Like a Red Rag to a Bull

The unfortunate Judith Palmer had miscalculated when she went to cross a field while out on a pleasant summer hike. The signs for the public footpath were plain enough and she had hoisted herself over the stile without cause for concern. Once in the field, she saw that a well-worn route cut straight to the other side, where a second stile would enable her to clamber into the field beyond.

She did not notice the bull grazing at the bottom of the field and even if she had, she probably would not have been troubled. She did a lot of hiking and had crossed many fields containing cattle, including bulls. As long as you did not upset them, you would be alright.

That particular day, Judith proved to be wrong and the bull whose field she was crossing decided he did not appreciate her company.

At least that was the story Detective Inspector Langley was told as he entered the same field where Judith Palmer’s trampled corpse remained on the footpath where she had perished. The bull had been secured by the farmer and had been removed to a nearby barn.

It was a strange scene; the birds singing, the bees and butterflies drifting about lazily and a dead woman lying on the ground.

Butlin, head of the forensics team, was already present and assessing the corpse with his plastic clad colleagues. He stood up as Langley came nearer.

“Multiple injuries all consistent with being stomped upon by a large animal,” Butlin informed him before he could ask.

“Like she was trampled.”

“Exactly,” Butlin nodded. “I can tell you more when I have done a proper examination.”

Langley glanced up and down the field, though it offered him nothing in the way of clues as to what had occurred.

“I thought farmers had to put up signs near public footpaths when they had animals in the field?”

Butlin shrugged.

“How should I know? I only walk on concrete paths.”

With a final look at the deceased woman, Langley turned and headed in the direction of the barn. He found the farmer leaning against a wall, consuming a chocolate bar with a look of hopelessness on his features. Inside the barn the sound of some large and temperamental creature could be heard as it snorted and pawed.

“I have heifers ready to breed,” the farmer said as Langley approached. “Makes Goliath restless. He can smell them, and he would fight anything to get to them.”

“That makes him dangerous,” Langley said.

“Nature of bulls,” the farmer replied.

“What’s your name?” Langley had produced a notebook.

“Simon Todd,” the farmer answered. “My family have had cattle on this land since the early 1800s. Never had a bull kill someone before.”

“You put Goliath in a field with a public footpath running through it?” Langley asked, trying not to make it sound as if he was accusing Todd of stupidity.

Todd gave a miserable laugh.

“I don’t think I have a field that does not have a public footpath through it,” he said. “Fellow comes around with all these signs and tells me people are allowed to walk across my land as they please. Said they are old trackways. Anyway, I always take precautions.”

“Precautions?” Langley asked.

“I put signs up on the stiles. Proper signs, hammered into the ground that state there is a bull in the field, and he could be dangerous.”

Langley glanced back the way he had just come.

“I saw no signs.”

“Because someone removed both of them,” Todd said miserably. “They were there last night but gone today. I never knew until I had the phone call about the accident. I reckon it was yobbo kids. They have no respect and no sense. Look what their mischief has done!”

Langley was tapping his pen against his notebook.

“Who telephoned you?”

“Fellow by the name of Ewan Stedding,” Todd answered. “He rang me as soon as it happened. Said he saw it all and tried to help. I said don’t go anywhere near that bull! I rushed over, ringing for an ambulance on the way. It was too late, of course.”

“Goliath would just trample a person because they crossed his field?”

“He is insane with hormones right now,” Todd snorted. “Anyone in his field he sees as a rival. Only reason I can work with him is because he knows me, and I bring up a bucket of food. You take your life in your hands around a stud bull, all cattle farmers know that.”

“Sounds terrifying,” Langley frowned.

“Well, you get to know the warning signs,” Todd shrugged. “Actually, I am surprised how far Goliath went. He would chase someone, certainly, had him chase lads who came into his field once. But he would only really attack if something spooked him, and he thought there was a threat.”

“Judith Palmer did not look particularly scary,” Langley observed.

“If she had a dog with her, well, I would have understood. Goliath hates dogs, just hearing a dog bark sets him off,” Todd shook his head. “He was chased by a dog as a calf. It stuck with him, you know?”

***

Langley went to find Ewan Stedding next. The man was their sole witness to the incident and could perhaps offer insight into what had occurred. Right at that moment it seemed a terrible accident that could have been avoided if someone had not stolen the warning signs. But Langley had that niggle at the back of his mind that made him want to question everything.

Stedding was sitting in a police car with the door open for fresh air, and his hands wrapped around a plastic cup of tea. He looked in shock.

“Mr Stedding?”

