The Chosen Dead (Jenny Cooper 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

a mask?’
    Dr Kerr nodded. ‘Don’t worry.’
    Jenny left the mortuary and crossed the car park to the main hospital building. She was dreading the encounter with the widow, not for all the usual reasons, but for the unusual ones she knew were coming. Fit, good-looking, well-dressed young men seldom jumped from motorway bridges; less still did they leave their two-year-old children to spend a night alone outdoors. It felt like the worst and most unsettling kind of death: a suicide that had come from nowhere.
    Jenny heard the woman’s anguished cries even before she had pushed through the door. They emanated from behind a curtain drawn around a bed in the children’s ward, and were disturbing everyone within earshot. Staff exchanged glances, parents at other bedsides attempted to distract their fragile sons and daughters from the sound. Jenny was momentarily paralysed, overcome by the widow’s all-consuming grief. She stopped and gathered strength, reminding herself she had to appear strong even if she didn’t feel it.
    A nurse appeared carrying an IV bag. Jenny intercepted her, fishing her identity wallet from her pocket. ‘Jenny Cooper. Severn Vale District Coroner. I’m looking for Mrs Jordan.’
    ‘I’m not sure now’s a good a moment.’ She nodded towards the curtained-off bed.
    ‘Is the child all right?’ Jenny asked.
    ‘Mild hypothermia. It’s not life-threatening.’
    ‘The police said he wasn’t found until this morning.’
    ‘He was admitted just under three hours ago.’
    The woman’s cries grew louder. The nurse responded to the anxious faces up and down the ward. ‘Excuse me.’
    ‘This isn’t helping him, is it?’ Jenny heard her say patiently. ‘Maybe it’s best you come with me. Just for a while.’
    Mrs Jordan was younger than Jenny had imagined, perhaps not yet thirty, with long, crow-black hair and wide blue eyes that her anguish did little to dull. There was no question of talking to her in her current state, but curiosity caused Jenny to wait a moment longer while another nurse drew back the curtain to reveal a cot bed containing a tiny child. He was barely more than a toddler and was hooked-up to a heart monitor and several drips. He had his mother’s eyes and they were wide open, staring unfocused into space.
    Jenny felt the silent buzz of her phone. She fished it out of her pocket and saw her officer’s name, Alison, on the screen. She headed out into the corridor to take the call.
    ‘Mrs Cooper. Did DI Watling get hold of you?’
    ‘Yes. I’m at the hospital now. I tried to call you.’
    ‘Sorry. I was out of the office for a while.’ She paused. ‘How’s the little boy?’
    ‘Fine. Physically, at least.’
    ‘Oh . . . Good.’
    Jenny registered a flatness in Alison’s voice and sensed that something was troubling her. ‘What is it?’
    ‘Nothing. Would you like me to visit the scene of death? We ought to have some pictures.’
    ‘Won’t the police have done that?’
    ‘They’ve already emailed them. They’re not very clear. What about where the boy was found?’
    ‘Anything you think would be helpful.’
    ‘Righto. I’ll see you back at the office.’
    ‘Alison?’
    She had already rung off. Jenny held the phone in her hand for a moment, unsure whether to call back to tease from her whatever it was she had failed to say, but was interrupted by the nurse, who had appeared from a doorway to her right.
    ‘Now might be a good moment, Mrs Cooper.’
    Jenny looked at her, taking a moment to reorient her thoughts.
    ‘I’ve told her you’re waiting,’ she said with a trace of impatience. ‘She’s calmed down a little.’ The nurse started back towards the ward.
    Jenny approached the door. Pausing outside it, she glanced through the observation pane into an unoccupied side room. Beyond the empty bed, Karen Jordan was standing at the window looking out over rooftops to a line of distant hills. She wore jeans and a plain T-shirt that hugged her slender