‘And what’s that, sir?’ Nikki was getting very bad vibes from the man.

‘When I phoned in, I couldn’t describe her, because she’s wearing some kind of horrible mask. Shocked me rigid, I can tell you. I only knew she was a young woman from her clothes and her body shape.’

‘Okay.’ said Joseph gravely. ‘You go now, sir.’

Grieves didn’t need second telling, and he rode way, earth flying up from the thick tyres, and with not as much as a glance back. The man was more than glad to be leaving his wreck of a barn and all that it concealed.

Nikki wished she could do the same. Then she took a hold of herself. There was no way around it. She pulled on a pair of gloves.

‘Come on, Sergeant. Let’s get this over with.’ She moved forwards, knowing that she looked far more in control than she really was.

It took a moment or two for their eyes to grow accustomed to the gloom inside the old building. The floor was littered with detritus, and they had to pick their way between shattered packing boxes, heaps of decaying root vegetables and small piles of bird droppings.

‘Watch where you walk.’ Joseph had moved ahead of her, and his voice had taken on an air of command. ‘There’s bits of old farm machinery here. An unprotected blade or spike could shear clean through your ankle.’

He’s back on patrol, thought Nikki, and suddenly she was glad to have him with her.

Slim shafts of light criss-crossed the barn from where the sun had found its way through the gaps in the broken and rotted walls. Dust motes swam in them, giving the whole place a strange, surreal effect.

As they carefully moved forward, the smell of decaying vegetation and musty wood turned into something else, something far nastier.

Nikki almost gagged. It was a smell she never got used to. She glanced across to Joseph, but, like an automaton, he was still moving forward, his face set like stone. Nikki sighed. Gentle and mild-mannered he may appear, but Joseph was obviously no stranger to violent death.

‘She’s here.’ he said softly.

Nikki shivered. She really wasn’t sure how she would cope, but she had a damned good idea it would not be well. This was all too familiar. Too close to home.

‘Who is it?’ she whispered. Joseph’s body was still between her and the dead girl.

‘Can’t say. It’s like the farmer said, she has one of those damned masks over her face.’

‘Kerry was wearing hiking boots.’ Nikki moved closer, but still could not bring herself to look directly at the girl’s body. Then she saw two white, straight-toed, bare feet protruded from the end of the rotting hay bale. Oh dear God! The poor child!

‘We have to get that filthy mask off her.’ said Joseph.