Nine Elms (Kate Marshall #1)(51)

“No. No, I’ll be fine,” he said. He didn’t sound too sure. A police cordon was set up in front of the police cars, and they were met by a police officer who signed them in, and a woman from the Crime Scene Investigation team.

“I’ll need you to put on coveralls,” she said, holding a pair out to each of them.

Tristan gulped. Kate put an arm on his shoulder. “I won’t judge you if you want to go back.”

“No. No. I’m coming. Final answer.”

He steeled himself, and they pulled on their coveralls. When they were ready, the CSI officer took them up the rocky slope to the tor. As they drew close, it towered above them and reminded Kate of a stack of pebbles left by a giant. To the right of the tor, a small square forensics canopy had been erected over a circle of rocks.

Alan was briefing a group of police officers in coveralls, which included Varia Campbell, who was already at the scene with her team. She turned when Kate and Tristan arrived, and her face clouded over. Kate saw John Mercy standing with the other officers.

“Good evening. Thank you for allowing us to attend, Dr. Hexham,” said Kate.

“I’ve only just started,” said Alan, towering above them all in his white coveralls. Kate and Tristan moved closer and saw there was a depression in the circle of rocks. The naked body of a young woman lay on her side. She was filthy and spattered in blood. Three crime scene officers were working around her, two taking soil samples and the third assisting the crime scene photographer.

“Jesus,” said Tristan. He put a hand over his mouth and gave a loud retch.

“Is he a puker?” asked Alan, his head snapping round at the noise. “We’ll have contamination to deal with if he pukes next to the crime scene.”

“I’m fine, sir,” said Tristan, gulping. He grabbed hold of Kate’s arm.

“Maybe a sick bag would be wise,” said Kate, putting her hand on his back.

One of the CSIs handed Tristan a paper bag. Kate saw some of the male officers smirking and felt protective of Tristan. Alan went on.

“Right, for the benefit of former Detective Constable Marshall, who has just joined us with her associate, I believe, but don’t quote me, that the cause of death is asphyxiation. We have a plastic bag over the head, and her face and neck are covered in petechial hemorrhages. Note the type of plastic bag and the knot on the twine or rope. A drawstring bag, tied with a monkey’s fist knot. She is posed—on her left side, right arm out, head resting on the forearm.”

The crime scene photographer punctuated this by firing off a photo. The flash lit up the body in the circle of stones and the side of the huge tor.

“If we can turn her over, please,” said Alan. The CSIs assisting gently turned the body over, facedown onto a waiting black PVC body bag. The camera flash went off again.

“And that’s the last piece of the puzzle. You’ll see one, two, three, four, five, six bites on the back: two on the left side of the spine, two on the right, and two on the upper right-hand thigh. One of the thigh bites is very deep . . .” He moved closer to the body. “Time of death is more recent than the other victims. I can give you the exact time of death when I conduct my postmortem, but these look fresh enough to have a crack at getting bite impressions back in the lab.”

Kate looked over at Tristan. He had a hand up to his mouth again.

He shook his head and moved off back down the hill. The photographer fired off another couple of shots. Alan crouched down next to the girl’s feet.

“The question is how she made it all the way up here? There’s nothing to show she was dragged barefoot, nothing on the heels or toes, no grass or plant fibers. Any more information will come from the postmortem,” he said.

The CSIs set to work, bagging up the body and transferring her from the rocky pit into the van, and Varia came over to Alan with a clipboard and pen.

“Thank you for letting us attend,” said Kate to Alan.

“This is number three. I hope people start taking this seriously,” he replied.

“I take any murder scene seriously,” said Varia, holding out the clipboard and the pen. “And now, Dr. Hexham, if you could sign off, and hand this crime scene over to me,” she said. Alan took the clipboard and started to check through the paperwork. “When that is done, I’d like you to leave, please,” she added to Kate.

“Who found the body?” asked Kate.

“Two hikers,” said Alan, looking up from the paperwork.

“This is Higher Tor? It’s one of the letterboxing tors, I think,” said Kate.

“Letterboxing?” asked Varia.

“Yes. Have you heard of it?”

“I can hazard a guess.”

“You haven’t heard of it, and Dartmoor is on your beat?”

“I was assigned here a month ago,” she said. “Dr. Hexham, if the paperwork is all good, please sign off.”

“If he’s left another note, I’d check the letter box and see if it’s there,” said Kate.

“There is no letter box,” said Varia, indicating the landscape.

“They’re usually built into the rock of the tor,” said Alan, still reading through the paperwork. Kate could see he was deliberately spinning things out. Varia couldn’t get rid of her until she had Alan’s signature.