Read Blackwater (DI Nick Lowry) for Free Online Page A

would have to be pretty extreme to induce anyone to take this kind of kamikaze path.
    He didn’t have long to assess the situation – he needed to be at the mortuary in half an hour to discuss the headless corpse with Robinson, the pathologist – so a quick perusal would have to do. He didn’t fancy trying to run it himself.
    ‘Inspector!’ a WPC called up to him. ‘Inspector Lowry, I have the groundsman here. Wanting to know if he can go.’
    ‘Right.’ He hopped down. A man of about sixty in a park keeper’s uniform shrugged apologetically at Lowry. ‘Sorry, guv. I have to sort out the park before opening the gates.’
    ‘Sure. Thanks for letting us in,’ smiled Lowry. ‘Tell me, do you often get intruders in the park?’
    ‘Occasionally, in the summer. We sometimes find beer cans and the like. It’s probably teenagers.’
    ‘If you were to come from the pub, the Golden Lion, how would you get in?’
    ‘Over the west wall.’
    ‘And is it difficult to get over?’
    ‘Not really. I could manage myself if I ’ad to, so no problem for a pair of soldiers.’ He scratched the back of his head, pushing his grey cap forward. ‘Tragic, what happened.’ The WPC had filled him in on the soldier’s death.
    Lowry nodded in agreement but said nothing.
    The man continued, ‘Do you want me to show yer the wall?’
    ‘No, thanks, the constable here will manage.’ The groundsman nodded and hurried away towards the castle.
    ‘He didn’t want to hang around,’ Lowry said to the WPC, who’d been on duty the night the soldier fell and at the scene shortly after.
    ‘No,’ she agreed, moving off briskly towards the lower park. ‘I’ll show you where I found them.’
    ‘Whoa, there!’ Lowry said hastily, almost grabbing the sleeve of her uniform. He wanted to run the show here. ‘Let’s start from the west wall, or thereabouts, and follow the route they would have taken.’
    They walked to the north-east corner of the castle. The east wall below them was within view, beyond a row of poplars. The distance the lads would have covered was, he reckoned, a good five hundred yards – all downhill.
    ‘Is the death suspicious, sir?’
    ‘Call me Lowry, please.’ The ivy-clad wall was about chest height, easy enough to vault. He turned to his colleague. ‘It’s sensitive. The military connection makes it sensitive.’
    She stood a little way away, underneath the poplars.
    ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Let’s follow their trajectory. Lead on.’
    Lowry almost lost his footing on the slope; the ground was frozen solid. The frosted grass slipped like silk against the soles of his leather shoes. The tall WPC was ahead of him, looking rather ungainly as she tried to keep her balance.
    ‘Jesus,’ he said under his breath. ‘Tell me the sequence of events again. You arrived on the scene at what – just after nine p.m.?’
    ‘Yes.’ She didn’t slow down or turn to address him, forcing him to try to keep up. ‘My unit was on patrol, and a passerby had found Private Jones clinging at the gate on Ryegate Road, yelling for help from inside the park. The other one – I forget his name – we couldn’t see him from the road. It’s dark in here at night.’
    ‘Was Jones intoxicated?’
    ‘Drunk? I don’t think so – I didn’t really ask if he’d been drinking, to be honest. He was in a lot of pain and was whisked off as soon as the ambulance arrived.’
    ‘Of course. The gate on Ryegate Road was locked?’
    ‘Yes. I climbed over. WPC Walker remained in the car.’
    ‘And what was your immediate response on arriving on the scene?’
    The WPC paused. She looked at the frosted grass. ‘It was very dark. The path was unlit. I found the other soldier at the bottom of the wall about two hundred yards down the path. He was seriously hurt. Unconscious.’
    She and Lowry meandered cautiously across the park until they reached the perimeter, where they followed the Roman wall to their left. The ground had levelled out