Lynda La Plante: The Red Dahlia

Sharon Bilkin came to the station at nine o'clock. She was twenty-six years old, a baby-faced blonde wearing too much make-up. She had brought numerous photographs of Louise with her. The team knew immediately Louise was their victim. Sharon was able to tell them that she had last seen Louise at Stringfellow's nightclub; Louise had stayed on after Sharon left, which was just after midnight on 9 January. Louise had not returned home. When asked why she hadn't reported this, Sharon said that Louise often stayed away for two or three nights at a time.

Sharon told them that Louise worked as a dental receptionist. When the surgery was contacted, they said that they also had not seen her since the 9th. They had not raised the alarm either: Louise's frequent absences from work meant they were not surprised or suspicious when she didn't turn up. Moreover, they had given her notice to quit the week before.

Louise, they also discovered from Sharon, was an orphan; her parents had died when she was a young teenager. There were no close relatives, so Sharon was asked if she would be prepared to formally identify Louise.

Sharon was shaking with nerves; when the green cover was drawn back, she let out a gasp. 'What's the matter with her face? Her mouth?'

'Is this Louise Pennel?' Anna asked.

'Yes, but what's happened to her mouth?'

'It has been cut,' Anna said, giving the nod to the mortuary assistant to recover Louise's face.

Sharon spent two hours with Anna and Morgan answering their questions. She gave them a few names, but was sure Louise had no steady boyfriend. She also said that Louise wanted to get into modelling like her, which was why she had so many photographs. One in particular that Sharon showed them was heartbreaking. Louise was wearing a red, glitter-sequinned minidress, a glass of champagne in one hand and a red rose caught in her hair. She had the sweetest of smiles, her lipstick a dark plum. Her large, dark brown eyes were heavily made up and she had a small uptilted nose. She had been a very pretty young woman.

The Incident Room was buzzing with the news that they had an identification, giving the whole team an adrenalin rush. They had been so frustrated, waiting for their first break. Now she was identified, they could kick-start their hunt for her killer.

Morgan was back at his desk the following morning at seven-fifteen. A priority was to interview the dental surgeon Louise had worked for. Morgan was busy listing everyone he wanted to see that morning when Anna walked into his office with a copy of the Mirror.

'Excuse me, sir; have you seen this?'

'What?'

'Second page.'

Morgan reached across to take the paper. He sat down heavily. 'Fuck. How did they get this?'

'Must have got it from Sharon; she had enough photographs. We put out so many requests for help in identifying Louise, no one would have thought to ask Sharon not to go to the press.'

Morgan sucked in his breath in a fury. The article said little: just that the victim the police were trying to name was Louise Pennel. There were a few sentences about how Sharon, her flatmate, had identified Louise. There was a picture of a scantily dressed Sharon, but the main photograph was of Louise with the red rose in her hair.

Roses are red, violets are blue, who killed Louise and slit her mouth in two?

Jack Douglas, the Mirror journalist who had printed Sharon's story, looked at the single sheet of typed writing that had been sent anonymously to the crime desk.

'Sick fuckers,' he muttered. He screwed it up and tossed it into the waste bin.

DCI Morgan held up the newspaper to the team in the Incident Room. 'We're gonna get a lot of crap aimed at us over—' Before he could finish his sentence, he buckled over in agony, clutching his stomach. There was a flurry of activity around him. He was helped into his office in excruciating pain, unable to stand upright. An ambulance took him to Richmond hospital at ten-fifteen. The team hovered around, discussing what could be wrong with their Gov. By mid-morning they knew it was serious. DCI Morgan had bleeding ulcers and would be out of action for some considerable time. This meant that a new DCI would have to take over the case, and fast.

By early afternoon, they were informed that DCI James Langton was stepping in, and bringing two officers with him.

Anna watched from the Incident Room window as Langton arrived. It was just after ten. He parked erratically and then slammed the car door shut. He was still driving his beat-up Rover, but was looking far smarter than poor old Gov Morgan had ever managed, in a navy-blue striped suit, a pale blue shirt with a white collar, and a maroon tie.

Langton was joined in the car park by D.S. John Barolli and D.I. Mike Lewis, the other two officers Anna had worked alongside on the Daniels case. They carried a mound of files between them. They chatted together for a few moments before heading into the station.

Anna was sitting at her desk making herself look busy when Langton strode into the room, flanked by Lewis and Barolli. He went straight to the Incident board and looked over it before facing the team. He introduced his sidekicks and, giving a curt nod to Anna, expressed his regret that their Gov had been taken into hospital. Then he moved on to the case.

'I will need to assimilate all the data you have, but meanwhile, you can't waste any time. It seems you have little or nothing to go on, bar the fact you have your victim identified. I want forensics over to the girls' flat as it has not as yet been eliminated as the scene of the murder. I want you to start listing all Louise Pennel's friends and associates and start taking statements fast. She was missing for three days; where was she? Who was the last person to see her alive? Give me until tomorrow morning for my briefing; until then, let's get moving!'

A murmur erupted as he gathered up a row of files and looked around for Morgan's office. A young female DC led him through the Incident Room past Anna's desk. Langton paused for a second and looked at her.

'Hello, Anna. Nice to be working with you again.' Then he was gone.

Anna flushed, turning back to her computer screen. Barolli and Lewis came over to stand by her desk. Barolli made a joke about it becoming a habit. Anna looked confused.

'Well, you were brought onto Langton's team for the Alan Daniels case when Detective Hudson got sick. Now we're together again, but this time it was your Guv'nor who got ill. Putting something into the coffee, are you?'

Anna smiled, but was not amused.

'I suppose that case must have helped to get you a promotion. Congratulations,' Lewis said.

She couldn't help noticing an undercurrent of sarcasm in his tone; it had obviously not helped him. The duo then followed Langton into his office.

The young DC came out from Langton's office which faced the Incident Room and so had blinds for privacy. Anna watched as the DC filled three mugs with black coffee and a plate with doughnuts.

'Good-looking, isn't he? Nice suit,' she said.

Anna smiled. 'He hates his coffee cold. If that's stewed, I'd get the canteen to make a fresh pot.'

'So you've worked with the DCI before?'

'Yes, a while back.'

'Is he married?'

Anna turned away. 'Not as far as I know. That coffee will be cold if it wasn't before.'

As the young DC moved off, Anna looked over to the officer working at the next desk. 'What's her name? I keep forgetting?'

He didn't even look up. 'Bridget; like the diaries.'

Anna smiled. The young DC was slightly overweight but very pretty, with silky blonde hair, unlike Anna's own spiky red. Anna had tried to grow hers longer but it didn't look right, so she had gone back to her usual cropped cut which held in check the curls that liked to spring up.