When Beth turned her attention to the credit card she heard herself gasp. This wasn’t an ordinary credit card, it was a platinum American Express card. A signifier of extreme wealth. The name on the card was ‘Derek Forster’. Beth knew from news reports that the charismatic mayor of Carlisle was a former businessman called Derek Forster.
‘This is fantastic; what else did you get?’
‘We got a swab of something from her vagina. Might be semen.’
‘You’re wonderful.’ Until the CSI man smiled at her Beth thought she’d overdone the flattery. ‘How soon until you can get the DNA results back to us?’
‘Twenty-four hours minimum. Maybe more, you know how it is.’
Beth got what he meant at once. Any DNA samples found in Cumbria were sent to a privately owned lab in Lancashire. As the lab dealt with all the DNA samples from the whole of the north of England, there was every possibility that their samples wouldn’t get tested for a few days.
As always, with this kind of thing, queues could be jumped if there was sufficient coercion from the brass, or a financial incentive to prioritise their sample ahead of others. It all boiled down to how busy they were and how much pressure could be exerted on them. Beth was sure O’Dowd would get whoever was available from the senior brass to speak to the lab, but it galled her that they wouldn’t get the results as quickly as she wanted them.
She left the CSI man and went to see O’Dowd as the DI was pocketing her phone.
‘Well, what did you get then?’
Beth recounted what she’d learned from Hewson and the CSI. To plant a seed in O’Dowd’s mind, she mentioned her hopes that one of the senior officers would speak to the lab.
‘I’m not a bloody imbecile, Beth. I’ll remember to speak to the chief super without your half-arsed amateur psychology.’
‘Ma’am.’ Beth waited until she could see O’Dowd had calmed a little. ‘Dr Hewson says he’ll be doing the post-mortem as soon as the body is returned to Cumberland Infirmary. I think I should be there, to see what he finds.’
‘I agree. While you’re at it, get that lateral brain of yours to do its stuff. We need to catch this guy before he kills again.’
Beth nodded at O’Dowd and wandered off to collect her thoughts. The DI’s comment about her lateral brain was testament to Beth’s love of puzzles. She liked nothing better than a riddle or conundrum to solve and found that her position in Cumbria’s police force, working in the Force Major Investigation Team – or FMIT – gave her plenty of fodder.
A paramedic was loitering at the side of a stationary ambulance. With the victim deceased there was nothing for him or his partner to do, but they couldn’t be released until O’Dowd gave the order.
She’d met him a few times before. He was good at his job and had a calm manner that radiated to all around him.
‘Hey, Beth.’ He waved her over.
‘What is it?’ Beth let her eyes dart to his name badge. ‘Ethan’ was his name. ‘I’m not being rude, but I’m kind of busy here.’
‘Yeah, I know. It’s just that I may be able to help you out.’
‘How?’
Ethan didn’t speak. He just looked at her with a disarming smile. When his eyes settled on the scar decorating her left cheek they held a hint of pity tinged with anger.
‘Come on, Ethan. Spill it.’
‘Couple of years ago I was called out to a similar thing. A young lass was dumped on Rockcliffe Marsh. She’d been murdered and was left naked. I’m not sure, but I don’t think her killer was ever found. I certainly never heard about anyone getting done for it.’
‘Thanks.’ Beth’s mind whirled as she wondered if the two women were connected in any way. ‘Do you remember her name?’
‘Harriet something.’ Ethan’s face creased in thought. ‘I think her surname began with a “Q” but I can’t remember what it was.’
Beth knew it’d be easy to identify the unfortunate Harriet and learn all the details. There weren’t that many murders in Cumbria, but if the cases were linked, it could mean there was a serial killer operating in the county.
She looked at Ethan and returned his smile. ‘Thanks again. That may turn out to be really important.’
‘No problem. There’s something else you should also know.’
Beth couldn’t keep the eagerness from her voice; Ethan had already given her one great lead. ‘What is it?’
His smile widened. ‘When you’re pretending to flirt with the CSI guy, don’t keep looking over his shoulder. It makes you seem false.’
‘What do you know about flirting?’ Even as the words left her mouth, Beth could feel her face reddening. ‘That was me showing him a professional courtesy while maintaining an observation of the surrounding area.’
‘I’d believe the last part of your statement if your cheeks weren’t scarlet. And with regards to your question on what I know about flirting, well, meet me for dinner tonight and I’ll show you what I know.’
‘Dinner?’ Normally Beth would have laughed at Ethan’s cheeky approach, but she was conscious of the body not thirty feet away. ‘I’ve just picked up a murder case. Dinner will be a sandwich at my desk if I’m lucky.’
‘Fair enough, some other time maybe.’
Ethan’s casual acceptance of her excuse for not having dinner stirred something in Beth. ‘I should be able to make it to the Crown for a drink around nine.’
‘See you there.’
As she swapped numbers with him then bade her goodbyes, Beth tried to work out why she’d agreed to meet Ethan. Sure he was good-looking, and she had a gut feeling that he was decent, but agreeing to a date while investigating a murder was something she’d never thought she would do.
Three
The FMIT office wasn’t the biggest room in Carleton Hall, but at least there was enough space for all four members to have a
