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“Yes, sir.”
“What happened to the church? I’m assuming there was one.”
“A church and a chapel. Saint Bartholomew’s was deconsecrated, then demolished.”
“Where are the parish records now?”
“I don’t know. Never had cause to seek them out. I imagine they were moved to Saint Jude’s in Harkside, along with all the coffins from the graveyard.”
“They might be worth a look if you draw a blank elsewhere. You never know what you can find out from old church records and parish magazines. There’s the local newspaper, too. What’s it called?”
“The Harkside Chronicle.”
“Right. Might be worth looking there too if our expert can narrow the range a bit this evening. And, DS Cabbot?”
“Sir?”
“Look, I can’t keep calling you DS Cabbot. What’s your first name?”
She smiled. “A
“Right, A
“I shouldn’t imagine there were many. Most people probably went to Harkside. Maybe there were a few more around when everyone was working in the flax mill. Very altruistic, very concerned about their workers’ welfare, some of these old mill owners.”
“Very concerned they were fit to work a sixteen-hour shift without dropping dead, more like,” said Banks.
A
“I’ve been called worse. Try to find out, anyway. It’s a long shot, but if we can find any dental records matching the remains, we’ll be in luck.”
“I’ll look into it, sir. Anything else?”
“Utilities, tax records. They might all have to be checked.”
“And what should I do next year?”
Banks smiled. “I’m sure you can conscript one of your PCs to help. If we don’t get a break soon, I’ll see what I can do about manpower, though somehow I doubt this is a high-priority case.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“For now, let’s concentrate on the identity of the victim. That’s crucial.”
“Okay.”
“Just a thought, but do you happen to know if there’s anyone who lived in Hobb’s End still alive, maybe living in Harkside now? It doesn’t seem an unreasonable assumption.”
“I’ll ask Inspector Harmond. He grew up around these parts.”
“Good. I’ll leave you to it and see these bones off to Leeds with John.”
“Do you want me to go down there this evening?”
“If you like. Meet me at the lab at six o’clock. Where is it?”
A
“In the meantime,” he said, “here’s my mobile number. Give me a ring if you come up with anything.”
“Right you are, sir.” A
Banks was an odd fish, A
A
A
On first impressions, A
On the other hand, perhaps he really had lost it, and he was simply going through the motions, content to shuffle papers until retirement. Perhaps the fire she sensed in him was simply embers, not fully extinguished yet, just about to cave in on themselves. Well, if A
A
Harkside police station might be ugly on the outside but at least inside it was a sparsely populated open-plan office area – apart from Inspector Harmond’s office, partitioned off at the far end – and there was plenty of room to spread oneself around. A
A
Harkside was generally a law-abiding sort of community, so there wasn’t a lot for a detective sergeant to do. There was plenty of paperwork to keep her occupied, make her feel she’d earned her pay, but it was hardly a high overtime posting, and there were slack periods. That also suited her fine. Sometimes it was good to do nothing. And why should she complain if enough people weren’t getting robbed, killed or beaten up?