Page 39 (1/2)

‘These areas of the soil are saturated,’ said Nils He took an evidence bag which was full of soil and handed it to Erika She put her nose to it and even behind herit to Peterson A look passed between the three of theenerator down here?’

‘Could be, but the junkies have been lighting fires too, could be lighter fluid,’ said Nils Peterson passed the bag of soil to Moss

‘I think I’ve got so here,’ said one of the CSI’s his voice muffled by his face mask He turned to them with a small hard object held in a pair of tweezers, ‘It was embedded in the soil here’

Nils was ready with a s, and he held it out as it was dropped in He held the bag up to the light and they all craned to look at the contents

It was a small tooth There was a moments silence and Erika looked over at Moss and Peterson

‘When we recovered Jessica Collins re… I want this fast tracked with toxicology,’ she said trying to keep her voice even

Nils nodded They looked around the dank cellar and shuddered at the thought of being trapped down there

‘If we can match that tooth to Jessica’s skeleton, then we’re close to solving this,’ said Erika

33

At 730pm it was dark and cold, and the team had been down by Hayes Quarry for over thirteen hours After finding the tooth, they had come back up and joined in the search with DI Crawford for the septic tank The area around the house was overgrown and over the years soil and all kinds of rubbish had been duetation had grown

Officers had been to Rosemary Hooley’s house three tienerator whilst he was squatting in the cottage, but there was no one in The house was dark Erika decided they should call it a day, and made a call to her team back at the station to contact Thaet the location of the tank

After the CSI’s had left, taking with them the tooth they’d found in the cellar, Erika felt they were so close and yet so far The tooth could be a h; it also could be from one of the junkies and squatters who had been in the house over the last twenty-six years

Erika’s phone rang again, the withheld number, as they rode back in the police van to Bromley She sat in the back with Moss, Peterson, John, DI Crawford and two other CID officers whose naotten She was exhausted and rested her head against the , listening as Moss and Peterson were talking with John about going for a drink after work

‘Bromley is not full of townies,’ cried John

‘Come on! Bromley ticks every townie box,’ said Moss

‘How?’

‘Okay, off the top ofpanto this year?’

‘Yes’

‘Do you usually have an ex-soap star or reality TV star headlining?’

‘Yes,’ said John sheepishly

‘Does it have a large shopping centre with a maze like car park and a whimsical name?’ asked Peterson

‘Yes, The Glades’