Frozen Grave

Chapter 17

The next morning, whilst Willis went to see her mother, Carter went to catch up with Sandford, who was working on Olivia Grantham’s car. The Fiat was just a shell now.

Carter put on his protective suit and walked in past the drying cabinet and saw the seat covers hanging inside.

‘Was there much on those?’ he asked, stopping in front of the glass.

Sandford answered from inside the car; he talked through the gap where the windscreen had been.

‘There was. But most of it isn’t any good. Matching to the samples taken from her flat – there were at least two other people in this car after Olivia got out. Their prints are over hers. But they wore gloves. Of course there was a dog in there as well. Its paw-prints were pretty distinct.’

Sandford carried on working on the inside of the car. He was looking slightly irritated at Carter’s presence.

Carter knew it and it didn’t bother him. ‘Care to elaborate?’ The sooner Sandford stopped resisting, the sooner it would be over.

Sandford stood, and bent backwards to ease his aching back. He was a tall man to fit into a small car.

‘The dog had blood on its paws when it made contact with several sites on the upholstery and the door frames,’ he said as he pulled off his gloves and put them into a waste bin. He motioned to Carter to follow him as he walked across to his desk and the PC. He brought up the images of the car examination.

‘There are traces of it on the driver’s door.’ He showed Carter a diagram of the evidence recovered and where it was in and on the car. The 3D image rotated as Sandford tapped the keyboard.

‘There were things taken from the car – the first-aid kit was ripped open. The spare-wheel kit is also missing. Not that you get much in these new cars – a spare tyre and a few tools. But they’re gone. I’ve asked for a full list of what the car should have had in it, from Fiat. Here, highlighted, you have all the sites in the car that I’ve matched to the two different glove-prints and the dog’s paws.’

Carter sat down to study the screen better. He counted the sites.

‘I count twelve places. They got around in that car. Can you get a print from the glove?’

‘I’m working on it. I also found traces of blue cashmere. It’s got to be hers.’

‘The blue coat the caretaker said she was wearing.’

‘Were there any fibres that match that at the crime scene?’

‘Not so far. Round up some suspects and I’ll match them to the traces left in this car. Have you done that yet?’

Carter let the question pass him by.

‘Have you had a look at Toffee’s clothes?’ he asked. ‘We got them back from the hospital.’

‘Yes, I did. There are traces of Olivia’s blood on them. Were there any swabs taken from his genitalia?’ asked Sandford.

‘No. He’d been washed by the time we got to him. He went straight down for an operation before we could take any samples.’

‘Shame.’

‘Yeah.’

‘You still might get something.’

‘No. We tried, believe me, but we have bite marks on Olivia Grantham’s body; it’s a dog – but you never know, we might be able to tie in all this information and get the owner, especially with what you’ve found. We also have skin particles beneath her fingernails. There are several sites of bruising on her body – we might be able to pull off a fingerprint or two.’

‘Do we know why she went in there?’ asked Sandford.

‘She was on sex sites. She went in there to have sex. Toffee says something went wrong – something he was involved in. But he also said he tried to save her. He is guilty of something and he is our key witness to what happened to her. He had several small cuts and bruises on his face. It could have been from the train but it looked like someone had punched him in the face a few times.’

‘Can we get a knuckle imprint from the bruises on his face?’

‘Listen, to be honest, if he was dead we could get anything we wanted, but right now the hospital aren’t too keen on us taking samples from him. I’ll get what else I can.’

‘Are you facing an enquiry?’

‘For what?’

‘For his injuries?’

‘No, I hope not. Willis was there. There are witnesses.’

‘Good luck.’