Cole picked up again, strolling across the stage and then walking back to his original position. ‘Our labs are still doing tests and we might get more results at some point today or tomorrow. From the camera stills, you can see the hooded person who dropped it was wearing gloves, so we’re not expecting any fingerprints. Given the planning that seems to have gone into the choice of location, I don’t think any of us are expecting much more in the way of evidence we can work with from forensics. As Jason said, we don’t have the resources to contact family members of all those missing people at the moment. It would be a long shot anyway, given we would be assuming it belongs to someone local who has been reported missing. For now we’re going to release these stills to the media and ask for a hand . . .’
He was cut off as the assembled officers collectively started to laugh.
He raised his voice to talk over them. ‘All right, all right. You know what I mean. We don’t have a clear facial image but perhaps someone will recognise something about the outfit? I’ve already been in contact with someone from the BBC and they think it will make it onto the local news this lunchtime. The press office are drafting a full release that can go to the others.’ He paused and looked at Jessica and Reynolds to see if they had anything to add. When it was clear they didn’t, he spoke again. ‘Does anyone have any ideas?’
Jessica knew some of the best leads they’d had over the years had come because of random suggestions from officers in briefings such as this. Some senior detectives would prefer ideas to be brought to them in private so they could take partial credit but Cole wasn’t one for pecking orders. As it was, everyone seemed as baffled as they were. There were a few questions about the finger that was missing from the hand and a couple of thoughts about what could have happened to the rest of the body – and whether the person it came from was still alive – but no one really knew anything.
When the ideas had dried up, Cole shushed everyone and spoke again. ‘I have to remind you about the community engagement programme.’ He stopped as a groan sounded from the floor. Jessica wanted to join in but just about stopped herself. ‘All right, calm down. Don’t shoot the messenger. This has come from a lot higher up than me. I know there have been a few emails going around but, with the summer upon us, things are about to move fully into action. Essentially the idea is for us to get more involved with local projects in order to portray us all in a better light.’
There were more complaints from the floor as the DCI struggled to speak over the top of people. He eventually stopped, standing with his hands on his hips waiting for people to quieten down. He reminded Jessica of an old geography teacher she’d had who would stand and wait for silence. Her class had once wasted twenty-five minutes of a lesson as the teacher did nothing but glare at them in silence from the front of the room.
Finally the chatter dropped and the chief inspector continued. ‘As I was saying, the idea is to place us more centrally in the community. Before the schools break up we will be attending a couple of careers days to talk to the students. There’s also a summer fete-type event where we’ll have a stall and be available for people to chat to, plus we’re upping the number of community meetings we hold. There’s a volunteers sheet outside my office so if anyone wants to get involved then put yourself down. If there aren’t enough people interested, I’m going to have to assign people myself.’ As more complaints sounded out, he finally lost his temper, raising his voice. ‘All right, shut up. The next person to speak instantly gets volunteered for everything.’ He paused, lowering his voice. ‘I know it’s not ideal but it might not be a bad idea, given the publicity we’ve had in recent years. Now stop moaning and wait for your jobs.’
Jessica could think of a few stories in the local press over the past two years that hadn’t exactly painted them in a good light. She had no intentions of signing up for anything but wasn’t convinced anyone else would either, given the apathy around the room. With her position there was every chance Cole would tell her to get involved whether she wanted to or not. It wasn’t that she was against the overall idea behind the policy but she wasn’t massively keen on associating with the general public at the best of times, let alone when she would have to act as some sort of representative.
The chief inspector divided people up into various teams and then sent everyone on their way. Jessica first went to help the press office but, after speaking to two different television stations, things had gone quiet. Her own office was on the ground floor near to the canteen. When she first moved in a couple of years before, DS Reynolds, as he was at the time, occupied it and had done for a while. After he moved into his own office a couple of months ago following his promotion, Jessica had enjoyed the large room to herself.
As she walked through the door, DS Cornish was in Reynolds’s old chair closest to the entrance. Jessica’s own desk was at the back of the room and, as usual, the items she was working on were scattered around the floor, the tops of filing cabinets and her own desk. Her messiness was well-known and ridiculed around the station.
The woman was typing on her keyboard but quickly stood as Jessica opened the door. She turned to face Jessica, speaking quickly and offering her hand. ‘Hi, it’s DS Daniel, isn’t it? I hope this is okay? The chief inspector told me this would be my new office and the desk was free.’
Jessica shook her hand. ‘It’s fine but call me Jess. I’m not big on formalities.’ She could see the sergeant had already made her mark. There were family photos placed in perfect rows on the desk and the keyboard and monitor had been moved so they were exactly perpendicular to the edge of the table itself.
The woman was wearing glasses, which she hadn’t been earlier, but took them off and placed them on the desk. ‘Nice to meet you, Jess, I’m Louise.’
Jessica walked across to her side of the room and shoved a stack of folders away from her keyboard, trying not to knock anything onto the floor, then sat down. ‘It’s not always as mad as this.’
Cornish laughed. ‘I’d hope not. I didn’t move up here for the quiet life but I wasn’t expecting something like this on my first day.’
Jessica turned around to face her office mate. ‘Where did you come from?’
Cornish was watching her closely. ‘My husband James originally came from around here but we had been living in the Coventry area for almost ten years. I was a DS there but James’s father has been really ill over the past few years. We’ve got two kids and we both wanted them to get to know their grandfather before he gets too sick. I put in for a transfer over a year ago but it’s taken this long for things to work out.’
‘How old are your children?’
‘Nine and five. James looks after them while I go to work.’
Jessica realised she must have inadvertently pulled some sort of face because the woman instantly defended herself.
‘It was his decision . . .’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean anything.’
The sergeant looked away, clearly annoyed, leaving Jessica to feel uncomfortable. Her reaction wasn’t deliberate but she realised how offensive it could have seemed. She didn’t have any strong feelings about child-rearing but there weren’t too many female officers who worked while their partners stayed at home with the children and the situation had caught her off-guard.
Cornish started typing on her keyboard and Jessica knew there wasn’t much more she could add. Within a couple of minutes of properly meeting her new office mate for the first time, she had put her foot in it.
Jessica turned back to her computer and logged into the system, bringing up the Internet browser and loading a couple of news websites. The ones she looked at were already running the still of the woman in black along with their contact number – a good sign – while the first TV news stories should have been aired within the past half-hour or so.