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family.’
    ‘We’ll be pursuing all of that tomorrow. I’ll make some more decisions then.’ She paused. ‘By the way, I phoned Archie today and reassured him that I was alright.’
    ‘And did he believe you?’
    ‘Not really. He’s like you. You can both see below the surface.’
    * * *
    As Sophie expected, Nadia’s next interview was far less draining. She went into the girl’s family and social background, and then the contact that had lured her away from her college course. Sophie wanted as much detail as possible so that she could alert the Romanian authorities. The girl described the other young women who had been brought across to England with her. She was worried for their safety, particularly the youngest of the group, a sixteen-year-old called Sorina with whom she had formed a close friendship. Sorina had been an only child in her home country and had been lured away from a job in a hotel restaurant with the promise of formal training as a chef in the UK. According to Nadia the girl had spent most of the journey in terrified silence and had found the ordeal at the farmhouse hard to bear. Nadia doubted whether she would last very long under the brutal treatment of the gang.
    Sophie called the Romanian embassy in order to check on progress. She then arranged for Nadia to call her parents, with Mary Porter listening in to the conversation. She’d advised Nadia to keep the details of her ordeal to a minimum at this stage. After talking to her daughter for a few minutes, Nadia’s mother spoke to Sophie through Mary Porter.
    As the conversation finished Sophie’s mobile rang. She heard tension in Barry Marsh’s voice and walked out into the corridor.
    ‘We’ve found a body at the farm.’
    ‘Where?’
    ‘One of the fields adjoins the copse and there’s a strip of rough grass between the two. The body was there. We wouldn’t have spotted it, but we had a dog with us, as you suggested. It started pawing at the ground and whining, so we started digging. Forensics are on their way. It must have been there for some time because there are weeds and stuff growing on top of it.’
    ‘Can you tell anything about the state it’s in?’
    ‘No. We stopped once we realised what we had. It’s wrapped in a rug, and we just uncovered the feet, so we can’t tell yet whether it’s male or female. The thing is, ma’am, the dog is behaving the same way in another spot. We think there might be more.’
    ‘I’ll be over directly. I’ll get someone here to look after the girl. Is David Nash still there at the farm?’
    ‘He’s gone, but the rest of his team are still here. They were about to pack up but now they’re staying around. Nash is on his way back.’
    ‘Leave everything until he gets there. He’s the expert, so he can decide the best way of extracting the body. And well done, Barry. It was a good idea to take the dog out of the yard.’
    Sophie left Nadia in the care of Tom Rose’s assistant, and drove out to the abandoned farm.
    * * *
    Sophie was thankful for the dry weather. Even so, the area around the grave was beginning to get churned up.
    ‘We’ve kept everyone away from the site, apart from the marked path,’ Marsh told her. ‘We’ve also marked out the other area where the dog was sniffing.’
    Sophie looked around. ‘It’s a well-chosen spot. That low ridge at the top of the field means it’s out of view from the farm. And the copse hides it from this side.’ She turned back to Marsh. ‘How deep?’
    ‘About a foot and a half. That’s when we reached the upper part of the rug. We uncovered it, opened it up and found a foot.’
    Sophie had a quick look at the excavation.
    ‘We’ll just leave it now for forensics, but keep someone here on watch. What else did you find?’
    Marsh pointed to one of the sheds. Traces of blood had been found on the floor.
    ‘We’ll have a chat with David Nash before he starts.’
    The forensic chief was busy instructing the squad who were to