In Dark Water (Detective Shona Oliver 1)

‘Well, that’s the thing,’ Murdo replied. ‘Seems the baby milk is a high-value item. Some stores have started keeping it behind the counter. I spoke to the Co-op’s area manager this morning. Since it’s illegal for stores to promote discounted baby formula – it’s a Trading Standard rule – even half price cans will find an online market. But the whole situation is made worse by a world-wide shortage, caused by contaminated milk in China a few years back. It’s been catnip to thieves for a while. They sell it online, mostly abroad. Stores have been rationing the milk to two tins per customer for a while, but demand is still high.’

‘So, it’s just a bit of enterprising shoplifting?’ Kate Irving said, arching her eyebrows. ‘Something for Ravi. He could ask around his community.’ Shona noted her DC’s scorn.

‘Not on this scale it’s not,’ Murdo replied.

‘How many shops were hit?’ Shona cut in.

‘Eighteen, so far. Approximately two hundred and fifty items taken.’

‘So how much are they selling it for online?’

‘Manager reckons between ten pounds and thirty pounds a pop,’ Murdo said. ‘So that’s potentially…’

‘…Between two and a half and seven and a half grand.’ Shona beat him to the maths. ‘Bit more than shoplifting.’

Kate Irving looked down at her notebook, a blush spreading across her pale complexion, ignoring the smirks from her colleagues.

‘The calls are still coming in from the smaller shops who’ve just heard about it and are checking their stock.’ Murdo consulted his notebook again. ‘Tesco, Morrisons, the Co-ops, all the wee convenience stores, Spar, Boots in Dumfries have all now reported thefts. Some have been slow to come forward, it’s often not worth their while prosecuting, and with supplies short they said they didn’t want to spark panic buying. Now the media have got wind of it. I’ve already had the press office on to me.’

‘Okay.’ Shona nodded. ‘Could be the work of an organised crime group. If it is an OCG then a Major Investigation Team may already be on it, working countrywide.’ Shona leaned forward and tapped the table, making eye contact in turn with everyone around it. ‘But this is our patch, so I want every piece of evidence we hand to the MIT to be top notch. No opportunity missed. Understood?’

Nods and murmurs of ‘Yes, ma’am’ ran around the room.

‘New CCTV from the stores is already on its way,’ said O’Halloran. ‘I’ve got uniform compiling a list of potential witnesses from among the shop assistants and doing statements.’

‘Good. Thank you, Murdo.’ Shona pointed her pen at her DC. ‘Kate, speak to the officers who’ve been dealing with this. Get a team together and do an initial trawl of the new CCTV when it arrives. I want to know how many individuals we’re looking for. Is this a single couple or multiple groups? I want descriptions, clothing.’ Kate began typing notes into her tablet. ‘And a timeline,’ Shona continued. ‘I want a timeline. If there’s a vehicle, or vehicles, identified get onto Traffic for potential ANPR hits. Let’s establish if they’re local or just visiting. Also check if we’ve already recovered anything with possible forensic opportunities. DNA, fingerprints. Did the perpetrators touch anything? Drop anything? There will be contamination, but we have multiple crime scenes. If we can find forensic links between them, we could have our suspects.’ She turned to DS O’Halloran. ‘And tell the press office they’ll have that statement by lunchtime. Keep me updated. I want any leads as soon as we have them.’

Murmured conversation and a sense of purpose filled the room. DC Kate Irving was already leaning back in her chair talking to a young man and a middle-aged woman, two of the civilian staff, standing behind her. Murdo was scrolling through his phone. Dan wondered if he’d been forgotten.

‘Now,’ said Shona firmly, regaining their attention. ‘DC Ridley has come in to ask for our assistance with a suspicious death. DC Ridley, would you like to take us through it?’ She shuffled her chair sideways and motioned for the others to make room for him. She could see he was nervous. It was tough presenting to officers you didn’t know. She gave him an encouraging smile.

