The officers stood outside, watching. Wendy and Trevor needed space, a few moments alone with their little girl. Dylan saw Wendy drop to her knees; she leant her head against her daughter’s arm, clasped the child’s hand in hers.
‘Mummy’s here, darling,’ she wept. ‘You’re safe now; everything will be okay. Don’t you worry.’
Trevor’s hand was on Wendy’s shoulder as he stroked Daisy’s head. He was rooted to the spot.
‘You would have been a beautiful bridesmaid, darling. Mummy and Daddy love you so, so much,’ he said, almost zombie-like. The atmosphere was chilled and the smell of rose petals was strong in the air. Dylan didn’t dare look at Janice and Dawn; the tears swimming in his eyes threatened to overspill. The death of a young child rocked him to the very core. To do his job he needed to be in control, to be focused.
Dylan disliked his bosses. With few exceptions, they neither saw nor wanted to know about this side of a homicide investigation. He simply wanted the bosses to show some interest and support for the officers who had the arduous task of dealing with the horrifying remnants of violent crime. Just turning up at the briefing or even debriefing would have been enough for him.
‘I need the toilet.’ Wendy suddenly rose from the floor, and ran to the door. ‘I’m going to be sick.’ Janice chased after her as she rushed down the short corridor and steered her to the toilets. Frantically she ran into the sanctuary of the cubicle. She was retching violently. The foul-smelling liquid sprayed the bowl and beyond as she fell to her knees on the cold, tiled floor. A hand slowly and gently held her damp fringe from her face. Janice’s other hand stroked her back.
‘Sorry. I’m sorry.’ Wendy coughed into the bowl.
‘It’s okay, it’s alright,’ Janice soothed as she stretched over her to get her some toilet paper to wipe her mouth. She turned her around, put the seat down for Wendy to sit on and helped her from the floor. Her breathing gradually slowed down and her face regained some colour.
‘Oh, god. I’m so sorry; it’s on your suit as well.’ Wendy attempted to brush the lapel on Janice’s coat.
‘Don’t worry. I’ve had a lot worse than that, believe me. Are you feeling okay now?’ she asked bending over her, still gently rubbing her back. ‘Let’s get you cleaned up and get this over with, eh?’ Wendy splashed her face with cold water in the worn basin as Janice cleaned the front of her coat as best she could. ‘Are you ready now, love?’ Wendy stared into space, looking into the old speckled mirror above the sink, and nodded.
Later, hands firmly clasped around cups as they drank hot, sweet tea, Jack Dylan promised them, ‘We’ll find the person who did this no matter how long it takes. You have my word. Daisy died from a head wound, she was hit with something once, and was killed instantly. Her body was found on grassland near to Dean Reservoir.’ He spoke slowly and clearly. It was so quiet he could hear the sound of the group breathing. ‘She wasn’t hidden, but she was naked,’ he continued.
‘The dirty, evil bastard. I’ll kill him when you find him. God help me, I’ll kill him.’ Trevor spoke through clenched teeth, his face growing red and contorted in anger, tears spilling from his eyes. ‘Please god, tell me he didn’t do that to her. Tell me he didn’t,’ he cried.
‘No. No. Give me time to finish, she was not, and I repeat not, sexually interfered with in any way.’
Their sigh of relief was audible and rippled around the small office at the mortuary.
‘She had a few other small injuries which were caused after she died. The tip of the little finger of her left hand was removed, it looks like someone attempted to shave off her eyebrows, and what looks like two cigarette burns have been made, one on each of her buttocks.’
‘What? In god’s name.’ Trevor’s eyes were red, wide and staring. Dylan could see he couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing. ‘Why the hell would anyone do that? He tortured her? I’ll kill him. Find him. I’ll do the rest.’
Wendy was quiet, still, and she just stared. She had withdrawn into her innermost thoughts as if she couldn’t take any more. Dylan explained about the Press and that sometime tomorrow he would give out Daisy’s details, but not until he had heard from them that all their relatives had been informed. It was time for Janice to take them home. Daisy’s death, the death of their only child, had damaged them, perhaps beyond repair. Their lives had been changed forever.
Dylan drove Dawn back to the nick to collect her car. ‘You’re quiet, you okay?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, I was just thinking. Imagine your only child being taken from you in such a savage way. Life can be so cruel,’ she sighed.
‘And without warning. You never know what’s around the corner, eh?’ he said thoughtfully.
