‘You wanted to see me?’ Kate asked, poking her head around the lab door.

‘Come in, come in,’ Ben ushered, lowering his face mask.

‘Do you need me to change?’ Kate asked, pointing at her unprotected clothing.

‘No, the foot is away.’

Kate continued further into the laboratory. ‘What is it about?’

‘Xander Garcia phoned me back after his conference, and we think we may have something else to help you.’

Kate looked casually around the room for a computer screen. ‘Is he…?’

‘No, no.’ He looked at his watch. ‘He’ll probably be fast asleep as we speak. No, it’s just me here.’

‘Okay, so what have you got for me?’

‘Based on the tests Xander proposed, I estimate the victim was aged in her early to mid-twenties, but I now believe the blistering I mentioned to you yesterday wasn’t caused by sudden sporting activity, instead an extended period on her feet in uncomfortable shoes.’

Kate considered the statement. ‘There’s evidence to suggest she may have been a prostitute. That tattoo scarring you found links to a crew operating out of St Mary’s. I take it you haven’t found our killer’s DNA or can give me any clue what he might have done with the rest of the victim’s body?’

He shook his head sadly. ‘Sorry.’

Kate dangled her notebook. ‘Not to worry, I’m sure this will help. Thanks, Ben.’

---

Kate returned to the incident room and was writing Ben’s findings on the board when DC Freeborn hurried into the office.

‘Ma’am? Can I have a word?’ he asked.

Kate returned the lid to the pen and followed him down to the viewing suite, where he was inserting a DVD into the machine. Four security feeds appeared in each corner of the screen, showing different angles of the parcel delivery depot. ‘You found who left the heart?’ she said, the excitement rising in her voice.

‘Not exactly.’ He paused the playback, and offered her a sheet of paper. ‘This is a print out from their system showing the name and address details provided by the person who deposited the box, however, as you’ll see, he’s given what I can only presume are fake credentials.’

Kate read the page. ‘Joe Bloggs. Is this a joke?’

Freeborn shook his head. ‘Apparently, they don’t ask to see identification for deposits, only collections. I asked the guy on the counter if he remembered who left this particular box, but he said he sees hundreds of faces every day and hundreds of boxes so has no memory of who left it.’

‘And this address?’

‘Is just around the corner from the depot, so I decided to stop by there on my way back: it’s a library. Best guess is the killer walked past the library on his way into the depot and clocked the address. Their computer system searches for addresses from postcodes, and the customer is then asked to confirm which number. It wouldn’t be too difficult to find the library’s postcode online.’

‘Didn’t they question it when he gave them the library’s address?’

He shook his head. ‘The guy I spoke to said as long as the computer doesn’t flag the address as incorrect, they don’t ask any further questions.’

Kate’s frustration was growing. ‘They didn’t mind you taking their security footage with you?’

‘They ran me off a copy,’ he said, starting the player again. ‘Not that it’s going to be any use. Here we have the view of four of the firm’s cameras. They have twelve in total around the site, the majority of which are out the back watching their employees, rather than the desk. Apparently, they had a spate of thefts last year and so they set up the additional cameras to catch the employee responsible. They got him in the end, but the site manager is still paranoid about someone else repeating the offence. So, anyway, the twelve cameras go to one box in his office, but are on a loop.’ The four images on the screen changed to four new locations. ‘Each rotation lasts approximately thirty seconds, before switching.’ He paused the playback. ‘Note the timestamp in the bottom corner. According to the print out, our perpetrator deposited the parcel at 11:01 yesterday morning. The image in the top left corner is the main door to the collections office, and the one next to it is the counter.’

He started the playback, Kate’s eyes darting from the timestamp to the two images at the top of the screen. Just as the clock changed to 11:01, she saw the door to the room opening, but in that moment, four new images appeared on screen.

‘The rotation of camera views occurs at zero, thirty, and sixty seconds into the minute.’ He skipped the playback through the next rotation, slowing it as the clock turned to 11:02.

Kate stared at the two top images as they changed back to the front door and desk. ‘Wait, where is he? The room is empty.’

Freeborn pointed at the bottom left image. ‘You can just see the guy on the counter carrying the box out back. He’s gone.’

‘Gone where?’

Freeborn shrugged apologetically. ‘He had a sixty-second window to get in and out of the office before the camera returned to him.’

‘Sixty seconds isn’t long. How did he manage to give all his details in that time?’

‘He pre-booked it online. Then all he needed to do was go in, give his order number and leave the item.’

‘So, this footage is—’

‘Pretty useless, ma’am.’

Kate’s head dropped. ‘I don’t suppose they have a camera in their car park?’

‘They do, but it’s part of the same loop. In the thirty-second view of the car park leading up to his entrance, no new cars arrive, and none leave when the view returns. That’s why I think he arrived on foot. The Bitterne train station is only a five-minute walk away, and there are multiple bus routes passing the library too. I’ve already contacted the bus company and station to see what feeds they can give us. Waiting for a call back, but thought I should get this here for logging.’

‘So, somehow our suspect managed to avoid detection when depositing the box.’ Kate stood, keen to sustain his motivation despite the lack of usable footage. ‘Can you keep me posted about what the public transport people say?’

Ejecting the DVD and returning it to its case, Freeborn nodded.