The body's long gone, and will currently be under the knives of Baird and Balingol, this year's pathologists. Butchery with a sharp knife and a smile. I didn't see it, of course. Only got here this morning. Herrod said it was horrific; a bloody mess. Shredded. Glad I missed it. Dead bodies give me too many flashbacks, and I have a hard enough time keeping all those buried memories in their place.
Crawled in, massively hung over, just after eight this morning, to find the place had gone berserk. A major murder three days before Christmas. All hands on deck, with Bloonsbury in charge of the sinking ship. Very brave. He's back at the station now, co-ordinating all the crap that has to go on. Taylor's been roped in as well, not too happy about having to answer to the call of drunken Jonah, but that's the police for you.
They didn't do much last night, but the shit's flying this morning. House to house all the way up this street, and back out along the main road. They'll branch out soon, see what they can get from the surrounding streets.
At the moment they're estimating the time of death between ten and eleven-thirty. Most of this lot were in their beds by then, or watching TV. The drudgery of normal life. The body was found by some bloke about to take the dog for a walk. Didn't recognise her, such was the disfigurement of her face, but we've since learned that he knows her. We'll ask the right questions. You never know what these idiots will do, but instinct says it wasn't him. The guy's in shock. He'll probably need therapy — it's the modern way. If he can find someone to sue, he'll do that as well. These days you can't solve anything in life without employing a psychotherapist and a solicitor and a life coach. The supermarkets'll be offering those services soon, wait and see.
Herrod's up the other end of the street, house to house. In a better frame of mind this morning. He enjoys murder. Thinks it justifies his existence. Sometimes you'd think he'd commit murder, just to give us all something to investigate.
Bathurst is out there somewhere too. Saw her briefly this morning and she was decent enough not to give me a 'made a dick of yourself last night, didn't you?' smile. Very professional, although she just looked miserable. Regrets turning me down, I expect.
PC Edwards approaches, closed notebook in hand, looking like a man who stripped naked in front of his peers last night, and is regretting every minute of it. He was another one to make an attempt at Bathurst, I believe, and was no more successful than I.
'Didn't get much sleep, eh, Constable?'
He shakes his head. Daft bastard.
'Nice y-fronts, by the way. Think you'll ever get them back?'
He shifts uncomfortably. Itching to tell me where to go, I suspect. Can't, of course. He goes for the quick change of subject, which is all he can do.
'There's a woman over here you might like to speak to, sir. Knew the deceased.'
Fair enough. Can't spend too much time laughing at prepubescent constables when there's murder to be investigated. I nod my head and follow him to a terraced house, not far from the close where the body was discovered. Perhaps the street won't be such a barren desert of non-information after all. Don't feel up to interrogation, and hope that the woman wasn't a close friend of the victim who'll spend the interview blubbing. That's how it is nowadays. Everybody cries. We have the blessed Diana to thank for making it respectable. Or, at least, those who murdered her.
Walk into the front room. Ground floor house, where the sun never shines. Maybe in late afternoon. A drab little room, a few desultory Christmas decorations, and a drab young woman sitting in the middle of it, looking as if she's upset because she's run out of Frosties. A cup of tea held between the hands, TV on with the sound off.
I sit down opposite her and she notices me for the first time. Constable Edwards stands by the door. Hope I don't look as bad as he does.
'Detective Sergeant Hutton,' I say.
She nods, drinks a noisy sip from her tea, looks at the silent television.
'Mrs Eileen Sprott,' volunteers Edwards from the door.
Hold my hand up to him. Constables should be seen and not heard. See him nod and retreat further behind that rough exterior. Other things to think about, such as how to explain to his fiancee all those photographs of him naked which'll probably start turning up in the post. We polis are an unforgiving lot.
Mind on the job.
'I understand you knew Miss Keller.'
Wonder who's been dispatched to inform the parents. Hope it's not Bloonsbury himself. Feel sorry for them. Jonah breathing all over them, telling them their daughter's face has been shredded.
She looks at me, another noisy slurp.
'Well, aye. Not that well, but. Used to get the same bus from town sometimes.'
'And when was the last time?'
'Last night, you know. She seemed happy enough. Well you know, not great, but then, why should any cunt be that happy? It's a shit life, in't it? Now she's dead. Can't believe it, so I can't.'
'Where d'you get the bus from?'
'Buchanan Street. I work in a jewellers in the arcade, and she works in Frasers, something like that. Part time, I think. Saw her about town sometimes, but we weren't that friendly. You know.'
That's good. The automatic distancing. Doesn't want to associate too closely with the victim. A little bit of dishonesty never did anyone any harm, and it means she's less likely to go to pieces on me.
'And did you go out much in the evenings or weekends?'
'Do I go out much? What do you think I am? Some sad bastard with no mates?'
'No, not you. Did you go out with Miss Keller?'
'Oh.' Dozy bitch. Pay attention. 'Naw, naw, not much. Every now and again, you know, but not often.'
'When was the last time?'
'A couple of weekends ago. I can't remember.'
Nod the head, look serious. Pretend to think.
'Did she say anything on the bus yesterday about what she was going to do last night?'
She looks at me, nodding. Face like a kid who wants to tell the teacher who it was who threw the piece of chalk.
'Aye, that's the thing. She says she was going to the pictures, you know, that wee one along the road. The one that shows all that foreign shite. I was having a right go at her, so I was.'
'Did she say with whom was she going?'
I always end up throwing whom into a sentence when I'm speaking to one of these people.
'Aye. Some bloke.'
'Any idea who it might have been?'
She shrugs. Difficult to know if she's telling us everything.
'Not sure really, you know. Some guy she's seen a few times. Think he's from around here somewhere, you know Cam'slang, but I'm not sure.'
'Had you ever seen him?'
Big shake of the head. Drawing back before she gets too close.
'Naw, naw. I was always joking with her about getting a look at the guy, you know, but I hadn't seen him. Says he was good looking, but you never know, do you? I used to think my Malky was good looking, but look at the bastard now.'
I look around to see if there's a photo of Malky. She slurps her tea, then her eyes light up and she looks at the TV. Follow her gaze. It's some sad looking guy I've never seen before, and you can tell she's itching to turn the sound up. Time to leave her to it.
'Well, thanks very much, Mrs Sprott. We'll need you to come to the station later to make a statement.'
'Why? What have I done?'
'You haven't done anything. It's just procedure.' I love that innate trust of the polis. Course, she's right.
'Oh.' Looks back at the TV. Time to go.
I nod at Edwards, he opens the door and out we go, back into the cold of early morning. As we close the door behind us the TV is turned back up, and Mrs Sprott goes about the business of forgetting everything she knows about Ann Keller.
We stand outside the house and take a look up the street. At least twenty officers milling around doing the thing. Most of them will come up empty, but every now and again you get something like I just did. Put it all together, and you never know. There's a long way to go, and most of it'll be pretty boring. I start to trudge off, head down, wishing for once that I had a cup of tea, rather than a vodka and tonic.