The next morning, Toby awoke to the early morning sun emerging from behind the houses opposite his; jets of amber streamed through the windows, giving the room a faint yellowish glow. He looked at his alarm clock. 06:17 stared back at him. He stood up and he felt pain in his chest, probably that broken rib. He’d have to get to the hospital after his first task of the day.
The body. Last night hadn’t been the first time he’d been called about a body but something seemed different this time. He was sure the caller knew more than he was letting on but now it would be almost impossible to find him; the number he’d used was probably a mobile and he’d used 141 to stop Toby from calling back. Plus there was another problem of having to find the body, if it existed and wasn’t a stupid practical joke. He showered and shaved and within fifteen minutes was downstairs eating his breakfast. He checked his phone to see if there were any other messages from this mystery caller but there was nothing. He then speed dialled number 1, his girlfriend Lucy Fratton to wish her good luck for her job interview. Lucy helped him with his cases from time to time and had often been the one who solved the case, genius that she was
‘Hi Tobes.’ She sounded cheerful and was obviously feeling confidant about her interview
‘Hey Lucy, how’re you feeling?’
‘Fine. A little nervous but overall I’m good.’ Toby could now hear the slightly anxious tone appearing in her voice.
‘I’m sure you’ll be great.’
‘Thanks. Oh and don’t forget we’re going out tomorrow night. Julio’s, eight o’clock.’
‘Forget? Our five year anniversary? I’m offended at that. I’ve found a great gift for you.’ He heard her utter a tiny laugh.
‘Sorry. Anyway I’ll call you later and let you know how I got on.’
‘Alright speak to you later.’
‘Bye, love you.’
He finished his cereal and brushed his teeth before returning downstairs and grabbing his
jacket and keys. ‘Okay, looks like I’m body hunting.’ He thought. ‘Oh and I need to get Lucy an anniversary present.’
-
Toby was driving along the A14 in his blue Ford Mondeo, casually glancing at other drivers, a few of whom gave him funny looks and one who’d stuck her middle finger up at him. Most of them just ignored him though. The cars were dotted about randomly on the A-road, all being driven slower than the limit due to the drowsiness of the drivers. Toby was on his way back from the town centre, where he’d just bought Lucy a very expensive diamond necklace. He was now leaving the A14 and was approaching Claydon. He began to stare intently at the side of the road, while casually glancing back at the main road to check he hadn’t accidentally killed someone or hit a tree. Not noticing anything, he reached the end of Claydon, a roundabout. He drove the whole way round and travelled back up where he’d just come from. This side of the road looked completely different; litter was gathered in small piles, probably caused by the wind, whereas the other side of the road had been almost rubbish-free. He had almost decided to give up when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small amount of red on a lamppost.
He pulled up at the side of the road and walked over to it. He crouched down by the lamppost and the red splatter was now at his eye level. It was almost definitely blood. The body wouldn’t be far from here. He gazed around at the concrete path and was just able to make out a small drop of scarlet almost completely hidden by the dull grey of the tarmac. And then he began to notice more drops leading away from splatter. He went back to his car and collected his camera before returning to the lamppost to photograph it. He then photographed the blood drops as he continued to follow them. After about thirty metres Toby stopped. He had reached a field and there’d be no chance of finding blood drops there; they’d be too hidden in the grass.
He looked out across the field, the long wispy grass and the ancient trees waved in the wind. Toby began to stroll across the grass scanning it for blood and after walking approximately 10 metres, he’d located a large pool of crimson. Due to the amount of blood, the person bleeding was almost certainly dead. The victim had probably collapsed and died here but then their body should be there. He spent the next hour searching the rest of the field for the body but didn’t find anything. He’d checked anywhere a body could be hidden, even up in the trees, but there was no sign of a body. There was a small lake towards the edge of the field but he wasn’t diving in there, ruining his best suit, on the chance that there may be a body there. He still had no proof that there was a body anyway. This could still be a stupid joke; it was only two days until Halloween and there were more than two hundred high school students in the area, any of which could pull this off. He went back to the blood pile and began photographing it from different angles. There were no drag marks so the body wasn’t hauled along the floor. That meant it would’ve been carried away, meaning whoever took it would’ve been quite strong. If so there probably would’ve been blood drops, not that he’d be able to find those yet anyway. After taking all of the photos he needed, Toby pulled his phone from his pocket and speed dialled number three.
