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his palm. ‘Thanks, mate.’ He stared at the lipstick in the clear bag. If they were lucky the killer had been sloppy, and they could get some fingerprints from the outside casing. But Dominic knew they’d need more than luck to catch this guy.

Chapter 19

Dominic

They returned to the station and booked all the exhibits into the secure area ready to be submitted for forensic examination.

A couple of hours later they were back at the hospital.

Jonathan and Helen were already waiting for them. It didn’t look as though they had slept at all. Their eyes were sunken. Dark shadows were smudged underneath, making their pallid complexions look even more sallow.

Dominic held out his hand to Jonathan. ‘Thank you for coming.’

Jonathan took his hand, his grip weak and limp. ‘I need to see my sister.’

‘Of course. This way.’ Dominic led them down the corridor and took the elevator down to the viewing room. ‘I’m afraid you can’t be in there with her. There may need to be another post-mortem at a later date should we arrest her killer, so we have to be really careful not to contaminate any evidence. I’m sorry.’

‘You’re going to do this to her all over again?’ A sob escaped from deep inside Jonathan.

Something quivered inside Dominic’s guts. He hated dealing with the grief of the loved ones. He rolled back his shoulders and steeled himself. ‘It’s part of the process. When we catch them, they’re entitled to a defence post-mortem. Much as you might hate it. She will still be treated with dignity.’ He opened the door to the viewing room. A small room, carpeted, with a couple of sofas pushed against two of the walls. Floral wallpaper and a potted plant in the corner gave the sense of being somewhere else other than a hospital.

The wall opposite the door had a large window and on the other side of the glass were a set of curtains which were drawn across so that they were unable to see through to whatever was beyond.

Dominic ushered everyone into the room and they stood silently in the wallpapered room a moment, the reality of where they were sinking in.

‘Let me know when you’re ready to see her,’ Dominic said. ‘And once the curtain is drawn back you need to verbally let us know if this is Julie or not.’

Jonathan’s lips drew back into a thin line. Helen clung to his hand. She hadn’t uttered a word yet. Jonathan turned to her. Helen squeezed his hand a little tighter. A sign that they were ready for this. They were in this together and they could do this. He’d seen this many times in the past. Words were rarely used — it was usually a squeeze, a look, something intimate that one loved one gave to another to say they were ready for the worst moment in their lives.

And he was a part of that moment.

‘You’re ready?’ Dominic clarified.

‘As I can be,’ Jonathan said.

Dominic pressed the button on the wall at the side of the window and spoke into the intercom, informing whoever was beyond the wall that they were ready for the viewing.

Slowly the curtain moved. Helen sucked in air. The hand grasp tightened even more, both of them clutching the other.

Hayley stood silently behind the couple, ready if one of them needed to escape the room at speed.

The room beyond was gradually revealed. There was a trolley with a body covered in a white sheet being exposed as the curtains drew back. The Butlers leaned forward to get a closer look, to see if it was Julie, but the curtains were still blocking the view.

Their faces were practically pushed up against the glass. The curtains finished their slow painful journey across the window and the trolley and its occupant were in full view. Jonathon’s chest was heaving up and down.

Behind the trolley stood a short male in scrubs and with a raised finger from Dominic he stepped forward and gently lifted the sheet from the head of the person on the trolley and laid it down over their chest.

‘No!’ Jonathan’s hands went up to the window and tears streamed down his face. ‘No. No. No. Julie. No. Oh God. Julie. Oh God. No. Julie.’ His forehead tipped forward and also touched the glass. It looked as though he wanted to push himself through the glass and be with his sister.

Quietly Dominic asked, ‘Is this Julie Carver?’

‘Yes,’ whispered Helen. ‘It’s Julie.’

Chapter 20

Dominic

It was Friday and it had been a couple of days since Julie Carver’s body had been found in the woods. When Dominic walked into the incident room, the atmosphere was still upbeat. No one was feeling like this was a slog yet. People were raring for the day ahead even though it was early and they’d had another late shift the previous evening.

Dominic sat in his chair, shifted the paperwork he’d left in a puddle in the middle of his desk to the side and switched on his computer. He needed to sort out this paperwork and file it today. He had been exhausted when he walked out of the office last night.

‘How’s the chest today?’ asked Hayley.

Dominic patted his chest with his hand as though you could feel from tapping what was going on inside. ‘All good now. Healthiest human there is.’

‘So you’re now in better shape than before you ran into a burning building?’ Rhys laughed at him and Hayley smirked at the joke.

‘Glad you’re doing better,’ she said.

‘You’re a funny guy, Rhys. I’m surprised you don’t cut yourself with that tongue.’ Dominic threw a paperclip at him. It landed wide on the floor somewhere.

He turned back to his work. His emails, when he checked them, included a couple of thoughts from Kapoor late in the evening. He must have messaged