Love you, Miss Jones,’ he said sleepily as he rested his head on the pillow next to Jen as gently as he could so as not to wake her. He drifted into a deep sleep, waking intermittently either due to the pain from his lip or thoughts of Daisy and whatever evil bastard had taken her.
Chapter Three
At 6.20 a.m., just over twelve hours after Daisy had been reported missing, the police received a 999 call from a distressed lady who had been walking her dog on wasteland near to Dean Reservoir, approximately seven miles from Daisy’s home.
‘Please help. I’ve just seen what looks like a child’s body. I’m sorry I can’t go any nearer, could you send someone please? Quickly.’
A police car arrived at the location within six minutes. There was a biting wind. Mrs Day stood on the open moorland, bewildered, pale and shaken, with her mobile phone still in her hand. She was a smart lady of about forty years, dressed for the weather in boots, jeans, and an anorak. Nearby was her red Mini Cooper. Inside the car was her liver and white Springer spaniel.
‘I had to put Belle in the car. She wouldn’t stop barking, that’s why I walked towards … it,’ she told the officers. ‘But …I … couldn’t. I’m sorry. It made me feel sick.’ She held her hand to her throat, a hankie grasped firmly in her hand. She was visibly shaking. The older officer placed an arm around her shoulders.
‘Mrs Day, you’ve done really well just ringing in. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need a doctor?’
‘No, no thank you, love. It’s, it’s just such a shock, you know?’ She shivered.
The officer guided her to her vehicle where he sat her in the driver’s side, then he retreated to the passenger seat. Speaking to her gently he took notes in his pocket book as he asked her where she had walked and where she had seen what she thought was a body.
She pointed. ‘Just over there. If you walk straight forward you’ll see it for yourself.’
The younger officer followed the route Mrs Day indicated. Some twenty-five yards ahead, away from the road, he saw it.
The body was face down and had a blue plastic bag secured over its head. He immediately contacted the control room and then checked the body for a pulse. There were no signs of life. Using his radio he requested the attendance of paramedics on the off chance anything could be done, but deep down he knew it was futile. They could at least make the pronouncement of life extinct. He called for the attendance of senior CID and uniform supervision. Using blue and white crime scene tape, he started to create a line from the roadway to the body, indicating the pathway Mrs Day had taken. He wrapped the tape around trees to begin sealing off the area, preserving it for a later search.
The officers would record what they had done and why: they had no doubt it was a murder. CID arrived and a detective swapped places with the uniform officer to sit with Mrs Day. He told her that an ambulance was en route.
‘I’d only been parked about two or three minutes when Belle started barking continually at one spot, which is so out of character for her. I looked to the place where she was yapping, saw it, and dialled 999,’ Mrs Day told him.
Seated in the security and quietness of Mrs Day’s car, the two watched the paramedics arrive. They saw the negative nods of their heads and they watched as the paramedics retreated from the scene.
‘Are you sure you’re okay to drive?’ asked the detective. ‘We’ll visit you later at home to take a statement if that’s okay with you.’
‘Oh, I’ll be fine. Thank you. You’ve enough to do here. I’ll see you later,’ Mrs Day said.
Dylan’s mobile and pager awoke him as they danced a duet on his bedside table. His face ached. As he yawned his lips cracked and flaked like old paint on dead wood. He picked up his phone. A bright, sharp, wide-awake voice on the other end spoke.
‘Detective Sergeant Dawn Farren asked