‘Hello?’ The voice of Nigel Cooper echoed through the phone.
‘Hey Nigel, it’s Toby.’
‘Hey Toby, what’s up?’
‘I need you to come to Claydon.’
‘Why? What’s happened?’
‘Last night, a stranger called me informing me of a body. I decided to wait until morning and I
arrived here just under two hours ago. I’ve found blood, lots of it. I think someone’s died.’
‘Hold on. You think someone’s died? Why can’t you be sure?’
‘Because there’s a big pool of blood but the body’s gone. I’ve surveyed the area but I can’t find anything. The only place I didn’t check was the lake.’
‘Is it definitely blood?’
‘I think so but I can’t be 100% sure seeing as how close it is to Halloween. Could be stupid kids playing games.’
‘Well before I get the police involved, I need confirmation that it’s blood.’ His voice seemed to be hinting something to Toby.
‘I’m not tasting it if that’s what your insinuating. I’m not a fan of hepatitis.’
‘Well use your equipment at home, then. We gave it to you so you wouldn’t keep bothering us with stupid cases.’
‘And as a thank you for saving your life.’ He reminded Nigel of the time he’d been held hostage and Toby had arrived in the nick in time, saving Nigel from being shot. That’d been about three years ago. Unlike many private detectives, Toby had good relations with the police and they both helped each other out. They’d given Toby laboratory equipment that could process DNA and fingerprints as well as various chemicals for testing and a large microscope for analysis.
He’d also been supplied with a kit that he kept in the car, which could help him out in the field. The kit included swabs, fingerprint powder, gloves, tweezers and various other things. Actually, thinking about it, his kit contained luminol spray. Luminol glows blue when it makes contact with traces of blood.
‘And you have luminol with you, don’t you?’
‘Yeah, just thought of that. Hold on a minute.’
Toby walked to his car and collected his kit, bringing it back to the large blood pool. He opened it and removed the luminol in it’s spray container. He pointed it at the edge of the blood pool and squirted.
‘Yep, it’s blood. I sprayed it with the luminol and it’s bright blue.’
‘Right then, I’m on my way.’ The phone line went dead and ten minutes later, Nigel Cooper
arrived. Sitting next to him was a woman, another police officer, not one Toby had seen before.
Both of them emerged from the vehicle and walked over to Toby.
‘Toby, this is detective Keira Laytnor. She’ll be helping with this case.’
‘Nice to meet you.’ Toby extended his hand and Keira shook it. She was young, probably mid twenties. She had long blond hair that was blowing around in the wind.
‘You too.’ She said. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you from Nigel.’
The three of them knelt down over the blood pool.
‘I’ve taken a swab of the blood and I’ll process it when I get home. Probably worth you taking a sample too.’ Nigel pulled a swab from his pocket and dipped it carefully into the blood. He clicked the end of the swab on sealing it so it would remain uncontaminated.
‘I also sprayed the luminol on the blood drops down the road and the splatter on the lamppost, all confirmed to be blood. I even managed to find a few drops on thegrass in the field. I also found a tiny piece of skull stuck in the lamppost blood. He pulled a small plastic bag from his pocket. Nigel and Keira both stared at it.
‘The victim was probably hit over the head with something, can’t say what yet, and the piece of skull came out then. They then proceeded to walk away somehow, leaving the blood drops on the path. They finally collapse when they reach this spot and bleed out until they’re dead.’
‘Makes sense,’ Nigel said. ‘But then where could the body have gone.’
‘Maybe the killer came and took the body.’ said Toby.
‘Then surely there’d be more drops from when the body was carried away.’ Nigel was formulating a simulation in his head. Toby could see the look in his face. Also Nigel always pressed his tongue against his top teeth when he did this.
‘How do you know he was carried?’ Keira asked.
‘No drag marks.’ Toby and Nigel both said. Toby continued. ‘That means there’ll be more blood drops in the field if the killer took the body that way. The problem is he could have gone in any direction.’
‘Good thing we brought lots of luminol then.’ Nigel said as he walked to his car and opened the boot revealing at least a dozen spray bottles full of luminol.
‘Well then we’ll go in different directions and spray repetitively until one of us finds some blood.’
They all nodded. They each held two bottles of luminol, one in each hand so they could cover a wider area.
‘Let’s go then.’ Toby said and the three of them began to spray.
