Read Hidden ( CSI Reilly Steel #3) for Free Online Page A

also covered, but with smaller items. Among them were several bits of plastic that looked like they might have come from a car’s side lights and indicators, plus numerous glass and paint fragments.
    ‘Certainly looks like the debris from a collision of some sort.’
    Gary nodded. ‘I’m going to analyze it now, and see if any of it comes from the same vehicle. Did you get anything from the body?’
    ‘Mostly what you would expect – gravel, traces of oil and so on. But there is one thing that is interesting…’
    She reached for the dish containing the fine green fronds she’d picked out of the dead girl’s hair, and held it out for them to sniff.
    ‘You don’t smell it?’ she asked when neither reacted.
    ‘We don’t have your keen nose, boss.’
    ‘I picked this up on her right from the start, but I just can’t place it. Something about it reminds me of family picnics by the lake back home…’ Then she shrugged. ‘It might not even be relevant, who knows? But there is definitely something strange about this girl.’
    ‘Besides the massive tattoo of a pair of wings on her back?’ Lucy put in sardonically.
    ‘Not just that. How many teenagers do you know who wear no make-up, have no piercings, jewelry, or use hair coloring?’
    Lucy pretended to think hard. ‘Let me see – none?’
    ‘Exactly. Apart from the tattoo, this girl looks like she could have just stepped out of the nineteenth century.’
    Gary looked confused. ‘Because of the nightdress, and the fact that she wasn’t made-up to the nines?’
    ‘Lots of girls out my way walking the streets in their PJs, but usually with plenty of make-up and bling to boot,’ Lucy put in.
    ‘Perhaps, but I’ll bet you’ve never seen one in an ankle-length nightdress that wouldn’t seem out of place in a Jane Austen novel.’
    But in truth it was difficult for Reilly to put her finger on what it was about this girl that had given her that sense. Perhaps it was the calm, almost ethereal aura about her.
                  For the next hour or more the lab was silent as the small team worked on the physical evidence they’d gathered. They all knew each other well, and each was familiar with the working style of the others.
    All three wore earbuds, each listening to background music while they worked. Lucy listened to the radio, liking the company the chatty DJ gave her; Gary had dance music on, his head bobbing to the beat as he went; while Reilly usually played classical music – Bach for his calm, methodical style, Mozart when she needed something to lift her mood, or Beethoven to stir her emotions and keep her engaged if she was working late into the night.
                  She was so caught up in her work that it wasn’t until the other two came and stood in front of her that she noticed that they had been trying to get her attention. She slipped her headphones off and looked up, a sheepish smile on her face.
    She followed them back over to their respective benches.
    ‘Like we said, most of it is just junk,’ Lucy explained. ‘It’s either been there way too long to be connected with our crime,’ she picked up the faded soft drink cans, ‘or it’s completely random and unidentifiable.  These, however, might be of interest.’
    The objects she pointed to were a relatively clean MegaCoffee branded coffee cup and some small pieces of black plastic.
    Lucy indicated the cup. ‘This was the first thing I saw – it was floating in the water. It’s very new, and the coffee dregs inside are quite fresh.’
    ‘Any saliva traces on the rim?’
    Lucy nodded.  ‘Fortunately, yes. First and foremost we’ll have to check that the couple that found her weren’t the source, but if they’re not and we find a suspect, it could tie them to the scene.’
    ‘How do you reckon it got there, though?’
    ‘I was thinking about that. My guess is that it was maybe rolling around on the floor of the vehicle that hit her, maybe the driver