“Good for you. Must be hard coming to a different country and finding a job when there’s not a lot of work around. Mind you, you’re a very pretty girl, so I doubt if you’d have any trouble.”
She looked away from him as he continued eating his muffin. She picked up her mobile. “Excuse me, I have to call my boyfriend.”
Eva scrolled through to Marcus’s mobile number, but the screen registered no signal.
“Not getting through?”
“No.”
“What make of phone is that?”
“Nokia.”
“Is your battery fully charged?”
“I’m not sure.”
He sipped his tea as she tried again to contact Marcus. She could feel the man watching her.
“I’ve got a Nokia,” he said. “If you like, you can recharge it from my van.”
She looked at him and shook her head. Again she made as if to pick up her overnight bag.
“You see that woman coming across the car park?”
Eva turned to see the same woman she had noticed earlier, smoking another cigarette and tossing it aside as she headed once more for the ladies’ room.
“Hard to believe, isn’t it, but she’s a tart. Works the trucker stop, goes into the ladies’ to wash up, then she’s back out again chatting up the drivers. It’s disgusting. The security around here is pitiful. I know the police move them on, but they’re like homing pigeons, and I’ve seen her around here for years.”
Eva picked up her overnight bag and rested it on her knees.
“I look out for young girls like you. Gimme your phone and let me make sure I’ve got the right extension to recharge it for you.”
“No, really.” She half-rose from her chair.
“What’s the matter with you? I’m only being helpful, and my van is just across the car park.” He leaned toward her, and she smelled his smoky breath. “You’re not scared of me, are you? Listen, love, on a night like this, freezing cold out there, I’m only trying to be helpful.”
“My boyfriend is coming any minute.”
The man rocked back in his chair, shaking his head. “What kind of boyfriend is it that leaves such a lovely looking girl all on her own at this time of night? Come on, I’m just being friendly.”
“No. You have been very kind, and I appreciate it.”
Eva stood up, incredibly relieved as she saw Marcus pulling up directly outside in the car park. For the first time she smiled, picking up her mobile and slipping it into her handbag. She left the hot chocolate and the muffin untouched as she hurried out of the café.
The man watched her as she ran over to the beat-up Ford Escort, the young handsome boyfriend climbing out and opening the passenger door for her to get inside. He saw her reach up to kiss him, and then she turned to give a small wave toward him as Marcus got in beside her. Their headlights caught the man staring at them, but the car had driven off before either could see the look of blind fury pass over his face. He clenched his fists.
It was a while before he had finished eating the second muffin, but he didn’t touch the hot chocolate. Instead, he placed it on the tray with his empty tea beaker and tipped the waste into the bin provided. He stashed the tray and walked out, turning up the collar of his black donkey jacket, almost hiding his face that still had such anger etched across it.
He had been certain about the girl. Seeing her lit up in the service station’s café window, she had excited him; she was enticing him — she was no better than the cheap whore washing herself in the ladies’ toilet.
She would have been exactly what he was looking for.
Chapter One
Detective Inspector Anna Travis held up her ID to a uniformed officer who directed her along the narrow muddy lane. Parking up on a gritty area alongside numerous other police vehicles, she stepped out of her Mini and swore as her foot was immediately submerged in a deep puddle. Opening the trunk, she took out a pair of Wellingtons and, balancing with one hand resting on the roof, she removed her shoes and put on the boots.
“Talk about off the beaten track,” she muttered.
Despite the heavy traffic thundering by on the M1, the field had been hard to reach, even though it was not far from London Gateway Services. Anna could see the group of men at the far side of the field, and she recognized Detective Chief Inspector Mike Lewis; standing beside him was the rotund figure of Detective Sergeant Paul Barolli. Both men turned to watch her plodding toward them.
“What’s the shout?” she asked as her feet squelched beneath her.
Mike gave her a brief rundown: the victim was a white female, discovered by a van driver called Brian Colling-wood who had parked on the hard shoulder to relieve himself up against the hedge. Collingwood told the police that he was just turning to go back to his vehicle when he spotted the body lying in the adjacent field. At first he thought there had been an accident, so he climbed through the hedge and crossed over the ditch. It quickly became obvious that the girl was dead, so he did not approach but immediately rang the police on his mobile phone, then went back to wait beside his van until the traffic police reported the discovery.
“Is that him?” Anna nodded toward the man being questioned. He was making a lot of gestures, pointing back at the motorway.
“Yeah. By the time we got here, he was pretty agitated. He knew he was illegally parked on the hard shoulder but continued to explain that he had been busting for a piss. He’s been unable to give any further details, having seen no other vehicle or witnessed anything suspicious. He also said repeatedly that he had not gone right up to the body but had remained about four feet away from her. When he’s finished giving all the details, I’m going to let him finish his journey to Birmingham.”
“You think this is one for us, then?”
Mike nodded. “We’re waiting for the forensic team to arrive. We’ve made only a cursory check of the victim, as I think the less contamination of the area, the better.”
Barolli rubbed his hands together. It was icy cold out here. “You are going to freeze,” he said to Anna. “Didn’t you bring a coat with you?”
“If I’d known we’d be in the back of beyond, I would have. Luckily, my wellies were in the boot.”
“Here you go.” Barolli took off his fleece-lined jacket and hung it round her shoulders. Anna was wearing a black suit and white collared shirt. Her wardrobe was full of similar suits, almost like her own uniform.
“Oh, thanks.” She hugged it around herself as Barolli turned to the lane.
“We’ve had Traffic cordon off one motorway lane to allow the police vehicles access... Here come the lads now.”
A forensic van drew up, followed by an ambulance.
“So what are you not telling me?” Anna wanted to know, and smiled as she said it. Having worked together on previous cases, the three of them were very relaxed with one another, and she knew there had to be an agenda.
Mike said the reason they had answered the shout was because on two of his previous, unsolved cases, it appeared to be virtually the same MO. The two earlier victims, discovered a year apart, had both been dumped beside the motorway. Their first victim had been hard to identify due to decomposition, but they had checked her prints and found she had a police record as a prostitute; the second girl remained unidentified.
“Is she on the game?” Anna asked, looking over at the corpse.
“No idea. She’s young, though — I’d say late teens.”
Anna watched the forensic team suit up and bring out their equipment. “Can I take a closer look?” she asked.
“Yeah, go ahead. We’ve put some stepping plates out, so keep to them. It’s a flipping mud bath.”
Anna headed toward the victim, carefully moving from plate to plate as if using stepping stones. There were two flags positioned where the van driver had stood, a few feet from the body, and the closer Anna got, she could see that from his position on the motorway’s hard shoulder, he would not have been able to see the body.