He pulled up at the side of her Suzuki Swift, both of them submerged in their own thoughts.
‘You keep smiling,’ he said as she got out of the car, leaving the door open as she walked to her car. He reached over the passenger seat for the door handle to pull it shut. For the first time ever he was worried how a murder was affecting Dawn. ‘Hey, and don’t be bloody late in the morning. I need a top deputy on this one,’ he shouted after her. She turned and glanced over her shoulder, managing a brief smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Dylan felt for the Hinds, but he also felt for his team. They were human after all. They had feelings and this one hurt. He wondered, like Dawn had said on so many occasions, how people found the strength to cope with such personal devastation. ‘Somehow evil walks amongst us,’ he had once read.
Very poignant
, he thought. He was tired, but strangely pleased that Daisy had been found. At least it wouldn’t be a case of the family searching for years. He was frustrated and concerned that nobody was locked up or even in the frame, but Dylan wasn’t a quitter. He was determined to find the murdering bastard. The pressure on him over the next few days and weeks would be immense.
His thoughts turned to Jen. She had a lot to put up with. He never seemed to see her these days. She ran to meet him at the door with Max when she heard his key in the lock. He didn’t know how he’d coped going home to an empty flat before he’d met Jen, and he held her tightly. Knowing how lucky he was made all the difference. He savoured every minute with her.
‘I’ll run you a bath, love. My mortuary man,’ she screwed her nose up, smelling the rot on him as she reached up for a kiss. She had already showered, and had on her light pink silk dressing gown, her hair clipped back. She smelled of
Rive Gauche
and looked beautiful to Dylan. Clothes dumped; sat in the bath, coffee in hand, Jen sponged his aching back. He lay back, closed his eyes, and purred like a contented cat.
‘I worry about you. How do you work at the pace you do? See the things that you see and not be affected by it?’ she asked, her head in the crook of her arm rested on the bath’s edge, as she continued to sponge his body.
‘I don’t think about it a lot,’ he whispered contentedly, guarded.
‘But how does a man as gentle and kind as you turn into the hard-faced detective? It’s unnerving, as though you just flick a switch. Sometimes I wonder if I know you at all when we’re at work, you’re so … different.’
He opened his eyes and looked at her. ‘Okay, you want to know how I felt inside today? It was awful, really bloody awful. Daisy’s parents collapsed on us. The poor little girl had been stripped, her eyebrows shaved, she’d been burned. I saw how it affected the whole team.’
‘And you?’ She sighed, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.
‘I can’t let the team see, can I? Superhuman Jack Dylan, I think not. The sight of her tore me apart; she could’ve been a child of my own.’
‘You are superhuman, to me.’ She smiled at him lovingly and stroked his damp face.
He got out of the bath, coffee cup still in hand, and drained the cup as she dried him. Boy was he pampered. Jen was trained in massage, reflexology, and Indian head massage, as well as being a hairdresser: he’d truly hit the jackpot when he’d found her and he was never going to let her go.
‘Right, Jack Dylan, time for bed. I want your undivided attention. No more talk about work. I need you.’ She teased him with a loving kiss.
He slapped her bum as she turned to hang up the towel. ‘And I need you too,’ he said, kissing her softly on the back of her neck.
‘Bed, my boy,’ she ordered jumping on the bed and tapping the space beside her.
Their lovemaking was always fulfilling. He still hadn’t got over the newness of her and knowing that work could call him out again that night, he turned into her curves, snuggled up and slept.
He awoke at half past six to the smell of bacon and before his eyes a breakfast tray appeared.
‘Morning, sleepyhead, your hair needs cutting,’ Jen said ruffling his hair. ‘You look like Tin Tin in the morning when your hair stands up in the middle like that.’ She laughed, playing with the hair on the top of his head. He smiled at her sleepily. She busied herself around the bedroom, drawing back the curtains and collecting the washing from the laundry basket. His clothes were draped neatly on the wardrobe’s plinth to the side of the bed: dark navy suit, crisp white shirt and striped tie.
God, is she organised,
he thought as she dropped a kiss on his forehead, and then he tucked into his breakfast.
He dressed and was ready for another day, wondering what it would bring. Stroking Max at the door he gave Jen a kiss and held her in his arms.
‘I do love you, you know,’ he said very aware that when the job was running he abandoned her.
