River of Darkness

'His body?' The chief inspector sat bolt upright. Madden was frowning.

Tozer looked from one to the other.

'Didn't you know he was dead? I thought…' He broke off and stared at them. 'Cor! You didn't think he was still alive, did you?' And then, as the truth suddenly dawned on him, 'Christ! It's Melling Lodge!'

In the hush that followed his exclamation the squeak of Sergeant Hollingsworth's pen was clearly audible. The two detectives looked at each other. It was Sinclair who spoke: 'What makes you say that, Mr Tozer?'

'Because… because that's what I thought when I read about it first. I mean it reminded me of St Martens. A lot of people murdered in a house. I saw somewhere the lady had her throat cut. But I didn't think… I never thought it was PikeY The chief inspector made a small adjustment in his position. He rested his forearms on the desk.

'You say his body was found. What do you mean, exactly? Did you see it yourself?'

'Oh, no, sir. It didn't happen like that. Did it, sir?'

He appealed to Madden.

'Sometimes there was a lull in the fighting,' Madden explained. 'Both sides would hold off firing and allow the wounded to be collected. Bodies would be picked up at the same time. Otherwise they would lie there.'

'Take Passchendaele now,' Tozer amplified. 'More than forty thousand bodies were never found. I read it in a newspaper. Forty thousand! That was the mud, you see.'

'But Pike's was, you say,' the chief inspector reminded him. 'Why? What makes you so sure?'

'It was reported found. About a week later, when Captain Miller was writing up the case. It was listed among the bodies brought back.'

Madden spoke again: 'If we're right about this, sir, what it means is they found a body with Pike's identity disc tucked into the puttees or fixed to the braces. Also his pay book, I imagine. And, if he wanted to be thorough, his tunic with his rank and his regimental badges on it. That would certainly have been enough to establish his identity. Do you agree, Mr Tozer?'

The other man nodded.

'There's no reason why anyone from his own battalion should have seen it. In any case, they would have been out of the line by the time it was brought back.'

Sinclair chewed his lip. 'Let's be clear in our minds about this. Granted, he could have switched identities with some body he found on the battlefield. But how could he have got back himself?'

'He might have faked a wound,' Madden suggested.

'Not the easiest thing, I imagine.'

Tozer put up his hand. 'I've just remembered, sir. I saw Pike's service record — the captain had it. Just before all this happened he'd been in hospital at Boulogne. Concussion, it was. Now that could have been useful.'

'Useful?'

'It's not an easy thing for the doctors to be sure about. There were those that tried to fake it. Men who had it were sent back for observation. Pike would have known that.'

'Sent back to Boulogne?'

'Or Eetaps. Once he was there he could have slipped out of the hospital. It was a dodge deserters tried.'

Sinclair directed a questioning glance at Madden.

The inspector shrugged.

'It's quite possible, sir. Of course, he would still have had the problem of getting back to England. But it could be done, provided he had the nerve.'

'Oh, he had nerve all right!' Tozer interjected.

'Yes, I want to hear about that.' Sinclair turned back to him. 'Go on with your story.'

Tozer was silent, collecting his thoughts. Then he resumed: 'We waited there at the command post all day and in the evening a report came back that Pike was missing. One of the officers from another company was among the walking wounded and he told the major what the two men had said, that Pike had left the crater without a word and gone forward. Captain Miller put two and two together. He reckoned Pike was his man and that he'd decided to end it on the battlefield rather than face a charge of murder. So we left and went back to Poperinge, and the captain sat down to write his report. While he was doing that we heard about the body being recovered. Captain Miller put it all in his report. He wrote a memorandum to go with the file, saying he believed Pike was the killer and giving his reasons and recommending the case should be marked closed. He was just finishing it when he got a message from the assistant provost marshal — Colonel Strachan — to send the file up to staff headquarters. The brass hats wanted to see it.'

'The General Staff?'

'Someone there had asked for it — we never found out who.' Tozer shrugged. 'Captain Miller sent the file off, and then a week later he was called in by Colonel Strachan. He came back hopping mad. He said they were going to bury the whole thing.'

'His investigation?'

'No, just his findings about Pike. The case was to be closed as far as the Army was concerned and the file sent to the provost marshal. But the captain's memorandum was removed. The Belgian police weren't to be informed of his findings.'

Sinclair sat back in astonishment. 'Could they do that?'

'In the Army} In wartime!' Tozer scoffed. 'You were just told to get on with it.' He touched the scar on his cheek again, running his fingers lightly over the ridged flesh. 'Captain Miller was given the full story later. Someone at headquarters thought he ought to know the truth. I mentioned about Pike being a hero.

Fact was, he'd won the Military Medal in 1916 and then he won it again the following year. Destroyed a German machine-gun post single-handed. So he was due the bar and since Field Marshal Haig was making a tour of the front around that time, handing out medals, they included Pike in one of the ceremonies.

That was just before he got concussed, so it would only have been a month or two before the murders.

There was a nice snap of the two of them taken by an Army photographer.' Tozer's grin took on a cynical twist. 'It appeared in some of the London papers.

"Field Marshal Decorates Hero."'

'And two months later it's "Field Marshal Hobnobs With Mass Murderer."' Sinclair scratched his nose.

'Yes, I can see how that might have concentrated a few minds.'

'There'd already been reports about the killings in the French newspapers. If they got hold of Pike's name from the Belgian police it wouldn't be long before the facts were out. So they made up a story about a gang of deserters being suspected and there being a big hunt under way for them.' Tozer looked scornful.

'Whoever it was talked to the captain said that since Pike was dead justice had been served and the whole business was best forgotten.'

'And how did Miller feel about that?'

'Hopping mad!' Tozer's eyes flashed. 'He said it was a disgrace.'

'Was that the end of it?' Sinclair asked.

'Pretty well. The captain swore an affidavit for the court martial at Poperinge saying Duckham had been of great assistance to him, but it didn't do any good.

They shot him just the same. He didn't forget about Pike. It was always on his mind. Almost the last thing I remember him saying before we got hit by that shell was how he wasn't going to let it rest. He was going to take it up with someone.'

Tozer fell silent. He stared at the floor.

Sinclair coughed. 'It's my impression you served under a fine officer, Mr Tozer.'

'I did that, sir.' The blue eyes lifted.

'And I deeply regret the injury you suffered. I think the force is the poorer for it.'

Tozer made a quick bobbing motion with his head.

The chief inspector got to his feet and Tozer followed suit. They shook hands.

'We may need to get in touch with you again. But in the meantime I'd be grateful if you'd keep this to yourself. We'll get Pike's photograph into the newspapers, but we need to be careful what appears in print.'