Dead Sweet: A D.I. Turnbull mystery (4 page)

"It's a sick world." Michael agreed before turning to complete his job in the bedroom. Todd looked around the front room, picking up magazines and searching them for clues; his latex gloves making the job of turning the pages very difficult. "Candace." He shouted.

"Yes Guv?" Candace poked her head in from the hallway.

"Get in here please, we need to go through all this shit, there must be some clue as to who she was meeting today; it doesn't look like the flat has been broken into, it must have been someone she knew and was happy to let into the flat."

"Yes Guv," Candace entered and began to search the sides of the flat.

"Every drawer, every surface, every cushion, every gap; I'm gonna nail this fucking Willy Wonka."

Candace chuckled at the ever present dark humour which accompanied police investigations. "Just don't eat anything." She added.

"Ha fucking ha." said Todd before returning to his eternal search for justice, "That's put me off sugar for life."

Saturday July 6
th
2013

09:30 hours

D.I. Todd Turnbull stood outside the Coroner's office waiting for the autopsy of Mandy Thomas to end. Todd never attended the autopsies; it wasn't because he had a weak stomach or couldn't stand the horror of death. It was because Todd felt it was disrespectful to the dead. Whilst others may see it as all part of the job and happily discuss evidence over the ripped open body of the recently dead, Todd knew he served no actual purpose by being present and preferred instead to afford the dead some decency and wait to discuss their cases with the Coroner in his office.

As he waited, Todd contemplated what he had been through in the last twenty four hours. Tony Walton had been about as much use as tits in a gay bar; he had known no more than the information he had given Todd at the scene of the crime, snivelling uncontrollably at the station until Todd's patience began to wear thin; there were only so many hours any human could tolerate persistent crying, regardless of the situation and Todd had had to ask Tony to go home once five hours had passed. The only thing Todd had learnt from Tony Walton was the contact details for Mandy's parents. They were estranged from each other which meant Todd had to break the news of their daughter's death twice over. Informing parents their loved ones had passed was never easy but the job was even harder when you had to explain to people their daughter had been turned into some sort of macabre display. It had been a very hard day for everyone concerned and Todd had felt drained both physically and emotionally by the time he had finally entered his flat and collapsed fully clothed onto this bed at 11:30 that evening.

Raniveshalam Kaniganyagam or just plain Rani for short; came out of the Coroner's room, pulling off his gloves as he walked. He said "Hi," to Todd and stopped to discuss what he had discovered.

"It's sick," he informed Todd. "We pulled one hundred and forty seven different sweets out of all parts of that girl's body. They were even
inside
her, stuffed in every orifice. I'm just glad the girl was dead before it happened."

"Any trace evidence?" Todd asked; he was hoping there may be traces of semen or even blood in the injuries belonging to Mandy's killer."

"Yeah, looks like semen is present." Rani confirmed, "But will take a few days to get DNA results."

"No way, that's a stroke of luck." Todd got the itch of excitement in the pit of his stomach, he wondered if it was actually possible that this was a case which would be open and shut.

"Was she raped?" he asked Rani.

"Impossible to tell, she is so badly injured from the objects pushed into her, it's hard to know if there's been recent sexual activity. She isn't bruised so it doesn't seem as if a struggle has taken place."

Todd knew the presence of semen could mean that Mandy had been raped post mortem but it could also signify that she had previously had consensual sexual activity; maybe with her killer; before things became evil. It was just as likely, however, that she had had sex with her boyfriend or even A. N. Other; a male she may have been seeing without her boyfriend's knowledge. Considering her beauty and perfect figure, Todd knew Mandy would have been an object of desire with many offers of sexual coupling. It was highly probably she had given in to temptation and had been having an affair behind Tony Walton's back.

"Anything else you can tell me?" Todd asked Rani.

"No, she definitely died from suffocation. All cuts were made post mortem. Her eyeballs weren't actually removed; they were pushed into her head by the toffees." Rani took a moment to contemplate that; his face showed the disgust he felt. "Her silicone implants were cut open, emptied and stuffed with marshmallows."

"What about on her back?" Todd wanted to know if the killer had turned Mandy over to ensure her entire body was defiled.

