Читать книгу At Your Door - J. P. Carter - Страница 9

Anna and her two detectives followed the walking trail and saw the scene of crime officers as soon as they entered the wood. There were five of them. They had already unpacked their equipment and were starting to do their job with grim-faced determination.

Anna knew that it wasn’t going to be easy for them. Crime scenes that were open to the elements were always more difficult to control and process. Contamination of evidence was inevitable and dead bodies usually fell prey to insects and animals. Much would depend on how long the woman had been here and that was for the pathologist to determine with any degree of accuracy.

The three detectives were greeted by a SOCO wearing a white paper suit. Anna had never met him before so she introduced herself and the others and then they all signed the crime scene log.

The officer pointed to a large cardboard box containing overalls, masks and shoe covers.

‘You’ll need to get suited up,’ he said. ‘And for your information another team will be here shortly. There’s a lot of ground to be covered and it’s pretty messy.’

Once they had the gear on they followed the officer into the wood along a narrow, uneven trail that looked as though it didn’t get used much.

‘So what have we got then?’ Anna asked him.

‘Female, probably in her early twenties,’ he said. ‘Looks as though she’s been stabbed in the throat and I very much doubt that she did it to herself. She’s also naked and there are no clothes or other belongings in the immediate vicinity of the body. And as yet no sign of a weapon or anything that can identify her.’

‘So was she dumped here or killed here?’

‘Almost certainly dumped. And whoever did it covered her with leaves and branches but didn’t try very hard to conceal her.’

‘Any thoughts on how long she’s been here?’

‘Well, that’s not my area of expertise but I would say a few days and nights at the most. There are residual signs of rigor but not much blistering and skin decay. And be warned, the creatures of the forest have been dining out on her.’

They had to clamber through a patch of wild shrubs to get to the body. It was lying face up and the sight of it drew sharp intakes of breath from Anna and her two colleagues. The woman’s skin was pale and bloated and the gaping hole in her throat was filled with foam, blood, maggots and flies.

Her eyes were closed but her lips were parted to reveal teeth that were smeared with dirt and dust. There were small bite and scratch marks on her breasts, stomach and thighs, and about a dozen ants had made themselves at home in her pubic thatch.

‘I’ve seen enough,’ Sweeny said suddenly as she put her hand over her mouth and hurriedly retreated to the trail.

Anna shook her head. ‘Can’t really blame her for that. This is pretty bad.’

‘Worst I’ve seen in a long time,’ Walker said. ‘The poor kid was in the prime of her life. It’s a fucking shame.’

Anna was still staring down at the body while trying to imagine what the woman had looked like before her life was cut short in such a brutal fashion.

She was slim with small breasts and quite tall at about five ten or eleven. Her hair was fair and shoulder-length. It framed a narrow face with high cheekbones and a sharply pointed nose.

‘First thing we did was remove the stuff that had been placed on top of her,’ the forensics officer said. ‘We want to take some more pictures and examine the ground around her before we turn her over and put up the tent. And I’m sure the pathologist will want to be present when we do that.’

Anna asked Walker to take some pictures on his phone while she took out her pad and made various notes, including a list of questions she wanted answers to.

Who was the victim? Had she been reported missing? Why was she dumped here on Barnes Common? Was she stripped to remove traces of DNA? How did the killer get her to this spot? Was it in a car or van? If so where had the vehicle been parked?

Anna looked around, soaking up the scene, and wondered how many people frequented this part of the common. The track snaked deeper into the wood. She would have to find out where it led and if there were any homes close by.

‘I’ve got enough photos,’ Walker said. ‘Shall we leave these guys to it and go and talk to the woman who found the body?’

Walker removed his white suit but Anna left hers on as they hurried back along the trail.

Sweeny was waiting for them next to the gate. She had also taken off the forensic suit and the navy blue blouse that clung to her plump frame was stained with sweat.

‘Are you all right?’ Anna asked her.

‘I am now,’ she said, looking embarrassed. ‘Sorry about that, ma’am. The sight of that poor girl just turned my stomach suddenly.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Anna said. ‘It happens to us all at some point. I’m afraid you’ll have to get used to sights like that working with us.’

The woman who had discovered the body had been moved across the road and was sitting on a wooden bench situated next to the cemetery entrance. Her dog, a black and white Jack Russell, lay on the ground in front of her.

Joyce Connor was in her fifties with greying hair and soft features. Her face was gaunt and colourless, and her lips trembled as she spoke.

‘We don’t often come this way,’ she said. ‘We usually stick to the fields nearer my home on the other side of the wood. But I fancied a change and the sun was strong so I opted for the shade of the trees.

‘Sammy here was off his lead and he did what he always does and went nosing around in the bushes. When he started barking I went to see what he’d come across and that was when I saw the hand poking out from under the leaves.’

She explained that this part of the common attracted few dog walkers and other visitors.

‘It’s always so quiet here,’ she said. Then, in answer to a question from Walker, she confirmed that she had not approached the body or picked up anything from the ground around it.

‘I just grabbed Sammy and put his lead back on,’ she said. ‘Then I hurried away from there and called the police.’

Anna told her a patrol car would take her home where she would be asked to make a brief statement.

Anna then took Walker and Sweeny to one side and gave them instructions. She wanted Walker to arrange for a search team to descend on the wood first thing in the morning.

‘There’s no point doing it now since there are only a few hours of daylight left,’ she said.

She then told Sweeny to start working up a file containing information on the common and the land surrounding it.

‘You can download maps and images from Google,’ she said. ‘Let’s locate all the homes in the area along with access routes to this stretch of the common. And find out who’s responsible for managing it.’

Anna looked at her watch and was surprised to see that it was already six-fifteen. Tom would soon be setting off from his flat to pick her up. She decided it was time to call him to break the news that she wouldn’t be going out to celebrate her birthday after all.

Tom was naturally disappointed but he knew it couldn’t be helped.

‘I’ll ring and cancel the reservation,’ he said. ‘Hopefully we can go another time.’

‘I probably won’t be home until very late,’ Anna said. ‘Or I might even end up working through the night.’

‘I’ll come over to your place anyway,’ he said, and she heard the disappointment in his voice. ‘At least that way when you eventually turn up I can give you your birthday present.’

After hanging up, Anna felt a frisson of guilt for not being more appreciative of Tom’s attempt to make her birthday special. And there was no question that she would rather be spending the next few hours in a cosy restaurant than at the scene of a grisly murder.