The Oakhurst Murders Duology

5-1

5

“Mitchell,” he said groggily when his groping hand found the ringing phone and brought it to his ear.

“Sorry to wake you, sergeant.”

“What’s up?” Mitchell asked, recognising the voice of Constable Pritchard. “Has something happened?” He could think of no other reason for him to be called before seven a.m. on a Saturday, as the clock on the bedside cabinet told him the time was.

“There’s been a report of a body being found.”

Mitchell instantly became wide awake, though it was a moment or two before he could speak. “Did you say a body’s?” he asked when he found his voice.

“That’s right. The call came in just a few moments ago; that new guy, Wild, said he’s found the body of a girl along the river near that old watchtower. He said she’s dead – murdered.”

“Murdered!” The word escaped his lips before Mitchell could stop it and he looked quickly over at his wife, who was still asleep. “Are you sure about that?” he asked as he slipped from the bed.

“I’ve not seen the body, so I can only go on what Mr Wild said, but he sounded pretty definite about it,” Pritchard said. “I can’t imagine why he’d lie about something like that.”

“Me neither, you can never tell with some people, though, and it’s not like we know Mr Wild well enough to tell what he might do.”

“Do you think it could be Georgina Ryder?” Pritchard asked.

Mitchell went cold at that. The notion that the girl he and his officers had spent the week looking for was dead was not one he liked – the possibility that she had been murdered was worse – but he couldn’t think who else the body could be, the village had only the one missing girl as far as he was aware. “Unless you know of any other Oakhurst girls that have gone missing, I think it has to be Georgina,” he said, feeling no satisfaction at the thought of her having been found.

Pritchard hesitated for a moment and then said, “I wasn’t going to mention it ‘til you came in, I didn’t think it was important, I mean, she’s never home...”

“Are you going to get to the point?” Mitchell asked, pressing the phone to his ear with his shoulder while he struggled into his uniform.

“Mike left a note, Theresa Goulding came in last night to report Lucy missing.”

“Damn,” Mitchell swore, abandoning his efforts at getting dressed. It amazed him how quickly a situation could go from bad to worse. “Okay, here’s what I want you to do; call Doc Kelly and Mel, tell them both I’ll be by shortly to pick them up, then call the inspector. Chances are, Wild’s wrong about the girl being dead, but just in case, the inspector is going to want to know what’s going on.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to call Mike or Adrian?” Pritchard asked. “Mel’s never dealt with a dead body before, perhaps now’s probably not the best time for her first.”

“No, I want Mel, she’s got to deal with this kind of thing sooner or later. Besides, if I have to go and see the Ryders afterwards, Melissa will be more help than either Mike or Adrian. You’d better make those calls, Paul, I’ll be at Doc Kelly’s in a few minutes, tell him he’ll need his bag.”

**