Gina hurried through the hospital reception area, arriving at the Accident and Emergency desk. ‘DI Harte. A girl was brought in a short while ago following an incident.’ She held up her identification.

The young male receptionist tapped a few buttons on his keyboard. ‘Head over to that door. I’ll buzz you through.’ The room was half filled with people. A woman was comforting a child who was clutching his swollen ankle and a man stood against the wall holding his head while balancing an unlit cigarette in his lips.

The door buzzed. She entered the ward and watched as medical staff busied themselves, pushing mobile monitoring equipment around, taking blood samples from patients in booths and attending to a screaming child with what looked to be a dislocated shoulder. Gina flinched as they pushed the shoulder back in its socket.

‘DI Harte. I’m here about the incident,’ she said to the nurse at the central desk.

The woman pulled her ponytail tighter and pointed to the far end of the ward. ‘Go as far as you can that way, it is the last booth on the left.’

‘Thank you.’

As Gina walked through the maze of booths, taking in the sounds of pain and misery, her eyes fixed on the end of the corridor. The curtain was pulled together and a nurse dashed through with a medical trolley. PC Smith sat outside on a chair, reading a paper while scoffing a pastry.

‘Coffee?’ Jacob asked, coming up behind her. His waxed hair was shaped neatly around his ears and forehead. In the past his hair had always slightly resembled that of an Action Man, but more recently he’d grown a bit more on the top and waxed it with a side parting, making him look a little more sophisticated. She’d also noticed he’d started wearing better fitting suits and tailored shirts. Since he’d become loved-up with Amber, he’d smartened up his act.

She took the machine coffee from him and sipped from the plastic cup. ‘I gather we have to just wait for an update.’

‘That’s about the size of it. They said a doctor would be here soon. I was here when they brought her in. It’s not looking good, guv. Here’s me hoping we might be able to ask her a few questions but she got worse, and it was quick. Her eyes opened when I arrived and I could tell she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t.’ Jacob stared at the curtain. The shape of a person’s rear protruded through the material.

‘Can we deduce anything from the scene?’

‘The area where the incident took place was cordoned off before I came and I got word back that Keith has arrived at the scene, ready to check for any forensic evidence. Elimination prints etcetera were taken from the car driver and the ambulance staff. The first officers who arrived at the scene escorted the ambulance to the hospital. Smith took a ride in the ambulance and kept a log.’

‘Great.’

‘The lad who called the incident in is at the station, waiting to be interviewed.’ Jacob swigged his coffee as their gazes wandered to the booth, hoping that a doctor would see them soon.

‘So our witness claims that the girl appeared out the back of a van. Serious stuff, if that’s the case. Could she have been kidnapped? Had she managed to escape? I mean who just jumps from the back of a van, and in the state she was in?’

‘From what I’ve heard and seen, the poor girl had been suffering for a long time. Maybe she was being transported,’ Jacob replied.

‘Maybe. But why do that and not lock the van doors? I really hope they hurry up so that we can speak to her.’ Gina checked her watch. She’d rushed Gracie home and faced her scowling daughter so that she could wait around in a hospital. She should have known that nothing would happen speedily. Her stomach rumbled as she caught sight of the vending machine. A bar of chocolate would fix a lot but she’d resist. Jacob stared at the messages on his phone, passing time. ‘Reading your love notes?’

‘Might be.’

‘How’s things with Amber?’

‘Tinder came up trumps when they suggested her. Seriously, things are going really well. The past couple of months have been a dream.’

‘I never thought I’d hear you say that. I’m glad you’ve found someone who makes you happy. Here’s to it lasting.’ Gina held her coffee cup up and tapped it against Jacob’s.

‘We’re virtually living at mine, we have breakfast together and, oh my goodness, she doesn’t whinge at me doing my job. I may well be on to a winner. How’s things with you? No secret men on the scene?’

‘I never have secret men on the scene. What do you take me for?’ Gina was aware he knew there had been someone and he was right. Chris Briggs, their DCI, who had been the source of all her thoughts for months after their brief affair. Ending it had been hard but their friendship had recovered well. There was no way she wanted to put that in jeopardy again and neither of them wanted to risk being transferred from Cleevesford.

