At Your Door. J. P. Carter

across the body in the undergrowth. She pinpointed the location on the map and described the surrounding area.

      ‘The pathologist believes she was murdered elsewhere and left on the common shortly afterwards,’ she said. ‘The cause of death is almost certainly a single stab wound to the throat. She was stripped naked before her body was dumped and the killer or killers did not spend a lot of time trying to conceal her.

      ‘It’s believed she’s been dead for several days and it’s likely she was killed on Tuesday or Tuesday night. Nothing has so far been found at the scene to identify her. No phone. No clothes. No bag. At first light a search team will descend on the area but I’m not expecting them to turn up much vital evidence, if any. We believe the vehicle that carried her there parked next to the gate. But the ground around it has been trampled on so it’s unlikely we’ll get any clues from it.’

      As Anna spoke an image of the body resurfaced in her mind and it sent a chill down her spine. It was such a tragedy that a girl who obviously had so much going for her should end her life in such horrendous circumstances.

      ‘The obvious questions are these,’ Anna said. ‘Who killed her and why? When and where was the murder carried out? Why was the body dumped in that particular place? Was it because the killer was in a hurry or simply didn’t worry about it being discovered? And why was she stripped, since there seems to be no evidence as yet that she was sexually assaulted?’

      At this point Anna handed over to Walker, who was standing off to one side with a notebook in his hand.

      ‘I’ve already drawn up a list of checks that need to be carried out right away,’ he said. ‘So I’m afraid you will all be working late into the night.’ He looked down at his notes as he ran a hand across his bald head. ‘We need to pull Holly’s phone records and get the techies to go through her social media history. We know she’s been busy on Facebook for years. So check out Twitter, Instagram and the others.

      ‘There’s plenty of information online about her, including the fact that she’s on the books of a London-based modelling agency. From what I’ve seen it doesn’t appear that she was a hugely successful model. But she’s done jobs for fashion magazines, clothing catalogues and swimwear companies. Let’s also check all CCTV cameras around the common. Presumably her body was driven to the spot sometime on Tuesday or maybe early on Wednesday morning.’

      Walker then handed back to Anna, who signalled for DC Fellows to change the image on the TV monitor. Holly’s photo was replaced by a picture of a woman who looked like an older version of her. She had the same oval face, full lips and well-defined jawline.

      ‘This is Holly’s mother,’ Anna said. ‘As I’m sure you all know her name is Rebecca Blake, and she’s the reason that we’re going to be under pressure like never before. And that pressure won’t just come from the media. It will also come from the top brass in the Met and from the Home Office. At this stage we have no idea why Holly Blake was murdered. But we can’t rule out the possibility that it had something to do with her mother.’

       CHAPTER SEVEN

      Having read the article in the Evening Standard, Sophie was struggling to keep her emotions in check. The words had proved as shocking as the three photographs that covered half the page.

      She continued to sit there in the clinic’s reception, her breath stalled as the blood pounded in her ears.

      She didn’t want to believe the evidence of her own eyes, but she had no choice. The facts, as laid out, spoke for themselves. They revealed a story that was both sensational and tragic. A story that revolved around a London police officer named Anna Tate.

      The woman’s photograph was the largest of the three that had been published to help illustrate the article. Sophie squinted at what she considered to be a plain, unremarkable face. Tate had sharp features and dark hair down to her shoulders. She was in her early forties, according to the paper, but looked older.

      Sophie let out her breath and returned her attention to the beginning of the article. She re-read it because her mind had struggled to take it all in the first time.

      But as soon as she started her anxiety grew, and a hard knot formed in her stomach.

      A MOTHER’S TEN YEAR NIGHTMARE

      An Evening Standard two-part exclusive

       DCI Anna Tate is the detective in charge of the Major Investigation Team based in South London.

       She made headlines two weeks ago when she led the hunt for the kidnappers of nine children from a nursery school in Rotherhithe.

       During the investigation it came to light that ten years ago her own two-year-old daughter Chloe was abducted and is still missing.

       Thanks to an extraordinary twist of fate the kidnapping case has led to a dramatic development in the search for Chloe – but it has also raised fresh fears over the girl’s safety.

       Anna has told her story to the Standard because she believes that the more people who know about it the more chance there is that she’ll one day be reunited with her daughter, who is now twelve.

      Sophie’s throat tightened suddenly and for a few seconds she had to fight to get the air into her lungs.

      The words on the page became blurred so she closed her eyes and willed herself to stay calm despite the panic that had seized her chest.

      She was briefly tempted to stop reading and to throw the paper in the bin. But she knew that wasn’t an option. She had exposed herself to a cold, hard truth and there was no way she could run from it.

      She snapped her eyes open and forced herself to take each breath slowly and carefully as she continued to read.

       Detective Anna Tate’s nightmare began one day in July 2009, six months after she divorced her husband, Matthew Dobson, because of his adultery. He’d been trying to persuade her to take him back but she’d refused. As a result he decided to seek revenge.

       He regularly looked after their daughter as part of a joint custody arrangement. But on that day he failed to take Chloe home when he was supposed to. Instead he disappeared with her and sent Anna a text message which read:

      You won’t let us be a family again because I made a stupid mistake. So I’m starting my life afresh with my lovely daughter. Don’t bother trying to find us because you never will. You have yourself to blame, Anna. You should have known that I wouldn’t let you have a happy life if I couldn’t be a part of it … M

       Anna discovered that he had packed in his job, sold his car and moved out of his flat. As Anna’s police colleagues launched a hunt for Dobson and his daughter, it was feared he had taken her abroad.

      Horrific

       Anna heard nothing for ten years, but she didn’t give up searching for Chloe. She ran various social media campaigns which included a dedicated FindChloe Facebook page and website. And she hired a private investigator to try to find them.

       Then, just over two weeks ago, came the horrific abductions of the children from the Peabody Nursery School. Anna appeared on the television news and among the millions of people who saw her was a man named Paul Russell. He was compelled to contact her and his message was:

      If you can find the time to come and see me I can tell you what I know about your daughter and her father. And I can apologise for the part I played in what happened ten years ago.

       Anna went to see Paul Russell in a London hospice where he has since died of cancer. But in what amounts to a deathbed confession he revealed to Anna that he used to be a master forger who provided fake documents to criminals, illegal immigrants and anyone else who was willing to pay him.

      Passports