Page 14 of In Too Deep

“Bold strategy.” She looked back down. “Water’s muddied it. Decomposition started, not advanced. Days, I’d say.”

“Define days.”

“I don’t. Not here.” She huffed. “Not unless you want me to be wrong in writing later.”

“That would be inconvenient.”

“For both of us.”

He didn’t give up. He needed something. “Could it be longer than days?”

“Everything can be longer in water. Whether it is? Different question. And I’m not saying something that can be later used against me in court.”

“Okay. Injuries, then?”

She angled her head, studying the damage. “Consistent with blunt force. I’ll give you proper wording once she’s on a table and I’ve had a look without a river getting involved and you standing over me all menacing.”

“Hardly menacing.” He held out his arms in a display of his rather casual attire.

She tilted her neck. “The Met let you dress like that, or have you fully embraced the slow pace of Yorkshire?”

“You’re catching me on my day off.”

A faint smile touched the corner of her mouth. “You don’t get days off.”

“I’m realising that.”

She smiled, lingering her gaze on him. “You’re easier on the eye than the other guy.” She tipped her chin in Calder’s direction. “Though the last Hartswick DI did used to bring me flowers.”

“I’m not sure I’m your type.”

“Oh, I’m not fussy. You’ve got a pulse, so that’s a step up from most of the men I meet in the field.”

“Ha, I see. Thanks for the…compliment.”

“You are cute, though.”

“I’ve not been cute since the nineties.”

She shrugged, then dropped her attention back to the body as if the moment had never happened. “Coffee works just as well, by the way.”

“I can manage coffee.”

“Good.” She grinned. “You can save the flowers for your husband.”

Harrison allowed the faintest trace of a smile. Then his thumb found the ring on his left hand, turning it once around his finger. “Widower.”

“Right.” Her smile softened briefly before she returned her attention to the body. “Get her out as soon as CSI are happy. The longer she’s in here, the less I’ve got to work with.”

“You’ll have her as soon as the divers arrive.” Harrison stepped back from the tent, then strode over to Calder. “Calder?”

“Guv.”

“We’re treating this as suspicious. Full scene work. Entry and exit points, properly done. I want someone walking upstream. If she’s come in elsewhere, I want to know where that becomes likely.”

“Aye.”

“Circulate missing persons. Local first, then widen it. Recent reports as priority, but don’t exclude anything older that fits.”