The Murder Suite: Book One - The Audrey Murders (9 page)

Audrey had her work cut out for her.  She only had a few days before her next project.   She was concerned the pigpen had been flooded and some of the pig feed may have escaped down the flooded ditches and out into the bay.   Neighbors had already complained about her gray water from her washing machine releasing into the harbor and polluting the oyster fields.     Audrey didn’t like oysters and liked even less the eyesore of the huge oyster farms that were exposed when the tide was out ruining the pristine view of the harbor.   When an oyster company went out of business they just left their mess in the harbor.   The oyster beds were made of wood beams treated with cyanide.  If that wasn’t pollution, Audrey didn’t know what was.   A little washing machine water seemed a lot less harmful than cyanide.   Of course, it wasn’t the pollution that Audrey worried about escaping into the bay, but evidence from her last project.  Now, that could be dire.

Audrey changed into her sweat pants and baggy shirt and lay on her bed looking up at the ceiling deep in thought.   What a pain.  The pigpen had been perfect!  If it weren’t for the flood everything would have gone to plan.  Upon reflection, Audrey decided to use the same method only she would need to move the pen up further into the pine forest.  There was an old tractor road that led up the mountain.  She wished she had a quad bike but her old Rav4 was pretty good on rough terrain.   She just hoped the rain would stop soon and everything would have to dry up before the weekend.  It usually dried up pretty quickly. Often a day or two after heavy rain all signs of flooding had completely disappeared.

Sometimes local guys would stop by the chalets and ask if they could go pig hunting up her mountain.  Lately she had used the excuse that her guests would be disturbed by the gunshots.  She hoped the rain would put off any shooters – at least for a week or so.

The phone rang.  It was Pearl. 

“Just checking all is OK with you up there” she said. 

“Yes fine” Audrey said.  “The guests have all checked in.  I just hope we don’t lose the power like last time,” she said, thinking it best to be friendly. 

“Better keep them inside,” said Pearl. “Looks as though we are getting a lot of slips on the road. We have one down here at the harbor. The digger is on its way.   They will never find that Blackmore guy now. The harbor is brown and murky.  Maybe he will surface after the floods,” she rambled on. 

“Hope so” said Audrey wondering if Pearl suspected anything. Then she realized Pearl thrived on adversity and loved a good mystery.  Once she got her teeth into something you couldn’t pry her away from it.   Audrey hoped this flood would give her something else to concentrate on. 

“Gotta go,” said Audrey.  “Thanks for checking on us, at least we still have our phones”. 

For some reason the locals used their home phones more than their cell phones.  Mobile phones in New Zealand were expensive and Audrey hated texting so she seldom used it.  Usually in the floods, the phone lines went out with the power lines.  If you didn’t charge your mobile phone you were out of luck trying to communicate. 

Audrey always made sure she had batteries for the portable boom box so she could get news from the local radio stations.   She realized she should check the guests had enough candles and matches in case the power went out soon.   She made her way out into the blustery wind and pouring rain to do her last minute checks. 

C H A P T E R   3 5

The rain finally stopped.  The sun shone over the drenched farmland as the waters subsided and green grass began to surface through brown muddy waters.  Residents opened their doors to a new day with rakes, shovels and hoses in hand.  It was a community effort cleaning up after a flood.  Chain saws buzzed in the distance as trees were removed from blocks paths and roadways.  Roadside workers went from mud slip to mud slip clearing away the damage so the roads could open again.  Farmers replaced fallen fences and cleared out waterways.  The town of Kaeo mopped the muddy floors and hosed down their walkways.  By the afternoon everything was pretty much back to normal.  Low lying areas still had pools of muddy water but roads were clear and businesses were open to all.   The furniture truck was on its way back to Kaeo having spent the night in Kerikeri along with Maria and the boys. 

The police house didn’t get any water damage as the water just reached the top of the foundation and didn’t go into the house.  Thanks to the sand bags placed at all the doors. 

