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DEAD LIKENESS

Prologue

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   It was one of those stunning sunny mornings that seemed to have become a thing of the past. The sky was as blue as blue can be. Feathery clouds drifted lazily around while taking care not to obstruct the sun for more than a few seconds. The gentle breeze was barely enough to cool anyone foolish enough to walk briskly. Grace Hepple tried with little success to persuade her excitable niece to take in the surroundings rather than rushing everywhere. She was cross that the alarm on her phone had stubbornly refused to chime at a later time than on a normal workday. She could have sworn she had instructed it carefully the previous evening. It seemed not carefully enough! Even so, by the time she was dressed and downstairs, her niece was already in the kitchen and ready to go. Grace did her best to delay their departure by eating her breakfast, but they were still on the road long before she had expected. It turned out well as they arrived early and avoided the crowds and consequent queues. It was a good time to be visiting Chester’s much-acclaimed zoo. 

Grace wished she could spend more time with Charlotte, but her occupation had become more of a way of life than a job. At last, she managed to set this day aside in the school holidays just as Charlotte’s father was visiting Chester for a meeting. Given the choice of what to do, Charlotte decided on the zoo. She was obsessed with animals and had been entranced by the series of television programmes featuring the animals and their keepers at Chester. So here they were. Grace had wanted to visit the zoo for some time and was more than happy to indulge her niece. It was a precious gem in Chester’s bejewelled crown. It claimed to be the most visited zoo in the country and had an international reputation for its conservation work. 

   Grace was astonished by the technical knowledge her eight-year-old niece displayed. Charlotte had already loaded a map of the zoo on her phone. Grace had read about the new African Savannah project, which sounded extraordinary, but it was Charlotte’s day, so she took control.

‘I want to see the orangutans first. This way,’ said an excited Charlotte, consulting her phone and pointing as soon as they got through the entrance. Grace duly followed a skipping Charlotte.

A noisy commotion up ahead caught Grace’s attention.

‘It’s the orangutans,’ shouted Charlotte. ‘Look, there’s a crowd already watching them.’

She rushed ahead. Puffing a little, Grace caught her up. It soon became obvious that the excitement was of an entirely different kind. People were standing around in a ring. A few were bending down. Some were shouting. One woman was in tears. A couple were tapping their phones. Two seemed almost at fisticuffs.

   Grace was torn between her professional duty and care for her niece. She grabbed Charlotte by the hand and spoke in her best authoritative voice.

   ‘What’s the problem?’ she demanded. The ring of people opened up a gap with two on either side pointing down at the ground. A man was lying on his front, with his head twisted to the side. His face was covered in blood, and he wore a terrifying grimace. His unblinking eyes stared into space. One leg was entangled in a set of abnormally tall folding ladders and bent at an angle that Grace thought should not be possible. It seemed as if there had been a nasty accident.

   ‘I haven’t got my phone, and I keep trying to get people to call an ambulance,’ said a clearly distressed woman.

   ‘We need the police,’ said another, ‘You don’t just fall off a ladder like that. I know the orangutans are exciting, but I think he’s been pushed.’

   ‘I’m a police officer,’ said Grace, pulling out her ID and sweeping it around in a vague circle for the surrounding crowd to see. As if by magic, it did the trick. The crowd suddenly stopped shouting and went quiet. ‘Please, will everyone stand back a little?’ She looked around and saw a calm, smiling chap who instinctively seemed to know what she wanted and squatted to take Charlotte’s hand and talk to her calmly. He slowly moved her away from the crowd so she could see the animals. Satisfied that Charlotte was happy, Grace knelt beside the prone man, swept his hair back and felt his forehead with one hand. With the other, she held the wrist of his outstretched left hand, which had fingers in a claw-like attempt to grasp at the ground in front. She instinctively searched for a pulse. She could not find one.

   ‘I’m afraid that he has probably passed away,’ she said, looking up at her audience. ‘I’m not a qualified pathologist, but from what I can feel, I fear he may have been dead for some time.’ Grace turned to another man in the crowd. ‘Would you please help me to turn him over? We need to do it slowly and gently.’ The fellow helpfully stepped forward and freed the fallen man’s right leg from the ladder. Now, Grace and her helper had the poor fellow lying on his back. Grace started to apply CPR as firmly as she could. Gradually, the crowd stood back, but the man who had helped her remained kneeling beside her. After a long stint, she stood up and stretched her back.

   ‘I can do CPR,’ said her helper. ‘I teach first aid to the scouts at Christleton. Let me take over for a while.’

   Grace stood back and started making calls. She rang the 999 service, followed by a call to her colleague, Detective Inspector Martin Henshaw. 

   ‘Martin, I need an incident tent and at least three constables. I’m just outside the orangutan enclosure at the zoo.’

   ‘OK,’ said Martin. ‘I’ll get over myself as soon as I can. It’s chaos here. Drake has had a bad time with the flu. He got up in the night and didn’t turn a light on. He got dizzy and fell down his stairs in the dark and injured his back. He’s been taken to The Countess of Chester Hospital.’

   ‘Oh no!’ said Grace, turning away from the crowd. ‘I suppose you’re in charge then.’

   ‘I suppose I am,’ said Martin. 

   ‘The thing is, I think this man is dead and has been for some hours. He appears to have fallen off a ladder. I’ve just got that uncanny feeling that we shouldn’t rule out foul play. There’s no obvious place where he could have used the ladder. It just feels wrong. I wish Drake could be here.’

   ‘Well, he can’t,’ replied Martin. Grace worried that she had unintentionally upset him, but Martin continued. ‘He may be out of action for a while. I’ll call and see if our pathologist can get there quickly.’