Free A Full Churchyard by Nicholas Rhea

of any kind. I’ll need very little information to start with – names, ages, addresses, next-of-kin, date of death, cause of death and date of funeral. Oh, and whether they were buried or cremated here or elsewhere. Most importantly I want to know which deaths were reported to the coroner.’
    â€˜You need to establish whether or not the police were involved at any stage and which deaths attracted a post mortem or an inquest. That information can be obtained from our files, Wayne. We would have investigated all suspicious deaths. You know that.’
    â€˜Yes but we haven’t investigated those where there was no official suspicion. That’s the point I’m making. I told Miss Colman that the Home Office is having an audit on all sudden deaths that have been reported to the police. I said I needed to find out how long we took to investigate each case, that’s a good way of highlighting the depth of our enquiries. I added I was anxious to check our figures against those officially listed here. Every death in town is recorded here, suspicious or otherwise. It’s a useful back-up to our own system and important if some deaths occurred in peculiar circumstances but were not reported to the police or coroner.’
    â€˜You could stir up nasty rumours so be very careful, Wayne. Have you found anything yet?’
    â€˜I haven’t checked the statistics that show the average number of deaths in Crickledale in any year or even any month – that’s for later but what has already emerged is that there have been more deaths in Crickledale during the last nine months than in the same period last year.’
    â€˜It could be due to the mild winter, Wayne. As I’ve already reminded you, it’s well known that a green winter heralds a full churchyard.’
    â€˜With due respect to you, sir, I don’t place much reliability on folklore theories but I do believe the number of recorded deaths gives cause for concern.’
    â€˜But suspicious deaths reported to the police haven’t increased, have they Wayne?’
    â€˜No they haven’t. That’s exactly the point I’m making. I need a print-out of this information so we can compare it with our files. I’m increasingly convinced we should examine the backgrounds of all recent Crickledale deaths.’
    â€˜You’re echoing my own worries and concerns, Wayne. Suppose, for a start, we examine reports of deaths in Crickledale over just one year? Last year in fact. Would that provide an accurate picture?’
    â€˜It’s a good starting point but we’d need more information and it’s doubtful whether a single year would produce an accurate picture. You’ve already indicated your own suspicions based on recent deaths. So shall I continue here and bring the result to your office? Or do we let sleeping dogs lie?’
    â€˜We do not let sleeping dogs lie, Wayne, we are dedicated police officers determined to find the truth. All right, go back ten years and in the meantime I’ll return to my office to begin research into our own files.’
    â€˜Do you know something you’re not telling me, sir?’
    â€˜I don’t want to plant ideas in your head, Wayne, or influence your research. What we need are facts, not theories.’
    â€˜Shall I speak to the town’s undertakers? They enter houses in the course of their work and may have noticed some inconsistencies, like the one who thought Miss Croucher’s death was odd in some way.’
    â€˜You were going to talk to him, weren’t you? You’ve not followed up that line of enquiry, have you?’
    â€˜No, but I haven’t forgotten. It would be useful if other undertakers expressed their opinion before I quiz him.’
    â€˜By all means speak to them, Wayne, but make it an informal chat rather than an official enquiry. We need to keep the lid on all this at the moment. Remember if someone is killing