Imogen reached the exit and went outside. She surveyed the surrounding area, but it was desolate. The bus stop was empty and since they had banned smokers from congregating outside the main entrance, there wasn’t anyone to ask. Why would the woman run? Did she run?

Since the video had hit the internet, they couldn’t be sure at this point that whoever had hurt her the first time hadn’t come back to finish the job. Staring at the car park wasn’t doing her any favours, so she went to find Adrian.

What if they couldn’t find the woman? Was she in danger? Was she dangerous? They had no idea. They had less now than they had this morning, significantly less. Maybe the DNA would come back on John Doe, but she didn’t want to admit to herself how unlikely that was.

Chapter Fifteen

Sitting in the incident room waiting for a reprimand felt a lot like being on detention. Imogen knew the DCI wasn’t going to be happy, but Adrian was more stressed about the missing woman than worried about what the DCI was going to say. She knew he felt personally responsible because he left her bedside and Imogen felt partially responsible for making him do that.

The truth was, no one was to blame except the woman herself. She wasn’t under arrest but just saw an opportunity to leave and left. There were obviously too many questions that she didn’t want to answer. No one could know what she had been through – only she knew that. It was pointless being annoyed with her; she was the victim in this. One of the victims, anyway.

DCI Kapoor walked in and folded her arms.

‘I’ve just spoken with PC Milbourne and he said she gave no indication that she was going anywhere. One second she was there and when he looked again, she was gone. It’s happened now, anyway, so we need to make sure the newspapers don’t find out that we lost her.

‘The Echo have been asking for an interview with you, DS Miles. I said you would give them a call today, so do that before you go home. The last thing we need is them poking around the hospital. Remember: careful, measured answers. Reporters are always looking for an angle, that’s their job. Your job is to make sure they don’t get it.’

‘What if they ask me how she’s doing?’

‘Say she’s up and walking about. You wouldn’t be lying,’ Imogen said.

‘Please, someone tell me we have something else? Any new information on John Doe?’ Kapoor asked.

‘No match on his DNA and his fingerprints aren’t on file with us, either. Dr Forrester will send a photo over when he is done. I have compiled photos of all current male MisPers within a hundred-mile radius. We can expand further if that doesn’t pan out.’