I'm not the first on-site; I can see Colin Boddie's car, and the CSI van is already parked up. But the two technicians are still sitting inside. They know I'll want to see the scene for myself before it's touched. Before it's disturbed.
I turn up my collar before I get out, hoping rain this heavy will give me some sort of anonymity, but the hacks have already worked out something is up. There are too many of us here now: however casually we play this, it's only a matter of time.
The uniform at the tape sends me in the right direction without (thankfully) being witless enough to stand there and actually point, and soon I'm over my boots in mud and slurry and struggling to keep vertical. We're in enough shit, frankly, without the literal version. Up ahead I can see a white tent, a scattering of search party members, and Ian Barnetson, standing unmoving, watching me approach. His face is bleak.
`Are we sure it's her?' I say as I draw level.
He nods. `As sure as we can be right now, sir, based on what she was wearing.'
`Have we found anything else?'
`No weapon in the immediate vicinity, but we don't know where she went into the water, so it could be anywhere. Likewise there's no handbag and no phone.' He holds my gaze. `And no underwear either. The state of the body `“ I don't think there's much doubt about what he did to her.'
I swallow hard. Force myself to put up some professional protection. And then I think about Sasha's mother, who won't have that luxury. About her father, who's only just found her again. I wonder what I'd do, how I'd feel if it was me `“ if I had a daughter. And then I think `“ and it comes almost as a wonder `“ perhaps I already do.
In the gloom inside the CSI tent the only thing I can see at first is Colin Boddie crouched on the ground, his paper suit slightly luminous in the failing light. I say his name and he stands up and turns towards me and gestures to what they found.
There's no blood, because the river has seen to that, but there is damage. A cruel, relentless, again-and-again damage that would have taken time and intent to inflict. Dozens of cuts and contusions on her bare legs, and the washed-out stains of the same violence on her clothes. The flesh around her wrists sliced and swollen by the cable ties where she tried desperately to get free. And worse `“ worse than all this `“ the plastic bag, knotted hard behind her neck, clinging half transparent to the mess of brain and bone and hair.
A plastic bag. Cable ties. I can't pretend I wasn't expecting this. But it's a kick in the gut all the same.
`She took one hell of a beating,' says Boddie quietly. `But you don't need a pathologist to tell you that.'
`Please tell me at least some of those injuries are post-mortem.'
He makes a face. `Some of them, yes. But the way that bag is tied, it's possible she blacked out from lack of oxygen. We'll just have to hope so, won't we. At least before he started on her face.'
* * *
***
`He must be the one who found her,' observes Nina Mukerjee as a tall uniformed officer passes by where she and Clive Conway are unloading their equipment from the back of the CSI van.
Conway glances across. The man is up to his waist in mud. `That's Barnetson. Poor sod. It doesn't get any shittier than that.'
There's a group of CID officers gathered a few yards away and Nina watches Barnetson go up and join them.
`Fawley doesn't look too happy either,' she says.
`Well, are you surprised?' replies Clive, not bothering to look. `That's one pair of Hugo Boss brogues I wouldn't want to be in right now.'
`It's not his fault the press are shits. Or that people have ridiculous expectations about clear-up times based on the crap they see on telly.'
`It's not just that,' he says, glancing up. `Word is there's another case `“ someone Fawley put away years ago. Apparently the similarities were already starting to look embarrassing. And now this.'
He gives Nina a meaningful look, then turns to lift out the last case, banging the doors shut.
`You don't seriously think Fawley would fabricate evidence?'
Nina wouldn't say she knew the DI very well `“ not personally anyway. But she's never had the slightest doubt about his professionalism. Or his integrity.
Conway shrugs. `It doesn't have to be a conspiracy. Could just be a good old-fashioned cock-up.'
At the far end of the car park, three harassed uniforms are trying to keep the press corralled behind the police tape, but there'll still be footage of Fawley on tonight's news. And of us too, no doubt, thinks Nina. There's always mileage in a white suit. Until, of course, the undertakers arrive.
She drags herself back to the task in hand. `So what's the plan?'
`One of the search teams has found what looks like drag marks on the bank. Could be where she went in.'
Nina squints up at the sky. If it was dry, they'd be looking for footprints, blood, DNA, but now?
Clive makes a face, reading her mind. `I know, but if we wanted a cushy life we'd never have gone into this bloody job in the first place, now would we.'
* * *
Adam Fawley
5 April 2018
17.50
I get in the car and dial Somer. She must be expecting something like this `“ at some level we all have `“ but fearing it and knowing it are still worlds apart, and no one's going to feel that more than her.
`Somer? I'm at the Marston Ferry Road. We found her.'
A breath in. And then out. If Sasha was alive I'd have said so by now.
`Look, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to land you with talking to Fiona.'
This time, even I know I don't have a choice: I have to talk to the Super, and fast. Because the time it takes for this news to get out is measuring in minutes, not hours, and when it does, it's going to be open season on the Roadside Rapist case. Parrie's lawyers will see to that.
`I need to brief Harrison ASAP, so can you get over to Windermere Avenue? The press are all over us here and I'm worried Fiona will find out before I get back. Take Ev with you if you can.'
`What do you want me to tell her?'
Her voice sounds dry, half-choked.
`Say we haven't yet made a formal identification, but given the age of the victim and where she was found, it's very unlikely it's someone else.'
`OK, I understand. I'll make sure she's prepared. But you're certain, are you, sir? You don't think there's any doubt?'
`No. I'm sorry, but I don't think there's any doubt at all. It's definitely Sasha.'
`OK, sir. Leave it with me.' Her voice is stronger now. The police officer in her is winning. At least for now. `Will you want me to bring her in for the ID?'
`Actually, I think `“'
Again I hear the intake of breath; she knows what that means.
`Let's just say dental records may be the best bet. For all our sakes.'
* * *
BBC News online5 April 2018 | Last updated at 18:24BREAKING: Body found in search for missing Oxford girl, 15Residents in the Marston area of Oxford have reported that the missing local teenager Sasha Blake may have been found in an area of open ground close to where she was last seen. In the last hour, a number of people have tweeted pictures of a white police tent being set up on a site alongside the river Cherwell. An undertaker's van has also been spotted in the nearby car park, adding weight to speculation that it is indeed a body that has been found.Thames Valley Police have not issued a statement as yet.More news on this as we hear it.25 commentsSylvia_Meredith_245How truly terrible `“ such a tragic loss of a young life before it even began. My heart goes out to her familyShani_benet_151My daughter is at the same school as Sasha `“ her year group are just beside themselves. She was so popular and so talented. She even got some sort of internship with Vogue for next summer. They had 100s of applicants but they picked herAmber_Saffron_RoseThey'll probably have a memorial service, won't they?Johnjoe_84_WantageThe mother was on the news on her own. So where's the bloody dad, that's what I want to know. He'll have something to do with it. Just you waitShani_benet_151How can you say something like that? Don't you think her family and friends are going through enough without you chiming in `“ what if they're reading this, have you thought about that? You have NO IDEA what you're talking about so just zip it why don't youJohnjoe_84_WantageJust because you don't like what Im saying doesn't mean its not true. You see if Im not right* * *