Necessary as Blood

looked like garden lime, they called me,‘ the pathologist explained.
    He squatted by the pit, wearing the jeans and black T-shirt that Gemma thought of as his uniform. But his face and arms were streaked with dust, and his urbane charm seemed to have deserted him, although he gave Gemma a quick smile.
    ‘The lads and the photographer have gone for a bit of a break,‘ Kaleem continued. ‘And I‘ve called in a forensic anthropologist. What comes next is more his province than mine.‘
    ‘You‘ve found her,‘ said Gemma. And although it was what she‘d expected — what she‘d been all too certain of since she‘d first looked at the garden — she felt a rush of grief that caught her by surprise. Sandra Gilles would not come home to her daughter.
    ‘Yes, I think so,‘ answered Kaleem. He rubbed his arm across his forehead, leaving more streaks. ‘There is an adult female body beneath the layer of lime. The lime slowed decomposition somewhat, but it‘s been a warm summer, so... The clothing is pretty well intact, however, and matches the description of the items Sandra Gilles was wearing the day she disappeared. The hair also fits her description — blonde and very curly.‘
    Gemma decided then that she was not going to look. She had seen Naz Malik‘s body. She wanted to keep her image of Sandra Gilles, the vibrant woman she‘d seen in the photographs in the Fournier Street house, intact — for Charlotte‘s sake as well as her own.
    ‘…we will, of course, be matching DNA and dental records,‘ Kaleem was saying as she dragged her attention back to him. ‘The victim was buried face down, and it looks as though she received a blow to the back of the head. There‘s what appears to be matted blood in the hair, and a depression in the skull.‘
    Kincaid stepped forward and looked down. His face was impassive. ‘He hit her?‘
    ‘Looks that way. I‘d say when her back was turned. No guess as to the weapon without a proper examination.‘
    ‘But — ‘ Gemma tried to work out what had happened. ‘If she just came to talk to him, why did he take the risk of killing her, rather than just bluffing it out? Surely he could have covered his tracks up to that point — ‘
    There were voices from the kitchen, and two suited forensics techs came out, followed by a photographer and then Doug Cullen. Gemma noticed that one of the ‘lads‘ was female.
    Kincaid and Kaleem moved aside so that the techs could go back to work. ‘We‘re just going to remove a bit more fill, Doc,‘ said the woman, who appeared to be in charge. ‘It seems to be quite soft beneath the body.‘
    ‘I talked to the landscapers this morning,‘ said Cullen. ‘The woman next door remembered the name on their van. This‘ — he waved a hand towards the fountain, now moved to one side — ‘wasn‘t the original plan. He was going to put in a fish pond, quite a deep one. They‘d already dug for it, and delivered the pavers to go round it, but they hadn‘t taken away the earth that had come out of the hole.
    ‘Then Alexander rang them the morning they were scheduled to concrete the pond and said he‘d decided on something else and was going to do the work himself. They thought he‘d just got a cheaper bid at the last minute, because he wasn‘t the type to get his hands dirty. But then he called them back a few days later and asked them to put in the fountain.‘
    ‘So, he found himself with a body on his hands and took advantage of an opportunity,‘ Kincaid said. ‘He had a hole, and the materials to fill it, and he needed to do it as quickly as possible—‘
    ‘Wait,‘ interrupted Kaleem. He turned to Cullen. ‘Did your landscaper say how deep they dug? This body is actually quite close to the surface. If there‘s loose soil beneath her...‘
    Kaleem and the female tech looked at each other, then went to the edge of the pit and knelt, leaning down. The tech eased herself flat onto her stomach, and Kaleem steadied her while she seemed to be probing carefully in the bottom of the hole.
    ‘Shit!‘ she said, suddenly still. ‘Get me a damned bucket.‘
    The other tech hurried forward and eased himself down flat as well, lowering an empty tub.
    Kaleem watched intently as the female tech moved again, and Gemma heard the soft sound of earth falling into the plastic tub. Then Kaleem looked up.
    ‘There‘s another body, lower down.‘
    The two techs worked silently, easing soil from around the edges of the upper body.