Stedding glanced up. He was a man in his late forties, he wore glasses and was losing his hair. He wore walking boots and a rucksack by his feet indicated he too was a walker.

“You were walking with Judith Palmer today?”

“She is… was my fiancé,” Stedding answered.

“I am so sorry,” Langley replied.

Stedding dipped his head and sniffed miserably.

“I can’t get my head around it. One minute she was fine, the next she was being trampled by that bull. It should be shot!”

Langley did not think there was a precedent for such things, cattle being animals of a slightly erratic nature.

“You saw no warning signs?”

“No!” Stedding snapped. “Judith would never have gone into that field if we had!”

Langley made a note.

“You were not in the field?” he asked.

“I was tying my shoelace,” Stedding shrugged.

Langley glanced at his shoes.

“You must take particular care when tying your shoes.”

“Why do you say that?” Stedding glared at him.

“Your fiancé was nearly across the field, and you were still outside on the other side of the stile. Why did she not wait for you?”

“I don’t know!” Stedding snapped. “What is this? Why are you asking me all these questions? Judith was trampled by a bull and that farmer ought to take responsibility!”

Langley did not answer him, for he had noticed that the body was being removed from the field and Butlin was trying to catch his attention. He walked over to the forensics man.

“Found her mobile in her pocket,” Butlin told him, holding out a big plastic evidence bag with the phone inside. “Would you believe it survived virtually untouched? I would have expected it to have been crushed.”

Langley took the mobile and tapped the screen through the plastic. The phone lit up and changed to a home screen. Judith was one of those people who had not bothered to input a pin code or face ID for the phone, so anyone could access it.

“There is a missed call,” Langley said, noticing the little icon that indicated someone had tried to reach Judith and failed.

He opened the icon and noted the caller ID as well as the time.

“When did the accident occur?” he asked Butlin.

“Well, we have to go by the evidence of Stedding, but it was around nine-thirty this morning.”

Langley nodded, then turned to walk back to Mr Stedding.

“Mr Stedding, might I see your mobile phone?”

Stedding stared at him a moment, then fumbled in his pocket and produced the phone. Langley asked him to unlock it, as he had security set up on the mobile. Stedding obeyed silently.

Langley went to the call log section.

“I see you rang Mr Todd at nine forty-three.”

“Yes,” Stedding said.

“You said Judith was trampled at nine-thirty, but you waited thirteen minutes before calling help?”

“I guessed the time it happened,” Stedding shrugged. “I was out a little. It must have been nine-forty. It happened so fast.”

Langley was still looking at the phone.

“How did you happen to have Todd’s number?”

Stedding opened his mouth, but words failed him.

“Yes, it is curious,” Langley nodded. “I imagine he put his mobile number on those warning boards he posted, in case someone needed to get into his field urgently. But those boards are missing.”

Stedding folded his arms.

“We have walked this route before. I took down the number a while back.”

Langley smiled at him.

“Why did you ring Judith just moments before she died?”

Stedding froze. He said nothing.

“Her mobile phone survived,” Langley continued. “It is quite remarkable. You would expect it to have been smashed beneath the bull’s hooves. There was a missed call from you logged on it, around the time Judith died. How strange.”

As he spoke, Langley was scrolling through Stedding’s list of recent calls. He pressed one that was labelled simply as Judith. The call connected and a second later Judith’s phone began to ring in the plastic bag. The ringtone was set at its highest volume, and it was a recording of dogs barking fiercely and loudly.

Stedding winced.

“Mr Todd says Goliath reacts very badly to dogs,” he said. “I imagine he made a point of stating that on his warning boards too. You have to be so careful these days.”

Langley cut off the call.

“I somehow do not think this is the sort of ringtone Judith would have, but considering she had no security on her phone it would be very easy for someone to get into her phone and change it.”

Stedding could say nothing.

“You staged this all, removed the warning boards, waited until Judith was too far across the field to escape easily and rang her phone. The barking dogs enraged Goliath who did the rest of your work for you.”

Stedding dropped his head.

“She was having an affair,” he said. “She was going to break off the engagement, I knew it. I couldn’t let her go.”

Langley raised an eyebrow.

“I think Goliath would understand,” he said. “I, on the other hand, just see a murderer.”

“Why didn’t the phone smash!” Stedding growled at him.

Then he lunged to retrieve the mobile from Langley’s hand. Two constables dashed in to restrain him.

“Why didn’t it smash?” Stedding yowled, but more pathetically now.

Langley shrugged at him.

“That is how luck falls sometimes. Thankfully for us, Mr Stedding.”