Page 129 of Night Call

It was a job.

His job.

Get in, get out. Totally fine, just another day at work. Normal. Normal. Normal. Normal.

Clenching his teeth, he rolled onto his side and unhooked the bag on his belt. He drew out the first sample kit and began swabbing her left hand and fingernails. In their position, he didn’t think he’d be able to reach her right, but was willing to try.

Reaching over her, he felt around for it. It was under her body, and as he tried to free it he realised it was pointless.

“Rigor’s set in,” he said, pressing the back of his hand between her shoulder blades. “Body’s completely cold. Not surprising, given how chilly it is down here.”

“Received,” came the Falkington officer’s voice. “Are you ready for the camera?”

Pember drew in a shallow breath. “Not yet. Just a few more swabs.”

“Pember.” Blake’s voice came over the radio. It was low, strained.

“I’m fine,” he said back, but he could not disguise the growing tremor in his words. With what little space he had, hecollected as many swabs as he was able to and placed them in the narrow chute above Samantha’s head.

Twisting his head to look up, he saw Blake staring down at him from the second trapdoor.

Blake nodded, the tightness in jaw obvious.

“Okay, camera!” he called up to them, voice cracking a little. “Send a bag down and I’ll send the swabs up to you.”

Within thirty seconds a camera was lowered on a long red strap that he recognised from the water safety kits. They did a swap, and he sighed with relief when the swabs slowly ascended the chute. Gripping the forensic camera to his chest, he wriggled back down the tunnel and began photographing Samantha’s body.

The suit hood was beginning to chafe around his face and neck, and he was fairly certain he was drenched with sweat beneath it. The click, click, click of the flash made the tunnel light up, and Pember screwed his eyes shut for a moment to put the horror-movie-esque thoughts out of his head.

“No obvious defensive wounds,” he relayed, letting out a breath. It suggested she’d been hit in the head first, then had her throat slit. Brutal. Efficient. Cold.

But maybe not?

A head wound suggested she’d been taken down unexpectedly. The killer had little time to act, so whacked her as a means to subdue her. And why put her body here?Hidden? No spectacle. Shame?

Letting out a shallow breath, he pushed himself to the top of the tunnel, dragging his legs forward until he was able to stand up in the chute.

“Alright?” Blake finally called from the trapdoor.

“Yeah!” he called back, wiping a hand over his brow.Fuck, he was red hot, even though the ground was freezing. If he hadn’tof checked his temperature again before they left, he’d have assumed he was still in heat.

Bending down, he took several photographs of the back of her head before carefully feeling beneath her for any other wounds.

“Sorry, my girl,” he whispered, and had no idea why he was talking to her in the same way he talked to Bailey. “You’re alright. Nearly done, and we’ll get you out of here.”

When he was satisfied, he turned off the camera and stood up in the chute. “Okay! Okay, I’m done.”

Two sets of winch straps were lowered into the hole. He looped one around Samantha’s torso, the other around her legs. The Falkington officers lowered another down to him, his plan being to climb back up. However, as soon as his boots touched the brickwork, the disturbed dust and wool fibres turned to a slippery paste.

“It’s no good!” he called. “Too slippy. I’ll have to come back the way I came.”

Blake was shouting something at the Falkington officers, but Pember’s mind was too focused on getting out to pick up on the words.

Bending down to face the narrow tunnel, an overwhelming sense of doom settled deep in his belly. It was done. His task was complete. There was no goal, no more swabs, only crawling back through the hole. So why was his body shaking uncontrollably? Why were his teeth chattering? He’d done it once, he could do it again.

Red bricks. Dusty grime. Moving lights. A rush of hot air.“You’ll remember me, won’t you, Pem?”

“Of course I will, you silly thing. You’re my sister!”

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