A man in glasses and a white coat walked towards them. She finished her drink and threw the cup in the bin. ‘Doctor Nowak. We meet again.’

‘Detective…’

She could tell he was struggling to remember her name. She’d met him a few months back on a previous case. He’d been working in the maternity ward back then.

‘DI Harte, and this is DS Driscoll. We’re here about the casualty in that booth. Have you made an assessment yet?’

The doctor brushed down his coat, squinted through his glasses and spoke in his gentle Polish accent. ‘In brief, your patient isn’t in a good way at all, I’m afraid. We’re in the process of inserting a chest tube thoracostomy, or a lung drain, due to fluid on her lungs. It appears she has a severe infection – pneumonia, to be exact. When she arrived we did the initial assessment, we sent her down for an X-ray and soon after we had to sedate her. Her organs are failing, although we’ll be able to tell you more in a short while. What is also concerning is the state of her body. There are track marks all up her arms and around her groin area, suggesting long term drug use and that comes with even more problems as I’m sure you’re aware. She has a gash to her abdomen, which we’ve had to attend to. I don’t know how she’s still alive. She’s extremely thin, malnourished. Do you know who she is? We don’t even have a name for her.’

‘We don’t, I’m afraid,’ Gina replied. ‘I was hoping to ask her.’

‘I don’t think you’ll be asking her anything. The next thing I was going to say was we’ve just made the decision to place her on a ventilator. The medical team are doing that now. If we don’t she won’t make it. The chances are slim anyway, even with all that we’re doing. She’s a very sick girl.’

Gina looked down. She’d rushed over and she wasn’t even going to be able to speak with the victim. ‘Can we try to talk to her before you carry on?’

‘I’m afraid I have to put the welfare of the patient first. No one will be talking to her. She isn’t capable of talking, Detective.’

She wiped her brow. The hospital felt stuffy and their main lead had led to nothing. ‘Jacob, please give Bernard in forensics a call. Ask him how long he’ll be.’

Jacob nodded. ‘Will do, guv.’ He left along the corridor in search of a phone signal.

‘We will need to identify the victim, Doctor. We know she wasn’t carrying any identification so a forensics officer will arrive soon. We’ll need to take all her clothes and various samples to run through our DNA database.’

‘With all due respect—’

‘With all due respect, this girl has a family somewhere. Something has happened to her and we need to contact them, so I thank you for your cooperation. It won’t be invasive, it will just be a swab or a few hairs.’

The doctor removed his glasses and they dangled loosely on a chain, landing just above his chest. ‘Right you are, Detective. I’m going to head back to attend to my patient now.’ He turned and walked towards the booth.

‘Wait.’ Gina followed him and handed her one of her contact cards. ‘If her condition changes or if you manage to bring her round – whatever happens, please call me?’

‘Will do, Detective.’ He continued down the corridor, pulled the curtain aside and entered the booth in which their victim lay.

Smith looked up from his paper and waved. ‘I have a stack of paperwork to wade through and drug dealers to investigate. Do you know how long I’ll be here?’

Gina shook her head. ‘No idea.’

‘Not your fault, guv. But let me know when I can leave. I’m slowly sinking in it.’ Smith shrugged and continued reading the paper. She knew someone would be there to relieve him soon.

One of the nurses exited the booth and the curtain opened to reveal a young girl lying in the bed with a tube inserted in her mouth. Gina took a few steps forward and took in her features. Straggly dyed red hair, stuck together in tangled clumps, framing her pale face. Dark circles accentuated her sunken eyes, giving her a deathly look. The corners of her mouth were blistered and cracked. Gina looked away, not knowing how someone so thin could still be alive. The skin on her chest stretched over her collarbone, looking like it could easily tear. She could be no more than sixteen years old.

‘Bernard’s on his way.’ Gina flinched and turned to see Jacob behind her.

‘Right, let’s go and see what our witness has to say. We won’t be able to ask the girl a thing so he’s all we have to go on at the moment. Let’s make it count.’

‘Yes, he said her last words were “help her”.’ We need to find out who her is.’

‘God help us if there’s another poor girl out there being kept in that state.’