Read the book: «At Your Door»

CHAPTER TWO

Anna told DI Walker and DC Megan Sweeny that she wanted them to go with her to the common. She then issued various instructions to the rest of the detectives.

‘Check missing persons to see if any young women have been added to the database recently. And I want us to locate all the street cameras within a half-mile radius of where the body’s been found.’

Anna hurried back into her office to collect her jacket and shoulder bag. As she was stepping back out her mobile rang. She answered it without checking the caller ID.

‘DCI Tate,’ she said.

‘Hello, detective. This is Jan Groves in the Media Liaison Department. Can you spare a moment?’

‘Not really. I’m on my way out of the office. And if you’re calling to ask about the body found on Barnes Common then I don’t have any information yet. We’ve only just got wind of it.’

‘Actually it’s got nothing to do with that,’ Groves said. ‘This is more of a personal matter.’

Anna paused in the doorway and frowned.

‘In that case I’ll let you satisfy my curiosity,’ she said. ‘I can give you sixty seconds. So fire away.’

‘Well, we’ve been contacted by a producer at Channel Four,’ Groves said. ‘He just finished the second instalment of the feature about you that’s been published in the Evening Standard. He said it blew his mind and he’d like to do a programme on it for their true crime series. He wants to know if you’d be willing to cooperate.’

Anna’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Of course I’m up for it. And the sooner it happens the better.’

‘I thought that would be your reaction,’ Groves said. ‘I’ll get back to him right away. Your superiors will need to sign off on it, but I don’t think that will be a problem. We’re working closely with several TV channels on a whole bunch of programmes at present.’

Anna was well aware of that. True crime documentaries were all the rage with broadcasters these days. Viewers were lapping them up, and that was good for the force because they often shed new light on unsolved cases going back years.

‘As a matter of interest have you had any other response to the article in the Standard?’ Groves asked.

‘Nobody has contacted me yet,’ Anna said. ‘I checked with the paper a few hours ago but they said they hadn’t received any calls or emails either.’

‘That’s a shame. I thought it was a really well-written piece, and the story itself is just extraordinary. Hopefully you’ll have better luck if we can get this doco off the ground.’

‘I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed,’ Anna said.

‘And I’ll keep you updated on where we are with it.’

After ending the call, Anna took a moment to reflect on this latest news. In the ten years she’d been searching for her daughter she had never felt so close to finding her. Now, for the first time, the full story of Chloe’s abduction, including the recent shocking developments, was going to be aired on a mainstream TV channel. With luck it would be seen by someone who had information that could end Anna’s long-running nightmare.

It was hard for her to contain her excitement, but she knew she had to, at least for now. If she didn’t squeeze it to the back of her mind it would become a distraction, and she couldn’t allow that to happen at the start of what might prove to be a major new investigation.

She needed to focus all her attention on the job at hand. She owed that to the family of the young woman whose body had turned up on Barnes Common.

Anna travelled across South London in a pool car with DI Walker and DC Sweeny.

Walker, who was in his late thirties, had been part of the team for four years and was Anna’s most trusted wingman. Sweeny, who was several years younger, had joined only three months ago and Anna was keen for her to have plenty of crime scene experience.

Walker was driving and Sweeny was in the back Googling the location of the body on her phone browser.

‘It’s right next to the road that passes between Barnes Common and Putney Lower Common,’ she was saying. ‘Just opposite there’s a cemetery that’s been closed to new burials for years. But it’s quite well known because it contains some Commonwealth war graves.’

Anna was familiar with the area, which had more open spaces than any other part of London. To the south of Barnes Common was Richmond Park, Putney Heath and Wimbledon Common. To the north was the Thames and the London Wetland Centre, an urban oasis for wildlife, with lakes, ponds and gardens.

The area contained hundreds of acres of woods and heathland, but very few bodies had ever been found there, which was perhaps surprising given the capital’s high murder and suicide rates. That wasn’t to say there weren’t dozens buried beneath the topsoil or lying undiscovered amidst thick hedgerows.

Anna was already wondering about the woman whose corpse they were going to see. Was she married or single? Did she have children? Did she die on the common or elsewhere? Who found her? And why was she naked?

The questions would pile up as per usual and it would be their job to seek out the answers. They would also have to break the news to those with whom the woman had a relationship. The next of kin, be it mother, father, husband, son or daughter. It was a thankless task that Anna had carried out far too many times during her seventeen years on the force.

Her thoughts were interrupted by another call on her mobile. This time she checked the caller ID before answering. It was her boss, DCS Bill Nash.

‘I can guess why you’re ringing, guv,’ she said. ‘We’re on our way to Barnes Common now. Traffic’s pretty heavy but we should be there in ten minutes or so.’

‘Well, I won’t be back in London until tomorrow,’ he responded. ‘But I want you to keep me updated. This sounds like a nasty one.’

Anna had forgotten that Nash had been attending a two-day conference in Newcastle with other senior police officers from all over the country.

‘Everything is in hand,’ she said. ‘Uniform are already at the scene and forensics should have arrived by now too.’

‘Well, don’t hesitate to call me if there are any problems.’

It was only about two miles from MIT HQ to Barnes Common, but it was rush hour and therefore slow going even with the blue light flashing.

They finally arrived at their destination at five-thirty. It was a rural setting that should have been deserted and peaceful. Instead it was a scene of frenzied activity.

On one side of the road three patrol cars, a fast-response ambulance and a forensics van were parked in front of the wall to the cemetery that Sweeny had mentioned. On the opposite side a small group had gathered on a rough patch of gravel leading to a field. They included four officers in hi-vis jackets, a paramedic and a woman with a small dog on a lead.

Walker parked up next to the ambulance and Anna was the first out. The sky had clouded over and she was glad because it had taken the heat out of the day. It meant she could leave her jacket on without sweating buckets.

‘Well, it’s time to find out what we have here,’ she said as she led the way across the road.

The detectives flashed their warrant cards and one of the uniforms quickly put them in the picture.

‘We’ve just been informed that the pathologist will be here any minute,’ he said.

He gestured to a metal gate behind him that blocked any vehicles driving onto the field, but there was a smaller gate to one side which led to an unpaved walking trail.

‘We’re trying to find out who owns the land so we can get them to open the gate,’ he went on. ‘The body is about forty yards into those woods over to the right. The SOCOs arrived ten minutes ago and are getting themselves sorted.’

‘So who found it?’ Anna asked.

The officer nodded towards the woman with the dog, who was speaking to the paramedic.

‘Her name’s Joyce Connor. Her mutt sniffed it out and she called it in. But understandably she’s in a bit of a state.’

‘We’ll talk to her in a moment,’ Anna said. ‘First we’ll see the body for ourselves.’

‘Well, you need to brace yourselves,’ the officer said. ‘It really isn’t a pretty sight.’