Perfect Prey. Helen Fields

of parkland.

      Salter disappeared in search of other members of the squad. Callanach made directly for Ava who was deep in conversation with Ailsa Lambert, under the shelter of a temporary white awning designed to keep out prying eyes. Not that it would make much difference now, if photos really had been leaked to the press.

      Ava saw him approach and beckoned him in. Within the confines of the tent was a blue dumpster. Callanach was handed a crime scene suit with accessories. He really shouldn’t have bothered taking the last ones off, he thought.

      ‘Cause of death?’ he asked Ailsa as he brushed past her to get a better look.

      ‘Barring us finding something more at autopsy, almost certainly strangulation,’ Ailsa said.

      ‘I need more officers down here, Luc,’ Ava said. ‘Can you tell the superintendent when you get back to the station? And the overtime restrictions will have to be lifted. This’ll take more man-hours than they’re paying for.’

      There was a screech from the end of Valleyfield Street, a loud scuffling of feet, then a man could be heard shouting. Callanach drew his gaze away from the twenty-something young woman lying in the dumpster, the lower half of her body still concealed in a rough sack, as Ava stepped out of the tent and took control.

      ‘Stop right there,’ she ordered. ‘Officers, get control of those people.’

      A woman barged through, frantic, wailing. Ava tried to grab her but momentum made her unstoppable. She pushed Ailsa aside and launched herself towards the dumpster, hands gripping the edge, peering inside. All the noise she’d been making instantly ceased. She sank to the floor. A second later and a man appeared behind her. He took one look at her face and stumbled, his knees hitting the pavement hard, falling into the woman’s side. They stayed there like that, rocking and shaking, until Ava sat down beside them.

      ‘Can you tell me who she is?’ Ava asked.

      The woman tried to speak. Her mouth worked itself open and shut but nothing came from it. Uniformed officers appeared, Ava looking at them in a way that made it clear they should never expect promotion after letting members of the public burst onto a crime scene.

      ‘Move these people to somewhere private and secure. Look after them. Make sure they have access to medical assistance if required and ascertain their relationship to the deceased, please,’ Ava said. The uniformed officers wrapped blankets around the shoulders of the two obviously grieving people, and persuaded them gently towards a vehicle.

      Ava pinched the bridge of her nose between finger and thumb, grinding her teeth.

      ‘Can we not get a frigging break? Bodies are piling up and we seem to be the last to find out what’s happening,’ she muttered. ‘How in God’s name did they know where to find us?’

      Callanach pulled out his phone and internet searched the terms ‘body’, ‘Edinburgh’, and ‘breaking news’. It took just seconds. Various pages popped up with the story. As yet, not one news agency had been stupid enough to risk prosecution by posting the shared photos of the dead girl, but there was a clear description of both the girl and the crime scene, right down to the details of what she’d been wearing.

      ‘A young woman has been found dead in a Valleyfield Street dumpster,’ the first article began. ‘She is believed to be in her twenties, with long blonde hair and wearing a scouting uniform. Of particular note is the multicoloured, knitted scarf around her neck. Police have not yet issued a statement or confirmed her identity.’

      ‘Ma’am,’ a uniformed constable said, keeping his distance from Ava. ‘That’s Mr and Mrs Balcaskie. They’ve confirmed the deceased is their daughter, Emily. She’s twenty-four years of age and attended a scout meeting here last night in that building over the road. When she didn’t come home they assumed she’d decided to stay with friends in the city. It was the description of the scarf on the news reports that made them realise it was her.’

      ‘Thank you, Constable,’ Ava said. ‘I’ll be over to speak with them personally in a moment.’

      Ailsa took photos as Ava and Callanach stared in at the corpse. The knitted scarf was wrapped several times around the girl’s neck, pulled so tight that the fibres were straining, the ends of it shoved hard into her mouth. Her eyes were bulging, the whites stained dark red from haemorrhaging.

      ‘What’s happening, Luc? Four murders in two weeks? It’s as if a pack of wild animals has been let loose in the city.’ Ava wiped a tear away, keeping her back carefully towards her squad. Callanach hadn’t known her long, as friendships went, but he never thought he’d see her emotional at a crime scene. She was a career police officer – a fiercely tough, professional one. He wanted to stretch a hand out, to give some comfort, but DCI Edgar’s words squirmed in his guts. Perhaps Ava did need some space, want to keep the boundaries of their friendship rigid and clear.

      ‘Sometimes these things all happen at once. There’s rarely an explanation,’ he said. ‘I’ll report to Overbeck for you. There’ll have to be a press conference soon and a lid needs to be put on media coverage. How did they get hold of photos of the body so quickly?’ he asked.

      ‘Didn’t you hear?’ Ava asked. ‘It was the press who reported the body. They alerted us. Even gave us the address. Someone wanted her found, and with as much media circus as they could rouse. Tell Overbeck I’ll call later to update her in person. And if you bump into Edgar, explain that I’ll be busy for the next twenty-four hours, would you?’

      ‘Sure,’ Callanach said, taking a step away, his mind made up about whether or not it was appropriate to offer support beyond the procedural or administrative. It was clear that DCI Edgar was already filling that gap. He left Ava making her way towards the couple who should never have faced the tragic indignity of hearing the news of their daughter’s death via the media, regrouped with Salter and headed back to the police station.

      Callanach headed straight for Begbie’s office where Superintendent Overbeck had temporarily set up shop. She was on the phone when he entered, cooing a mixture of ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’ into the mouthpiece in a reassuringly soothing manner. Five minutes later, she put the phone down and looked up.

      ‘Sit down, Callanach. I’ve got gridlock across a square mile of the city, the press want to hang me out to dry and I’m being chased by a team of American fucking documentary makers who want to do a two-hour special on the murder craze sweeping out of control on Edinburgh’s streets.’

      ‘Ma’am, I’ve just—’

      ‘Don’t speak, Inspector,’ she said, taking out a mirror and lipstick. ‘Your current job is to accompany me and not to bollocks anything up. We are going down to give a press statement now. The ladies and gentlemen of the media are to be regarded as our friends – the sort you exchange Christmas cards with but are always too busy to actually see in person. We will appear obliging whilst giving them precisely nothing. We have an opportunity with these cases. We can solve them quickly, providing justice and relief to the families of the deceased, and come out of this acclaimed and heroic. Or they will continue to blight Scotland, in which case you and DI Turner can take an endless vacation in the back of beyond as I scapegoat you for incompetence. Either way, I will not be made the whipping girl for any monumentally shit-storming failure to protect the general public from the lunatic killers currently rampaging unchecked. Do you get it?’ She applied liberal lipstick, raising one appraising eyebrow in her mirror. ‘Good. Off we go then.’

      The conference room was buzzing. It was hard to imagine how any more cameras, microphones or bodies could possibly have been shoe-horned in. Unlike past press conferences with the well-worn figure of DCI Begbie at the helm, when Overbeck stalked in with her high heels, perfect hair, and an attitude you could use to cut sheet metal, there was an immediate silence. Introductions and format announcement done, the superintendent began spinning.

      ‘I’m personally overseeing the Major Investigation Team in the absence of DCI Begbie, and I shall be relying heavily on Detective Inspector Turner and Detective Inspector Callanach to bring these cases to a swift and