Stephen Booth - The Corpse Bridge

As he watched officers manoeuvre the body and crime-scene examiners record every detail with their digital cameras, Cooper began to wonder whether the victim’s blood had reached both banks of the river or had drifted into Staffordshire on the current.

But it didn’t matter. The body was here, on the Derbyshire side. It was his responsibility for now. The chief constable had said recently that there was no greater privilege than this — the job of investigating the death of another human being.

Sandra Blair was the victim’s name, according to Rob Beresford. She lived nearby in the village of Crowdecote and worked in tea rooms in Hartington. As far as Beresford knew, she was unmarried. She was a friend of his mother’s, he said. They were in some organisation together. The Women’s Institute or the Mothers’ Union, or a local historical society. Perhaps all of them. He was vague on the details beyond that point.

‘Any confirmation of ID on the victim?’ asked Cooper as the crime-scene manager, Wayne Abbott, broke away from the activity round the body.

‘There are some house keys,’ said Abbott. ‘And a phone, but it’s been immersed in water, so-’

‘Forensics might be able to get something off it, do you think?’

‘Possibly. Other than that, she had nothing much on her. There’s no purse, just the odd bit of small change in the pockets. She was wearing a blue waterproof jacket, which must have weighed her down in the water. Walking boots too.’

‘But the water is so shallow. It wouldn’t have stopped her getting out, if she was still alive and conscious.’

Abbott shrugged. His scene suit was wet and streaked with mud. He looked cold too, and must have been very uncomfortable. But this was all part of the job. No one chose a crime scene with the comfort of the investigators in mind.

‘That’s not for me to comment on,’ he said.

The divers in their wetsuits were still in the water, carefully exploring the riverbed, feeling under rocks, sifting through mud. They were gradually making their way downstream from the location of the body, in case evidence had drifted away in the current and disappeared, following the streams of the victim’s blood.

‘No torch among her possessions?’ asked Cooper.

Abbott shook his head. ‘Not that we’ve found.’

‘There must have been one. She wouldn’t have come out in the pitch dark without a torch of some kind.’

‘Well, someone else must have been here, I suppose. Maybe they had it.’

‘Perhaps. But she seems to be dressed for the outing, at least.’

He was thinking about Rob Beresford, dressed in his unsuitable muddy trainers and sodden denims. The victim had come out here much better prepared, and presumably for quite a different purpose. What that purpose was, he had no idea. Not yet anyway. But Sandra Blair’s life was about to become the focus of a lot of attention.

‘And a hat,’ said Cooper, thinking of the head wound and the dark strands of wet hair.

‘Sorry?’

‘She was probably wearing a hat. What happened to it?’

‘No idea.’

Gradually, the entire team was gathering at the Corpse Bridge. The same old circus that any suspicious death attracted. Present at the scene now was Detective Inspector Dean Walker. Cooper knew him, but hadn’t worked directly with him until now. His old DI, Paul Hitchens, had moved on — and probably wouldn’t be back in E Division for any nostalgic reunions with his ex-colleagues, judging by his comments in the pub on his last day. Walker was only a temporary replacement, though. He was earmarked for better things, a job at headquarters in Ripley. There would still be a vacancy in E Division.

Walker was talking on the phone to a detective chief inspector, the only DCI they still had knocking around in this part of Derbyshire.

In the present circumstances everyone was expected to pick up the slack. The DCI and the DI were each doing two people’s jobs. Further down the ladder many of the senior DCs were taking on a sergeant’s role, while frontline uniformed PCs were acting as social workers, not to mention standing in for paramedics. Everyone had a story of taking an injured person to hospital in the back of a police car rather than wait for an ambulance that might never come because it was already waiting outside A amp;E with a previous patient.

Sometimes Cooper wondered who was actually doing the real police work. Community support officers, he supposed. The PCSOs — dressed up to look like police officers, but without any of the powers.

As a DS, he was right in the middle of this mess. He could probably use the freedom to show a bit of initiative, unless this became a major inquiry, in which case they would all lose control to EMSOU’s Major Crime Unit.

‘A quick resolution would be nice,’ he said, though to no one in particular.

‘Amen to that,’ said DC Luke Irvine, who happened to be standing closest. ‘You know I have all these other cases, Ben-’

‘So have we all.’

‘Fair enough, I suppose. What do you want me to do?’

Cooper looked at his watch. ‘You can get up to Earl Sterndale and visit Rob Beresford’s parents. Find out whatever they know about Sandra Blair. Obviously, we need an address for her, any family, the next of kin.’

‘Got it.’

‘Oh, and you can let them know their son is still with us, making a statement back at the station. He’s phoned them already, but they’re probably worried about him.’

‘I’m on my way.’

Cooper looked round. DC Carol Villiers would be at West Street to take Rob Beresford’s statement when he arrived. Becky Hurst had a rest day. That left just one member of his team.

DC Gavin Murfin was slouched against a stone wall, his body ballooning like the Michelin Man under several layers of clothing. Murfin looked detached, or at least semi-detached. But Cooper had known him to have the best insights at these moments, some nugget from more than thirty years of experience.

‘What are you thinking, Gavin?’ he asked.

Murfin shifted reluctantly from the wall. ‘In the old days I’d be thinking, I wonder how much overtime I can make from this one.’

‘No overtime now, Gavin.’

‘Exactly.’

Cooper watched him slump back again. So did that mean Murfin wasn’t thinking about anything at all? With Gavin, it was possible. Though there was also a likelihood that he was just contemplating food.

Another police Land Rover was working its way down the track, bumping over the ruts and splashing through a miniature lake of muddy water that had gathered on the bend before the final descent. Its white paintwork was already filthy and the wipers were struggling to keep an area of windscreen clear for the driver.

‘You had a review with Personnel, didn’t you?’ said Cooper. ‘What’s going to happen?’

Murfin groaned. ‘If I stay on any longer, it’s bad news.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘I mean they might send me to Glossop,’ said Murfin, with a note of despair.

‘It’s not the end of the world, Gavin.’

‘No. But you can see it from there.’

‘So, what? You’re chucking in the towel? Collecting your pension and waving goodbye?’

‘It seems so. Though I’ve got a different type of gesture in mind.’

The Land Rover had been forced to stop a hundred yards up the ancient, potholed trackway. There were already too many vehicles down here near the scene. No one was going to stand a chance of turning round when they came to leave. The back-up crew from the Land Rover had decided to take a shortcut across the field to reach the riverside.

Cooper watched them with interest, guessing they were from one of the bigger towns, Chesterfield or even Derby. One officer, climbing over a stock fence on to wet grass, took a couple of electric shocks. Perhaps, thought Cooper, he should have warned them to get the fencing turned off before they did that.