‘Look, you didn’t do anything wrong. We had a fun date. Dinner was good and we had a laugh. That’s where it ends. Thank you, err…’ She clicked her fingers as if trying to remember his name. His playful expression turned into an overemphasised frown.
‘Rex. My name is Rex, Gina. You really are something.’ He lifted the pile of clothing in the corner of her bedroom and began throwing her crumpled shirts and trousers across the room while he searched for his missing shoe. ‘Bloody hell. I can’t find my other shoe.’
Gina slipped on her dressing gown as she stepped out of bed. ‘Rex, I didn’t mean to give you false hope. You’re a decent guy and—’ The sound of her mobile phone ringing and vibrating across the bedside table interrupted her mid-sentence. ‘DI Harte.’ She paused as she listened to DS Jacob Driscoll.
‘DI, no way! Where the hell is my shoe?’ Rex asked as he began to search under the bed.
‘Company, guv?’ Jacob asked.
‘Button it, Driscoll. I’ll be there within the hour.’ She ended the call and grabbed a pair of black trousers from the wardrobe. ‘You’re going to have to leave now. I have to go to work.’
He stood, holding the shoe in his hand, his grey-peppered brown hair stuck up in tufts at the back of his head, resembling a pineapple. ‘You’re bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired. I didn’t know you were a detective inspector.’
‘I don’t give everything away on a first date.’ She buttoned up her shirt, stood at the bedroom door and pushed it open, waiting for him to leave.
‘Will I hear from you? I’d like to see you again. Call me.’
She followed him down the stairs, rushing him along. A major crime scene awaited her attention and she didn’t have time to flirt or go along with any form of small talk with a man she’d only met a few hours ago.
‘We’ll see,’ she replied with a smile as she pushed him out of the front door, slamming it closed. A few minutes later she heard his car revving up, then he drove away. ‘Although, I probably won’t,’ she said as she ran back up the stairs. She had a couple of minutes to sort out her straggly hair, have a quick wash and get to the crime scene.
Three
‘Ah, DI Harte. Follow me and stick to the stepping plates,’ Bernard, the crime scene manager said as he led her along the back path, the onset of light rain beginning to seep through his white forensics suit. She peeked through a gap in one of the fences. The houses were set a long way back from the path which would have given their perpetrator a safe distance to attack the woman, far away from the sleeping inhabitants. Lights were still being switched on as the residents realised something was happening. One of the officers had probably started knocking on doors to see if anyone in the houses had witnessed anything.
At the far end of the path, blue lights continued to flash even though the vehicles were now stationary. She heard a back door open and smelled smoke travelling in the air. The curtain-twitchers would be out in force within minutes, all taking to Facebook and Twitter, trying to find out what was happening.
She tucked her creased shirt into the back of her trousers and pulled an elastic band from her pocket, tying her damp frizzy hair into a loose ponytail. Her mind flashed back to the mess she’d left at home. She was sure that Rex had got the hint and wouldn’t contact her again. She was also certain that she didn’t want to repeat the experience. Loneliness now seemed to be the favourable option to a string of meaningless and unsatisfying encounters.
The stepping plates had been positioned on a small strip of grass that divided the pavement and a thick mass of tangled shrubs and trees. Beyond the trees, all she could hear was the sound of an occasional late night lorry, trundling along the road, heading for the nearby industrial estate. She almost burst into a jog trying to keep up with Bernard. His height and gangly-legged frame made him look like he was walking at a leisurely pace. Each of his steps equalled three of Gina’s.
In the distance, she watched as the crime scene crew set up portable lighting and another CSI began to erect a tent, a bit late for the rain that was now coming down. Keith, Bernard’s sidekick, was making a few notes in his pad as he circled the body. Their assistant, Jennifer, snapped away, taking photos of everything. The light cast from the portable lamps flickered as insects danced in front of it. Gina lifted the inner cordon and entered the scene. Keith passed her a crime scene suit, which she quickly slipped on over her clothing, followed by gloves and shoe covers.
She gazed down at the corpse. Cheek and nose smashed to a pulp, hair entangled in blood and graze marks over her legs. The straight, dark-coloured dress the victim had been wearing had ruffled up to her waist but her underwear seemed to be intact. She had no shoes on. Gina scanned the scene and spotted one of her shoes against a garden fence and the other a little distance away from it. Stilettos. She noticed the woman’s wedding ring. Someone had to be missing her. Gina closed her eyes, trying to divert her focus away from the mess that was the woman’s face, but closing her eyes hadn’t made it any easier.
‘Alright, guv?’ DS Jacob Driscoll asked as he approached from behind and started putting on his crime scene suit.
‘I’ve been better. Whoever did this is an animal.’
‘That would be unfair to animals, guv.’
‘You’re not wrong. I didn’t see you pull up when I did.’ Gina brushed a stray hair into her hood as Jacob zipped his suit up.
‘I parked the other end of the path, came in the other way. You were on another planet when I walked down.’
‘Yeah. For a moment, I hoped I was, but no. Some earthly being has committed this atrocity and it is down to us to get them.’ Gina swallowed and looked away. ‘Any witnesses?’
Jacob glanced back up the path and pointed. ‘A woman who was taking her dog for its last walk of the night found the body.’
Gina registered the woman standing with her dog at the side of the road with PC Smith. ‘Great. We’ll catch up with her in a minute.’
‘I’d definitely give it a minute. When I passed she was heaving in the gutter. I can see why.’ Jacob stared at the body then glanced away, shaking his head.
Bernard said a few words to the crime scene team and headed back over.
‘Bernard, what can you tell me from your initial observations?’
He scratched his beard cover and shifted his gaze to hers. ‘She has been bludgeoned with a flat-ended instrument, at a guess, I would say a hammer or mallet. Her body had been dragged along the pavement. As you can see, the skin on her legs and feet has been scraped off and our initial tests show blood on the pavement coming from that direction.’ Gina glanced in the direction, noting that an alleyway led onto the path a short distance back. The rain seemed to ease off a little before stopping altogether. ‘She also seems to be missing a cutting of hair. It was a neat cut, done with sharp scissors. She is missing a fingernail too. We will continue searching but so far, this is all we have. We only set up a short while before you came.’
