Woman in the Water. Katerina Diamond

Caucasian, maybe twenty-five years old, blonde hair, blue eyes. Looks like she was assaulted beforehand. She’s been here at least the one night, not sure how much longer.’

      Suddenly, Adrian felt a hand grip his calf. The kind you half expect when you step out of bed in the middle of the night. He froze. He took a deep breath before turning the dim light of the phone screen towards the woman to illuminate her face. She blinked slowly.

      She was alive.

      ‘Adrian?’ Walsh said.

      ‘She’s alive, Walsh, get an ambulance! She’s alive!’

       Chapter Two

      Adrian immediately removed his jacket and threw it over the woman to keep her warm. He stuffed his phone into his back pocket and knelt down next to her, gently removing the muddy hair from her face. She was younger than him, mid twenties at a guess.

      ‘Can you hear me? I’m Detective Sergeant Adrian Miles; I’m going to help you. Can you move?’

      She nodded her head weakly. How long had she been here? She must be freezing. Even in the summer the river wasn’t warm.

      ‘Can you tell me your name?’

      ‘I’m so c-c-cold,’ she said faintly.

      ‘We have to wait here for the guys with the stretcher, OK? I don’t want to move you in case anything is broken.’

      He went to stand again but she grabbed his hand, this time with more strength than before.

      ‘P-p-please get me out of h-h-here,’ the woman whispered.

      DS Miles could see she had tried to pull herself out of the water, which is why only part of her was still submerged.

      ‘We really should wait for the paramedics.’

      ‘C-cold … P-please,’ she rasped.

      ‘OK, I’ll try. But you tell me straight away if I hurt you.’

      Lying next to her on the bank, Adrian got as close to her as he could, the chill of the water against his thighs inconsequential. She groaned as he tilted her enough that he could slip his shoulder underneath hers and gradually slide his arm under her for support as he tried to pull her from the brambles. She was weak and completely limp, with barely enough strength to lift her head. The left side of her torso was supported by the right side of his. Some of her blonde hair had become entangled in the spiny branches that protruded from the hedge. Adrian gently tugged at the hair to dislodge it, leaving some of it behind.

      As soon as she was free, he put his arm around her waist and tried to move with her away from the hedge. Her head thumped against his chest. He felt her sigh heavily, her weak heartbeat gently beating against his arm. He pushed his legs against the floor of the muddy bank and as he moved up onto the safety of the grass, she moved with him. He sat up and she lolloped forwards, weak from exhaustion. Adrian didn’t care to think how long she had been lying there. He moved her onto his lap and put her arm around his shoulder.

      ‘Can you put your arms around my neck and hold it? I need to use my arm to leverage myself to standing.’

      Fingernails dug into his skin. He could feel that she was using everything she had to hold on and probably wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long, so he pushed himself up before quickly making sure both of his arms were securely around her. He heard the gasps of the women as he emerged from the bushes with the woman lying against him.

      ‘Oh my God!’ one of the women cried.

      ‘Is she alive?’ another shouted.

      ‘Could you get some blankets or something to warm her up quickly while we wait for the medics?’

      In situations like this, it was instinct and training that carried Adrian through, but at some point, there is a moment where you get to think about what is actually going on and that’s when the reality of the situation hits home. Who was this girl? How had she got here? Who had done this to her? She was petite and her injuries were not the result of an accident. He could see fingermarks on her neck and he clenched his jaw to suppress the rage that threatened.

      Adrian lay her on the grass and stroked her forehead. She began to tremble and Adrian hoped the medics would appear before she got hypothermia.

      ‘Thank you,’ she said, her voice breaking as she spoke, and a guttural moan followed soon after as she began to cry.

      The ladies from the houses opposite the wall appeared holding blankets. He noticed one of them was filming with their mobile phone, which ignited the anger that he was fighting so hard to suppress.

      ‘I’ll be back in a moment. I’m just going to grab those blankets, see if we can warm you up a bit.’

      She tried to grab at his shirt, to stop him from leaving. She mouthed as if to speak but nothing came out.

      ‘I won’t be a second. I’m coming back, I promise.’

      He stood and walked over to the woman holding the phone.

      ‘Can I ask you not to share that video until we have had a chance to identify the woman and inform her family. It would be horrible to find out something like this from a video on the internet, wouldn’t it?’

      ‘Oh, I wasn’t going to share it,’ she said, her cheeks flushing.

      ‘My colleagues will be here any second to take all of your names. Please just wait here.’

      ‘I got you these blankets; they are my kids’ blankets; it’s all I had. Sorry.’

      ‘Thank you.’

      Adrian took the blankets and walked back to the lady on the ground. He was starting to feel cold himself. He was thankful that the area was poorly lit, so at least the video would be poor quality. He covered her with the kitten-patterned blankets and waited for the ambulance; the sirens were getting closer.

      In the back of the ambulance, Adrian stayed with the woman. It felt wrong to leave her at this point. She must have been terrified and hopefully, she knew she could trust Adrian by now. The paramedics had cut off her wet jeans and covered her in a thermal blanket to help bring her temperature back up.

      ‘What happened?’ one of the paramedics said.

      ‘Some kids found her; I just pulled her out. I’m hoping the doc can tell us more about what’s happened to her.’

      ‘What’s her name?’

      ‘I don’t know,’ Adrian said, realising she hadn’t answered him when he had asked her before.

      ‘What’s your name, love?’ the paramedic asked the woman, leaning down to hear better.

      The woman winced and closed her eyes as the ambulance went over a pothole. She squeezed Adrian’s hand weakly.

      They pulled up outside the hospital and Adrian saw that Dr Hadley was waiting outside the emergency department’s bay doors. Adrian had texted her to come and meet them. Dr Hadley had worked with the police on numerous occasions and Adrian knew she specialised in women’s cases, especially where sexual assault was a probability. The clothes the victim was wearing were intact when he found her, which was unusual in cases of sexual assault. But whatever had happened to her, this was a horrific attack that she wasn’t going to be getting over anytime soon. If she made it, that is.

      ‘I’m going to go now, but I will be back.’

      ‘Please don’t go,’ the woman said.

      ‘This is my friend Dr Hadley and she is going to look after you, OK? I’ll be back before you know it,’ Adrian told her.

      The woman nodded.

      ‘Thank you, DS Miles. I’ll give you a call after I’ve done a thorough examination,’ Dr Hadley