The Body in the River by Austin Mitchell - HTML preview

The Body in the River

by

Austin Mitchell

Fuzzy pushed Carlene’s body into the Keswick Mountain river. He had hit her in the back of the head with a hammer. He then dragged her body across the road. It was a pity that the river wasn’t flooded. In such a case it might be days before they found her. He had thought of burying her body, but couldn’t find any tools with which to dig a hole. This was a lonely place, but he didn’t expect that her body would stay long without being found. He had taken cash and other valuables such as chains and rings from the house. He had made sure to wear gloves as he didn’t want to leave any finger prints.

***

Denzil Barned drove up to Carlene Royal’s house in the Keswick Mountains that night at around nine o’clock. He wanted to talk and probably have a few drinks with her. They had a two year old relationship going, but he didn’t plan to spend the night. He had always warned her about being alone in such a lonely place. She was a teacher at a school three miles away. She always took a taxi to and from school.

Her nearest neighbors were half a mile away. She had always said that her dogs would protect her. Lights were on in her bedroom, which meant that she hadn’t gone to bed as yet. He got out of the car and went to knock on the gate and instantly the dogs were at the gate. He kept on knocking, but there was no answer. The dogs were used to him and they let him pass and go into the house.

All the doors were opened as was the front grill, he noticed. He turned on the lights in the living room. He went to her bedroom door and knocked. It was open and he went inside. Everything seemed to be in order and her bed was still made up. He wondered where she was? She wouldn’t have gone out and left the doors and grills open. He went into the kitchen and turned on the lights. There were red spots on the floor. Blood! He knelt down on the floor. The spots led out of the house. He went and took his flashlight out of the car. He went out of the kitchen. He followed the spots down the road and there was Carlene’s body in the river! He knew that the river wasn’t powerful enough to carry her body downstream. But who could have done this to her he wondered?

***

Detective Sergeant Peter Brown looked at Denzil.

“You know what I think, Barned. You hit that girl in the back of her head because she refused your advances.”

“You dragged her body down to the river and then you panicked and called us. I supposed if it wasn’t the dry season by the time we found her body, it would be just skeleton and bones.”

“I didn’t kill her. I told you that she was my girlfriend. I came to look for her and found her dead.”

“I’ve no choice but to hold you for questioning. When we get to the station you can call your lawyer or whoever, but you have the right to one phone call.”

“What did you use to hit her in the back of her head, a hammer or a big stone?”

“I’ve already told you that I didn’t do her anything.”

Scores of persons had descended on the scene, including Carlene’s relatives.

“You are going to make people believe that I killed her.”

“I’m not arresting you, Barned, just holding you for questioning. If we find the evidence we’ll arrest you for murder.”

***

Denzil got in touch with his lawyer but the man couldn’t make it to the station that night. In the lockup he had time to reflect. Miss Darla, Carlene’s foster mother, had returned to England after her husband’s death fifteen months ago. Carlene had made Fuzzy, the caretaker, redundant as she said there wasn’t enough work for him. That was six months ago.

The next morning his lawyer, mother and father and his other relatives came to the police station to seek his release. Realizing that he didn’t have the evidence to charge him, Brown released him but promised to have him in cuffs before the week was out.

***

“You said that the murdered young woman was your girlfriend. What kind of relationship did you have?” John Taylor, his lawyer, asked.

“Intimate, we never had any major quarrels.”

“I heard that her dogs would never allow anybody near her unless it was a person they knew,” Taylor commented.

“Her family members usually visited her. Apart from them, I can’t think of anybody else.”

He thought of Fuzzy, but dismissed the idea. He had gone back home to St. Mary, a parish in the northeast section of the island.

“Brown wants to charge you. He’s a very ambitious young man. He doesn’t want any unsolved murders in his area. That might hurt his prospects for promotion. He thinks that you are a likely candidate for a murder charge.”

“He’s going to try and pin it on you. I want you to tell me all that you know. Start with going to the house that night.”

He gave the lawyer a description of what took place when he went to visit Carlene.

The autopsy was held two weeks later. It was revealed that she died from a blow to the back of the head from a blunt instrument. It was also revealed that she had not been molested. It took another two weeks for her body to be released to the family. The set-up was planned for the next Friday night and the funeral the next day.

Both at the set-up and the funeral, Denzil noticed that family members were avoiding him.

