The Cutting Place. Jane Casey

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СКАЧАТЬ limited it to women who’ve gone missing in the last month.’ Liv was looking pale, I noticed, with dark shadows under her eyes. She was slight and delicate, and six months of pregnancy had left her more exhausted than blooming. It had given her backache, insomnia, heartburn, an insatiable appetite for cake and an obsession with finding the perfect pram which involved endless arguments with her girlfriend over email. I had found her relieved beyond words not to be heading to Poplar, but now I wondered if she was regretting it. Ploughing through missing persons reports was unrewarding to say the least.

      ‘Dr Early thought she was IC1 but we’ve included other races, just in case she’s not white. She could be light-skinned,’ I said.

      ‘And we’re including females aged thirteen to forty,’ Liv added.

      ‘Wise,’ Burt said. ‘I’ve seen the pictures from the morgue. They looked as if she could be anything. We probably shouldn’t rule too many people out.’

      ‘But that doesn’t really help us to narrow it down in any meaningful way,’ I explained. ‘The volume of mispers is too high. There are too many runaways and domestic violence victims and people skipping out on rent or expired visas, let alone women who might have actually come to harm.’

      ‘Especially since we have to look at mispers from outside the Met too.’ Liv sighed. ‘There’s nothing to say she went missing in London, just because she ended up in that part of the Thames.’

      ‘You’re going to have to make some choices about who you include eventually,’ Burt said. ‘Use your judgement. But remember that you’ll make things very hard for yourself if you can’t identify her.’

      No shit. ‘On the bright side, she looked as if she’d been taking care of herself. I’d be very surprised if she was someone who would count as a vulnerable adult,’ I said. ‘I’m leaving out homeless people, known drug users – anyone who is unlikely to have time for a full wax and manicure every couple of weeks, basically.’

      ‘But what we really need is a DNA match,’ Burt said.

      ‘It would be a help.’

      ‘We might have her on our list already but we won’t know it until the DNA comes in,’ Liv said.

      ‘Assuming someone’s reported her missing and we’ve taken it seriously enough to put her DNA in the system.’ Burt smiled at me and carried on to her office, as if she’d said something helpful.

      ‘Yes, we may never identify her. Thanks so much for your input, boss,’ I muttered.

      Liv yawned. ‘Do you think it’s time to knock it on the head for today?’

      ‘Definitely.’ I checked the time. ‘Shit, I’ve got to get changed.’

      ‘Going out?’

      ‘I’ve got a yoga class.’

      ‘You are going to yoga. Maeve Kerrigan, going to yoga.’

      I stood up and stretched. ‘What’s so weird about that? It’s good for my posture.’

      ‘Yeah, of course it is. But that’s not usually a priority.’ Liv darted over and yanked open the bottom drawer of my desk before I could stop her. ‘What the hell is this?’

      ‘Snacks.’

      ‘Nope. Don’t lie. These are not snacks. You used to have snacks in here. There used to be crisps and multipacks of Twixes. Don’t try to pretend this is the same.’ She started going through the packets. ‘Puffed peas – I don’t even know what they are. Turkey jerky, gross. Cashew butter protein balls, no thanks. Spicy chickpeas. This is so bleak. Where’s the chocolate?’

      ‘There’s probably something in there like chocolate.’

      She pulled out a bar and inspected it. ‘This is carob. Carob. I’m going to be sick.’

      ‘I’m being healthy. So what?’

      ‘It’s not healthy to eat spiced grit for the sake of feeling virtuous. Baked hemp sticks, for God’s sake.’ She threw them back into the drawer and shook her head. ‘And they say pregnant women are supposed to eat loads of weird stuff. I wouldn’t touch any of that.’

      ‘Oh, come on.’ I toed the drawer shut. ‘Stop giving me a hard time.’

      ‘This is all his idea, isn’t it?’ She meant my boyfriend, Seth Taylor.

      I felt the colour rise in my cheeks at her tone. ‘Seth did suggest it.’

      ‘And the yoga is his idea too, I bet.’

      ‘I’m meeting him there.’

      ‘Couples yoga? Please tell me you’re joking.’

      I grinned at her horror. ‘It helps my stress levels and my flexibility. It’s fun, too. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.’

      ‘You’ve changed.’ Liv was looking at me as if she was confused about something. ‘I’ve never known anyone who needed to do yoga as much as you do, but I can’t help noticing that you’ve avoided doing anything healthy for as long as I’ve known you. You thrive on shit food and too much caffeine. If you’re not stressed out of your mind, who even are you?’

      ‘A better person. A happier person.’

      ‘I suppose that’s a good thing.’ She didn’t sound as if she was convinced about it though.

      I grabbed my bag from under the desk. ‘I’m going to get changed. Help yourself to a snack if you’re peckish. I can recommend the kale crisps.’

      ‘No, you can’t.’

      She was right, I couldn’t, but I wanted to get rid of them. ‘Try them. Maybe you’ll like them.’

      ‘What do they taste like?’

      ‘Indescribable,’ I said truthfully.

      I’d never actually asked her, but I had a secret suspicion that Liv didn’t like Seth much. There was no law that your friends had to like your boyfriend, I reminded myself as I laced up my trainers in the locker room. And Liv was picky about men. Seth was used to winning women over on sight, but his height and build and wide smile had cut no ice with Liv. It was taking him longer than I’d expected to work out how to deal with a woman who wasn’t attracted to him, someone he couldn’t charm. Their sense of humour was very different, and Seth could come across as arrogant, unless you knew him well. He had a lawyer’s need to get the upper hand in arguments and persevered even when I was trying to change the subject, a little beyond the limits of polite conversation. But he could have been Prince Charming and it wouldn’t have mattered. She was always going to prefer my old boyfriend, Rob, even though he had broken my heart. There was no one else who would be good enough for her.

      I had needed to move on, I told myself. Rob was old news. Besides, Seth cared about me. He was attentive and kind and made me feel as if I was the centre of his world, not an afterthought. As if to prove it, my phone pinged with a message.

      Don’t forget we have yoga.

      I СКАЧАТЬ