Chapter 31
FIFE
Brodie stood outside the cottage, looking at the white walls and the roof.
The chimney had obviously fallen through the other side, as this side looked intact.
There was a garage door further along that had seen better days.
He thought the place would look pretty good after being refurbished. And a new roof put on.
‘You alright, sir?’ Art asked. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘I’m fine. Let’s get inside.’
Cameron made a face and shrugged but followed their temporary boss up to the front door. A Uniform stood guard and Art was glad to see it wasn’t McCoy, but somebody he didn’t recognise.
Brodie showed his ID. ‘We need to go inside and have a look.’
‘No problem, sir,’ he said, stepping to one side.
The hallway smelled like an old person had lived in here, which was indeed the case.
White-suited people were bustling about, taking photos and video. Brodie turned to Art. ‘What room was it?’
‘To the annexe along on the left,’ Art said.
‘How do you know it’s an annexe?’
‘Just a guess. From the way this place looks laid out. Back in the day, it would have been just a regular shape, I reckon.’
Brodie nodded, and made his way along the hallway to where the techs were working.
‘Help you?’ a man in a white suit said.
‘DCI Brodie. I’m here to examine the crime scene.’
He held out a hand. ‘I’m Kevin Carnie, head of forensics.’
Brodie shook the man’s hand, and Carnie nodded to Art and Cameron.
‘Come on in and have a look.’ Carnie led the men into the room, where Brodie was seeing it for the first time with wrecked floorboards.
‘I spoke to the pathologist, Sherlock,’ Carnie said. ‘Doctor Ronald Holmes. Everybody calls him Sherlock for the obvious reason.’
‘We’ll be going to speak with him after this,’ Brodie said, ‘but give me your opinion.’
‘Looks like a small boy was killed with a blunt instrument, from what the doc says. Then wrapped up in plastic and hidden under the floorboards. Carpets were put in and probably changed. The contractors said the carpets were old but not ancient.’
‘What about a smell? Surely somebody would have smelled a dead body in there?’
‘There are ventilation bricks in the foundations. Helps keep the house breathing. I’m assuming that any smell would have ventilated to the outside. Otherwise, somebody would have reported the smell, surely?’ Carnie said.
‘You would think,’ Brodie said. ‘How long do you think that he was down there?’
‘Not sure. Decades, I would say at a guess.’
‘Maybe we could ask the owner,’ Art said.
‘We could. Do you have a name for me?’
Cameron took his notebook out and flipped through it, then looked at Brodie. ‘A woman called Margaret Wallace.’
‘Anybody know where she lives?’ Brodie asked.
‘In Dunfermline,’ Art answered.
‘That’s handy. We can go and talk to her then we can go to the mortuary.’
‘In a home,’ Cameron added.
‘You might have led with that,’ Brodie said.
‘Sorry. That part was on the next page. It’s a nursing home. She’s eighty-five.’
‘We can still go and talk to her,’ Brodie said. ‘But let’s get to the mortuary first.’
Brodie looked back at the cottage as they went back to the car. He pictured a little boy playing outside in the sunshine, waving to him as they left. Then the image faded and he felt a sudden feeling of sadness.
No matter how long he was in the job, he could never wrap his head around how some people could kill children.
He shivered as he got into the car and Cameron drove off.