Chapter 34
Thirty-Four
Gina
More officers gathered around at the back of Spencer Grey’s mother’s land.
Keith in forensics trudged along the courtyard, stooping over from years of suffering with a bad back. He headed towards them with his bag in his hand. ‘Is this it?’
Gina nodded. ‘Yes, there’s blood on the bed and a photo of our missing woman with the suspect, and some women’s underwear. We need the motorhome towed out and taken to the compound when you’ve finished. Our officers have just finished securing the scene around.’
Two crime scene assistants walked towards them, both carrying parts of a portable lighting set up and both early enough in their careers to look excited about being there at such a late hour.
Keith joined them, so Gina followed O’Connor back towards the car.
‘We best get back to the station to fill everyone in. Did you manage to message Wyre or Jacob?’
He nodded. ‘Yes, I told them what we found and forwarded the photos that you took. They’re updating the system as we speak.’
‘Great.’ Her phone rang as they were about to step into the car. ‘It’s DCI Briggs,’ she said to O’Connor across the roof as she answered.
‘Where are you at the moment?’ he asked.
She missed the warmth he used to greet her with. Now, everything was merely stone-cold professional. It was like they were never even friends. She wondered if he was even slightly jealous of her being with Brodie. If he was, he wasn’t giving anything away.
‘We’re heading back from Ms Grey’s house. Forensics have arrived and the scene has been secured. We’ve found blood in a motorhome and we’ve checked in with Wyre and Jacob. They have the photos and details.’
‘I’ve been preparing the press statements so I’ll head down to the incident room now to catch up with what’s happening there.
In the meantime, I need you and O’Connor to head to Chamberlain Drive where a body has been found.
The entrance to the park is opposite the supermarket.
There is a path that leads to a skatepark and a dog walking field.
Take a left as you go in and you’ll see. ’
‘I know where you mean. You came with me when I took Gracie there last summer to watch the skateboarders.’ She paused. That was too much. Why did she say that? ‘Do we know if it’s Mindy?’
‘No, but we know that the victim is a young woman.’
‘Do we have a description as yet?’
‘No.’
‘Okay, we’re on our way.’
After filling O’Connor in, Gina sat back in the passenger seat as he navigated back along the windy road until they reached civilisation.
She couldn’t get the video of Mindy out of her mind and now they had a body.
With clenched fists, she fought the urge to hit O’Connor’s dashboard.
How could they not have got to her on time?
She swallowed her anger and sadness down.
Now wasn’t the time to break. ‘We failed. It’s Mindy. I know it is.’
‘Guv, we’ve been working our socks off and it might not be her, and if it is, we haven’t failed.’ He stopped for a red light.
‘Even if it isn’t her, it’ll be someone’s mother, daughter, aunt, sister.
’ Dealing with bodies never got easier, in fact, it got harder.
With each incident her view of humanity diminished a little bit more.
She’d almost lost her faith that there was anything good left about humanity.
Or maybe there was a little goodness left. Brodie made her happy.
O’Connor took a few more turns through the streets until they reached Chamberlain Drive. She checked her watch. It was close to eleven. Her toes were stiff after being out in the cold. She tried to wriggle them in her boots to warm up.
Her personal phone beeped. She pulled it from her inside pocket as O’Connor found a space to park in. It was Brodie.
Xxx
She replied with a few kisses and a smiley but she didn’t really feel like smiling.
As they stepped out of the car into the freezing night air, Gina buttoned up what was left of her torn coat.
‘Forensics are here.’ O’Connor nodded towards the car park entrance and Bernard was just about to pull in, followed by another forensics van. Flashing blue lights lit the road up. Their victim was far from needing a paramedic.
She followed O’Connor along the path and took a left, past a park bench, towards where three PCs had set up some portable lighting and dragged the outer cordon around several trees and a lamp post. PC Benton led a woman with a collie down the path.
‘Guv,’ the PC said as she reached them, white mist coiling from her mouth with every breath. ‘This is Jill Adams. She was first at the scene.’
‘I live by the park, in the row of houses next to the supermarket. There’s only one row so you can’t miss it. Can I take my dog back, please? I need to get out of here, out of this park.’ She shivered and hugged herself with her free arm.
‘Of course. PC Benton will go back with you and take a statement. What number is it?’
‘Two.’
Gina swallowed and glanced in the direction of the cordon again. She didn’t want it to be Mindy but she didn’t want it to be anyone else either. Life sucked sometimes. There was no good outcome to this scenario.
As soon as PC Benton left with Jill, they carried on walking along the path, towards the sounds of the team chattering.
Every step Gina took was like wading through sludge.
It was the not knowing. Please don’t be Mindy.
Bernard passed her with three of his assistants and several bags of equipment.
She needed to get in for a quick look before he set up properly.
‘Tog up in full, DI Harte, and walk around the edges,’ Bernard said as he began unpacking.
