Page 8 of The Girls in the Lake
Beth felt fingers of fear run down the full length of her spine. Could there be another body in the lake? It was a possibility. She wished Josh was here.
‘Were they together last night?’
There was a knock on the door and the officer opened it. As if in answer to her prayer, standing on the other side was Josh and his colleague Sam. Beth felt a wave of relief wash over her. He would know the right things to say and do.
‘Suzanne, this is Detective Sergeant Josh Walker and Detective Constable Sam Thomas. Josh, Suzanne is a duty manager at the hotel where the victim, who we think is a Leah Burton, worked. She’s a bit concerned because Leah’s friend is also missing.’
Josh’s face drained of all colour, and Beth knew he was thinking, just like she was, that it couldn’t happen again so soon after they had caught a serial killer who had been terrorising Windermere.
Josh composed himself and shook the woman’s hand gently. ‘Please could you explain to me what you were telling Dr Adams?’
She nodded. ‘I looked for Chloe to come with me to do the identification, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. Which is strange because the pair of them are usually inseparable. Do you think it’s possible something’s happened to her as well?’
Josh stole a glance at Beth.
‘Where did you find Leah?’ the woman asked, obviously not willing to hear the reply.
‘She was discovered in the lake by the marina this morning, by a passenger on a boat who jumped in and pulled her out.’
‘Which boat?’
It was Sam who answered. ‘The Tequila Sunrise.’
Suzanne shook her head. ‘That boat. I warn the girls to keep away. It always ends in trouble whenever they go on there.’
Josh leant forward. ‘Why?’
‘It’s a party boat owned by some rich kid. Everyone knows it’s all sex, drugs, rock and roll and free-flowing alcohol. I’m surprised it’s taken this long for someone to fall off it to be honest.’
So many questions were running through Beth’s mind. Who owned the boat? Was it licensed? Had there been any other accidents on it? Before she could ask, Josh began to ask Suzanne exactly the same questions.
He turned to the officer. ‘Please can you tell Control we need a search team to the marina? I want the boat checked and the waters surrounding it. I also want two officers to go to the hotel and do their best to locate Chloe.’
The officer nodded at Josh and stepped outside. Beth felt the strings on the tight knot that had begun to form inside her stomach pull even harder. It couldn’t happen again, could it?
Eleven
Beth stood up. ‘Should we carry on with the identification while we’re waiting for news on Chloe?’
Suzanne’s eyes widened as she nodded, opened her mouth to speak and a small squeak came out. Beth felt bad for the woman; when she’d arrived at work this morning, identifying a dead body would not have been on her to-do list – it probably wasn’t even on her lifetime to-do list. Beth dealt with death on a daily basis and still found some cases upsetting. She had emotions just like everyone else, she’d just learnt to put them to one side while she worked. It was her job to figure out how and why the person who had once been full of life was now an empty shell lying in a mortuary refrigerator. It was a job she took very seriously; she was the voice for the victims who never got to tell their stories.
Beth left Suzanne standing next to Josh and Sam as she went into the viewing room to tell Abe they were ready. He had the body laid out on a steel gurney and covered with a white sheet so only her face showed.
‘Everything okay, Doc?’
‘I’ll tell you when we’re on our own.’
‘That good?’
She shook her head and went back into the small room, which was now unbearably stuffy with the number of people crammed into it. Abe pulled the cord that opened the curtains on a window between the rooms and stood to the side. A gasp escaped from Suzanne’s lips and she stepped closer to the glass, her nose almost pressed against it. She stared at the discoloured face of the girl, whose lips were tinged blue.
Josh broke the silence. ‘Can you confirm this is the body of Leah Burton?’
He looked at the woman, who couldn’t take her eyes away. ‘I think so.’
‘I’m afraid I need a yes or a no; if you’re not sure it can wait until her next of kin arrive.’
She tilted her head, stared a little longer then nodded. ‘Yes, sorry. I’ve never seen a dead person before. It’s her, it’s Leah.’
