Mersey Marina
8 p.m.
April 17th
On the basis of Jack Fulton’s phone call to Mersey Police two constables had been despatched to the marina with armed back up from one special unit. Two armed police went ahead, the two regular constables followed, shining torches and a last armed policeman followed them, covering the rear. They searched the marina and jetties for any signs of life. There was a black shadow movement which made them all tense and relax as a cat jumped off a sleek white yacht. With no collar, rather dirty and thin looking, it had to be one of Liverpool’s million strays. The marina was all in darkness.
Assuming Jack Fulton was right every boat had to be checked. Whilst one constable radioed this conclusion the other one decided to walk the jetties probing the ground with his torch. To his mind if there had been a murder here there might be one small sign. He moved off walking back over the planks his sweeping torch moved ahead of him. In the background his colleague’s radio crackled management unhappiness, he heard an approximate number of boats mentioned and then his torch lit the cat’s green eyes, jolting him again. The cat was near another boat now, two down from the sleek yacht, a scruffy looking ocean going cruiser, a small one. The constable was about to carry on when he saw the cat licking at a small white fragment close to a mooring post.
It would have taken hours to search every boat, but they didn’t have to. The constable had approached the cat, it had moved away, leaving the licked clean fragment. When he picked it up the constable knew at once it was a curved bone fragment, more than likely part of a skull. He called his colleagues.
Within half an hour the Marina manager was on site. They’d established that the watch man was missing and found Wally’s car. Police divers were standing on the jetty by Cobb’s boat and police were standing on Cobb’s boat having searched it and noted the missing bed linen. The sharp eyed constable was feeding the cat some chocolate. Crime scene investigators were on their way and the place was filling up.
The chief constable rang Jack Fulton. Fulton upset as he was asked the name of the constable who had seen the cat licking the bone fragment. PC Jamie Ford he was told and he noted the name down on his desk pad.