As if she wouldn’t tog up properly and tread the evidence down. She didn’t want to contaminate the scene.
The entrance to the trees was thick with undergrowth, winding prickly branches reaching to snag anyone attempting to get through. She could only hope that thorns or a bramble bush had caught the killer, drawing a bit of blood. ‘How would a body be positioned here? It’s a busy park.’
O’Connor looked as confused as she did. People came and went all day with dogs and skateboards, whatever the weather.
He walked towards the thick band of trees that surrounded the park’s perimeter and called her over.
‘I can just about see right through. There are gaps in the fence at the back. It’s old and rotten. ’
Gina ran over to where Bernard had placed his boxes and bags down.
‘Bernard, we need someone at the other side. That’s how the body might have got there.
Either the perp transported the victim through the park in something like a wheelchair, or they came around the back.
’ She tried to recall the road that went past that bit of broken fence.
It led to a dead end so the perp might have had opportunity.
She waved a PC over. ‘Can you head down the back of this road and find out if there’s any CCTV and check how close it is to the supermarket? ’
The PC scrunched his brow. ‘My cousin lives here so I’m in this area a lot.
The entrance to the shop is the other side and you can’t drive directly from the shop to this road by car.
There’s a wall that stops cars but people on foot can pass through.
As a driver, you’d have to go all the way around the estate.
There’s only an old house at the back of here and the rest, well it’s just trees and if you walk far enough, you come to a school.
’ He scrunched his nose. ‘Some of the trees are quite mature, oaks and such, they cover a lot up and a local would know that.’
‘Thank you. It’s definitely worth a check with the supermarket just in case the perp parked there but from what you’re saying we might be clutching at straws.’ She doubted that the supermarket would turn anything up and she agreed with the PC. The perp was more than likely a local.
‘I’ll head there now, see what I can find out.’
Gina stepped onto the soggy grass towards the team, making straight for the officer with the scene log. She grabbed a forensics suit, boot and hair covers and a mask. For once, she was grateful of the additional layer.
‘Here you go, guv.’ The PC passed her a pen to sign the log with. He lifted the crime scene tape to let her through. Her hands were almost numb. Even the thin nitrile gloves were welcomed as she snapped them on.
On taking a couple of steps, she peered through, almost gasping out loud as she caught sight of the woman slumped next to the bark of a tree.
Underneath the victim, a pool of blood had spread outwards, contaminating the dead leaves surrounding her.
But it was her face that made Gina step backwards onto O’Connor’s toes. ‘Sorry, sorry.’
He frowned. ‘It’s okay. I’m okay.’
‘Let’s go back.’ She’d seen what she came to see and Bernard needed to properly set the scene up.
As soon as she was back on the path, she removed the mask that was suffocating her.
Warmth crept up her neck and she knew if anyone could see she’d be covered in a stress blotches.
‘It’s Mindy.’ She took a slow deep breath and exhaled. ‘Did you see her mouth?’
O’Connor nodded. ‘Smile. OpenMeSmiler.’
‘The name…’ She ran to Bernard who was wrestling with a pile of clunky stepping plates. ‘I need you to check inside her mouth.’ OpenMeSmiler was more than a name. Open. Me. Smiler. The murderer was telling them to open her mouth. The crudely painted on smile was X marking the spot.
Bernard togged up. On the outside, she stood still but inside, it was as if all her engines were firing at once.
Her heart banged, her mouth dried and that damn itchy heat on her neck felt like she was being invaded by insects and she just wanted to claw at it.
As he entered, her head kept saying, hurry up, but she waited, and waited for what seemed like forever.
O’Connor bobbed from one foot to the other as he tried to keep warm. He took a woollen hat from his pocket and pulled it over his head.
Bernard burst out of the bushes with a clear evidence bag. A CSI pressed a button on the freshly rigged up system and then there was light. Gina squinted as she stepped closer and waited for her eyes to adjust.
‘I can see that she’s been stabbed in the back. One stab wound and it looks deep,’ Bernard told her.
She turned to O’Connor. ‘The perp didn’t want to look her in the eyes as they murdered her.’ Stabbing someone in the heart through the back was a tough process. It would have to go through muscle and maybe ribs, too. She turned back to Bernard. ‘Is that what killed her?’
‘Looking at the blood loss, I’d say it’s probable but we’ll have to do the post-mortem to confirm.’ Bernard held a clear bag up. ‘We found this in her mouth.’
‘A photo?’ From the creases, Gina could see that it had been folded into four.
‘A close-up photo of Mindy with a ball gag in her mouth, her top cut open, showing her chest, and a reflection of a camera flash in her eyes.’ Humiliation and fear written all over her face.
Had she known she was about to be killed?
Bernard turned the bag around. ‘There’s some writing on the back.’
Gina almost stumbled back as she read it.
Episode 2 coming soon. Lights… camera… action… Smile!