Page 47 of Making a Killing

TB:DS Bradley, Dr Sterne – I emailed you?

AS:Of course, nice to talk to you.

TB:Likewise. And thank you for making the time.

AS:You said it was about the Crone Oak?

TB:Yes it is. It’s come up in the course of a murder investigation, and when I did a quick Google search I saw you’d written an article about it.

AS:A long time ago, but yes, I did.

TB:The case I’m working on, it’s in the same area - a woman’s body in a shallow grave.

AS:But that’s awful - I had no idea.

TB:It’s getting rather a lot of the wrong sort of attention, I’m afraid, mainly because the grave is right underneath the tree. We didn’t appreciate there was any significance to that location to start with – there’s no plaque or signage –

AS:No, I know. There’s been pressure to add something, over the years, to encourage tourism, but I think the prevailing view is that it would only be an open invitation to the loonier fringe.

TB:[clearly surprised]

Given it’s your subject I’d have thought –

AS:I’d be out every full moon with the coven fricasseeing bats? No, like you said, it may be my subject, but it’s not my belief system.

TB:Fair enough. So given what I’ve told you, is there anything that comes to mind about that tree that I can’t get off Wikipedia? Something that might lead someone with a different ‘belief system’ to bury women under it? Maybe if the killer thought they were some sort of witch? I read up about Long Meg and what happened to her.

AS:That’s not much by way of a connection -

TB:I should add that the woman was bound andplaced face down with some sort of shelf bracket forced in her mouth to keep it open -

AS:Oh my God, that doesn’t bear thinking about.

TB:I’m afraid it’s even possible she was still alive.

AS:[pause]

OK, I can see now why you wanted to talk to me. Clearly you can’t get actual scold’s bridles off Amazon and I doubt you could get a body into that tree these days either, certainly not without someone noticing. But I suppose it’s possible that someone who knew about Long Meg might be improvising some elements of the punishment ritual.

TB:The victim also had a triquetra tattoo.

AS:Well, that may not be connected. Those designs are very popular, even with people who haven’t a clue what they mean.

TB:And what wouldyousay they mean? Assuming for a minute there is actually a connection?

AS:Well, I imagine you googled that too? The triple goddess? Maiden-mother-crone? In that sense, yes, there’s an obvious link to the tree, but as you probably discovered, a lot of other belief systems use that symbol, with widely varying significances.

TB:But the rest of it – the face down, the metal in her mouth – you think that could be a deliberate echo of an ancient witch punishment?

AS:Not likely, I would say, but yes, possible. Sadly. You only have to look at the Incel movement, even some elements of the gender wars – that sort of misogyny is far from ‘ancient’. Witch trials didn’t die out with the Middle Ages, Sergeant, they just bided their time.

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Adam Fawley

25 July 2024

15.25

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