Definitely Dead, Kate Bendelow [books like beach read TXT] 📗

is what you needed to know.’ Chris swivelled the computer monitor towards DCI Chambers and Kym also leant towards the screen. The close-up of Ryan Johnson’s right hand displayed a black fitness tracker strapped to his wrist.

‘Perfect.’ Chambers nodded. ‘Thank you, Chris. We’re having a briefing in thirty minutes,’ she said to Kym before leaving the office.

‘I’m going to accompany you to the PM after the briefing,’ Kym said to Chris. ‘Ladies, ring me on my mobile with any updates from the flat,’ she said, addressing Maya and Elaine. ‘We’ve a lot to get through, people, so let’s go.’

With a clap, she headed back to her office.

45

Maya worked with Elaine a further three days at Ryan Johnson’s flat. The revised forensic strategy saw them painstakingly recover trace evidence, as well as swabbing handles and light switches for DNA. Maya wrote out exhibit bags and updated Elaine’s scene notes. This way it took half the time, as the writing-up process took longer than physically recovering each piece of evidence.

They then turned their attention to swabbing and fingerprinting the beer cans in the lounge, as well as recovering cigarette ends from the ashtray in the kitchen. The pair also recovered various items of property, which were to be submitted to the lab for fingerprint treatment. They also considered items such as the post in the hallway, which could be chemically enhanced to reveal any latent footwear marks.

Certain materials were more suitable for chemical treatment to enhance any latent fingerprints, rather than being subject to conventional powdering techniques. The chemical treatment used depended on the nature and porosity of the material, but typically included ninhydrin, superglue or acid black. The lab technicians were as conversant in which type of chemical treatment to use, in the same way as the SOCOs knew which type of fingerprint powders to use on various substrates.

Between them, and with continued assistance from Ewan, Ushra, Derek Billing and his assistant, they combed every inch of the one-bedroom flat in search of evidence. Doctor Granger had concluded that death had been a result of blunt force trauma to the head and suspected a hammer was likely to have been used as a weapon, although they were yet to find it.

Maya had been pleased with how the examination had gone. She and Elaine worked well together, and she had learnt a lot from Derek Billing. Maya also gained invaluable experience into how Ewan and Ushra worked. She watched them use the high intensity light source to search for fingerprints on the walls of the flat and use acid black on various surfaces to further enhance areas of ridge detail.

As they were finishing up on the final day, Maya joined Ewan for a break and the two sat in the van while they shared a flask of lukewarm coffee. They were chatting about how long Ewan had been working in the lab, when she noticed his expression cloud over.

‘What’s the matter?’ Maya asked with concern.

‘Isn’t that him? The journalist that interviewed you after the Celeste Warren suicide?’ Ewan replied.

Maya turned to see the familiar sloping, pear-shaped figure. He was grinning in her direction.

‘Yep, that’s him. He’s been hanging around the last few days. I’ve been purposefully trying to avoid him, although he had the nerve to wave to me the other day, as if we were old friends. Dave “the bastard” Wainwright.’

Ewan snorted, before looking at Maya sympathetically. ‘I really felt for you when I saw that. It was a shit trick and to be fair, any one of us could have been caught out by him.’

‘Yeah, well, you live and learn,’ Maya said with a shrug.

‘According to the grapevine, Kym gave you a real bollocking for your sudden death conspiracy theory too.’

‘Ah, yes. Is that doing the rounds as much as my shame of talking to dead people?’

‘Afraid so. But the majority aren’t judging you unfairly. We’re all on the same team after all. You voiced your opinion which you’re entitled to do. And for what it’s worth, I agree with you. There is something strange about the last few sudden deaths we’ve had. I know none of them have appeared suspicious, but Karl Gorman, Jim Baron, Celeste Warren and more recently Geoffrey Doran, four of the force’s most notorious offenders have all died within weeks of each other. And you know what they say…’

‘There’s no such thing as coincidence in the cops,’ they chimed together.

‘What about this scene, Ryan Johnson. He was a known offender too. Who do you think killed him?’

‘Well, obviously they think he’s pissed off some of our local gang members during his time and so far, we’ve no one arrested, so who knows. And yeah, Ryan had a record but certainly wasn’t as notorious as the others and that’s really the only link I have between them all. I don’t know. I just feel like I’m going around in circles whenever I think about it.’

Maya frowned as she thought once again about the series of sudden deaths. ‘This Ryan Johnson job looks like a murder whereas the others have just been a classic case of sudden death. But there was something about the scene at Karl Gorman’s house which I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Just a stupid feeling more than anything. I attended the PM and Doctor Granger, who had also been at the scene, was adamant there was nothing suspicious about his death.

‘Tony Harwood from Alder Street attended Jim Baron’s death, but they’d pretty much called it non-suspicious by the time he arrived. My own mum, who’s a district nurse found him, for goodness’ sake. And you know Tony has been in the job nearly as long as Chris and Amanda, so with his experience, he would have picked up on something being wrong. Likewise, with Geoffrey Doran. Although bloody vicious, it would appear to be a random hit and run. But Celeste Warren’s death, I dunno. I mean it was obviously a suicide, but the note she left still strikes me