‘Morning, everyone. I’m DC Dan Ridley from Cumbria CID.’ He slid the post-mortem photographs from his folder and passed them round. ‘Last Saturday, a young woman’s body was recovered from the Solway Firth by Kirkness lifeboat.’ He paused and looked at Shona, but she nodded for him to go on. ‘She’d been in the water some time and the PM showed cause of death to be internal injuries. A torn liver and ruptured stomach consistent with either a high-speed road traffic accident, where the seat belt can cut into the victim on impact.’ He motioned across his torso. ‘Or a severe beating. Someone kicking, punching or stamping on the victim, causing the fatal injuries.’

‘Which does the pathologist feel is more likely?’ asked DS O’Halloran. ‘Given where she was found I’d say a car crash doesn’t fit.’

‘The pathologist, Dr Wilson, won’t commit to either.’ Dan replied. ‘Said it wasn’t his job to speculate.’

‘What about defensive injuries?’ Kate asked.

Shona stepped in. ‘One of her hands was missing and there was extensive soft tissue degeneration due to immersion in sea water. It would have been difficult to tell.’ She turned to Dan. ‘How long did Dr Wilson estimate she’d been in the water?’

‘Three weeks. She’d given birth at some point, though not recently. The state of her lungs also meant Dr Wilson…’ Dan fumbled for his notebook. ‘He said he couldn’t rule out if drowning was a factor in her death.’

‘You mean she could have been alive when she went in to the Solway Firth? Dear God.’ Murdo shook his head.

‘We haven’t been able to identify her,’ Dan went on, ‘although we’re still waiting for DNA. She doesn’t match the description of anyone reported missing in Cumbria. I searched the UK Missing Persons database, but I got dozens of matches for blonde, young women aged twenty to thirty reported missing nationally, even without including Ireland or Europe.’

‘There was no identification material with her, no purse or phone,’ Shona added. ‘Was there anything in her pockets?’ Ridley shook his head. Shona continued, ‘She was wearing a bracelet. What about that?’

Dan shuffled through the prints until he found the images of a thick silver band set beside a black and white forensic photography scale. He passed them round. ‘No luck with a manufacturer. It’s not sterling silver, so no hallmark either. Could have been made by a local artist or crafter.’

Murdo held up one of the pictures showing a flattened section of the bangle. Stamped into it were two overlapping hearts surmounted by a crown. ‘It’s a Luckenbooth.’ When the others looked blank, he continued. ‘Comes from Edinburgh originally. It’s an old design for a brooch. Used to be given as love tokens, or to ward off the evil eye. Didnae work for this lassie, did it?’ He shook his head again. ‘Turns up on all sorts of jewellery nowadays. I gave Joan a pair of earrings like this for our anniversary. Doesn’t mean our victim’s Scottish, but it’s a connection, of sorts.’

‘If you could circulate the bracelet, ask around. I’d be very grateful,’ Dan said.

Shona gathered up the pictures in front of her. The woman’s body looked even more abandoned and alone against the cold stainless steel of the mortuary table than it had done on the Solway’s sands. The mermaid hair was scraped back from the battered remains of her face. Somewhere a child had lost a mother, and a mother had lost a daughter. The ripples would spread out, touching family, friends, workmates and acquaintances, rolling on forever unless some resolution could be found. It was their job to find it. Shona could sense her team watching her, waiting for a decision.

‘We, the lifeboat, recovered her tangled up in some netting from the sandbank halfway between Scotland and England,’ she began. ‘It was on the coastguard’s instruction that this woman went to Cumbria, but only because emergency services were already standing by at Silloth. We’re in a unique position here in Dumfries and Galloway Division, sitting as we do on the boundaries of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. With that position comes the responsibility to aid our colleagues wherever they are. Though we may be on different sides of a border, we’re all on the same side when it comes to achieving justice for the victims of crime.’ She tapped the photographs. ‘This could just as easily been our case, so I want you to think of DC Ridley as a member of the team and give him all the help you can.’ Shona handed the prints back to Dan. ‘Send me an electronic file of all the pictures and the PM report and I’ll see it’s circulated, and we’ll put your contact details on the comms list.’