Gina swallowed, knowing that it could well be Amber Slater. The woman who was younger than her own daughter, Hannah… Her heart rate began to speed up. They had to get over to the lake, now.
4
Gina passed the play park and headed towards the outer cordon that PC Smith was finishing off by tying it to a tree. ‘Morning.’ Wyre gave him a smile.
‘Morning, both.’ Smith’s bulky fluorescent police coat made his frame look twice its size. ‘Hey, get back, please. There’s been an incident. You can’t get through.’ He held his hand up, pointing to another path that the jogger could use. His other hand gripped the scene log.
The sweaty jogger held his arm up and ran back the way he came.
‘Where’s the person who found the body?’ Gina glanced around but she couldn’t see anyone speaking to the PCs.
‘He’s on the other side of the path with PC Kapoor. He came from the other side of the lake.’ He began writing Gina and Wyre’s names on the log, the words looking skewered as he kept his gloves on. ‘Right, I have you on the list so enter.’
‘Thank you.’ Gina lifted the cordon up, allowing Wyre to duck underneath first.
A couple of mothers parked their pushchairs behind Gina. She ignored them and followed Wyre under the cordon. In the distance, she spotted Bernard Small, the crime scene manager, along with his team of assistants who had all donned their white forensics suits. His name certainly didn’t match his appearance. He was the tallest person she’d ever come across, his wiry frame always hunched above her when they spoke. His once long grey beard had now been neatly trimmed since he’d started dating again. A PCSO darted past them, chasing an errant dog as its owner waited behind the cordon while trying to gently call the terrier’s name.
‘Time to suit up.’ Wyre took a suit from one of the CSIs and passed Gina one.
The CSI shifted her facemask slightly. ‘They’re just finishing taking the photos and video, if you could give it a couple of minutes that would be great.’
Gina tried to glance over her shoulder. ‘Do you have a description as yet?’
‘I haven’t seen the victim. I just know it’s a woman. We’ll have all the stepping plates down in a minute. It shouldn’t be long.’
Cameras clicked away and another clean CSI walked around with a video camera. Two PCs had started walking up and down the path that led to where the body was, looking for the tiniest of clues beyond the cordon. People were beginning to gather. From the corner of her eye, Gina spotted Kapoor standing under a leafless tree with a man who looked to be about fifty. That had to be their witness. Even more people began to crowd. A sea of bobble hats, raincoats and damp mops of hair added to the crowd. Gina glanced across, wondering if one of them was the murderer coming back to check out their handiwork. Maybe it was the woman who was peering over, wearing a yellow mac; or the man with the maroon bobble hat covered in white knitted snowflakes who was standing behind her. The man in his sixties with the yappy terrier. The two young men in track bottoms and sweatshirts. All of them, going about their business along with twenty or so other people. As more faces joined the crowd, it became impossible to take them all in.
Wyre crept up behind her. ‘Guv, Bernard is calling us over.’
‘Good. We need to get that body moved with some dignity while this lot are around.’ She zipped her crime scene suit right up and pulled the hood over her head, finishing up with boot covers and gloves. Several people had their phones out and were filming and taking photos. Kapoor spotted them, then left their witness for a moment to move the crowd on. ‘What’s Up Cleevesfordis going to be the busiest Facebook page around any minute now with all the theories and photo uploads. People annoy me at times.’
‘Too true, guv.’
Gina almost slid down the slimy bank that led to the lake. Only a few days ago, this same patch of earth would have been rock solid with ice, now that it had thawed it was nothing more than a mudslide. ‘Morning, Bernard. Can I see the body?’
‘Yes, come with me. Step on the plates when you reach the bank. They’re a bit slippy so be careful. We’ve managed to screen the body off for now while we continue to work around it, but we keep spotting people from the other side of the lake with their cameras and phones out. It’s making everything take that bit longer.’
‘Wyre, will you ask Smith to send someone over to the other side of the lake and move everyone on? Take their details first.’ A list of everyone at the scene would no doubt be useful later.
‘Yes, guv.’ She nodded and hurried back towards the cordon.
Several ducks quacked and swam over, thinking that everyone was there to feed them. Gina took a few careful steps and finally reached the screen. A bitter breeze caught her face, almost taking her breath away. The thaw wasn’t set to last.
Bernard clanked on the plates as he followed, his awkwardly large feet looking like they were spilling over the plates.
‘Anything I need to know?’
He cleared his throat. ‘Well. I’ve barely had a chance to look at the body let alone examine it, but there’s no mistaking the stab wound to the victim’s chest. The post-mortem will hopefully reveal the type and length of blade and if this was the cause of her death. We’ll know if she drowned by the presence of diatoms in her body; a sample of the lake water will be taken. Again, we need to do the post-mortem to confirm this. She’s a young woman, maybe even a teenager. I’d place her age at between sixteen and twenty-two. There’s no evidence of blood or body tissue found on the banks as yet but, again, we’re still looking and testing. She would have bled a lot from this assault. I’d expect to find something on the banks if it happened here.’
‘Any signs so far of a weapon nearby?’
‘Nothing as yet but the search goes on.’
Gina glanced back. In the still of night, a car could have pulled up at the cut behind her and brought the body down to the lake, or did the girl walk here and become the victim of a vicious attack that led to her death? She also knew there was CCTV at the main car park, which she’d already asked for in her call before leaving the station. It would be a miracle if their killer had used this car park though as the cameras were so visible. The public had been campaigning for more security in this area but, as usual, cuts meant it wasn’t possible.
‘Any idea how long the body has been in the lake?’
Bernard shook his head. ‘She would have been well preserved by the cold water and both yesterday and today have been cold. One thing that does stand out is the post-mortem lividity. She is facing downwards on the bank. You will see that post-mortem lividity has occurred in her buttocks and the back of her thighs and calves. Not long after death, blood pools where there is contact pressure. It appears that the victim may have been sitting with her legs elevated at the time of her death or very soon after. Bear in mind that her heart would also have been pumping blood out of her chest, unless the killer left the knife in place for a while, possibly plugging the wound a little. As you can see, there are so many factors to consider which is why we have to do the post-mortem ASAP.’
