Erika nodded and gestured for him to carry on.
He answered his phone and listened with his brow furrowed. ‘Really? Okay, no probs, what’s the address?’ He grabbed a pen from the table, and started to scribble on the corner of his chip paper. ‘I’m close by. I can leave now and hold the fort until you can get there… Just go slow in this weather.’ He finished the call, crammed in a mouthful of chips and stood up.
‘What is it?’ asked Erika.
‘Couple of students have found the mutilated body of a young girl in a rubbish bin.’
‘Where?’
‘Tattersall Road, near New Cross… Damn those chips are good,’ he said stuffing more into his mouth. He picked up his leather jacket from its spot on the back of the sofa and checked he had his warrant card, wallet and car keys.
Erika felt another pang of regret that she was no longer on the Murder Investigation Team.
‘Sorry, Erika. We’ll have to do this another time. I was meant to have the evening free. What were you going to say earlier?’
‘Fine. It was nothing. Who just called you?’
‘DCI Hudson. She’s stuck in the snow. Not stuck, but she’s coming out from Central London and the roads are bad.’
‘New Cross is close, I’ll come with you,’ she said, putting her plate down and grabbing her wallet and warrant card from the kitchen counter.
He followed her into the hall, pulling on his jacket. She checked her reflection in the tiny hall mirror, wiping chip grease from the corner of her mouth and running her hands through her short blonde hair. Her face was free of make-up, and despite her high cheekbones she noted it looked fuller after a week of Christmas food. Their eyes met in the mirror, and she saw his face had clouded over.
‘Is that a problem?’
‘No. We’ll go in my car, though,’ he said.
‘No. I’ll take my car.’
‘Are you going to pull rank on me here?’
‘What are you talking about? You take your own car, I’ll take mine. We’ll drive in convoy.’
‘Erika. I came here for fish and chips…’
‘Just fish and chips?’ she asked.
‘What does that mean?’
‘Nothing. You got the call, which is work, and it’s perfectly reasonable for me, as your senior officer, to attend the scene. More so if DCI Hudson is delayed…’ Her voice tailed off; she knew she was pushing it.
‘Your “senior officer”. You won’t let me forget that, will you?’
‘I hope you don’t forget that,’ she snapped, pulling on her coat. She switched off the lights and they left the flat in an uncomfortable silence.
Chapter Two
Snow fell heavily, catching in the headlights of Erika’s car as she left the line of traffic moving past New Cross train station and turned into Tattersall Road. A moment later, Peterson pulled in behind her. On the corner where the two roads met was a kitchen showroom set back with a large car park out front. The pavement was a churn of white, which reflected the flashing blue lights of three squad cars stationed out front. An unbroken line of terraced houses stretched away up a hill, and Erika could make out a few of the neighbours huddled in their glowing doorways, watching as police tape was unwound, cordoning off the car park of the kitchen showroom, which backed onto the first house in the terrace. Erika was pleased to see Detective Inspector Moss standing on the pavement in front of the police cordon, and talking to a uniformed police officer. She was a trusted colleague, and along with Peterson they had worked together on several murder investigations. Erika and Peterson found parking spots on the opposite side of the road, and then crossed over.
‘Good to see you, boss,’ said Moss, holding up the lapels of her coat against the whirling snow. She was a small solidly built woman with short red hair and a mass of freckles covering her face. ‘Are you here in an official capacity?’
Erika replied, ‘Yes’ just as Peterson said ‘No’.
‘Can you give us a moment,’ said Moss, addressing the uniformed officer.
He nodded and moved off towards one of the squad cars.
‘I was with Peterson when he got the call,’ explained Erika.
‘Always great to have you here, boss,’ said Moss. ‘I just assumed that DCI Hudson would be running this.’
‘I’m here until she arrives,’ said Erika, blinking against the onslaught of snow. Moss looked between them, and there was an awkward pause.
‘So, can I see what we’re dealing with?’ asked Erika.
‘Body of a young woman, badly beaten,’ said Moss. ‘The bad weather is also slowing down the CSIs and forensics. Uniform responded to the call; one of the students who lives in the end terrace over there went to the rubbish bins and found the body.’
‘Do we have crime scene overalls available?’ asked Erika.
Moss nodded. They moved to the police tape strung across the gate to the car park, and there was an awkward moment as Erika waited for Peterson to lift it for her. She shot him a look, he lifted it, and she moved past him and into the car park.
‘Oh bloody hell, are they a couple now?’ muttered Moss to herself. ‘They say never work with children or animals, they never mention couples.’
She followed, and joined Erika and Peterson pulling on crime scene overalls. They then ducked under the police tape and went over to a large industrial rubbish bin chained to the brick wall of the kitchen showroom. The curved lid was tipped back. Moss directed the powerful beam of a torch inside.
‘My God,’ said Peterson, stepping back and putting a hand to his mouth.
Erika didn’t flinch, but just stared.
Lying on her right side, on a pile of neatly stacked, broken-down cardboard boxes, was the body of a young woman. She had been badly beaten; her eyes were swollen shut and her long brown hair was matted with congealed blood. She was naked from the waist down, and her legs were criss-crossed with cuts and gashes. She wore a small T-shirt, but it was impossible to tell what colour it had once been, as it too was saturated with blood.
‘And look,’ said Moss softly. She directed the torch onto the top of the girl’s head, where the skull had caved in.
‘And it was students who found her?’ said Erika.
‘They were waiting outside when uniform arrived,’ said Moss. ‘You can see their front door opens out into the car park, so we couldn’t let them back in when we taped off the crime scene.’
‘Where are they?’
‘Uniform put them in a car up the road.’
‘Let’s close things up until forensics get here,’ said Erika, noting the snow which was forming a thin layer over the body and surrounding cardboard boxes.
Peterson placed his gloved hands on the dumpster, and slowly pulled the curved lid back, closing the body off from the elements.