Then the DI called him into his office, just as Dominic noted there was only half an hour until his shift ended. DI Adyant Kapoor was reading something on his computer monitor when Dominic walked in. His face was set, his jaw tense and his eyes dark. He waved Dominic into a seat as he finished reading what was in front of him.
Dominic liked Kapoor. He was a straight-laced officer but he was always fair. He’d worked hard to get to where he was — taken on the difficult jobs during his service. Dominic had crossed paths with him in the past when Kapoor had been a lowly DS himself. He had always volunteered for anything that came up. Anything to build up his portfolio ready for the promotion boards. There were rumours that he wasn’t a real copper, that all he wanted was to be top brass. But that could be said of any of the bosses. Dominic had his own suspicions of why Kapoor was targeted with such rumours and it made his stomach churn.
It wasn’t often that Dominic had seen his boss’s face look so serious.
‘A job has come in, Dom,’ Kapoor said, leaning back in his chair. ‘Uniform officers were called to the body of a woman found in Ecclesall Woods. A dog walker had stumbled upon it.’ He flicked an invisible piece of rubbish off the top of his desk. ‘Literally fallen over it, actually, likely damaging evidence. From what I’m being told it’s a nasty one and is going to need our best efforts. Are you free to go to the scene and take control while I take command here?’
‘There’s something you’re not telling me,’ Dominic said. ‘What have you missed out, boss?’
Kapoor let out a sigh. ‘The violence, Dom. I’ve left out the bloody violence.’ He rubbed his face with his hands. ‘Do you ever feel as though you’re too old for this job?’
Dominic thought about it. He was fifty-two and only had a few years left in the job; he could retire when he was fifty-five at the earliest or hold on until he was sixty. The fact that he could leave in three years seemed surreal; he didn’t feel old enough. ‘No, I don’t feel old at all, boss.’ He smiled.
Kapoor scratched at his cheek with the pen that was in his hand. ‘Maybe it’s sitting in this office that’s aging me. Or maybe it’s having a wife who is over ten years younger than you that keeps you young, Dom.’
Dom laughed. ‘To be fair, Ruth tires me out. She has so much more energy than I do. A decade is a lot when it comes to aging. We don’t feel the difference when we’re sitting together talking, but when it comes to physical activities like bike riding and fell walks, then I notice. I’m glad she’s over forty now. It means she’s slowing down a little more herself, but she’s definitely been hard work to keep up with.’
Kapoor tapped the sheet of paper in front of him. ‘This is the incident report. It doesn’t make for pleasant reading.’ He picked it up and handed it to Dominic. ‘Get yourself over there and get control of the scene. I’ve instructed uniform to keep a wide cordon, we want to preserve as much evidence as is possible. CSU are travelling. We want to keep this as quiet as we can for now until we know what we’re dealing with. No press involvement. I don’t want to scare the public. We need to be able to control the narrative, not have it running away with us, so keep your circle tight and remind uniform to do the same, will you?’
Dominic was reminded again of how the boss always had to think of the wider picture and not just the crime scene. He’d taken his inspectors exams in the past but hadn’t got the required mark. He was happy as a DS though. He could get his feet dirty and still have some supervisory power. He had his own little team within the unit.
He rose from his chair.
‘Keep me updated, Dom.’ Kapoor looked up at him. ‘And keep it contained.’
Dominic took the report off Kapoor. ‘Yes, boss.’
With the incident report in his hand he left the office and started to read down the sheet. It was exactly as Kapoor had stated. The dog walker sounded pretty distressed on the original call. He read the text.
Caller states he was walking his dog in Ecclesall Woods when he stumbled and fell. He couldn’t help but fall onto her, he said. His hands dropped straight onto her body as he put them down to lessen his fall. He was pretty incoherent but he fell into a woman’s body and he says she is dead. He got off her as quickly as he could and has not touched her since. He knows she is a crime scene and that he has contaminated the scene and will wait for police to attend. He has blood on his clothes and has had to put his dog on the lead to prevent him from nosing around the woman.
Dominic would need to bring the walker back to the station so he could be forensically examined and have his clothes seized from him. He walked back into the incident room and grabbed his team. They had worked together for the past four years since DC Paul Teague had joined them.
‘This is a dark one,’ he said to them as they grabbed their radios and car keys. ‘Make a quick phone call home if you need to, let your loved ones know
