“Did she shoot up, you mean?” Kate pushed up the right sleeve of the girl’s sweater, then repeated the process with the left. “There are some tracks, but nothing that looks terribly recent. Unless she injected somewhere else.”
“Can you tell if she fought her attacker?”
The pathologist lifted the hands in turn, examining the fingertips.
Beverly’s nails were bitten to the quick, and one cuticle bore a smear of dried blood. “Hers?” Kincaid asked, bending down to look more closely.
“I think so, but…” Kate isolated the middle finger on the right hand. “Even as short as her nails are, we may have some trace evidence here.” She looked up. “You know I can’t tell you much more until I get her on the table. I can’t even be absolutely certain that strangulation was the cause of death.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Time of death? Come on, live dangerously, Doc.”
“You never give up, do you?” asked Kate, flashing him a grin. Then she turned back to the body, checking the exposed skin of the arms for lividity, testing the limbs and neck for rigor. “I’ll have to get a temp, but off the cuff I’d say at least twelve hours. But if you quote me, I’ll deny it.” She stood up and reached for her instruments. “Oh, and livor mortis seems to be very well defined. I don’t think she was moved from this spot.”
“Well,” said Kincaid. “At least this time we have an idea where to start.”
Gemma had driven Kit back to school, insisting that he finish his afternoon classes. He hadn’t objected. He hadn’t spoken at all during the drive from the court to Notting Hill, and his silence worried Gemma more than any angry tirade.
When she stopped the car, she said, “It’ll be all right, Kit. We’ll work things out.”
He’d given her a look that told her he knew it was an empty promise, and when she tried to hug him, he pulled away. As she watched him walk into the school gates, she felt a rush of helplessness, followed by a fury that left her trembling.
Not trusting herself to talk to Kincaid over the phone, Gemma had rung Doug Cullen for directions to the crime scene. She’d left her schedule free for the afternoon, as she hadn’t known how long the court proceeding would take, and she decided that anything pending could wait a bit longer. She was going to Southwark.
Now she ducked under the tape strung round the edge of the rubble-strewn vacant ground, then stood for a moment, picking out Kincaid’s figure among the group huddled round a tarp at the far side of the lot. Their faces were briefly illuminated by the photographer’s flash and she recognized Kate Ling and Maura Bell.
Kincaid looked up then, and when he saw her, he came quickly to meet her.
His smile of greeting faded as he saw her face. “Gemma. Is everything okay? How did it go?”
“It was a disaster. It was bloody well dreadful, if you want to know.” All her pent-up anger and worry spilled out in a flood of bitter words. “It couldn’t have been worse if we were axe murderers. Eugenia seemed plausible, while we looked like irresponsible parents – not that the judge could see that we had any qualifications to be Kit’s parents. Without proof that you’re Kit’s natural father-”
“I’ll talk to her – I can explain-”
“And the worst thing about it was that at least part of what she said was true. Ian is irresponsible. And we’re not always there for Kit. You weren’t there for him today.”
Kincaid looked devastated, and Gemma knew that if she’d meant to wound him, she’d succeeded.
“I know I let him down,” he said in appeal. “I’ll make it up to him somehow. Surely the judge will see reason.” He gestured towards the group gathered round the body. “I couldn’t leave today. I had no choice.”
“You did have a choice. You chose the job,” she spat back at him. But even as she said it, she saw the mortuary attendants lift Beverly Brown’s small form onto a body bag, and she wondered whether she would have done the same.
When Kincaid and Maura Bell rang the bell at the shelter, the door buzzed open immediately. The stairs seemed steeper than the last time he’d climbed them, the stairwell more dank and airless. His legs felt leaden and his shirt, still damp from the sudden soaking they’d received at the graveyard, clung to his skin as tenaciously as Gemma’s words haunted his conscience. As he followed Maura upwards, he was grateful to her for pretending she hadn’t witnessed their very public row.
They found Kath Warren waiting for them in the first-floor corridor, an anxious expression on her face.
“We’ve just now rung the police,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”
“Why? What’s happened?” Kincaid asked as they followed her back into the office. Kath moved a stack of files from a chair so that they could sit, but neither accepted the offer.
Jason Nesbitt was on the phone, but he quickly rang off and stood up to shake their hands. “It’s Mouse,” he said. “Beverly Brown. She seems to have gone walkabout on us. The girls woke up this morning and came looking for their mummy, so she must have gone out sometime in the night.”
“I thought you had a sign-out system?” Kincaid said with a quick glance at Maura. He wanted to hear what Kath and Jason had to say before he revealed anything.
Kath looked uncomfortable. “We do, but Bev didn’t sign out, and Shawna, the girl on the desk last night, didn’t see her leave.” She sighed. “Shawna’s not always as dependable as she might be. We may have to do away with the telly in the staff room.”
“Why have you waited until now to report her missing? Weren’t you worried about her?” Maura sounded more puzzled than accusing, and Kincaid thought it a giant leap in finesse.
“It’s not the first time this has happened,” Kath said reluctantly. “The last time she managed to sneak back in before she was missed, and we only learned what had happened when the children talked about waking up in the night and missing her. The residents aren’t given the security code, you see – they have to be buzzed in – but sometimes they piggyback on one another. We thought she’d turn up this morning, trying to bluff her way out of it, but…” She looked at the clock.
“What happens if the residents go absent without leave like that?” Kincaid asked.
“We try to give the women every chance, if we can see they’re making an effort, but Bev’s pushed it too far this time. It sets a bad example for the others. I’m afraid she’ll have to go.”
Kincaid caught Maura’s quick glance, and this time he nodded.
“That’s one decision you’ll be spared,” Maura said, watching their faces intently. “Beverly won’t be coming back. She’s dead. Her body was found near here a few hours ago.”
There was an instant’s silence that seemed to stretch, vibrating like a high-tension wire. Kath stared at them, one hand pressed to her mouth. Jason sank to the edge of the desk, his eyes wide.
“You’re sure?” whispered Kath. “You’re sure it’s her?”
“There’s no question,” Kincaid said. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, shit. The daft little cow.” Jason had tears in eyes now. “Look, it’s all my fault.”
The others all stared at him in surprise.
“She’s a repeater. Mouse.” When Kincaid and Maura looked at him blankly, Jason made an effort to explain. “She can’t stay away from her husband. He’s not a bad bloke, really – has a steady job as an electrician. They only row when she goes back on the drugs, and then he tries to shake some sense into her. After that, she comes in here for a few weeks, then they make it up, and she goes back to him. Until the next time.”
Kath was shaking her head. “But, Jason-”
“I suspected it. I suspected she was seeing him again. But I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to get her in trouble. And now – he must have-” His mouth twisted with distress.