Woman in the Water. Katerina Diamond
Imogen handed Adrian a coffee she had picked up on the way over. He hadn’t left the hospital all night; he had barely slept since she had been discovered yesterday. He was a mess.
She looked at the woman. She could see instantly why Adrian was so affected by this case. Who wouldn’t be? The cuts and bruises across the woman’s face looked angry against her pale, shiny porcelain skin. Imogen could see the weave line of the woman’s hair extensions – not cheap ones, either. The nails she had left were acrylics, a French manicure. Her clothes were folded on the chair by the bed – Stella McCartney jeans that run at three hundred quid a go. Imogen wondered how much they would be worth now they had been cut into several pieces. There was also a gold ring, a wedding band, sitting on the bedside table. Presumably, it was hers. Whoever this lady was, she wasn’t destitute and yet still no one had reported her missing.
‘Hey,’ Adrian said, standing and stretching out of his hunched seated slumber.
Imogen waved Adrian over to the corner of the room, as far away from the woman as they could get without actually leaving the room.
‘We found another body in the water, about a mile from where you found the woman. Male, similar age – dead, though; much worse injuries than her. They must be connected. I’m going to have to ask her about it,’ she said quietly.
‘Why didn’t you call and tell me?’
‘I thought it would be better in person. DCI Kapoor wanted me to question her, so I thought it best just to tell you when I got here.’
The truth was, she wanted to check on Adrian. He had refused to leave until the woman had woken. Well, she was awake now.
‘Maybe he will have some ID on him. We still don’t know her name; she said she doesn’t remember.’
‘Do you believe her?’
‘I don’t know what I think, to be honest. I don’t know why she would lie. Do we know anything else about the body?’
‘No, but hopefully the pathologist will be able to tell us more. It’s possible he is your woman’s boyfriend but we don’t know that either. The DCI wants us back at the station to brief us after we have spoken to her.’
‘I don’t want to leave her.’
‘What did the doctor say?’
‘Dr Hadley said she is going to be fine – sore for a while, but fine. She was beaten quite badly, possibly with the intention of killing her. Now that we have found the other body, that seems quite likely. Whoever did this, I get the feeling it was personal. It must have been someone who had something against her, or him. She still had valuables on her so robbery wasn’t the end goal, and according to the doctor, neither was sexual assault. Most of the damage to her was on the surface, no internal injuries. I guess we need to figure out if they were both the target or if it’s something that’s only connected to one of them.’
‘It’s already been on the news that she’s in hospital,’ Imogen said.
It was almost impossible to keep a lid on any kind of news these days.
‘Do you think she could still be in danger?’ Adrian asked.
‘I don’t think we can know anything for sure at this point. That could be why she isn’t telling us her name. We need to speak to her.’
‘She woke briefly but she hasn’t said much about anything. It’s entirely possible she really doesn’t remember what happened, given the state of her and the injuries she sustained.’
‘Or she doesn’t want us to know what happened. Maybe she is still afraid. Whoever did this is still out there,’ Imogen said.
The truth was they could speculate all they wanted at this point. Until she gave them information, or they managed to identify the man whose body they found, they might as well just be pissing in the wind. Imogen could already see how invested Adrian was; he wasn’t about to walk away from this case. Imogen shuddered involuntarily, a chill at the nape of her neck. She had a bad feeling about this woman, whoever she was. Adrian was already well and truly hooked.
They found him. They think I am asleep, but I hear them whispering. Their words drift in and out of my head as they pass my bed. That’s what happens when I try to get away, people get hurt. He warns me and yet still I persist.
When will I ever learn?
I am both glad and disturbed that I can’t remember what happened that night. I have the tiniest ember of hope left. If he thinks I am dead, then there is still a chance that I can get far enough away before the truth comes out.
In the briefing room, Adrian had his phone on the table, waiting for Dr Hadley to call and update him on the condition of their Jane Doe. She had promised to message when the woman woke again. While violent attacks were on the rise by almost twenty per cent in the last year across the country owing to a multitude of factors, including government cuts and a mounting feeling of general hopelessness among the populace, this was something else. This was personal.
He thought about the body they found. He should have checked the area to see if there was anyone else. He didn’t even think to do that. Maybe he could have saved that man if he had just walked a little further downriver. What if the man heard him? What if he tried to call out? Adrian waited for any small piece of information that would release him from the weight of his guilt.
DCI Mira Kapoor walked into the briefing room with DI Walsh and nodded at Adrian before putting her mug down on the desk. Gary Tunney followed closely behind and opened his laptop. Gary was the district forensic computer analyst and all-round genius; they relied on him for a lot and he seemed more than happy to oblige. He was one of those people who was constantly thirsting for knowledge, always doing a course of some kind or other. At present, Gary was doing a part-time degree in forensic psychology. Adrian was a little in awe of Gary’s capacity to learn things.
‘First, great job, DS Miles. That must have been a very upsetting situation and I’m very proud of the way you dealt with it. You’re a credit to the station.’
Adrian was slightly taken aback by this comment, as it wasn’t like Kapoor to heap the praise on quite so thickly. Just take the compliment, he thought.
‘Thank you, Ma’am.’
‘Also, thank you for staying with the Jane Doe at the hospital last night. Now, we don’t have an ID on the male victim, is that correct?’
‘Nothing as yet,’ Imogen said.
‘And she still hasn’t said who she is?’ DCI Kapoor added.
Adrian looked at the DCI and shook his head.
‘Has anyone been reported missing?’ she asked.
‘Not in the last week,’ Gary said.
‘Well, they came from somewhere and so someone is missing them. When the woman spoke to you, did you notice an accent? Was she British?’
‘I believe so. She hasn’t said much, but it seemed to be an English accent.’
‘Gary, do you have anything?’ the DCI said.
‘I haven’t managed to find anything through the CCTV; there’s not a whole lot of cameras down that way,’ Gary said sheepishly.
Adrian