The Murder Suite: Book One - The Audrey Murders by Leonie Mateer

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