Time To Play by KA Richardson (best book club books of all time TXT) 📗

she didn’t know what it was between her and Ali yet, anyway. This morning hadn’t been awkward; she’d thought it might be, but they’d sat drinking coffee and chatting like they did it every morning. It all still felt a little surreal.

Pulling herself back into the here and now, she focussed her gaze back on the sonar screen. Wouldn’t do to miss anything.

Mortuary, Sunderland Royal Hospital – 17 November

‘OK, guys, I think it’s about time we broke for lunch,’ said Nigel Evans, glancing around the mortuary examination room for confirmation.

So far, they’d done two of the six post-mortems. They’d started in the order the girls had been pulled out of the water, so newest kill first. She’d only been in the water maybe twelve hours when she’d been found. Her injuries were marginally different from the second body he’d looked at; different broken bones, but strangulation the definitive cause of death.

Following the CSIs, he made his way to the washroom and cleaned down before stripping out of his protective clothing and heading to the kitchen.

‘Hey, Nigel,’ said Ali. ‘Your Earl Grey’s on the side. I arrived halfway through the second PM. Didn’t want to disturb you so I stayed in the viewing room.’

‘Anyone want owt from the canteen?’ asked Deena, glancing round before standing with Johnny. ‘We’re heading over now. Didn’t bring bait.’

‘I wouldn’t mind a sarnie please, love. Anything is fine, and a bottle of coke.’ Ali pulled some coins out and handed them over. Deena and Johnny left, leaving Ali, Cass, and Nigel sat together at the table.

‘So, what’ve we got, Nigel?’ asked Ali.

‘Both females examined so far are approximately 16-18 years old. Can’t say much more than that I’m afraid. Even bone density tests will only give an approximate age. They’re both of south-east Asian ethnicity at a guess from the bone structure and features – I’d say possibly Filipino. Again, the tests will confirm this. The first one pulled out was immersed no more than twenty-four hours prior to the body being located. Allowing for the water temperature’s impact on body temperature, and the ambient outside the water, I’d say she was killed between 1800- and 2000-hours last night. There was no presence of diatoms in her lungs, so she was dead before being dumped in the water. She had track marks to her arms, not fresh but obtained during the last two to three weeks. She was sexually active, though no trace was found inside the vaginal cavity. That said, the UV light has shown several older bruises to her inner thighs, so there is a possibility she was raped. I’ve done the required swabs and combs of the pubic area, though there was nothing obvious. We did find skin under her fingernails, and since her hands were protected by the plastic sheeting, I’d be hopeful of an ident.’

‘OK, have those samples been sent as priority?’ asked Ali.

Cass nodded, then Nigel continued.

‘There was evidence that both of the girls have been tortured. They both had contusions, lacerations and broken bones. The second girl is a little harder to provide a time of death for. The water and the fish have done their jobs at degrading any evidence, but I’d estimate she was placed in the water around a month ago. She had fused breaks, so it’s possible he held her for some time after she’d had the bones broken.’ Nigel stopped and took a long drink of his tea.

Cass carried on in his stead. ‘We’ve bagged the plastic and the rope from the exterior as well as the clothing and what not. Kev’s going to arrange the examinations of those items with Faith and Jackson tonight – he’s been drafted in from the south and they’re due in on back shift. They’ll check for trace, then submit the plastic to the chemical lab for examination.’ Cass sighed, ‘Poor kids. I wonder who they are. Have you checked missing persons?’

‘Charlie’s on doing it today. Looks like a slim chance of finding who they are to be honest, but you never know, right? I need to head back over to the reservoir shortly and speak to Andy. Did you hear about Connor?’

‘The lad from the dive team? Yeah, Ben’s out at the scene with Cath, one of the CSMs from the south. Awful business. They called in the blood spatter analyst. Never good when it’s one of our own.’

Ali’s Flat, Sunderland – 17 November

Ali closed the door with a soft click. He was so tired today he could cry. It wasn’t just him either; his whole team had that look of utter desolation mingled with defeat. What with the number of deaths the city had seen recently along with the number of serious assaults, and other crimes, his team had been run off their feet for weeks. Even the prospect of overtime pay for all the extra hours hadn’t been enough to crack a smile today, and it was payday.

It was a good job he had a work vehicle – he’d done the rounds about ten times over today. His eyes were strained, his calves ached. It felt like he’d done a few hours in the gym, not just driven about the city.

How he’d remembered to ring immigration about Elvie was beyond him – they’d been curt on the phone, obviously sick of being messed about. He knew if they didn’t sit down tomorrow, he’d be making things even worse for Elvie. He had to ensure the meeting took place this time.

His stomach grumbled loudly, reminding him he hadn’t eaten since the sandwich Deena had picked up for him at lunchtime. He knew he should eat. It had been days since anything substantial had passed his lips, but in truth he couldn’t be bothered. He wanted a cup of something hot and sweet, and his bed.

‘Oh crap,’ he muttered, realising that his mum had text