Scream: A DCI Mark Lapslie Investigation Read Online Free PDF Page B

away, assuming that the cash register had been raided. When the initial response team got here they found the cash register was intact, but looking around they spotted traces of blood on the rubber mats, as if something had been dragged. They followed the drag marks to this ball pit. They were debating whether to call it in or wade into the pit and see what was there when one of them saw a hand sticking out. So they called it in.’
    ‘Wise move.’ Emma suddenly realised that the CSI was still patiently holding the slashed head up for her investigation. ‘Okay, you can settle that thing back down now.’ She looked at Sergeant Murrell again. ‘It looks like you’ve got a grip on the processing of the scene. This manager bloke – Gareth MacFarlane? – is an obvious initial suspect, so let’s get him down to the local nick and take his statement. The next thingwe need to do is to identify the victim, so let’s get someone checking missing persons reports, especially ones from yesterday, and let’s also see if we can go through her pockets for identification. A driving licence would be good.’
    ‘She’s naked,’ Sergeant Murrell said patiently. ‘No clothes.’
    ‘Clearly,’ Emma replied, feeling a blush spread across her cheeks but recovering ground quickly, ‘but her clothes or her handbag might be buried under the balls as well. Let’s have a fish around, eh? Oh, and make sure the door and the lock are processed. At the moment that’s the only thing we know for sure that the murderer touched apart from the body.’ She glanced around. ‘No chance of security cameras?’
    ‘Not inside. There’s all kinds of regulations about recording pictures of children. The argument is that it gives paedophiles carte blanche to snap away if there’s no valid reason to stop them. Outside is a different matter, but the manager informs me that they’re just for show. They’re not connected to anything.’
    ‘Okay.’ She quickly ran through a mental checklist, in case she’d missed anything. ‘I think it’s all sewn up. Make sure the constables on the perimeter keep any journalists out – the moment they get a sniff of this they’ll be trying to sneak in through the back door or take photographs through the windows. I’d rather not see this splashed all over the front pages – even if it’s just the front page of the local freebie newspaper.’
    ‘Understood.’ He glanced at the gore-smeared foam rubber balls that hid the body. ‘I’ve … never seen anything like this before. I’m not sure how to react.’
    ‘I’ve seen too many things like it,’ Emma said soberly. ‘And I still don’t know how to react. I think if you ever get to the point where you can take it in your stride then you need to find another job, and quickly.’
    ‘I guess,’ he said quietly, ‘if you can look at a body like thisone and not feel something, then you’re only one step away from looking at your wife or girlfriend in the same way.’
    Emma left Murrell supervising the CSIs in the ball pit and spent the next hour prowling around the building. At one stage someone came up and handed her a polystyrene cup of coffee, which she took gratefully. In the back of her mind she could hear the voices of children playing: screams, laughs, the occasional frustrated yell or triumphant shout. The ghosts of previous customers, still haunting the premises.
    Would any parents bring their children here again, knowing that a mutilated body had been discovered there? Would any mother or father let their children roll around in the ball pit ever again? She suspected not. And despite what she’d said about photographers, it wasn’t the police’s job to suppress straight reportage. The place would go out of business, slowly or quickly.
    By the time she’d got back around to the ball pit most of the balls had been removed and catalogued as evidence and the pathologist was supervising the removal of the woman’s naked body. Emma moved