Constable Driver hadn’t got much sleep so decided to take a nap while waiting for the family to arrive.  It had been a tough night.   He was called to a number of burglaries. It seemed as though the local lads took advantage of the flood to break into quite a few empty houses.  Driver had been swamped in paperwork all morning.   He needed some time out.  He walked over the old sofa in his office.  It has been his refuge during long nights.  As he stretched out and grabbed a cushion for his head he heard the door of the police station open.  Damn! What now?

“Anyone here?” He heard a gruff voice calling out. “Hey Constable, you in here?” Driver got up and walked out into the lobby.  He could smell Smithy before he saw him.

Smithy was not much of a bather.  By the looks of him, he had slept in the same clothes for some time.  Driver knew he lived alone with just his old dog for company. 

              “What can I do for you?” he asked. 

              “Bruiser found something in ditch under the road and I don’t like the look of it so I decided to bring it to you.”  Smithy removed a large parcel wrapped in an old sack.  Driver couldn’t see what it was. 

              “What is it?” he asked as he bent over the sack. 

              “It’s a bone - a bloody big bone. It’s not a pig bone, or cow bone, or dog bone - it looks more like a human tibia bone,” informed Smithy.  “Don’t like the look of it. Looks as though it has been chewed up by animals.”   

              “Holy shit!” said Driver. Where did you find it?” 

              “Across the road from my place down where the big water pipe goes under the road.  Looks as though it got trapped in the branches and stuff.   Thought I should bring it straight to you.  Bruiser here found it and brought it home this morning. Last night I found him trying to pull the bone out of the ditch but the water was too swift and it was shitting down so I made him leave it there. When I saw what it was it fair scared the shit out me.”  

              Driver looked at the bone in more detail. It was muddy with, what looked like, clawed bits of flesh hanging in mangled strips.  There appeared to be bite marks on the bone.  It didn’t seem to have been out in the open very long, maybe a day or two. It was pretty awful to look at. 

He hadn’t seen too many dead bodies and thought the bloody leg bone was more gruesome than anything he had seen before.  

Driver called the Kerikeri police station and asked the forensic team to meet him at the ditch near Smithy’s house.  They needed to do a full search in case other bones or even a body could be located.   Driver thought it might be the guy, Blackmore.  Maybe his body had been washed up from the harbor somehow and ended up in a storm drain under Wainui Road.  He thanked old Smithy and took the parcel into his office where he found a sterile paper bag and large cardboard box and carefully placed the bone inside for the forensics team to analyze.   Driver liked it when a case got solved.  He didn’t like missing pieces and this case had worried him.  He got into his car and headed off to Wainui Road with his lights flashing. 

C H A P T E R   3 6

Pearl saw the police car heading off down Wainui Road.  The lights were flashing and Constable Driver looked like he meant business. 

I wonder what’s going on? Thought Pearl.  She couldn’t resist it.  She hopped in her little car and followed the constable down Wainui Road.   She saw old Smithy and his dog at the corner by the Chalets. Smithy gave a wave as the police car came to an abrupt halt.  She didn’t like to appear nosey so she went around the car and took the next driveway up to the Chalets.   She would stop for a cuppa with Audrey. She knew they would have a bird’s eye view of the road from the Chalets.  Pearl’s curiosity really had the best of her.  What could be going on?  She hadn’t seen anything.  

Pearl looked for any sign of Audrey. She wasn’t quite sure what suite was the office.  She parked her car on the lower level behind Audrey’s blue Rav4. Then she saw the “office” sign by Suite B and made her way over to the door.  Audrey was at her computer deep in thought. She jumped when Pearl knocked.

“Sorry to bug you” said Pearl but I was heading off to Tauranga Bay and I noticed Constable Driver and Smithy below your property next door. They are looking at the storm water pipe that runs under the road. Do you know what is going on? I thought I should tell you”.                  

