Kate paced back and forth in the Scientific Services Department waiting area; anything to keep herself awake and focused. Beyond the hermetically sealed doors, blood from the amputated foot was being compared to profiles on the database. They didn’t yet have a sample of Daisy’s DNA, and it had been too soon to call on the Emersons this evening; better to rule out other possibilities before putting Daisy’s parents through further trauma. But if there was no match tonight, she would have to call on them in the morning. Kate couldn’t decide whether she’d rather they find a match or not: an unknown victim versus closure for the Emersons.

It was only two years since she’d come face-to-face with the prospect of losing her own daughter, Chloe. Kate knew first-hand the terror and helplessness the Emersons would be feeling right now, and all she wanted was to put an end to it. Val and Barry had been living the nightmare for a week already, and Kate didn’t know how she would cope in their shoes. Chloe’s smiling face appeared in Kate’s mind; she would be eight in just over a week, and Chloe’s dad Rob and his new wife Serena were planning a large party for her at their home in Oxford. Kate had promised Chloe she would be there, and she wouldn’t miss it for the world. Things were good now, and Rob had even agreed to Kate visiting Oxford whenever she was free. So far, she’d lived up to all her promises to Chloe.

Kate stopped pacing, and retook her seat, keen to think about anything else. The image of the blood-stained plastic sheet and foot flashed in her memory. She didn’t need a forensics expert to tell her what had gone on in that room. The question was whether the victim had been killed there, or whether the school gym was a secondary crime scene. Of course, the other question was whether the victim had been Daisy Emerson.

Kate would know soon enough.

Pulling out her notebook, she began to scribble thoughts and scenarios as they came to her; she just hoped some of the notes would make sense when she met with her team in the morning to direct the investigation.

The sheer volume of blood pooled on the plastic sheeting indicated that the victim hadn’t been dead for that long before the cutting began. Or worse, had been alive when the cutting began. Kate had seen arterial spray up the walls, suggesting the suspect had probably hit at least one artery, and if the victim had only been dead for an hour or so, then hitting a major artery could cause that kind of spray. But when had the murder occurred? Today? Yesterday? From the condition of the foot, it couldn’t have been longer.

Kate’s mind wandered back to Daisy. Seven days ago, on the second of February, at quarter past nine, Daisy had left best friend Georgie Barclay’s house after a girlie night in. Her phone had been switched off shortly after she’d left the property and, as yet, no witness had come forward to confirm seeing her anywhere along the short route back to her home. It was as if Daisy had left her friend’s house and vanished into thin air.

News of her disappearance had hit the press first thing on Monday morning, carefully orchestrated by the police Media Relations unit. Daisy’s parents, Barry and Val, had attended the press conference, but neither had found the strength to speak as the cameras had flashed erratically around them. Kate had read a statement on their behalf, begging Daisy to make contact or for any witnesses to come forward. A barrage of false tips and crank calls had followed, but nothing they could use. Statistics indicated that missing children not located within sixty hours of their disappearance rarely returned home alive. But Kate wasn’t prepared to accept that; she wouldn’t give up hope of finding Daisy until a body was located. Even now, as she waited for the results on the foot, her hope burned bright.

‘Penny for them?’

Kate jumped at the sudden sound of Ben’s voice over her shoulder.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.’

She hadn’t heard the sound of the lift at the end of the corridor or the lab doors opening. It was as if he had just appeared. ‘What are you doing here, Ben? Shouldn’t you…’ She stifled the yawn. ‘Shouldn’t you be in your lab, or in bed?’

He stepped forward and pulled her into his long arms. ‘I decided to analyse the foot here in the lab as it was closer to the school, and at least someone else is around. The lab at the hospital is quite creepy this late.’

‘And? What did you find?’

‘Nothing conclusive, but the technician was processing the DNA as I came out, so we should know soon enough whether…’ his words trailed off. Although he was used to dealing with the horrors of examining dead bodies, he would never be comfortable with the acts that caused them.

‘Whether or not it’s Daisy,’ Kate finished for him. ‘Did you find anything that might help identify our killer?’

Ben mused for a moment. ‘What I can confirm is an electric or battery-powered saw was used. The haphazard tearing of the flesh is consistent with a small circular saw. I’ve seen severed limbs and appendages before,’ Ben continued, ‘and this was not someone in a rush, and I suspect not somebody who was doing it for the first time.’

‘So, what, we should be looking for a surgeon?’

‘Not necessarily. I think a qualified surgeon wouldn’t have left quite the same mess. A surgeon would have used clamps and ligatures to minimise arterial spray, but our killer wasn’t worried about mess.’

Kate thought for a moment. ‘A butcher?’

‘Possibly. A butcher would have a better idea of where to cut and what sort of equipment would be required. Probably not a bad place to start. I should be able to shed some light on the type of saw you need to look for.’

‘Great. I’ll get one of my team to make those calls first thing,’ Kate replied.

Ben brushed a stray hair from her eyes. ‘You look tired. Why don’t you go home? I don’t mind hanging around here for the results and letting you know.’

‘Thanks, I appreciate it, but I need to be here.’

‘I thought you’d say that,’ he replied. ‘How about I stick around and keep you company? I don’t think we’ll have much longer to wait.’

Kate smiled, gratefully. ‘I’d like that.’

‘I don’t know how you do this,’ he muttered, staring into the distance. ‘It’s just too much at times.’

She was just thinking of how she could possibly reply when the lab doors whooshed open, and a technician in a white coat appeared, brandishing a piece of paper.

She braced herself.

‘I compared the DNA recovered from the foot to the profiles on the national database, and,’ the technician paused, as he turned the piece of paper over for them to see, ‘there wasn’t a match.’

Kate felt winded by the news. ‘Is the foot Daisy’s?’

The technician shook his head as he handed her the piece of paper to study. ‘If you can obtain a sample of her DNA we can do a direct comparison, but other than that, we have no way of tracing exactly who the foot belongs to.’

Kate passed Ben the piece of paper as she moved across to the window and stared out into the dark sky hanging over Southampton. Daisy Emerson was still out there somewhere, but only time would tell whether they would find her alive, or dead.