He got himself a coffee from the machine in the corridor and finally felt able to rip open the sealed flap. The contents slid out on to his desk. Dental records, and it was good news. Or at least, he supposed he ought to consider it good news. He had a confirmed ID for his human remains.

Cooper tried to feel elated as he looked at the photographs of Audrey Steele again. But it seemed very tough on Audrey that she should have ended up like this.

There was a lot of talk these days about the dead speaking from beyond the grave. People usually meant the remarkable amount of forensic evidence that could be collected from a dead body. It was a way that murder victims could help investigators to achieve justice against their killers. But in Audrey’s case, her voice was silent. The examination of her remains had revealed nothing useful, as far as he could tell. And how could it, when she’d died of natural causes? Audrey’s mother had the death certificate. Brain haemorrhage, confirmed by a second doctor prior to disposal by cremation.

But that didn’t feel right to Cooper. From the moment he’d seen Suzi Lee’s reconstruction in the Sheffield laboratory, he felt as though he’d been able to hear Audrey Steele speaking to him from the woods at Ravensdale. The fact that she hadn’t told him anything crucial to the enquiry seemed to be his fault, not hers. From now on, he ought to listen a bit more carefully.

A few minutes later, DI Hitchens was rubbing his fingers together thoughtfully as he listened to Cooper run through the available facts.

‘This woman was supposed to have been cremated eighteen months ago?’ he said. ‘Is that what you’re saying?’

‘Yes, sir. As far as her family are concerned, she was cremated.’

‘And yet her remains turn up in the woods ten miles from the crematorium. I’ve never heard anything like it, Ben.’

‘There seems to be no doubt she died of natural causes. I’ve got copies of the certificates.’

‘All done properly? Signed by two doctors?’

‘Yes.’

‘OK. Then we’re looking at an offence of unauthorized interference with a body. God knows what the penalty is for that. I’ve never come across a case of this kind before.’

‘I’ll get some checks done and see if similar incidents have been recorded anywhere.’

‘Yes, that’s a good first step. And you’ll be talking to the family again, I suppose?’

‘Of course.’

Hitchens swivelled his chair away from Cooper, a sign that something was worrying him.

‘And then there’s the question of when and where the theft of the body took place. You said that Audrey Steele was in hospital when she died?’

‘Yes.’

‘Identified by the family, and all that?’