Kate stumbled backwards, dropping to her knees, as she scrambled to retrieve her phone and its light.

‘A doll!’ Patel gasped. ‘It’s a doll, ma’am. Thank goodness.’

Her heart racing, Kate threw herself closer to the body, her torch in her hand. Lifeless painted eyes stared back at her, and as she took in the pink-coloured plastic skin, painted lips and fake, ratty hair around them she knew he was right.

‘It’s one of those resuscitation aids, isn’t it?’ Patel continued, raising his own torch so he could see Kate’s face. A small chuckle escaped. ‘That explains the outline, I suppose. Should I break it to the caretaker, or do you want to?’

For a moment, when the tarpaulin had first been pulled away, Kate had seen Daisy’s face staring up at her from the floor: the short brunette bob, the smattering of freckles on the bridge of her nose, the smooth and taut skin, it had all been there. Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment.

A flicker above their heads confirmed that Linus had managed to reconnect the power as the halogen strip lights buzzed into life, lighting up every inch of the old hall. With the gloomy shadows suddenly evaporated, their own sense of foreboding disappeared just as quickly. Off to their left two treadmills, a couple of exercise bikes and a rowing machine lay idly by, covered in layers of dust.

‘Seems like such a waste, doesn’t it?’ Patel offered, moving over to the equipment. ‘I mean, I know this stuff is pretty dated now, but I reckon I could still work up a sweat on it.’

Kate joined him, spotting a punch bag and chain propped up against the wall. ‘I should ask the supe whether we have budget to buy it off them. I could just see this punch bag hanging in the incident room for us to work out our stresses.’ She paused as a realisation dawned. ‘Didn’t Linus say all the gym equipment was being held in one of the storage rooms?’

‘So?’

‘So, why is it out now?’

‘Maybe someone moved it ahead of the demolition,’ Patel offered, pointing at where some of the dust had been disturbed on the handles of one of the bikes.

Kate looked from the equipment back to the door to the storage room to their right. ‘Hmm… maybe.’ But then she spotted something else out of place and marched purposefully to the door without another word, using the light on her phone to brighten the red smear that had caught her attention. ‘Is this… blood?’ she called over her shoulder.

Patel jogged over to where she had crouched, studying the dried stain on the panel above the handle, careful not to touch it.

‘Maybe one of the builders cut himself?’ Patel offered, always hunting for the most logical of explanations.

‘Maybe,’ Kate agreed, standing and removing a sealed packet of white forensic gloves from her pocket, and snapping them on. ‘Stand back a sec, would you?’ she asked, as she carefully took hold of the handle, and slowly lowered it. She paused with the door halfway open.

‘Can you smell that?’

‘Sickly sweet?’ Patel suggested as he sniffed the air. ‘Strawberries?’

Kate pulled the door further, stepped through to the adjoining room and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her blood went cold as she took in the translucent plastic sheeting lining most of the floor of the former gymnasium, the reddy-brown smears that clung to it and sprayed up the walls, and the strawberry-scented air fresheners that hung all around her. Kate covered her mouth with her arm as she recognised the unmistakeable copper smell of blood beneath their fragrance. She swayed backwards as Patel stepped around her to see for himself. Opening his mouth to speak, he found nothing.

‘What the hell…’ was all Kate managed to say.

Kate had witnessed many a murder scene in her years as a detective, but only metres from where children had played outside just this afternoon, she knew something truly horrific had occurred.

‘Get Scientific Services here now,’ Kate commanded, not willing to take a step further, for fear of contaminating the scene.

Unable to answer, Patel left to make the call.

---

A large white tent now covered the entrance to the sports hall where those few allowed admittance to the scene could change into protective polythene suits. The scene-of-crime team from the Scientific Services Department had arrived twenty minutes ago and were analysing and documenting every inch of the gymnasium, after which they would pack up their findings for further forensic examination back at the lab.

Several portable floodlights had been erected outside the tent so nobody would stumble on the slippery tarmac where a fresh downpour was beginning to freeze underfoot.

‘They reckon it might snow,’ Patel commented, warming his hands on the mug of coffee Mrs Kilpatrick had made them when Kate had briefed her on why the sports hall was now out of bounds to all staff members and pupils.

A figure in white emerged from the tent and hurried over to them. ‘DI Matthews?’ the technician said, his eyes wired with worry. ‘I need you to follow me, please.’

Kate passed her mug to Patel and proceeded to the small tent, putting on the protective overalls and following the young technician back into the hall. He didn’t utter a word as he led her to the familiar face of pathologist, Dr Ben Temple.

He immediately picked up on her surprised look. ‘I was at the SSD lab when the call went out,’ he explained, ‘and you’ll be glad I came. Follow me.’

Without another word, he stepped into the small gym, the plastic sheeting crackling as he trod on it, being careful not to disturb the other technicians who were crouched and huddled around the room. Kate stepped where he did, as camera flashes reflected off the blood-spattered walls.

‘We found it over there,’ he commented, pointing to where some of the plastic sheet was bunched in the far corner, behind the standard lamp. ‘It’s impossible to know whether it was left there deliberately or by accident,’ he continued solemnly, as he stopped where another technician was busy snapping images. Ben gently tapped the figure in white on the shoulder, and the technician stepped to one side, allowing Kate to see what it was.

‘Oh my God,’ Kate whispered under her breath.

The foot was lying on its side, the little toe closest to the floor, the yellowing sole staring back at them.

Kate choked back the urge to retch. ‘It’s so… small.’

Ben nodded. ‘Based on the heel-to-ball length, the narrow instep and the medial and lateral malleoli heights, I’d say we’re looking at a female foot.’

Kate was filled with dread. ‘And can you estimate the likely age of the victim?’

‘Conservatively, based on the size and shape of the foot, I’d say a young adult, certainly below the age of twenty.’

Kate didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but a severed foot belonging to a female under the age of twenty found in the school that missing girl Daisy attended was hard to ignore.

‘I’ll need to take it back to the lab to examine it further,’ Ben continued, ‘but I saw some blistering on the ball of the foot, which could indicate the victim was regularly on their feet. We’ll get a DNA profile created as a priority and let you know the results as soon as we have them.’

Kate glanced around the rest of the room. ‘Have you found any… anything else?’

‘Looking at the tearing of the flesh above the ankle, I would estimate some kind of electrical circular saw was used to make the cut. It would also explain some of the haphazard spray on the walls. No sign of the tool, though.’

‘Electrical?’ Kate questioned. ‘The place has been without power for several weeks according to the caretaker. How recently do you think the foot was removed?’

‘We’re talking a couple of days at most, not weeks,’ Ben said gravely. ‘They could have used a battery-powered saw, I suppose.’

‘Do you think you’d be able to find a match?’ Kate asked hopefully. ‘Might help us narrow down a suspect pool.’

‘I’ll do what I can,’ he promised, silently mouthing, ‘are you okay?’

Kate took a deep breath and nodded reassuringly.

Ben continued to study her face, his eyes telling her he was there when she needed him. She gently touched his arm. ‘I’ll leave you to it. I need to speak to the head teacher and caretaker again. Call me the moment you have news?’