Page 95 of The Mercy Chair

‘It stands for German Officer, Poe.’

She waited for the significance of what she’d said to register.

‘German Officer?’ Poe said. ‘Hence the Second World War reference.’

‘I don’t get it,’ Linus said. ‘Why would a German officer be buried in a graveyard in Kendal?’

‘Shap Wells, the hotel you and Tilly stayed at, used to be prisoner-of-war camp number fifteen, Snoopy. It was mainly used for German officers. Presumably when they died, they were buried in local graveyards.’

‘That’s right, Poe,’ Bradshaw confirmed.

‘But this doesn’t fit with the pattern, does it?’ Poe said. ‘You said all the graves tattooed on Cornelius Green were of people buried between 2001 and 2007. I failed O-level history, but even I know the Second World War ended in 1945.’

‘Which was why I needed the church records, Poe. Everything fit, but not the AS.104X.GO tattoo. Erich Brandt was buried in 1943 after a brief bout of pneumonia.’

Poe shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t worry about it, Tilly. The one thing I’ve learned on this case is that Cornelius Green was a nutter. Trying to second guess the meaning behind his tattoos is the quickest way to a padded cell.’

‘But Idoworry about it, Poe. Cornelius didn’t invent the grave location system; it was well-established and in use long before he was born. Each grave’s location is correctly identified by his tattoos, and five of them were of people who were interred within days of one of those six secret courses. I needed to know why one grave was different. If I couldn’t answer that, none of it made sense. Like I said, when it comes to deciphering codes it all works or none of it works.’

Poe looked at the masses of church records he and Linus had brought back from All Saints. They had only been at the restaurant fifteen minutes; no way had Bradshaw had the time to go through it all. But she’d called them back anyway.

‘You know why Cornelius had the location of the German officer’s grave tattooed on his torso, don’t you?’

‘I do, Poe. In 2007 some of the German graves were vandalised. The headstones were knocked over and smashed and chemical waste was poured on the ground. The church moved them all.’

‘And when was Erich Brandt’s grave moved, Tilly?’ Poe asked, already knowing the answer.

‘Four days after Aaron Bowman’s course ended, Poe.’

‘OK, I think I need to call Superintendent Nightingale now. She needs to know that Cornelius Green had the location of six random graves tattooed on his body.’ He selected her number. ‘This was an odd dot to connect, Tilly,’ he said while he waited for Nightingale to answer her phone.

‘It was your diet, Poe,’ Bradshaw said. ‘When I said your epitaph would read “Washington Poe: Died of a Saturated Fat Overdose. What an Idiot”, it reminded me that grave location systems use letters and numbers. I thought it was worth checking out.’

‘Poe?’ Nightingale said. ‘Is this urgent? I’m about to chair a meeting.’

Poe told her what Bradshaw had discovered. She asked a few questions but there really wasn’t much to misunderstand: Cornelius Green’s tattoos were the locations of graves.

‘There’s definitely no link between the people buried?’ Nightingale asked.

‘One of them was a German prisoner of war. He died in 1943.’

‘But there’s a connection to the courses Cornelius ran?’

‘Tilly thinks there is.’

‘Good enough for me,’ Nightingale said. ‘I’ll work on an exhumation order. We’ll get one out of the ground and see what we find. That work for you, Poe?’

But Poe didn’t answer. He had just noticed Bradshaw’s handwritten notes next to the last grave on the list. The one they hadn’t discussed yet. He swallowed hard and bit down the urge to vomit.

‘What is it, Poe?’ Nightingale said.

‘I know what we’re going to find, ma’am.’

Bradshaw and Linus stared at him in astonishment.

‘You do?’ Nightingale said. ‘How?’

‘A badger told me,’ he said.

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