Think of the Children Read Free Page A

she arrived. It was again Reynolds who answered.
    ‘We don’t know yet. The Scene of Crime boys and the coroner will be involved. If we’re really lucky he’ll have a wallet in his pocket, if not we’ll have to wait a
few days but might get a match from his DNA to the national database. Other than that, we’re going to be struggling. His face is in such a bad way, we might not be able to get a picture we
can use. Did you see anything in the front of the vehicle?’
    Jessica shook her head. ‘It was a bit of a mess with the airbag and blood and everything. After I went to the boot, I didn’t look anywhere else.’
    DCI Cole picked up the phone from his desk. ‘I’ll check to see if anyone on site found a wallet or something to get us moving. Someone’s going to have to take another statement
from the person whose car was nicked but we can come back to that.’
    He dialled some numbers and then leant back in his chair, the receiver to his ear. Jessica offered a thin smile to Reynolds after he caught her eye as they listened to one half of a conversation
which seemed to consist largely of acknowledging grunts.
    After a couple of minutes, Cole put the phone down and looked up at the other two detectives. He scratched his chin and grimaced slightly, accentuating the wrinkles around his eyes.
‘They’ve not found much,’ he said. ‘No wallet or ID on the driver and it’s going to take a little while for them to test the blood to see if they can get a match. For
now we have no idea who he is.’
    Reynolds hummed in response but Cole continued. ‘They did find two things on the passenger seat. They might be nothing but …’ He tailed off as Jessica felt the hairs on the back
of her neck stand up. It could have been because of the dampness of her clothes but something in the tone of her boss’s voice made it sound significant. It was almost as if he had paused for
dramatic effect. The chief inspector started to shuffle papers on his desk again before picking up a pad and pen and beginning to write. ‘They’re going to have to check them for
fingerprints and the like, but there was a key and a map. We’ll get them handed over later today or early tomorrow when they’re finished with them.’
    ‘What type of key?’ Jessica asked.
    ‘I don’t know. We’ll have to wait.’
    Jessica thought about the state of the vehicle when she had arrived on the scene. The passenger’s side was far more damaged than the driver’s and, because of the airbags and
condensation, that was probably why she had missed the items. She was still annoyed with herself for not spotting them though. Cole looked up from his pad and held it up for them to see. He had
written the number ‘61’.
    ‘Does this number mean anything to you?’
    Jessica stuck out her bottom lip and looked at Reynolds as they both shrugged their shoulders.
    ‘In what context?’ the inspector asked.
    Cole put the pad back down. ‘The keys were attached to some sort of fob with the number sixty-one on. It could be a key for someone’s flat but it seems unlikely you’d have your
own door number on it.’
    ‘Maybe it’s from a hotel room?’ Jessica suggested.
    The two men nodded before Cole spoke. ‘Perhaps. We’ll have to wait for it to be analysed and released back to us.’
    ‘What about the map?’ Jessica asked.
    ‘They still need it but someone’s going to email over digital photos. The guy reckons they’re clear enough to use if we want to follow them up before we get the actual
map.’
    Jessica stood. ‘Right, let’s go follow the map.’
    She knew it wasn’t really her call to decide which cases she was allocated but, having found Isaac’s body in the boot, she wasn’t ready to stand aside and let someone else take
it up. From their reactions – and considering how well they knew her – there were no objections from either of the other two.
    Cole nodded. ‘Jason’s on this too. I don’t know where the site is yet but