“Randy teenager. So that’s what you think of me. I wish I was;

they don’t know what they’ve got—none of them do.”

“This is going to be bad, isn’t it? I mean it must be if she’s been in the ground for a while.” Ruth paused for a moment with her hand still on the door handle.

Calladine nodded. “We’ve done this before, haven’t we? So try and stay detached.”

“What I’m trying to get my head around with all this, is why no one’s been reported missing. I had a quick look at the mispers list and no one comes close. I have to ask myself why that is. Do we have to cast our net much, much wider? Could we even be looking at illegals here?”

That wasn’t a bad idea. But if they were, then they’d never get anywhere, because no one would talk.

“Tracing that plate will help—that is if we get anywhere with it.

There are thousands and thousands of those damn things fitted every year. Anyway, the good news is that Cassie Rigby is safe,”

Calladine said. “Imogen and Rocco got that little mystery solved last night. It was good work, and it looks like Rocco is well and truly back on board now. The Rigbys will have to be sorted, though.

Buying a child can’t be tolerated. I can’t say what the outcome will be, but it’s doubtful they’ll have any further contact with Cassie.”

* * *

Both detectives made their way to a gallery above the table where the young woman’s body was laid out. Doc Hoyle, his assistant and Julian were getting things ready below. Doc Hoyle looked up and smiled, fixed his mask over his face and pulled on his gloves. His assistant pulled back the sheet to reveal the girl.

Neither Calladine nor Ruth was prepared for the sight. The girl’s body looked almost black with decay. Most of her abdomen and her chest cavity had rotted away, leaving a rather gruesome arrangement of ribs that supported remnants of skin. Her head was practically a skull, the facial features indistinguishable. Doc Hoyle hadn’t exaggerated when he’d said she’d been dead a lot longer than the first girl. Even from this distance the smell was bad and they willingly picked up the masks left out for them.

The pathologist began, “Female, and she’s been dead and buried in what looks like soil for a while. She was buried naked, wrapped in the blanket we found her in. It’s badly stained and sticking to the body.” He began gently peeling it away, removing some of the dirt from what was left of her limbs with a fine brush. “I’ll have a sample of the soil tested. It might tell us something.” He put some into a container and handed it to Julian.

The pathologist looked up at the two detectives and shook his head. “I’d say she was killed during the last few months. Time of death is nigh impossible to determine. It’s been cold and that hinders decomposition. The body will yield some information, but the tests will take time. Julian will crack on but you’ll have to give us a day or two at least. One thing I’m fairly confident about—she’s from the same stable as the last one.” He tweezered up a small metallic object from the blanket beside her skull, dropping it into a kidney dish. “Another livestock tag. Looking at it quickly I’d say this one says Vida 3.”

What was it with that damn word? Name? Place? He needed to know. It was looking highly likely now that it was a name. Calladine couldn’t think of any other rational explanation—not that anything about this seemed at all rational.

Doc Hoyle carefully examined what little was left of her face.

“Her teeth have been mutilated and, although the state of the body makes it difficult, I’d say she was garrotted like the other one. Her trachea is split in two.” He indicated for the assistant to take a photo. “She was slight and there are still clumps of long, fair hair left on the remaining scalp tissue. Her abdomen is interesting …”

The doctor concentrated for a moment. “It is probable that this girl was pregnant too.” The loud tick of the mortuary clock filled the silence. All eyes were on the pathologist. Ruth jumped slightly as something was dropped into a stainless steel kidney dish.

“Further checks will confirm, but I’m almost sure the piece of bone is from a foetus. Given the size of it she would have to have been twenty weeks or more. I’ll do a DNA test to make sure and compare it to the foetus from the other girl—ascertain whether it’s the same father.”

* * *

Ruth felt sick. The room was swimming and had suddenly become very claustrophobic. There could be no mistake. They had another one. Was that why he got rid of them? Because they got pregnant? She didn’t dare think about what had happened to the poor girl, and what she must have gone through. But whatever it was, it must have been every bit as bad as with Vida 5.

She had to pull herself together. There was a job to do. It was warm in here and, despite the mask, the smell was getting to her and making her feel faint. She thought for a moment that she’d been staring at the table for too long because she could swear something around the body was moving. The room seemed to sway again and she grabbed Calladine’s arm to steady herself. She blinked a couple of times and shook her head. Finally she gasped, still clinging to Calladine’s arm, “Did you see that?”

The doctor looked up. “Wildlife, Ruth. All sorts of creepy crawlies have taken up residence in the body. Not to mention a good few maggots…I’m going to have to clean her up a bit. The maggots might tell us something.” Julian handed him a small container and he plopped some into it. “This will take time. I can’t risk spoiling anything that might be helpful.”

Maggots! He wasn’t joking either. The more she looked, the more she saw.

“There are bite marks on her arms—predation, I’d say, and her right foot is missing. If I had to make an educated guess, from the marks, I’d say the work of a fox.”

“I’ll have to leave, sir. I can’t stand to listen to any more.”

The idea of that poor girl ending up as nothing more than a meal for the foxes was making her heave.

Ruth Bayliss ran from the room and stood outside Doc Hoyle’s office, leaning against the wall and breathing deeply. That was one of the most horrific sights she’d ever seen, and she’d seen a fair few by now.

They had a bloody nutter on the loose. This was a maniac who took young women and killed them in the most horrendous ways.

He had to be stopped. Everything else would have to be put on hold until they did—and that included Jake Ireson.

He wouldn’t like it. There was no way she would be able to visit his parents in Whitby this weekend. It was going to be like this always. She could see argument after argument looming in front of her, as Jake got tired of her excuses. She closed her eyes. Why had Jake’s parents decided to retire to Whitby? Why couldn’t they have moved into a bungalow in Leesdon instead?

“Sorry, Ruth.” The doctor and Calladine were coming towards her. “She’s been somewhere above ground for a day or two—hence the maggots, the smell and the accelerated decomposition.

Somewhere relatively warm I’d say, so the flies and the animals have got to her. The beetles and the worms were picked up underground, but not the maggots. The damage is fairly new too, and not from when she was first killed,” Hoyle said.

Ruth wondered how he could be so matter of fact about it all. A good thing, too. Someone had to gather the evidence.

* * *

He was meeting her for lunch—her idea. She’d taken the bait with hardly any effort on his part at all. She’d enjoyed herself so much on Tuesday night she wanted more. She said it was a change to have someone who could afford the good things in life. He wasn’t taken in. She liked his money, and that was the real reason she was so keen to see him again. It was pointless going out with another student, she’d told him. They were always broke.