Syn (The Merseyside Crime Series Book 2) - Malcolm Hollingdrake (world of reading TXT) 📗

glass giving the appearance of setting candle wax. In certain areas, the streaks and patches were darker than others. The passenger side windows were also stained in a similar way but were more difficult to detect owing to the proximity of the wall.

‘Bloody hell, it’s literally a shambles,’ Skeeter announced. ‘Someone has clearly been slaughtered.’

A PCSO was sitting on a green blanket well away from the vehicle and was being attended to by a first respond paramedic. A foil blanket had been wrapped around his shoulders; his back was against the parapet wall. April left Skeeter at the cordon and walked over. She introduced herself and crouched down.

‘How’s things?’ She looked at the paramedic and then at the officer.

‘He’s fine, bit of shock considering that bloody mess he discovered. Is it hardly surprising? Fifth week into the job too. You could say a baptism of fire.’ He tapped the officer’s arm. ‘In at the bloody deep end I’d have to say, but I guess that’s the job we all face. We never know what we’ll find from one day to the next. I’ll leave you two and clear up. Guy in the car needs no help.’

April pulled a face to look like an accepting smile.

‘Thank you, what about the blanket?’ PCSO Ralph Curtis was about to stand and pull the blanket from beneath him.

‘Later, I’ll come back. You just relax and do as I’ve told you.’ The paramedic stuck up his thumb and moved away.

‘DI Decent. I’m SIO. Some find you’ve made there.’

‘Don’t think I’ve helped by throwing up over the poor sod. I’ve never seen as much blood in such a small space.’ He paused, bringing the paper bowl that resembled a grey bowler hat from his side and to his mouth before retching. Nothing emerged. He wiped his mouth. ‘Sorry! I received a call to check on a car. It was said to be in here. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. Knew the make and colour of the car I was looking for so it wasn’t long before I came across it. It was just about matching the car with the correct plate number. Fortunately, I came up the ramp, over there and saw it straight away.’

‘Did you see anyone leaving?’

‘When I arrived to check the place, I thought it prudent to walk up the road into the carpark. It’s next to that taken by the cars leaving, just in case the one I was looking for buggered off as I was entering by the pedestrian stairwell.’

‘Sensible,’ April encouraged although she realised the killer might well have slipped out unseen. ‘Go on.’

‘When I saw it, I could see the state of the windscreen. I thought it had been vandalised but then I saw the body. I’ve never … It was the eyes and then the blood. It seemed to be hanging from the roof lining, not like normal blood. It looked gooey, if that makes any sense, and almost deep black. The neck wound was more like the mouth and the face was the strangest thing. One half was covered in blood and the other looked like grey wax. That’s when I threw up.’

‘I can understand. Go on.’

‘I called it in. Two members of the public helped me secure the area and within ten to fifteen minutes the helicopter was over but I guess the perpetrator was well gone. Tell me, ma’am, what kind of person does this to a fellow human being in broad daylight in a public place?’

‘Between you and me, the same person who’s killed two others in a fortnight but keep that to yourself.’

‘Did you have your bodycam operating?’

‘No, I thought I was just identifying a car. Forget the thing’s there half the time.’

‘Thanks. Take care. We’ll be in touch. Make sure you take any support offered. These experiences have a bad habit of coming back up in here.’ She pointed to his head. ‘They can bite back very hard later. Have none of this stiff upper lip shit.’

‘Paramedic said that. Thanks.’

April stood and walked back to Skeeter. CSI had screened the car and were photographing from all angles.

‘I’ve requested all CCTV from here and the surrounds. The poor sod was lured here, just like the others, and it was Carla’s spoofed phone I bet. I’ll clear with Mason but I want the reporting restriction lifted and I want all her known friends informed individually. Somehow, Wicca, this is one we might have prevented if we’d acted differently.’

‘When we arrived, I heard the helicopter and it made me think of a noise we heard when we were at Carla’s crime scene. Not too dissimilar to the CSI drone only theirs was louder being closer. There was no helicopter present, police or otherwise but now for some reason I think it might have been a drone. I thought it was a motorbike when I was there, but come to think of it, the bike probably just masked it. When it had gone, so too did the noise I’d heard. Why does the idea of a winged goddess keep plaguing me? I’ll nip out to Mill Farm on my way home. I have a hunch.’

‘Talk to the lads at HQ, they use drones constantly as you know. Don’t, whatever you do, mention the time when they lost the first one in the Mersey. I’m sure they received the usual briefing. Or the fact they were operating without permission when they made their first arrest, otherwise you’ll get nowhere.’ She laughed. ‘I guess they received a right bollocking. Besides, the public immediately think of 1984 so they’re cagey about the technology.’

He placed the coverall along with the gloves and knife within the black bin bag and tied the handle. It was small and he managed to deposit it over the concrete edge at the start of the footbridge linking Victoria Bridge Road to Back Virginia Street. The bridge crossed multiple railway tracks, and the railway banking at the start and