Page 13 of Maybe Tomorrow

‘She was found with a downed tree on her fucking back. What would you have thought?’ Bishop shouted.

‘A lone, young female found dead in woodland should have set alarm bells ringing. I mean, Jesus Christ, it’s not that long since the Yorkshire Ripper was front-page news. Haven’t you lot learned anything from the way that was handled?’

‘Different force,’ Bishop said, looking away.

‘Oh. So, everything runs perfectly smoothly and by the book in North East Police, does it?’

‘We did everything right.’

‘No, you didn’t, or you would have spotted the signs of strangulation straight away. She’s got two bloody big thumb prints on the back of her neck.’

‘Shit,’ Bishop spat through gritted teeth. ‘What else can you tell me?’

‘There’s evidence of a blunt force trauma to the back of the head. I can’t tell if it’s from someone hitting her or if it was from a falling branch. I’d normally say we’ll take a closer look, but she’s been washed.’

‘Fuck.’

‘Also, her knickers are missing and there’s evidence of recent sexual activity.’

‘She was raped?’

‘We won’t know until we’ve done the full PM, but I’m not doing anything until I have a police presence in that room to supervise.’

‘DC Ritter is scrubbing up now,’ Bishop said, falling into a seat. His face looked ashen. His eyes darted left and right, rapidly, as he thought. ‘You’ve got her clothes?’

‘Yes. They’re bagged up in the suite.’

‘I’ll have to send a team out to the woods, see if they can find anything useful. Look, Dr Nash… Paul… my team is under a great deal of scrutiny at the moment, especially with the Douglas Broughton case going tits up last year. If you could just not mention this in your report, that would be a big help to me,’ he said, his eyes wide with a slimy, placating smile on his face.

‘You’re asking me to write a false report?’

‘No. Just, you know, write your report in the usual way, but don’t mention that she was brought in as a simple accident. Just state that you did your PM and found evidence of rape and strangulation and we launched a murder inquiry.’

‘You’re asking me to lie?’

‘I’m asking you to help me out, Paul.’

‘Sorry. No can do.’

‘I’m not asking you to out and out lie, just, hold back on a few details.’

Nash folded his arms.

‘You bastard,’ Bishop seethed.

‘Before you carry on, DI Bishop, I should inform you that we’re standing in the exhibits room which has an open mic that can pick up everything said in here so conversations can be relayed to the post-mortem suite, and that every single member of my staff, and including your DC Ritter, have heard every word you’ve just said.’

Bishop turned and looked out of the window at the masked faces glaring back at him.

He didn’t say anything. There was nothing he could say. He stormed past Dr Nash, shouldering him hard in the process, and headed for the exit.

DI Bishop pulled up in his Astra as close to the site where Alice Patterson was found dead as possible. A marked police car was already there with two PCs inside. Bishop climbed out of the car, slammed the door behind him and lit up a cigarette.

‘Were you first on the scene?’ he asked.

‘No, sir. We arrived just afterwards. We both stood on the cordon and told people they couldn’t go in. It’s busy with joggers and dog walkers in the early morning.’

‘Show me,’ Bishop said.