“What?” said Audrey, the color draining out of her face “Constable Driver? He is at the culvert”?    

“Yes, said Pearl.  “Looks as though they are searching for something.” 

Then they both heard the sirens.  They were getting closer and closer and then they stopped at the small driveway at the end of Audrey’s property.

There were police dogs and policemen everywhere.  It looked like a crime scene.  Constable Driver was stopping the traffic.  Smithy was waving the locals on in the other direction.  Pearl was getting more and more excited.  “I wonder what it is?” said Pearl.

Maybe they have found that guy, Blackmore.  Maybe his body washed up in the flood. Come on Audrey, let’s go down and find out what is happening?”   

Audrey couldn’t move she felt frozen in place.  “You go Pearl. I had better stay here with the guests.  Call me when you find out what has happened”.  

“OK” said Pearl forgetting all about a cup of tea. “Ill call you” and she ran to her car and took off at great speed down the driveway and out on the road.  

Audrey watched as Pearl stopped to talk to Smithy.  She saw them looking up at the Chalets.  This is not good, thought Audrey. She walked to the fridge and poured a full glass of wine. She wished she still smoked. A ciggy is just what she needed now.  She drank the full glass and walked outside to the edge of the bank overlooking the road.  She couldn’t quite see what was going on down by the drain.  She walked back to Suite B and climbed up the steps through her tropical gardens and across the freshly mowed lawn behind Suite C.

The road at the top led down to where the commotion was taking place.  She didn’t want to venture too close to the scene but just close enough to hear what was going on. 

She followed the road for a couple of minutes then climbed down into the valley.  No one could see her there. She was hidden by the hill and the valley was covered in trees and native ferns. 

The flood had left the valley floor muddy and strewed with logs and branches.  She walked down as far as she dared until she could see where the pigpen had been.  It was now just sheets of corrugated iron torn apart by the raging waters. No one would know it once was a pen.  Audrey took a deep breath and exhaled out loud.  What a relief. The flood has destroyed any evidence.   But she knew the police had found something in the culvert drain.   It could have come from anywhere.  She would just have to keep her wits about her.   She headed back up the valley and into her car.  She knew the police would be visiting her soon with more questions and wanted to be prepared.  She just had a quick trip to make and now was a good time.

C H A P T E R   3 7

Constable Driver and the team from Kerikeri spent a good two hours searching the ditch where Smithy’s dog had located the leg bone.  It was a human leg bone. The forensics guy had already confirmed it.  They took it away and would do a DNA test on it. But the general consensus was, it was most likely to be Blackmore’s leg.  But what was it doing in the ditch on Audrey’s property.  It was unlikely it had been swept in from the harbor, as the water was flowing down the valley and into the harbor not the other direction. It had to have come down from the mountains.  It made no sense, none whatsoever.  No other bones were found.   Driver thought maybe a wild pig or dog had found the bone near the bay washed up on the shore and had carried it down to this location.  But it was quite a way for an animal to drag such a heavy bone. 

The team packed up and went back to the site where the car had gone into the harbor.  They followed the muddy water’s edge along the bank for a mile in each direction but there was no sign of any body parts. They decided to meet back at the Kaeo station where they could have a cup of coffee and a formal meeting.  This was serious.  A man had lost a leg and. likely, his life.  Now they could have a homicide on their hands.

The group studied all the evidence and started forming an investigating team.  Detective Constable Mason from Kerikeri was put in charge. Constable Driver would be the local man on the case and a couple of detectives from Auckland city would stay locally and work full time on the case. As soon as forensics confirmed Blackmore’s DNA the next step would be to confirm; if it was an accident, his body was ravaged by some animal when it was swept up in the storm or if, in fact, it was a homicide and there was someone out there who wanted Blackmore dead.   If it was not Blackmore’s DNA then they had two open cases.  Constable Driver didn’t want to close the Blackmore case until the DNA results came in.