‘I know. I just worry about you, that’s all,’ she said stroking his lapel as he held her close. ‘I would like to spend more time with you instead of sitting here waiting for you to come home. I hate watching while they pile more and more work on you. I mean, four murders in as many months. And I can’t even tell anyone we are together. You know I can’t lie. What if someone asks me outright? Oh, I know the reasons why, all the gossip, and you’re only looking out for me, but I’m proud to be on your arm, Jack.’
‘I know, love, and I’m proud of you too. If it comes out we’ll deal with it. I know we won’t be able to keep it secret forever, but for now it’s our secret,’ he said kissing the tip of her nose.
‘Don’t push yourself, Jack, that’s all I ask,’ she said as she pulled away from the embrace. ‘Remember you’re no good to anybody dead.’
Chapter Eight
Dawn was already in the office when Dylan arrived. A phone was ringing and she reached over her desk to pick it up, nodding as he entered. He took his jacket off and swung it over the back of his chair, unlocked his desk and methodically reached for the papers in his in-tray. Dawn was silent, he noticed, as she listened intently to the caller. Closing her eyes she handed the phone to Dylan. ‘I think you’d better take this, sir,’ she said.
‘Boss. Just letting you know that Grandma Irene died about two hours ago. We’ve just called the doctor out for Wendy. She’s not good and to be honest Trevor isn’t much better.’
‘Flaming hell, Janice, that’s terrible. Do you need any help? I’ll get on to HQ again.’ He looked over at Dawn who held her head in her hands.
‘No, I’m fine, honest, boss. It’s just so bloody sad. Can you imagine losing your daughter and your mother in less than twenty-four hours? It’s just surreal.’
‘God, I know. Look, I’m being hounded by the Press. I’ve got a conference at eleven. They want me to name Daisy. I need to know if the family have been informed and I suppose the same goes for Grandma. If you could tell them I’d be grateful for confirmation as soon as possible, and explain how it’ll help get the media’s support. Pass on my condolences, will you?’
‘No problem, sir. I’ll have to speak to Trevor. Wendy is just out of it. She’s saying her mum has just gone to get Daisy. I’ll get back to you shortly.’
‘Thanks. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to give us a call.’ He didn’t replace the phone on its cradle when Janice rang off, but held it to his cheek. Dylan was thoughtful. ‘Can we arrange one of our team to assist Janice with the family liaison, Dawn? I’ll ring HQ and bollock them. What’s the point in having Home Office guidance and force policies if they don’t adhere to them?’ Dawn cringed as she listened to him tell the person on the other end of the phone at HQ in no uncertain terms that they needed another
FLO immediately. Meanwhile, she arranged for DC Susan Raynor to back Janice up until further assistance arrived.
‘Talk about the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Irene dying will really destroy the Hinds. They seem to be such a close family.’
‘Thank god they are,’ said Dawn.
It was a high profile case, a child dead; the media were in a frenzy, desperate for information. The telephone rang and Dawn answered it. ‘Press Office for you, boss. It’s Rachel,’ she said, as she handed it over the desk.
He covered the mouthpiece, ‘Coffee,’ he mouthed to Dawn. She made a one-fingered gesture at him. ‘Do it,’ Dylan said firmly.
‘Okay, okay I’m going,’ she said getting up. ‘Male chauvinist,’ she called as she blustered out of the door. He smiled. ‘Pig,’ she mimed through the glass.
‘Hi. Rachel. Sorry about that. Staff problems. Now, press conference at Harrowfield HQ still on for eleven, if you can confirm it to the media? I’m still not in a position to name the girl to the public until I know family members have been contacted. I’m just waiting for the FLO to confirm. Maybe by eleven we’ll have that confirmation.’
He told Rachel about Irene’s death.
‘Heavens, that’s terrible. And national TV and Sky are chasing you for interviews, obviously its high interest, a child murdered, and now her grandmother dying.’
‘Can you get over to Harrowfield a bit before eleven? I need to discuss my approach and what I’ll say at the conference with you.’
‘Yeah, I’ll be with you in about half an hour.’
He was worried about how the papers would sensationalise it. He could see the headlines now: NAKED BODY OF YOUNG GIRL FOUND, GRANDMA DIES OF SHOCK. He knew he had no control over it, but he felt for the family and the community. Fear would blanket the village and surrounding areas. He made a quick call to Jen. Luckily with a phone on her desk he could ring her whenever he wanted.