Free Fall From Grace by David Menon Page A

baby is being well taken care of in our day care centre. I’m not even asking you to work full-time. Be here for nine every morning and you can leave at three. Anita, a lot of good teachers, good well-trained dedicated teachers tried to make you see that you do have choices in life but you threw it all back in their face.’
    ‘School was boring,’ Anita declared, ‘I hated every minute of it. It didn’t teach you anything you really needed to know like how to bring up kids and that.’
    Paul ran his hands through his hair. She could try the patience of a bloody saint.
    ‘Anita, you’ve just turned eighteen. Are you happy to wipe away the rest of your life?’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I mean that if all you want out of life is a string of meaningless relationships, ever more demanding kids and a never ending struggle with money then you’ve arrived. This is it. But you’ll never get to travel, never be able to buy yourself anything nice to wear, never be able to feel really proud of yourself and what you’ve achieved.’
    ‘Look, I don’t care about any of that, right? It’s all crap and you’re talking rubbish. All I want is my baby and my benefits.’
    ‘But life isn’t all about taking everything you can and giving nothing in return,’ said Paul. ‘Anita, we are all prepared to teach you whatever you need to know to make a go of this job for the sake of yourself and your baby. Now will you at least meet me halfway?’
    Anita had run out of answers, ‘I don’t know how to work the computer.’
    ‘Then we’ll teach you,’ said Paul, ‘so are we going to start again?’
    ‘I suppose I’ve got no choice now I’m here.’
    ‘And please keep your mobile switched off during working hours.’
    ‘You’re my worst nightmare you are.’
    ‘No, Anita, I’m your best friend. You just don’t realise it yet.’
    *
     
    ‘The Derbyshire police have sent us their initial report, sir,’ said Sara. She was addressing the whole squad but directing her speech at Superintendent Hargreaves. ‘According to forensics her body had only been there, they estimate, for less than twenty-four hours and DNA testing was able to identify her as the same Shona Higgins who we did for shop lifting two years ago.’
    ‘And what else does it tell us, DCI Hoyland?’ Hargreaves asked.
    ‘Shona Higgins had been the victim of a nasty assault, sir,’ said Sara who caught her breath before continuing. ‘She’d been strangled. There was also clear evidence of recent sexual activity and the bruises and marks on her backside and the inside of her legs suggests it wasn’t consensual. Shona was fifteen years old and now she’s never going to see her baby son grow up.’
    ‘Have her parents been informed, Sara?’ asked the Superintendent.
    ‘Yes, sir,’ said Sara, ‘they’re inconsolable as you can imagine, but they did admit something very interesting. Apparently, Shona went missing a month ago. She went to school on the morning of the 15 th and never came back but her parents didn’t call us or inform any of the authorities.’
    ‘Did they say why?’ asked Tim.
    ‘No, DI Norris,’ answered Sara. ‘But it’s not that they couldn’t say it’s that they wouldn’t say. Someone has frightened them into silence. I’ve got uniform conducting house-to-house enquiries and if they come up with anything they’ve been told to inform me immediately.’
    ‘Good work, DCI Hoyland,’ said Hargreaves. ‘Does the DNA tell us anything else?’
    ‘There are at least twenty different examples of male contact, sir,’ said Sara, quietly. ‘But it’s going to take a while for them to try and identify it all.’
    ‘Sick bastards!’
    ‘Quite so, sir’ said Sara.
    ‘What about the area where she was found?’
    ‘Remote Derbyshire peak land, sir. It was a deer stalker who chanced upon her body. Gave him quite a shock I believe, as I suppose it would. There was a lot of overnight rain in the area which washed away any