Bennett Estate was the second largest estate in Stoke-on-Trent. Like a lot of social housing, it had a reputation for trouble and unruly tenants but, more often than not, Grace found that rumours were just that. This area, however, did live up to its status as a sink estate. She wasn’t being unkind when she reckoned 90 per cent of its residents didn’t work, 70 per cent were single parents and most of them were probably bringing up the next generation of crooks.
The school was on the edge of the city, meaning that it backed onto a considerable amount of countryside. But driving up to the block itself, you wouldn’t have reason to believe that. It was a deftly overpopulated area with homes on every available piece of land. Built in the mid-1940s, the estate was past its sell-by date in terms of today’s standards. Cars were parked everywhere owing to lack of space, on already narrow roads, which were a rat run for car chases.
Grace and Perry pulled into the already crowded car park. As they stepped out of the vehicle, there seemed to be orderly chaos everywhere Grace looked. Teachers were herding pupils into a main hallway. Parents had started to turn up, no doubt having been rung by frantic children wondering what was going on.
They passed a woman she assumed to be a member of staff trying to explain to a man that he needed to wait until his child’s name was crossed off her list and then someone would go and fetch him; Grace presumed this was to ensure they had a record of who was on the premises. Another woman was trying to stop a worried parent from barging through.
A uniformed officer was marking down names of people who were going into the school as part of their investigation. Grace knew they could contain the crime scene as it was away from the school site, but it would be handy in the days to come to show who had been where and doing what here as well.
Nick caught up with Grace and Perry after parking next to them.
‘I think we’ll go and see her first,’ he said. ‘Then we can speak to the girls who found her, the teachers who took the class and the headmaster. Eyes are on us.’
Grace nodded. A small crowd was gathering across the road from the entrance gate, a row of bungalows behind them. Already, there were a few people either speaking into or tapping away at their phones.
Nick pointed to a lane at the side of the school. It had been blocked by a marked vehicle parked horizontally across the tarmac, its lights flashing.
‘She’s a five-minute walk from here,’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’
Grace, Nick and Perry presented their warrant cards to another uniformed officer with a clipboard and, once he’d noted them down, began the sombre walk to the body. The school was at the end of a road that led to a single access lane. With hedges on both sides, and knowing what she was about to look at, Grace couldn’t help feeling claustrophobic. It was eerily quiet too, once they’d left behind the noise of the school. Grace shivered, even though the April day was mild.
After a steep incline, the entrance to the field loomed at them. There was another police car parked, its tailgate open. Inside were the items they were required to put on before going to the crime scene, to avoid contamination and help them catch only their killer’s DNA and vital evidence – forensic white suits and shoe covers, latex gloves and masks to cover their mouths.
They each dressed in the appropriate gear and turned off the lane, through a gap in the hedge. Grace looked in front of her; there were a few bushes scattered across the grassy landscape and a large hedge around the perimeter. To her left, she had a clear view across some of the city, seeing rows of houses and gardens, and a large football playing field with a changing hut.
If this death was suspicious, Grace mused, it would be the second murder investigation in Stoke-on-Trent since she’d arrived. Back in September, she had helped to catch a serial killer. The timing couldn’t have been more poignant, but then again, the killer was someone she had known, so it was no coincidence that their rampage coincided with her return to her birth town.
Since then, the city had been fairly quiet. There had been the usual assaults, domestics and some low-level crime, but nothing as big as her first case with her team.
They reached the tent. In the far distance, Grace could see a row of gardens from properties that backed onto the field. She doubted any surveillance would scope this far, but made a mental note to send someone to contact their owners anyway. Then she took a deep breath before following Nick.
It was unprofessional, she knew, but she couldn’t stop the tears welling in her eyes as she took in the young girl at her feet. She had long blonde hair and a heavy fringe. Her head was partly facing away from them, her eyes open and thankfully looking in the opposite direction.
The bruising around her neck was prominent now, popping up from above the collar of her sweatshirt. The uniform of leggings and long sleeves was different from the one Grace remembered from her school days: T-shirts and short skirts, and the mottled legs that weren’t a nice look when it was cold.
She seemed a pretty girl. Grace wondered if she had been popular at school.
‘She would have been so full of life until this morning.’ Her voice was low. ‘Why would anyone take that away from her?’
‘Are you okay?’ Nick asked.
‘Something in my eye.’ Grace blinked profusely, not caring who saw her in distress. ‘Although if I didn’t have any emotion, I couldn’t do this job.’
‘Whereas I have to switch mine off to do it,’ Dave Barnett, the senior crime scene investigating officer said, acknowledging them at the same time. ‘I wouldn’t survive a week if I didn’t.’
‘I think it’s good to have feelings,’ Grace said. ‘What happened to her, Dave?’
‘On first thoughts, she’s been asphyxiated.’ Dave pointed to the bruising on the victim’s neck. ‘But it could be a case of a murder not quite there. Either someone cocked up and didn’t finish the job, or they knew what they were looking for and left her to die.’
‘I don’t follow,’ Grace said.
‘You can strangle someone until they stop breathing altogether, or if you press on the carotid artery in the right place, the heart will slow down and a victim will lose consciousness quite quickly, usually in seconds. If left that way without being revived, it takes no more than five minutes to die, depending on the age and health of the victim.’
‘So you suspect she was still alive when the girls ran for help?’ Grace swallowed.
‘I think our killer either panicked or ran out of time.’ Dave nodded.
‘Based on several statements, it would seem it was a time issue. And everyone thought she’d had a seizure at first, until the bruises started to appear,’ Nick explained.
‘How did she get singled out?’ Perry questioned. ‘She would have been in a class of, what, thirty?’
‘It could be someone who is close to our victim, who knows her routine,’ Grace suggested.
‘Any sexual assault?’ Nick asked Dave.
Grace found herself holding her breath as she waited
