Death on the Lake by Jo Allen (rocket ebook reader txt) 📕

‘We’ve closed the path to the public at both ends. I’ll take you along and show you the lie of the land. If you ask me it’s pretty clear what happened. She decided to go for a swim and couldn’t get out. Cramp, maybe. The water’s cold if you’re not used to it.’

Ashleigh let the woman’s assumptions go unchallenged. It might be all there was to it. It might not be. Only a rigorous examination of the evidence would give them an idea and even then the circumstances of Summer’s death might never be established.

Turning up the hood of her raincoat against the drips from the trees where the path entered the wood, she followed her uniformed colleague along the narrow path. About a mile, Jude had said, and the quick glance she’d snatched at the map showed her that it was, indeed, as far from the road as possible. That sparked a warning at the back of her mind.

As they squelched through the last few yards, she saw Carly and her colleagues had been busy. The path had been closed off and blue and white tape fluttered in the breeze. A boat was just beginning to motor off down the lake and, from their elevated position, Ashleigh saw the black body bag inside it. She shivered. ‘Where did you find it?’

‘The divers found it. About fifteen yards off the shore.’

They went no closer to the scene, but there was a clear enough view from the path. Not that there was much to see — just wind-driven wavelets running up to the shore and the drip-drip of overhanging trees. ‘They’re taking the body off now?’

‘The ambulance will meet the boat at Pooley Bridge and they’ll get it up to Carlisle. We’ve photos, of course.’ Carly took out her phone and flicked through them, her face a mask of forced indifference, but Ashleigh gave them barely a glance. There would be plenty of time for that later. ‘What about her belongings?’ There was no sign of them. ‘You haven’t moved them?’

Carly allowed herself a look of sheer outrage at the suggestion. ‘They’re down below us. You can’t see them from here. They were stowed under an overhang. To keep them dry, maybe. I haven’t been down there but some of the lads came at it from the lake.’

But it had been a beautiful afternoon and if the Neilson twins were to be believed Summer had been very drunk. Carly had photographs of Summer’s clothing, and Ashleigh was more ready to look at them — a pile of clothing, denim shorts, bra and pants, white cotton top.

‘Everything’s looking shipshape down here. You’ve done an efficient job.’ Jude’s voice, brisk and devoid of any emotion, drifted along the path behind them. ‘I can see it’s all under control. I won’t come any closer. I’m sure I’ll see everything there is to see later.’ He stood on the edge of the path and frowned down at the shore. His expression was one Ashleigh was too familiar with — concentration and faint discontent. Something was troubling him. ‘I overheard that last bit. It looks as if you’ve got everything organised. Site secured and everything. Excellent. I’ve asked for a CSI team to come down here as soon as possible.’

‘A bit of a waste of time, if you ask me,’ said the PC. ‘It’s pretty obvious what happened.’

‘Well, maybe.’ Jude seemed unperturbed. ‘But until we know any better we’ll just treat it as something a bit more sinister. Call it overcautious if you want. Most people do. But it’s procedure.’

Carly must know that, and a light went on in her eyes, as if she’d suddenly realised what was odd. It would be that a chief inspector was down on site and taking an interest in a situation that was unarguably tragic but also routine. ‘Sir.’

‘You just carry on. I’ve asked DI Dodd to come down and help out here as well. Not,’ he added to Ashleigh in a undertone, as he turned away, ‘that I think you aren’t capable. Far from it. But as there seems to be very little doubt about the identity of the body, and as the buzz on the street seems to be that her boyfriend is a bad ‘un, I’d like to go down and talk to him before he knows that she’s been found and where. And it goes without saying I’d like you to come with me.’

Leaving the scene in the hands of others, they walked back along the path. Jude had no hood, but he turned the collar of his coat up against the drips. ‘It’s the trouble with drowning, isn’t it? You never get to see the body in situ.’ He paused for a moment. ‘If it was drowning, but the PM will tell us that.’

‘Yes. I’ll say one thing for PC Bright. She made sure she had photographs of it from every possible angle. She was flicking through them like they were her holiday snaps.’

‘Excellent,’ he said with a cheerfulness that had to be false. ‘Tammy and the CSI team will get the shoreline covered and checked. Interesting, though. I didn’t see any sign of anyone having gone down there from the path. Not even our lot. Although I expect we’ve lost a lot of evidence already, with the rain, and God knows who was along the path on Sunday afternoon.’

‘Evidence? Do you think it was murder?’

‘Did I say that? I think it’s a suspicious death. And until we’ve done everything possible to to establish what happened I’m keeping an open mind.’

‘I wondered if the body could have been hidden.’

‘It’s such a convenient spot, isn’t it? As far as possible from either end of the road.’ He frowned. ‘Yes. That was the first thing that struck me. The trees overhang. You can’t see it from the path unless you’re actively looking to see what’s down there, although there’s a clear enough view if you step off a bit. And it’s an extraordinarily odd place to choose