‘Dumping Ground’
by
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Sinclair spoke with Inspector Clarke and asked him to cover the case. Clarke called the Coroner, who agreed the pathologist and her assistant would be on site to assist in the body's recovery. The four-person dive team, along with Inspector Clarke, the pathologist, and her assistants, took two hours to assemble. Officer Marks had remained on site and now explained what had happened. Before the dive team entered the water, the pathologist, Doctor Pam Riley, and her assistants set up a sterile area. Once safely set up, three divers entered the water, following the rope down. The first thing they found felt like a sack filled with rocks; resurfacing, they asked Inspector Clarke if they should recover it. He said, 'Yes, it needs to be recovered; if it is impeding the body, recover it first.' The divers submerged and rolled the sack away from the body. After checking that it was unopened, they wrapped a rope around it. With the help of the firefighters, they dragged it out of the water and onto the bank. Once it was out, they discovered it was a pair of hessian sacks joined, end to end. Submerging back into the four-meter-deep pond, they retrieved the bicycle; after two more dives, they were confident that they had the body's recovery set up correctly. They explained to Doctor Riley that the body was skeletal, and she requested they use a plastic sheet to wrap around the body to keep it all together and for her team to be gloved up and ready. The next time they resurfaced, they carried the wrapped-up body and passed it to the waiting team, who let the water run away before placing it in the sterile area. Doctor Pam Riley carefully unwrapped the body, studied it for a while, and then put plastic bags over the head and hands; she then requested an ambulance to take it to the Gravesend mortuary. Inspector Clarke asked the dive team, 'Comb the pond to see if there was anything else to find.' As daylight waned, the dive team finished their search. Finding nothing else, they packed up and headed back to Gravesend to make out their reports.
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About the Book
DUMPING GROUND follows Chief Inspector Gerald Sinclair and his team as they try to find answers to the more serious crimes that seem to happen daily. Problems start at Cliffe Marsh, which borders London and is set on the banks of the Thames, where the remains of an old Victorian fort stands, guarding the approaches to London. Local children are racing their bicycles, dodging around the many ponds on the marsh. Charlie’s foot slips off his pedal, and he falls. His 8-year-old friend, David, swerves to miss him and rides his bicycle straight into a deep pond. His friends cannot reach him, and David cannot swim, so his friends start shouting. Two fields away, the local bird warden and some twitchers hear the calls for help and run towards the children, who are screaming and waving their arms. The bird warden reaches the pond first and jumps in, saving the young boy. A twitcher has called emergency services, and parents from the village of Cliffe and the boy goes to the hospital in an ambulance with his mum. The father wants to retrieve his son’s bicycle from the pond, and the fire crew agree to help. On their third attempt, they pull up a body.
About the Author
James is an avid reader who has read many works by top thriller authors such as Lee Child, Dean Koontz, and David Baldacci. These are a few he has loved to read over the last 30 years. Their unique ways of presenting their work has been a joy and a learning curve for him. Many moons ago, he began developing his own unique ideas and direction for his own novels and found it was not that easy. After many sleepless nights and a lot of rewrites, his journey has now come full circle, and James is extremely proud to present Dumping Ground for you to enjoy.