Free The Silent Dead (Paula Maguire 3) by Claire McGowan Page A

pregnant belly and chunky-knit jumper she was a walking stereotype. ‘Mr Finney—’
    ‘Doctor,’ he interrupted. ‘I’m a forensic geologist.’
    She lowered her hand. ‘Well, I’m Dr Maguire. Psychology.’
    Rocks , she was thinking, just as he was probably thinking mad theories about her.
    Corry said, ‘Dr Finney here is an expert at locating burial sites. He helped us find Brady’s body so quickly.’
    ‘Don’t the cadaver dogs do that?’
    The man took off his hood and goggles to reveal a wide, weather-beaten face and flattened sandy hair. His eyes were a startling shade; almost violet in the afternoon light. ‘Aye, the dogs do a good job. They just bring me in for the plod work.’
    ‘I actually don’t remember sending for you, Dr Maguire,’ said Corry pointedly. ‘In fact, are you not meant to be on lighter duties? I thought I asked you to visit the relatives’ group.’
    ‘DI Brooking sent for me,’ she lied. ‘There’s a meeting this evening which I’m going to. I’m just trying to understand the ritual of all this. That’s two now, one hanged, one decapitated, you said? Is there a note with this one?’
    ‘We haven’t found the head yet, so if it’s in the mouth we can’t be sure.’
    ‘Is there anything useful?’ She was going to have to justify her presence there, in a soggy field, her bump heavier than a small suitcase.
    Finney finally seemed to relent. ‘This one wasn’t killed here.’
    ‘How can you tell?’ Paula raised her eyebrows. A change in MO.
    ‘No blood in the soil,’ said Finney. ‘His head was removed somewhere else. So if you can work out where—’
    It could be the lead they needed. ‘And can we?’
    ‘Well, that’s where I come in. I analysed the provenance of soil from the previous crime scene, including some we got off Doyle’s shoes. It showed a type of mineral which is quite rare in this area, and certainly doesn’t belong in a forest or a field of boggy soil.’ He slammed a boot on the ground below them, rich and oozy. ‘I need to check with a few local experts, but the good news is this will narrow the kill site down to a few locations nearby. We also found some footprints this time, which were difficult to recover in the previous woodland setting. I think there’s clay mixed in with them.’ He indicated what looked like a toolkit by his large feet. ‘When we find a suspect, samples will show us if they walked in the same clay.’
    Corry was looking like a cat who’d found a very interesting mouse to play with. ‘Good, isn’t he? All that from soil.’
    Paula tried to regain control. ‘The footprints – do we have a gait analyst on the force, or a forensic podiatrist? We used to have one when I was in London. Often they can tell you lots, like if it’s a man or a woman who left the imprints, or how old they were, all kinds of things.’
    ‘London,’ repeated Lorcan Finney, fixing her with his odd eyes. ‘I hear they have all manner of things over there. Have you heard that, DCI Corry?’
    Corry laughed. Paula scowled – so much for solidarity. Corry said, ‘I’ll put in a request to the forensic service. The site will be combed down, and there’s a huge amount of debris about, so it’ll take a few days. But if we can find this other site like you said, Dr Finney, there’s a chance we can recover Flaherty, Lynch, and Ni Chonnaill alive.’
    Finding and saving vicious murderers. No one wanted to say it, but cases like this sometimes made you question what your job was actually for. And who.
    ‘’Scuse us, boss.’ A uniformed officer approached, clearing a space. Paula lumbered back, as past them came two white-suited techs carrying a stretcher. It wasn’t possible to get the ambulance any closer on the muddy ground.
    ‘Oh, they’ve found it,’ said Corry, sounding pleased. The stretcher came closer. On it sat the head of Callum Brady, the hair brown with soil, the eyes clogged with it, the teeth bared in the final agony of