Jane drove to the mortuary and parked in one of the registered bays for the pathologists, hurrying inside to make a phone call. She used the reception phone and dialled the station, asking to speak to DCI Carter. He was not available so she immediately called Emra Saddell, who was working at the mortuary with the pathologist. Jane spoke to her briefly, explaining that she had brought something in from the crime scene that she needed her to look at. ‘Is there a mortician available to carry it in from the car park?’
Five minutes later, inside the mortuary, Emra greeted Jane warmly before stepping back. ‘Good heavens, you smell awful.’
‘I’ve just come from the shelter. As I mentioned, what I’ve brought in was found there. I have no idea if it is connected, but it was very carefully wrapped and placed between two cement blocks that were then tied together.’
Emra turned as a young mortician wheeled in a trolley with the two blocks and the leather belt folded on top, along with the waterproof bundle.
‘Well, this is intriguing,’ Emra said, as the young man lifted it onto a table.
‘We are about ready for the female body to be taken to Lambeth. The pathologist reckons she had no visible external scars from knife wounds or bullets, no fractures or broken bones. He would estimate her age to be around twenty to twenty-five. We have taken dental X-rays and he thinks that she had possibly starved to death. Death occurred probably five years ago.’
As she spoke, Jane watched her unroll a sheet of white paper across the table and carefully place the bundle on it. Emra leaned forward and smelled the waterproof material then very carefully, with a fine wooden spatula, eased it aside. The blanket was more difficult to ease off as it had been tightly wrapped around many times. But Emra eased the material away inch by inch, until they were confronted by the tiny, perfectly mummified body of a baby.
Jane watched as Emra gently placed protective material over the fragile body which looked as if it might crumble if touched.
‘Does DCI Carter know about this?’ she asked, looking up at Jane.
‘He wasn’t at the station when I rang to tell him.’
‘He’s probably on his way here. He does put the pressure on. We’ve been working all morning on the victim, and I’ve got old Johnson leading the pathology report. But, as you well know, he is not a man to be hurried. He’s going to be taken aback when I present him with this little one.’
Jane knew that she was probably losing valuable time and decided she would return to the station. Just as she was leaving she asked Emra if she had any idea how long the baby had been in the shelter. Emra shook her head.
‘To be honest, I don’t. It’s mummified but it has been tightly wrapped which has protected it. I don’t think it is connected to the woman who was chained up as on examination we found she had not given birth. Besides, I would say it’s been there for many more years than she has.’
Whilst Jane was driving back to the station, Emra called DCI Carter. He listened intently, taking note of the new information, but asked her to repeat how Jane Tennison had brought in the mummified baby. He was furious as he replaced the receiver.
‘Jesus Christ!’ he said to himself. ‘She’s only been here ten minutes and she’s found another fucking body.’
He took a deep breath to calm himself, then walked into the incident room.
‘OK, attention everyone. This girl has probably been missing for a shorter time than initially estimated. Check with mispers, any blonde twenty-to-twenty-five-year-olds who went missing about five years ago. We obviously don’t know yet if she was held there as a prisoner before she died or how long she was in the bunker.’
He turned to one of the officers. ‘When Detective Inspector Jane Tennison makes an appearance, get her into my office ASAP.’
He walked off, slamming the door behind him.
Chapter Three
Jane arrived at the station and was impressed to see how much the team had already accomplished in tracking down the former residents of the house in Stockwell. One name was underlined, Brian Forgham, and Jane turned to the eager-looking young DC who was writing up the details.
‘Why is this name underlined?’ she asked. DC Tim Taylor, a probationary DC, checked his notebook.
‘We were told that he was not a resident but was employed by the previous owners as a sort of maintenance and security man. We haven’t traced him yet, but we think that he could have a lot of information for us.’
Jane nodded. ‘Who gave you his name?’
‘That was a man from the one family we have traced, Rachit Agarwal. He lived in one of the middle flats. He’s married with two children and has a small grocery shop he now lives above. He said he recalled there was another family still living there when he left.’
‘Did you interview him?’ Jane asked.
‘No, it was one of the others who’s gone off trying to trace Forgham at Companies House. We don’t have an address for him. Apparently, according to Rachit, the basement was always out of bounds and no tenant was allowed in the garden. He also described Forgham as being a rather unpleasant bloke, ex-army.’
Jane took off her coat and was heading for her office when she turned and suggested to DC Taylor that they make it a priority to find the whereabouts of Mr Forgham. As she opened her office door, Barbara looked over from her desk in the corner of the incident room and waved at her.
‘The governor asked for you to go in and see him as soon as you returned,’ she said.
Jane nodded her thanks and went into her office. After she had hung up her coat and run a brush through her hair, she went next door to see Carter. She would have liked to go up to the canteen to grab a sandwich first as she hadn’t eaten since very early that morning, but thought it was probably unwise to keep Carter waiting.
She tapped on the door and entered Carter’s office. He was finishing what looked like a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, which made Jane’s stomach rumble, and had a large mug of coffee in front of him. He gestured to Jane to sit down.
‘Now, what is this new bloody development, Tennison?’
Jane found his tone annoying, but replied calmly. ‘I went to the site where the body was found, as there was no real action at the station, and I felt it might be informative.’
‘Informative?’ he snapped.
‘Yes, sir. As it turned out, it was more than that. I spotted two concrete slabs tied together with a leather belt and thought I should examine them. Actually, sir, I think perhaps someone should have a word with SOCO as they must have overlooked them.’
‘Don’t you start having a go at any of those lads,’ Carter said firmly. ‘They were working under tremendous difficulty and the bloody shelter was unsafe. Getting the arc lights in was quite a business, along with the generator. Anyway, so, you found these blocks, did you? Near the wall that was damaged by the digger?’
‘Yes, that’s right, sir. I was assisted by the foreman who carried them out of the shelter. He cut the leather belt as it was tied securely around the two blocks. When I examined the contents, I discovered it was an infant wrapped very tightly in a blanket and some kind of waterproof material. The material had mummified the baby.’
Carter sighed as he wiped his mouth with a paper napkin and threw it in the waste bin.