Her bright red suit hurt Kay’s non-caffeinated eyes.
Kay wandered over and waited until the woman had finished her spiel and lowered her microphone.
‘Perfect, Suzie,’ called the cameraman.
‘Excuse me,’ said Kay.
The woman raised an eyebrow that had been plucked within an inch of its life. ‘Yes?’
Kay raised her warrant card, and then pointed to the blind corner in the road behind the woman. ‘This is a main thoroughfare, and has a sixty mile speed limit. To save my colleagues from Traffic having to scrape up what’s left of you when the next heavy goods vehicle comes along, would you mind conducting your interviews on the pavement?’
The woman stuck out her bottom lip. ‘It won’t have the same effect. Joe won’t be able to get the right angle.’
‘Well, Joe’s going to have a bloody fantastic shot of you getting splattered across the road if you don’t do as I say.’
The reporter sighed, flicked her jet black hair over her shoulder and flounced away, grumbling loudly to the cameraman.
‘Making friends and influencing people, Sarge?’
‘Honestly, Barnes. You’d think they’d have some common sense.’
They turned their attention back to the garage, crossing the road and signing a clipboard that a uniformed officer held out to them.
He noted their names, and then lifted the tape.
‘DI Sharp’s over there, with the CSI team leader,’ he said.
‘Cheers,’ said Kay. She paused, and let Barnes walk on ahead of her. ‘Any issues with the reporter?’
He grinned. ‘No – she’s staying well away. More’s the pity. She looks good in a skirt.’
Kay rolled her eyes, and followed Barnes.
Thankfully, the first responders had had the sense to set the cordon well back from the main tent where the CSI team were working, and she made a note to thank them for their foresight.
No doubt Suzie would be joined by several other reporters once word got out.
‘Hunter.’
Sharp peered out from the tent and beckoned them over.
‘How did the reporter get here so quick?’ said Kay.
Sharp jerked his chin to one of the patrol cars, in the back of which sat an elderly man chatting to a female officer.
‘Chap by the name of Harry Bertram was walking past to get his paper from the newsagent. Saw Powers sat in one of the cars outside the garage, and didn’t like the look of it, so he wandered over to take a look. Once he got the door opened, he realised Powers was dead, so he told the newsagent to call us. Seems the newsagent rang a few more people, too.’
‘Damn,’ said Barnes. ‘Did they get anything on camera before the screens went up?’
‘No – the first responders were excellent – found those tarpaulins in the garage and got those strung up before the news team turned up.’
‘The garage was unlocked?’
‘Something we’ll be looking into as part of the investigation, so add it to your list,’ said Sharp.
‘Okay, what happened to Powers?’
Sharp held the tent flap open.
Rather than enter the secure area, Kay and Barnes stood on the threshold.
There was no point in them all clamouring to see – they’d seen enough dead bodies in the past, and two more people traipsing around the crime scene wouldn’t have been appreciated.
As it was, the stench of urine and shit mixed with the trace of exhaust fumes, and Kay brought her sleeve to her nose to mask it.
‘Asphyxiation,’ said Sharp. ‘Obviously, the post mortem will confirm it, but it’s pretty obvious. An ambulance was sent out at the same time as the first responders, so they declared life extinct for us.’
Kay nodded. Having the ambulance crew confirm the death saved them dragging Lucas away from the mortuary and wasting time while they waited for him to arrive. At least Harriet and her team could work swiftly to preserve as much evidence as possible.
‘Suicide?’ said Barnes.
‘I doubt it,’ said Sharp. ‘Not unless he pulled out his own fingernails before gassing himself.’
Barnes winced, and blew through his teeth.
‘How’d his killer manage to asphyxiate him anyway?’ said Kay. ‘I thought that was difficult with modern cars.’
‘This vehicle’s over twenty years old,’ said Sharp.
‘The passenger window’s cracked,’ said Barnes.
‘I’m working on the theory he kicked it to try to break the glass,’ said Harriet as she brushed past one of her colleagues and wandered over. ‘He’s shifted in his seat slightly with his hips turned to the left, as if he’s tried to use the heel of his boot to break it, but I’ll firm up that once we’ve finished here. The cracks were certainly made from the inside of the car, not the outside.’
‘How come he didn’t open the door, if he could reach the window with his feet?’ said Kay.
‘The locks had been glued,’ said Harriet. ‘Bertram told your colleagues he had to break the driver’s door open with a crowbar he found in the garage.’
She pulled her mask back up over her mouth and moved back to where her team worked, and Sharp let the tent flap drop back into place, then gestured to Kay and Barnes to follow him into the building.
The double doors at the front had been propped open, and another of Harriet’s teams were studiously moving through the gloomy space within.
Sharp turned to Kay and Barnes, and lowered his voice.
‘This is a direct result of Harrison’s insistence on a press conference too early on in the investigation,’ he said, his eyes blazing. ‘There’s no telling the damage he’s done. How many more people are going to die before we find Demiri?’
Kay turned to face the road beyond the forecourt.
Two more vehicles had joined Suzie and her cameraman; different new channels clamouring for space along the narrow pavement.
Her heart skipped a beat as she recognised Jonathan Aspley, and she averted her gaze as he began to walk towards the cordon.
‘Inspector!’
Harriet’s voice carried across to where they were standing, her head poking out from the tent.
‘What is it?’ said Sharp.
‘You need to see this.’
They hurried back to the covered area, and joined Harriet at
