Page 6 of Slack Tide Kill

"Just the first episode. Was it wrong about the body placement, here in front of Reactor A?"

Mayhew's lip curled. "Wrong about almost everything except that. All those people cared about was ripping open old wounds to watch them bleed."

Sally considered that. "Old wounds for you, DCI?"

"That's none of your business, Officer Rogers," Mayhew said coolly. Covering for something, Sally figured, though now didn't seem the time to pry.

"I'll want access to all the old case files."

"You'll have it."

"And the team who investigated. Are any of them still around?"

Mayhew twitched. "Some are, yes. The DI on the case, he lives in the area."

Sally searched her memory of the podcast. "Mercer, right? I'll want to talk to him."

"Not an easy man to contact. He lives on a houseboat on the River Rother."

"So call him."

"He hasn't got a phone, Rogers. I'll put out some feelers. But he'll probably come in anyway, after he hears about this." She gestured to the body.

Sally looked back. It all came back to the body. Some mother's son. Always so limp, so sad, so staged.

"Thank you." She cleared her throat. "Cause and time of death?"

"Without our CSM, nothing. No ID either."

"Witnesses?"

"Just the citizen who found the body." She nodded toward the older woman talking to one of the officers. She wore long green waders, and a plastic bag hung from one weathered hand. "Name's Nancy Cagen, 76. Beachcomber. Called it in at 6:02."

"And the station CCTV?"

"I've got requests out. The reactor manager, Dr. Rupert Palmer, is on his way from Tonbridge. Should be here in an hour and we'll get access, though I don't expect much."

Sally looked up. "Why not?"

"We've been down here before, chasing small boats crossing the Channel."

"Illegal immigration," Sally said. "Right. It's been in the news."

"In the news but not new. We've been dealing with it for years, requisitioning CCTV up and down the coast. And this place?" Her gaze darkened. "They're not helpful."

"How so?"

"Lots of security layers, too much paperwork, so anything we get from the cameras comes too slow."

"Hopefully they'll expedite for us." Sally looked back at the scaffold. "What about interviewing the construction workers? They could all be witnesses."

"We're gathering their details."

Sally frowned. "It's shift change, DCI. I saw them coming out as I arrived. We need to question them immediately."

Mayhew's frown came back. "We're not in London, now, Rogers. This is Kent: coastal, remote, sparsely populated. There are no local police in Dungeness or Lydd. My station, Rye, is 30 minutes away, but we run a skeleton crew." She pointed north. "We have some loan officers en route from Dover now; we'll interview the construction workers when they get in."

"So right now, we're on our own."