Chapter Fifty-Eight

Ten detectives and Sophia filed in to Diane Tipring’s living room. Theo watched the host take deliberate steps back and forth across the room, the search warrant shaking in her hand. She wasn’t impressed by the commotion in her house and the many patrol cars in her driveway, and she told them so.

“What is this about?” she asked again. “You can’t be serious about Maddock. I’ve received quite a few phone calls over the last few days. I don’t know what you hope to find here.”

“It’s true, we may not find anything on this property. But we have to check,” said Theo. He took a deep breath. There would be no easy way to explain. “We have found evidence that your brother had committed murder, perhaps multiple murders.”

Diane sat down on the sofa.

“He may have buried the bodies here, on the property somewhere,” continued Sophia.

“Bodies? How many people is he accused of killing?”

“We don’t know for sure but it could be over thirty,” said Theo.

“Why does it matter now?” She sighed. “He’s dead. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

“There are families out there that need closure. Their daughters have been missing for years. Years. We are going to search the bodies of water and anywhere he could have buried the bodies on your property.”

“Well, I can’t see him burying anyone on this property. When would he have done it? I haven’t seen him in this house in many years. In fact, we had the small pond drained about fifteen years ago because we had some livestock fall in and get stuck. We did not find any bodies in the pond, officers.”

“What about the pool?”

“That’s man-made and only three feet deep. If he did throw thirty plus bodies into it, we would have noticed. The fish would have nowhere to swim.” She looked smug. In two minutes, she had reduced two of their choices.

“Do you like irises?” Sophia asked as she stepped forward.

“What?” Diane turned to her. “No.”

“Well, someone liked irises.” Sophia pointed to a small painting of a vase with yellow irises.

“My mother liked them, but she is dead now.”

“Did she ever have them in the house?”

“Of course.”

“Where did she get them? Did she buy them or did they grow naturally nearby?”

“Well, they grow along the river.”

“Does that river run through your property?” asked Theo.

“Just outside, they grow wild. But they are not blooming now. When they bloom, the yellow stretches on for miles.”

“We should search there,” suggested Sophia. “The poem mentioned irises.”

“You believe he would bury the bodies by the river? Not on his own property?” asked Dorland.

“Do many walk near the river?”

“It’s not really accessible to the public.” Then she perked up. “However, I know the neighbors often walk their dogs along the river. I’m sure the dogs would have picked up something if there was something to find.”

Theo knew this to be true, especially if a body had been recently buried. However, the bodies were not and perhaps they were deep underground. It didn’t matter though. It was enough to crush the spirits of the officers in the room. Even Sophia bit her nails—she knew it too.

“We should do a quick search anyway,” Sophia whispered to him.

“Of course. I just hope we find something soon we can’t use the man power for long. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

A large crowd of officers and a few MI5 agents gathered by the river which ran alongside the property line. Theo gave directions, one team of officers would head left and another right. The last team would cross the bridge farther down and make their way along the other side. All teams had dogs and metal detectors, but the search would be slow and arduous. Theo walked along the river, hoping to find bones or anything that the river might have eroded away. Sophia walked along the property line making marks on the map as she went along. She didn’t seem interested in the river at all.

After a quarter mile, she stopped and called out to Theo, “I’m heading the other way now.”

“Why?”

“This is the end of the Tipring property line. So I’m going back to search the other direction.”

“I thought you believed the bodies were buried in water. Why aren’t you looking in the river?”

“You have to understand, not everything in the poem is to be taken literally. Water may be involved but it may not be in the way you think. I come across this type of thing in my codes all the time.” With that, she turned on her heels and quickly walked the other way. Theo left Dorland in charge of the team and followed her.

She walked a lot faster now, even past her start point. What exactly was she looking for? For almost half a mile she kept at the pace until she came across a part of the property fence that was protected with wire. No one, including animals, would be able to cross. She returned to the part of the wooden fence before the wire started and climbed between the slats. On the other side was grass as far as the eye could see. Theo didn’t understand what the barbed section was used for, but Sophia seemed excited. Again, she ran on farther and then suddenly stopped.

“What is it?” he asked her.

“That.” She pointed to the field. He saw nothing but grass.

“The irises,” she continued.

“The irises are supposed to be along the river.” Besides, he didn’t see any irises.

She took him over to a few boxes—planters—partially hidden in the tall grass. Overgrown grasses surrounded the almost dead leaves of the irises. “These ones are better, they’re planted.”

“How did you see this?”

“I was searching for it. I was looking for planted irises. If our Doc was to find the bodies again, he would need a subtle sign as to where he buried them. Iris surrounded by stone would not attract notice from an outsider walking along the fence, especially a fence with added barbed-wire. Even if a dog smelled something on the other side, he wouldn’t be able to dig anything up. And, I suspect, the bodies were nicely wrapped before burial in plastic of some sort.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Isn’t that what they all do? You know, on the telly.”

Theo laughed. “Maybe you watch too much telly.”

“Or not. It’s a bit cliche, don’t you think?”

Theo managed to call an officer over and after going back to the part of the fence he could cross, brought a metal detector over. Slowly they searched the ground for anything that could give them hope.

“How deep do you think he buried them?”

“I wouldn’t imagine he would go far because he was secluded and on his own land. This man had the perfect place to bury the bodies. Who knows how many years it would have been before we discovered what he had done. It took twenty years for someone to come across the earrings and if they hadn’t, he would still be alive and continuing to mock us.”

“I doubt he suspected a code-breaker would take interest in his art and decide to decipher them.”

“Sounds a bit fantastic.”

He laughed until the metal detector went off. Everyone leaned in close to the screen and a round metal object came into view.

“What is that?” he asked. “A bracelet?”

“We need to dig. If it is a bracelet, there could be an arm attached.”

They began to dig, carefully as to not break anything below the ground. Slowly a bone came into view, with a bracelet attached. Theo called the rest of the teams over and they uncovered the body.

“Notice the kneecaps are missing,” Theo remarked.

“I noticed,” Sophia replied.

One by one, the bodies were laid side-by-side on plastic. Theo wasn’t sure whether he should be excited or sickened. He knew it would provide a sense of closure for each of the victim’s families. And although Doc would never be brought to a court of law for his wicked crimes, in a way, justice was already served. If only he could prove Dorie had done murdered him and then all his cases could be wrapped up.