"No her back was left alone. Don't forget she was handcuffed. It would have meant undoing that and turning her over. No she was only cut where she was exposed to the air."

Todd considered it possible that the killer didn't have the strength to turn Mandy over. The absence of any defence wounds or bruising on Mandy's body suggested she did not struggle; it appeared she had been willingly handcuffed. Todd was beginning to piece the clues together; semen present and a consent to be handcuffed told him the killer was likely to be a male, known to the victim, invited into the flat in order to have consensual sex, but from the point of being handcuffed the killer had taken a different direction and murdered Mandy.

Todd wanted to know the significance of the sweets; men liked to give ladies chocolates; maybe this was a sick gift from a twisted mind. Todd also wanted to find the talent scout Tony Walton had told him about. He needed to know if this was the guy Mandy was seeing behind Tony's back or if he was just a coincidental part of the puzzle.

First things first, Todd needed to check the semen against the Police National Database to see if it was on file from a previous suspect. He also needed to contact Tony Walton again as they would need a sample from him to be able to eliminate him from the enquiry. Todd made sure he had a packet of tissues with him as he left the Coroner's office for Tony Walton's house; if yesterday was anything to go by Todd would be needing the tissues and a great deal of patience over the next few hours.

-x-

"Hello?" Todd answered his phone as he walked towards Tony Walton's flat in the Bickford Lock area of Olinsbury.

"Hello Uncle Todd," the cheery voice was like manna to Todd's ears.

"Hey pumpkin; how is my favourite niece?"

"I'm fine," Todd could envision his six year old niece Jasmine's face; born to his younger sister, Trina, the result of a coupling with a Nigerian doctor she had met on a hen night with her best friend. Jasmine was a light in both Trina and Todd's lives. She had the most startling blue eyes which shone from her hazelnut face and her hair was a mass of curls crowning all three feet of her deliciousness. Todd thought she was the most beautiful creature on the planet and adored the very bones of her.

Todd knew Jasmine would be holding the phone to her ear, her tongue firmly planted in her cheek in her delightful shy way and he got an urge to drop everything, drive to her immediately and give her the uncle snuggles which she enjoyed so much.

"What are you doing?" Jasmine asked him.

"Working my darling, what are you doing?"

"Playing."

"Oh lovely, where is your mummy?"

"She's making breakfast, I haven't got school today."

"Oh ok then, now Jasmine."

"Yes?"

"What do you want baby, why are you ringing me?" Todd sang at her down the phone.

"Nothing," came the coy reply. "Oh actually,"

"Yes?"

"When are you coming to see me?"

"I'm coming on your birthday baby."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes."

"Ok, bye." The phone was put down before Todd could respond further, he made a mental note to himself to buy Jasmine a present and make sure he didn't miss her birthday in a few days' time. Reaching the front door of Tony Walton's flat, Todd took a deep breath and shook the image of Jasmine from his mind. He knocked on the door and reached for his tissues as he saw the still snivelling Tony approach through the glass. At least any suspicion of involvement could now be removed from Todd's mind; even the best of actors couldn't cry for that long. Todd said, "Hi," as Tony answered the door and followed him into the flat which was more of a bedsit. An open living area with space saving furniture, all white and black with the laminate flooring Todd just couldn't stand. Who wants their home to feel so clinical? Carpet felt much more homely in his opinion. He had a good look around as he entered, noticing a digital picture frame which flashed photos of Tony, then Mandy, then Tony with Mandy. A constant reminder to Tony of the loss he had just suffered.

"I still can't help you with anything." Tony broke into Todd's visual investigations.

"Ok, that's fine," Todd said; he knew his next words wouldn't be received well. "Actually I am here to ask you to provide a sample for DNA analysis."

"What?" Tony was incredulous, "So you
do
think I killed her. Oh my God, this is unbelievable," he lamented before breaking down in tears once again.

"No, no I accept what you have told me," Todd appeased him, "I'm sorry to tell you we found what we believe to be traces of semen in Mandy's body."

"So she was raped?"

"It's hard to tell with the injuries she had."

Tony took a choked breath, "Oh my poor Mandy," he cried.

