Murder Club by Mark Pearson

from the church.’
    Kate shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Not my area. Ask Jack, if you see him. Used to be a choirboy, you know.’
    Sally laughed. ‘Now that I do find hard to believe.’
    Danny gestured at the trench again. ‘You think it’s an old bone?’
    Kate nodded with a wry smile. ‘Why don’t I find out,’ she said, as she snapped on a pair of latex gloves. She swung her evidence kit over her shoulder and used the short, three-step ladder that had been put up to climb into the trench.
    The workman watched disinterestedly as she made her way along the frozen mud of the trench towards them to where they had stopped digging. Both men were in their forties with wide shoulders and short grey hair. They were dressed in black trousers with silvered reflective cloth around the lower part of them, and thick donkey-jackets. They looked like brothers.
    ‘You stopped as soon as you discovered it?’ she asked them.
    The taller of the two stepped forward. ‘Well, it’s a cemetery, isn’t it?’ he said belligerently, as if Kate had made some kind of accusation. He was Irish but his accent had none of the charm or, sometimes, softness of Jack Delaney’s.
    Kate looked around. ‘Not this part of the grounds it isn’t.’
    The man shrugged. ‘Anyway. Standard procedure.’
    ‘You dig up a lot of bones?’
    ‘It happens. Usually animal.’
    The other man stepped forward, his accent the same. ‘We’re told to stop with the dig, you see, if bones come up.’
    ‘Good job too. Let’s see what you’ve found, then.’
    Kate bent down and, using a fine-haired brush, swept a light falling of snow away from the exposed bone. It was about three inches long, seemingly brown with age, and pitted. The earth around it was hard with the cold and she brought out a stiffer-haired brush and slowly started to clear the soil.
    ‘How long do you think it’s been there?’ asked Sally Cartwright.
    ‘It’s not recent,’ Kate replied. ‘I can tell you that much. Could be years, could be decades. Could of course have been moved and planted here at any time.’
    ‘Why?’
    Kate looked up at her. ‘I have absolutely no idea, Sally. You should know as well as I do that people do things for all kinds of reasons.’
    ‘True.’
    ‘Let’s see what we’ve got first.’
    ‘Is it human bone?’
    ‘Not sure yet.’
    Kate brushed some more of the mud away and then gestured to Sally: ‘There’s a camera in my bag, get down and get some shots.’
    Sally fished Kate’s camera from the bag, a Canon she had bought herself as an early Christmas present. It took very high-quality stills and extremely good, high-definition video footage. Kate wanted to capture their first Christmas together, and figured it was worth the expense. Sally climbed down into the trench with Kate and handed it over to her.
    ‘What have you found?’ she asked.
    Kate pointed at the piece of bone that was more visible now through the earth. ‘Hang on, I’ll set it up for you.’ She took the camera from the young detective constable, took the lens cap off and altered some dials. ‘Okay, focus here,’ she said, showing Sally the various dials. ‘Just hold the shutter halfway and it will do it automatically, then push it in for the shot.’
    ‘Okay.’
    ‘And push this button here for video and, as you’re filming, take some shots in the normal way and it will record both.’
    ‘All right, Kate. I got it. What have you seen, then?’
    ‘Looks like metal here.’ Kate knelt down again and brushed some more dirt away while Sally filmed. ‘Not quite sure what yet.’
    After a few moments a small sliver of rounded metal became visible. ‘Take some photos here,’ she said.
    Sally crouched down and fired off a number of shots.
    ‘Okay, Sally. That will do for now,’ said Kate. They both stood up and Kate took back the camera. ‘I think my work here is done,’ she said, putting the lens cap back on.
    Sally Cartwright looked down at the sliver of metal on the