Miss Darla came from England. She told him that she didn’t believe he had anything to do with the murder. Fuzzy brought several friends from St. Mary and he was drunk the whole time.       

By Wednesday everything returned to normal as Miss Darla returned home. Fuzzy had remained to help her pack some things she was taking back with her. Carlene’s parents came for her belongings. Miss Darla appointed Carlene’s father the new caretaker.

Denzil was at work one day when he got a call. Sergeant Brown was on the line. Denzil was a salesman for a drinks manufacturing company in Kingston.

“Barned, you’re holding up our investigations. Why don’t you tell us where the murder weapon is? How come it was only yours and the dead woman’s fingerprints we found in the house?”

“I’m not talking to you again without my lawyer. I’m tired of telling you that I didn’t kill her.”

Brown didn’t reply. Apparently he had hung up in frustration. The lawyer had said that the case was stalled. The police didn’t have any eyewitnesses and they couldn’t find the murder weapon. Barring a confession from him, Carlene’s murder might remain unsolved for years.

He was passing the house one night, a month later, when he noticed lights in the house. He stopped the car and came out. As he reached the gate and called out the lights went out. The dogs rushed out barking, but they stopped when they saw him.

“Who’s there?” he called out. He pulled the gate and entered the yard. He was surprised that it wasn’t padlocked. He was going around to the back of the house when he heard running footsteps. He ran after the person up the hill, but the man jumped down a gully and disappeared into the darkness.

The policemen at the station gave him some blank stares. Did he recognize who it was? He had more luck with Carlene’s relatives. Several youths from the area agreed to stake out the house. Two weeks later they reported that the intruder was Fuzzy! They hadn’t managed to catch him.

Sergeant Brown was exasperated.

“Fuzzy, from St. Mary, there must be hundreds of Fuzzys living in that parish. How come nobody knows where this man lives.”

But they did find him a couple of weeks later. He denied killing Carlene. He said that he was only stealing things from the house because he was in need of money. When asked where he was on the night she was murdered, he said he was at home. However, his woman failed to corroborate his story. His house was searched and two chains and two rings were found.

When Denzil was called to the police station he thought it a waste of time because as far as he was concerned Fuzzy was guilty. He was able to identify a chain and a ring having both his and Carlene’s initials on them. Fuzzy said he had found them on his last visit to the house, but her family members said that all her belongings had been taken away after the funeral. He changed his story and said he stole them from her before she died. He also told the police that

was why she had fired him. Denzil told the police that he had seen her wearing the jewelry after she fired Fuzzy. This was corroborated by her father.

Fuzzy still denied that he had killed Carlene. He now fingered Denzil as her killer much to Sergeant Brown’s satisfaction.

According to Fuzzy late afternoon on the day she was murdered he had gone to the house to look for her. He fixed up some things she wanted fixing up. After he finished she sent him to the shop to buy some groceries. On his way back he heard her crying out for murder. He was just in time to see Denzil dumping her body in the river bed. The man pulled a gun on him and threatened him. He was now fearful for his life. He said he had seen him pick up some object resembling a hammer and throw it into some thick bushes. A search of those bushes revealed the murder weapon! However, the police were again stumped as it was some old fingerprints which were found on the hammer.

Brown was of a mind to arrest Denzil but realized that Fuzzy’s evidence wasn’t enough. Taylor dared him to arrest his client. He told him that he had even more damning evidence.

This was the statement of Novelette Hemmings, commonlaw wife of Rupert (Fuzzy) Whyte.

‘At about 2.00am on November 21, 1985, I was in my bed fast asleep when he (Rupert Whyte) returned home, waking me up. I noticed that he had a large bag with him. I asked him where he was coming from but he did not reply. Later that night when I knew he was fast asleep I went and opened the bag and was shocked. There were three rings and three chains plus a pair of driving gloves and some expemsive silverware. I went and examined his wallet and found over two hundred and fifty dollars inside.’

She denied knowing the dead woman, Carlene Royal.

Faced with this evidence Brown was forced to arrest Fuzzy. At his trial Novelette testified against him. The shopkeeper denied that he had bought any groceries at his shop that day. The police were able to hold one of the men who had bought some of the silverware from Fuzzy. A tearful Miss Darla came and told the court that she had given Carlene the silverware when she was leaving Jamaica. Although Fuzzy still maintained his innocence the jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The End.