"Yes it is a terrible thing that has happened to her and I want to catch this guy as soon as I can before he can do it to somebody else. Now we can analyse the semen for DNA but that would only be helpful to us if the person who's DNA it is has been arrested previously and his DNA profile is in our database. If he hasn't then the sample is no good to us at all."

"Well surely there's some way of checking?" Tony asked.

"Would be great if there was but we can't obtain DNA from people unless they commit a recordable offence so it still makes it very difficult in cases such as these."

"That is shit."

"It's not perfect," Todd agreed.

"Well what do you want me for?" Tony asked.

"We need a sample from you so we can eliminate you as being the person who put the semen there; it could be there from sexual activity you may have had in the days leading up to Mandy's death."

"Oh, I understand." Tony sat down on his black leather sofa. "Well what do you want me to do?" Tony asked; "Wank into a cup or what?"

"No, no, we can get DNA from a sample of cheek cells." Todd said as he took a pencil like plastic tube from his coat pocket. He gave Tony a form to sign which agreed to his DNA being taken for testing and then Todd removed a long thin cotton bud from the tube, gave it to Tony and asked him to scrape it along the inside of his cheeks. Tony did so and handed the now cell infested swab to Todd.

"Thanks Tony, this really helps." Todd said as he replaced the swab in its casing.

"So what happens now?"

"Now we wait; hopefully there is a match on the database and we can catch whoever it was that did this to Mandy."

"Ok," Tony sat back on the sofa and began to softly cry once again. Todd let himself out of the flat and left Tony to his misery. He couldn't dwell on the pain which murder caused those left behind; he had a job to do and there was no time for sympathy. Emotion clouded judgement and Todd needed to be the one who was objective if he was to make a successful case against anyone. He got to his car and drove the twenty minutes back to Olinsbury police station in silence, allowing himself a short moment of calm. No thought other than the drive back entered his mind; he focused completely on the twists and turns of the journey, losing himself in the mental map of Olinsbury which he knew so well.

-x-

Arriving back at the station Todd felt a sensation of butterflies in his stomach in anticipation Tessa may be in the front office. He got out of his car and rather than go through the side gate to the rear entrance as was customary for officers, Todd picked his way through the human detritus which lingered in the waiting room of the station reception area. He knew he was leaving himself open to being stopped by a member of the public or a local scrote who may know him, but he was inexplicably drawn to the area, like a child who just has to knock over the tower their sibling has taken an hour to build; he knew he shouldn't do it, but he just couldn't help himself.

Todd successfully negotiated the area without incident, mainly because he refused to make eye contact with the people therein. He chanced a look at the reception desk and saw Tessa smiling in his direction. Todd's heart gave a slight lurch at the sight of her and he nodded a greeting as she buzzed him through to the front office.

"Hi Todd," Tessa smiled walking up to him, "How are you, did you come to get some Tessa loving?"

"Of course Tessa, you know how much I love to see you." Todd replied. "Listen Tessa, there's a bowling tournament tomorrow, you coming along to cheer us on?"

"Bowling?" Tessa asked, "Like a green, men with pipes and white trousers?"

"No, ten pin bowling, on wooden floors, men and women in normal clothes, having a drink and enjoying the moment. We're quite good you know."

"How good?"

"It's the semi-final so good enough. Come on, I'll teach you how to play. You never know, you might like it." Todd sensed Tessa was uneasy about the invitation.

"Candace will be there, it's not just men," he reassured her.

"I'll check my shift pattern and let you know." Tessa relented, "What day is it?"

"Sunday - tomorrow," Todd replied.

"Ok darling, let me get back to you." Tessa began to walk away from Todd as a new customer arrived at the counter. Todd watched her well rounded buttocks jostle with each other as they sashayed to the counter. He felt a stirring in his loins mixed with a strong apprehension about taking things further. Todd's experience amongst the lads in the police service meant he knew if he was to pursue a relationship of any kind with Tessa he would be mercilessly ribbed about her size. He had already heard her being called Fatness and other such derisory words and just didn't feel up to being in a position where he should have to jump to Tessa's rescue. He needed to put all his energy into finding Mandy Thomas's killer; maybe after that he would give his own life a chance.