Page 10 of Her Last Breath

Even then, on the banks of her brother’s watery grave, her mother had begun to twist the narrative. Jane went in first, Ed followed to save her. He died a hero. The silent but cruel implication that Jane had caused his death. The secrets and lies had built up and solidified like sediment over the years. Her mother resented Jane because she knew the truth would damn her beloved son, suicide a cardinal sin in the Catholic Church.

As the lie became the accepted version of events, Jane punished all her life for her brother’s choices, there was no room to ask why he had decided to take his own life.

Jane turned away from the water, memories of this bitter injustice biting hard. Clamping her hand to her nose, she tried to block out the rotten stench that triggered these thoughts. People craved the fresh earthy scent, but it always made Jane gag. She fought hard to maintain her composure. Her emotions were raw, pricking at her senses.

Chiding herself for her weakness, Jane pulled out her phone and dialled DC Chan.

‘Did you manage to triangulate the deceased’s movements during her last days?’ she asked. ‘Anything unusual leading up to the time she sent that last text message?’

‘No, ma’am. She had a very routine life comprising visits to her parents to see the children, always scheduled; trips to Citizens Advice; and visits to a foodbank at a local church. She sometimes went for walks into Townley Park – again, nothing unusual.’

‘What about CCTV?’

‘We’ve checked the footage more thoroughly from traffic and bus cams, starting at 1.12 p.m. when we know the last message was sent. Local businesses in the area have been approached to release their security videos. The last confirmed sighting we have of her is on door cam footage, walking down Clitheroe Street in the Rose Hill Area, just after 1.30 p.m.’

‘Rose Hill is what, a ten-minute walk from her home in St Agnes? From there to Padiham would have taken her nearly ninety minutes if she was on foot. She must have taken public transport or been caught on camera somewhere. Keep checking.’

Rose Hill was a well-maintained quiet residential area, a very different place to the notorious, poverty-line council estate that Alice lived on. More importantly, it was a good five miles from where Jane was now, Alice’s last-known location. How did she get here and why?

‘Did you find any evidence of her coming to this part of Burnley before? This section of the River Calder in particular?’

‘Not so far, but we’re continuing to check her phone records.’

‘Why would she come all this way if it’s not somewhere she’s familiar with? Surely there’s a host of places nearer to her home where she could access the river? Easier, more convenient ways for her to end her life, if that was what she really wanted to do? What was significant about this spot? Can you check with her parents?’

‘Yes, ma’am. I’ll contact them now.’

Jane ended the call, hopeful that DC Chan’s search would turn up a useful lead. Turning her attention back to the river, she ducked under the police cordon. The lapping of the water filled her ears as she walked closer to the river, stopping at the edge of the grassy bank. Staring into the black water, she shuddered at the image of Alice Rogers sinking, dragged ever downward by the rocks in her jacket pockets, her lungs filling with water.

Spotting the CSIs, Jane picked her way towards them, stopping in front of a man who was tapping a tablet screen. Face mask off, he looked to be in his early thirties, dark hair and beard on show.

‘DI Jane Hacker,’ she said.

‘The Wonder Woman from the south. Pawel Kowalcyzk, scene supervisor.’

He had bright grey eyes and a slight accent. Just her type.

‘Any indication of time of death yet?’ she said.

‘Hard to tell with the water damage, but the post-mortem will reveal more. I would hazard an unofficial guess of two to three weeks.’

‘Two weeks would match the day of her last sighting. Definitely not more recent?’

‘It’s going to be best guess, given her state. From the water damage more than a week. Less than a month.’

‘Any signs she was harmed physically?’

‘No obvious wounds, but that too will depend on what the pathologist finds.’

Piecing together Alice’s last movements was going to be tricky, but with little help coming from forensics, it was going to be vital to do just that. Her movements didn’t make sense to Jane. When Ed took his own life, he was focused, determined, taking the shortest possible route he could to where he drowned himself. Alice would have done the same. Too much time to think, she would have wavered. Why didn’t she just go to the nearest access point she could for either of the rivers that merge in Burnley?

Instead, she went to Rose Hill first, probably on foot given the time it took her to get there. Rose Hill was in a south-westerly direction from where she lived. Then she came north from Rose Hill to Padiham, to this rural spot. Why choose such a convoluted route?

‘The cracks in the bridge are clearly visible from here,’ Jane observed, as she walked with Pawel towards a clearing of trees away from the riverbank.

‘The council used rocks and mesh to block access while they repair the structural damage. Your victim used the loose fragments of rock to help her. The kids that found her dismantled the barricade.’

The body wouldn’t have been disturbed for a while if those young guys hadn’t been pulling their social media stunt, Jane thought. That didn’t ring true with what she knew about Alice so far. Coming to such a remote place where she wouldn’t be found. Prolonging the pain her children would feel, not knowing what happened to their mother. Depriving them of a grieving process, the opportunity to move on with their lives, making them spend their remaining years looking for her, waiting for her? That felt cruel to Jane and not something Alice would do to her kids.