t seen or heard anything,’ Dannys mum said. ‘I didn’t even notice the van.’ ‘I presume the owner isn’t at home?’ Danny asked. ‘No, his wife says she hasn’t seen him since he ‘Went out to work’ as she put it on Monday night.’

‘I’m inclined to believe her because she was livid. He emptied her purse before he went out and she thinks he’s gone off with another woman.’

They chatted a bit more then Aiden went. As Danny was seeing him out Paul was coming out of his front door. Aiden went over to ask him about the van. Danny stayed in earshot and heard Paul tell him he hadn’t seen or heard anything.

As Aiden moved away, Danny went over to speak to him. ‘Hi Paul,’ he said, ‘How are things?’ ‘Fine thanks, Danny.’ he said, ‘I’ve had a hard day so I’m just going to the pub at the end of the road to eat.’ ‘Enjoy your meal.’ Danny said. He watched him walk off down the road.

Going back into the house, Danny was soon back out with a ball which he bounced around for a while. Then it bounced away from him over to Pauls drive and under his van. Danny ran after it and reached under the van to retrieve it. Whilst he did, he attached one of the magnetic traces he had used to trace the drug dealers.

After bouncing the ball about a little longer he went in. The next day was Saturday, and he was due at Johns.

SATURDAY

He got up extra early and put his bike ready. He had made a quick adaptation the night before. He now had a mount on his handlebars to hold his mobile phone so he could see the trace’s signal on the map as he pedalled.

He had told his mum he might go out early so she was still in bed. He had his breakfast and had just finished clearing up when he heard Paul’s van starting up in the drive.

He dashed out and saw him disappearing down the road. He set his phone to the trace, clipped it in the holder and cycled off after him. The trace had a fairly good range, so even on the bike he could follow him. As long that is as he didn’t go onto a major road and travel a long distance.

However, Danny knew most of the work Paul usually did was local so that wasn’t likely. After ten minutes cycling the van had stopped. Danny cycled on and soon got nearer, then turned up a back entry. He could see the van parked by the back entrance to a house on the adjoining road.

Without having to go too close, he could see that Paul was taking the shuttering off a large slab of freshly laid concrete. It seemed to be the size of a double garage and its location would suggest that that was what it was intended for.

Danny turned away and cycled round to the other road. He located the house who’s back had the fresh concrete and made a note of the address. Then he cycled over to Johns, arriving earlier than usual.