Maggie picked up the handset and held it between her ear and shoulder as she dialled the number for Dr Blake. It took nearly ten minutes before she was finally put through to the pathologist.
‘Wow. That took ages, Fiona. How are you?’
‘Yes. Sorry about that. We have a lot of agency staff here at the moment. Half these people don’t know their heads from their arseholes. I’d be better off answering the phone myself! But I’m guessing you didn’t call to hear me rant. What can I do for you?’
‘I know it’s a long shot, but do you have anything for us on the victim?’ Maggie held the phone slightly away from her ear in case Dr Blake decided to let off more steam. She didn’t think her ear could take anymore.
‘I know I’m fast, but not that fast. I don’t really have much to tell you as this one isn’t as straightforward as a stabbing or strangulation. Other than two black eyes, and bruising where she was bound, I haven’t been able to distinguish the cause of death just yet. There are no lacerations or visible wounds. I’ve ordered some further tests and a scan to see if it was an overdose or something not visible to the human eye. Of course, it may be more obvious once I get a chance to do the full post-mortem, but as she has only recently arrived, I haven’t had time to prep for that yet. I can tell you that she was bathed before being disposed of – probably to get rid of any trace evidence. I can’t really offer you anything further at this time.’
‘Thanks. I knew I was grasping at straws, but just thought we might get something to kickstart the investigation.’
‘I’ll be sure to forward all my findings as soon as I have them. Speak later.’
Nathan popped his head out of his office and signalled for Maggie to come over. ‘Have you heard anything from forensics yet?’
‘I just got off the phone with Dr Blake. She doesn’t have anything substantial at the moment, but did say that there were no discernible trauma wounds on the body. She’s running further tests and will be starting the post-mortem soon. Do you think the victim could have died of a pre-existing condition before our killer had a chance to do anything?’ This had been niggling Maggie earlier; the injuries at the outset hadn’t looked like they would necessarily kill a person. No visible head wounds. No knife or gunshot wounds. Just a lot of bruising and some abrasions.
‘Interesting point. Maybe that’s why she ended up in the park – because our killer hadn’t been expecting her to die so soon.’
‘Maggie! Nathan! Can you come here for a minute?’ Bethany was holding her hand over the telephone handset.
‘I’m just on the phone with Missing Persons and they advised that a twenty-eight-year-old female—’
Bethany looked down on to her desk where her notepad sat open, ‘name of … Tracy Holloway was reported missing five weeks ago by her parents. She was on her way to their house but never showed up and she would usually call if her plans had changed.’ Bethany returned to her call with the Misper Unit.
‘OK so we may have ID’d our vic. Let’s wait until Bethany is off the phone and has a picture and address details.’
Maggie’s mobile phone rang before Nathan had the opportunity to finish his sentence. She held a hand up to stop him from continuing before answering.
‘DC Jamieson speaking.’ Maggie’s shoulders sagged with relief. ‘Kate. Holy shit, where have you been?’