Janine smiled in welcome. ‘I’m DCI Lewis; some of you have worked with me before.’
‘Thought you looked familiar,’ Butchers said, ‘something’s different though.’ He mimed a bump on his stomach.
‘Still got yours, haven’t yer?’ Shap shot back at him, nodding in the direction of Butchers’ paunch. Butchers glowered, sat up straighter.
Janine continued, introducing the senior officers to the room. ‘Detective Inspector Richard Mayne, Sergeant Butchers and Sergeant Shap. Any uncertainties about procedure, any questions or problems,’ she told the DCs, ‘these guys,’ she gestured to the two sergeants, ‘are your first port of call. This will be our dedicated incident room. So what have we got?’ She turned to the boards. ‘Unknown victim was seen in the river at Northenden just before eight this morning. First priority is to try and identify her. Our second to establish where she was killed.’
‘It’s likely that the body entered the river to the east,’ Richard said, pointing to the wall map and indicating the large area they were searching, ‘so that narrows it down,’ he added dryly. ‘We’re searching all known access points within a five mile area.’
Janine raised the report she held. ‘The post-mortem confirms the victim was in her early twenties. Malnourished as a child and since. Pregnant, about two months.’ She noted the rustle of unease at that bit of information. ‘Signs of recent sexual activity. Cause of death – strangulation. Time of death estimated to be within twenty-four hours of her discovery The trauma to the face occurred post mortem, as did the removal of skin from the thigh. And I don’t think he was collecting souvenirs.’
‘Someone wants her incognito,’ said Shap.
‘Heavy; rectangular object used on the face, possibly a brick,’ Richard elaborated. ‘The lab will do a drugs and toxins screening.’
‘They’ve also recovered some tissue from under her fingernails; we’re running DNA on that. Anything else?’ She invited contributions from the floor.
‘We’ve sent details through the system, missing from home – no match as yet,’ Butchers supplied.
Shap raised his chin. ‘Have we got anything from the post-mortem that gives us the scene?’
‘No,’ Janine answered. ‘A day in the river hasn’t helped. They’ll be examining remnants of bin bags used to wrap the body and the gym weights.’
‘Could be a fitness fanatic – the weights?’ Butchers suggested.
‘Bog standard,’ Richard shook his head.
‘I reckon everyone’s got a set like that,’ said Janine, ‘shoved in the cupboard along with the foot spa and the yoghurt maker.’ People smiled. ‘The pathologist also noted some blue staining on the left ankle, knee and hip.’
