One Left Behind: A completely gripping and addictive crime thriller with nail-biting suspense (Detective Gina Harte Book 9)

by Carla Kovach

  Bernard looked over. ‘Blood. The girl who pulled her out from the bushes cut her arm on those thorns.’

  Jennifer bent over and placed a yellow evidence marker next to a cigarette and another next to a crisp packet. The whole of the woodland was dotted with yellow and most of those markers were next to litter.

  ‘Hi, Jen,’ Jacob said as he placed his pad in his pocket.

  ‘You okay?’ Even though Jennifer was wearing a face mask, Gina could tell from her eyes that she was smiling back at Jacob.

  He nodded and smiled. ‘I’ll catch you later.’ She carried on working.

  ‘So, any further thoughts for now?’ Gina turned to Jacob, now speaking louder to be heard over the chorus of birdsong. The lovely morning, flooded with golden sunlight and with lush foliage spreading across the land, was now tainted by the death of a young girl and Gina clenched her hands. Whoever strangled her had to be caught and they had no time to waste.

  He shook his head. ‘She had to be really drunk or even drugged not to have any form of defence wounds. I mean, if I were being strangled to death, I’d be going mad.’ He wiped his brow.

  Although the crime scene suits were light, Gina’s was literally sticking to her neck and she knew Jacob was feeling sticky and uncomfortable too. ‘Let’s head to the camp and see where they all stayed last night, then we can get these suits off and speak to Kapoor and O’Connor, see if the witness statements have come up with anything. I also want all the kids down the station with their parents to give a formal statement. It’s going to be a long day but we need to record everything. I want to know exactly what those kids were up to last night.’ She glanced across the landscape. ‘Those cottages over there, I guess you could walk to them in several minutes.’ She pointed to the chimney tops that reached towards the sky.

  ‘That’s Oak Tree Walk. Nice little road, sought after as far as cutesy terraced cottages go.’

  ‘I want to know if the residents heard or saw anything. They’re close enough to be disturbed by noisy kids having parties. Maybe one of them walked a dog or was sitting in their garden last night. We also need to know if anyone has made any complaints in the past. I can’t rule out someone flipping after being regularly disturbed by parties. Can you give Wyre a call at the station? She can take a look before we get back?’

  As they reached the cordon, Gina removed her face mask. She nodded at PC Smith who was keeping guard to make sure that no locals passed with their dogs or decided to jog over any evidence. Jacob pulled out his phone and began speaking to DC Paula Wyre. Gina glanced around. There was often a crowd at a crime scene but here the cordon was just billowing in the breeze. No reporters were yet trying to lean over for photos or statements. It would only be a matter of minutes before they turned up. The news had already hit social media and the media were always hot on that.

  Jacob ended his call. ‘She’s getting onto it now, guv.’

  ‘Right, let’s check out this camp and see if the bigger picture will help us to find our murderer.’

  Five

  Caro yawned and prised an eye open. The sound of her mother clattering downstairs had woken her. She turned on her phone and glanced at the time. It was way past eleven. Maybe she could get out of going to Grandad’s for Sunday dinner. The food was normally pants. Some horrible fatty meat covered in thin gravy with a huge portion of mushed up veg. Maybe she could claim to be coming down with a cold. No one would want to risk Grandad catching it, not with his asthma. The family all go on about his chest and his wheeziness.

  Her bedroom door burst open and her little brother, Jake, leaped onto her bed and began jumping and screaming. The mattress squeaked and dipped with every jump, threatening to cave in. ‘Dad said, get up you lazy arse and you’ve got ten minutes.’

  She grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. His eight-year-old onesie-clad body dodged her fluff-filled torpedo with ease. Her knuckles whitened as she clenched another pillow and held it above her head, ready to strike again.

  Jake stuck his tongue out and laughed.

  ‘Get out of my room, Jake. You know you can’t just come in without knocking. Turd face.’

  Sticking his tongue out, he blew a raspberry, dotting his spit on her cheek. He jumped off the bed with a thud so heavy the window frames and lightshade rattled, then he helped himself to a couple of her chocolates that sat in a bowl on her chest of drawers. Stuffing them in, she saw the mulching chocolate churning around in his cavernous mouth, then a string of brown dribble pooled at his chin before landing on her carpet – yuck. He went to grab another.

  She hurried over and fought it from his tight fist, his face reddening. He tried to cling on until it squelched underneath the wrapper. ‘Let go, you little weasel shit. They’re mine and you’re disgusting. Go clean your ugly face.’

  ‘Not fair. I want some and you’re the ugly face.’

  She picked him up kicking and screaming then dropped him on the landing before slamming her door shut. She’d tried arguing with him many times but he always won as he’d just hurl a load of insults and laugh.

  He banged and banged to come back in. ‘Caro, let me in. I love you, big sis. I was joking. You’re only a bit ugly.’

  ‘Just go away.’

  ‘Spotty face.’

  Some days she hated Jake, she hated him a lot; and today was one of them. She rubbed her throbbing temples and stared into the mirror on her dressing table. A film of face powder covered it so she rubbed it away with the sleeve of her pyjama top for a clearer view. There was no way she’d be able to get dressed in ten minutes. Her almond-shaped brown eyes were a little puffy from being woken so abruptly and spots, so many spots to cover up. They always came out worse when she was stressed. Nothing whatsoever had cured her acne and the scarring was getting unsightly. All she wanted to do was cry and have a shower, but she didn’t even have time for that. Great – not only was she going out looking a mess, she’d smell too.

  ‘Caro – five minutes.’ Her dad’s booming voice travelled up the stairs.

  Her phone lit up again, then again. Then several messages flashed up in her WhatsApp groups. There was one for school friends, one for the friends she hung out with outside school and then Facebook flashed, followed by Twitter. It was all happening at once. Something big was going down and she had to see what it was. She opened Twitter and looked at the local groups that she and her friends followed.

  BellaBoo89xx

  OMG! Girl murdered in woods. #CleevesfordMurder

  AJJ1loveheart

  @BellaBoo89xx Who? Do we no her. #CleevesfordMurder

  OrElsa_

  Here now. Gruesome. Police everywhere.