It was true, they were. Yet again he stopped and turned around, looking upwards, but then shook his head. On they went for another fifty yards or so before he did the same thing, stopping and looking upwards. This time he gestured for them to look up.
‘See, I’m right, there in that tree, can you see it?’
‘What are we looking for?’ Mike came close to Oates.
‘Can’t you see it?’
‘I don’t know what I’m looking for.’ Mike was getting tetchy, but Oates lifted both hands to point.
‘It’s up in the big branch that curves over your head.’
‘Is it a ball?’ Anna asked, gazing upwards.
‘No, it’s a riding hat. See, the strap is caught, the chin guard is hooked over a branch and it’s probably full of water by now, but that’s my marker.’
‘How did you get it up there?’ Anna asked.
‘Threw it, of course, chucked it up. I mean, you’d never notice it was there if you didn’t know about it, right?’
They left two officers to get the hat down, while the rest of them walked on.
Oates still led them and gradually the wood began to get less dense and the ground beneath their feet grew soggy. It looked as if at one time a number of trees had toppled into the quarry, as there were many dangerous roots just waiting to trip someone up and a couple of trunks lay on their sides rotting in the wet clay. There was a shout from behind them and yet again everyone halted. It turned out to be the officers who had retrieved the riding hat, which they now handed to Anna. The velvet was covered in moss, and inside it was full of cones and broken twigs. She gently rubbed the moss away from the protective padding and although it was badly faded she could make out the name Rebekka Jordan written in marker pen. She asked one of the officers to take the helmet back to the forensic tent. Oates was getting impatient. ‘Come on, what are we waiting for?’
The path was now wide enough for Anna and Mike to walk either side of Oates and then it opened up onto flat ground.
‘Watch your step, this is all crumbling, so take it easy cos you slide and you’re going down into the pit,’ Oates warned.
Rather ominously they were now at the edge of the wood overlooking the giant quarry. From their position they could see all their vehicles and men waiting across on the other side of the quarry. To their right, about two hundred metres away at the lowest part of the old quarry, they could make out the pond area and the marine unit busily working away searching through the cloudy water.
‘Step back, please, Mr Oates.’ Mike was concerned he would jump and kill himself, but he laughed.
‘You’ll have to get a bit closer, pal. Look down and you’ll see a ledge, it’s about twelve feet down, then there’s another one below that, and then it’s free fall to the bottom.’
Oates was not at all out of breath and made a gleeful point of telling everyone that he was more athletic and fitter than any of them. He indicated where he had slithered over the sloping side of the quarry.
‘I was shit-scared, I admit it, cos it was pitch-black and I didn’t know if I was done for, but I was on me back as I slid and I almost dropped her. I had her by the hair and we just came to a stop. Got to remember I had the shovel in me hands as well.’
Mike sighed; this was going to be a more formidable task than anyone had anticipated as the gradient of the slope was not only extremely steep but everything was dangerously wet and slippery. To bring in the winch vehicle or heavy excavating equipment through the woods would be impossible. The uniformed sergeant, who was the search adviser from the POLSA team, suggested to Mike that they drop further abseiling ropes from where they were standing down to the ledge. This would allow one of his men to descend to the ledge and then drop rope ladders and harnessing equipment to the bottom of the quarry. His team, who were still at base, could then go down into the quarry pit using the winch and abseiling lines already set up by the operation’s base on the opposite side. They would then be able to cross the floor of the pit and climb up to the ledge indicated by Oates.
Oates told them he had buried Rebekka somewhere along the first ledge, and then he had dug another grave further along and the others were on the second, wider ledge.
‘How did you get back up from down there?’ Anna asked.
‘Clawed up, used the shovel as a chisel – ground was quite hard then, so I could get a good grip. It took me a long time, but there are lots of tree roots to hang onto so that made it easier. I also got another route to show you, one I found later; it’s easier, but it’s further along and that’s where I took the other girls.’
They followed Oates along the crumbling edge of the wood to another section, which was less steep, and with a vast amount of roots. Now there was another ledge visible.
An hour later they were driving back to the base. Everyone was covered in clay and chalk dust, their boots thick and crusted with it. Oates was taken back to the police wagon, where he would be given a hot drink and some food. It was nine-thirty.
Mike was surrounded by his team as he pinpointed on the map the areas where Oates claimed to have buried the bodies. As the search adviser had anticipated, it was felt that it would be less dangerous to go down into the main quarry, cross and climb upwards rather than attempt to go over the ridge, as it would be difficult to get all the equipment over there and through the woods. They already had the ropes in place ready for the men to abseil down. Mike now gave the order for the helicopter to circle the quarry and use its high-definition cameras to look for any noticeable ground disturbances in the areas indicated by Oates.
Barolli was still concerned that the other helicopter, which they’d noticed earlier circling the quarry, wasn’t one of theirs. They had been unable to see it whilst walking in the woods, but now Mike watched as it came into view again. It circled the entire perimeter of the quarry and swooped audaciously low over the gaping pit, at which point they could read on its side: News Flight Aviation.
‘It’s the fucking press!’ Mike shouted above the noise. He wondered helplessly how they could get the damned thing ordered out of the area.
‘When our lads fly in, they’ll put the wind up them,’ Anna said, glancing over to the parked BMW. Kumar was sitting in the passenger seat staring at them. ‘Somebody bloody tipped them off and I wouldn’t put it past that slimeball.’
Barolli agreed. Kumar had ventured out from his car twice, to get refreshments, but otherwise nobody was speaking to him. He had been seen on his mobile phone a great deal. Mike asked if Anna would go and talk to him, to inform him that his client had been of assistance. It almost choked him to use the word assistance, as it had been obvious to them all that Oates was thoroughly relishing all the attention.
Kumar lowered his window and then turned in surprise as Anna opened the passenger door and got in beside him. She liked the fact that her mud-covered wellington boots left thick stains on the car’s pale blue fitted carpet.
‘Mr Oates has been very informative and has given us the locations where he claims he buried his victims. We have also retrieved Rebekka Jordan’s riding hat; he used it as a marker to find the way to get rid of his other victims.’
‘I would like to talk to him.’
‘I’m afraid for security reasons you will have to have armed officers present, so any consultation will not be private. He is being very helpful and we may need to take him down into the quarry, but if you wish to climb down as well I am sure I can arrange for you to do so.’
‘I don’t think that will be necessary.’
‘Can I also ask that you do not use your phone as we have our helicopter coming in to check the area, so mobiles have to be turned off.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, really, Mr Kumar. As you may have seen, we have another helicopter circling which belongs to the press. Extraordinary, isn’t it? But some idiot must have tipped them off that we were here. Let’s just hope there isn’t some God-awful accident, but we’ll get the local air traffic control onto them as soon as possible.’