Page 31 of Final Betrayal

‘Same as the other girl. Two, maybe three days. But we’ll know more once the post-mortem is conducted.’

‘Can I move her?’

‘No.’

‘But you did,’ Lottie said, crouching down beside the SOCO.

‘I had to determine that she was dead.’

‘Just for a second. I want to see if there’s anything under the body.’

‘There isn’t.’

‘Humour me.’

He sighed and carefully turned the body to one side. Lottie flinched. The girl was not much older than Katie, and that thought sent a shiver down her spine. Her open eyes were brown, but the whites were speckled with bloodied dots and the lips were frozen in a scream.

‘I don’t see any coins,’ Boyd said from the doorway.

Lottie scanned the floor around the girl’s body. Ripped-up floorboards. Broken bottles and dead woodlice. ‘You got a flashlight?’

McGlynn fetched one from his case and shone the beam around the area where the body was lying.

‘There!’ Lottie kneeled down beside him, the boards sharp against her knees, and pointed to a spot directly below where the girl’s hand had been. ‘Two coins.’

‘Tweezers!’ McGlynn yelled, and his assistant rushed in with them. After photographs had been taken, he picked up the coins and held each one aloft for examination before dropping them into individual bags and marking the area with evidence numbers.

‘Same as the coin with the other victim,’ Lottie said. ‘Too much of a coincidence to think they were here prior to the attack on the girls. The killer left them here.’

‘That’s a huge assumption,’ McGlynn said.

‘Look at them,’ she said, pointing to the bags. ‘They’re spotless. No rust or discoloration.’

‘No engravings or markings, though. Some sort of talisman, perhaps?’

‘Maybe the girls had them with them,’ Boyd offered.

‘Possible,’ Lottie said, but she didn’t believe that. ‘I think they’re the killer’s calling card.’

McGlynn interjected. ‘I’ve work to do before the state pathologist arrives. If you don’t mind, I’d like to get on with it.’

‘And no handbags or identification for either victim.’ Lottie ran a gloved finger over her forehead. ‘That seems calculated. Boyd, organise a contingent to do a fingertip search of the surrounding area, gardens, bins and the car park.’

‘Those handbags are long gone,’ Boyd said, folding his arms.

‘Just get it done.’

Lottie gave the victim one last look, then pushed out past Boyd and stood on the landing trying to get some air into her lungs. But they just filled up with the damp, musty air, like a mixture of mushrooms and death.

‘We need to interview those two lads Thornton found earlier,’ Boyd said.

‘I doubt they had anything to do with this, but once they get medical clearance, we’ll see what they have to say for themselves. First off, the victims have to be formally identified.’ She looked around the small space. ‘But you and I both know that those two girls are Amy Whyte and Penny Brogan.’

‘We have to inform the families,’ Boyd said with a groan.

Lottie pictured Councillor Richard Whyte and shivered. It was going to be nasty.

She paused, thinking. ‘This has the air of planning about it. The killer knew about this place. He probably staked it out, so every inch of it has to be examined minutely.’

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