Read The Innocent: A Coroner Jenny Cooper Crime Short for Free Online Page B

recognize her straight away, even though you’ve never set eyes on her before. You just know … And so did she.’
    Jack had met with Natasha three times. On the first occasion for thirty minutes, then for an hour, and the last time they had spent the whole afternoon together, ending with a walk around the neighbouring park and ice creams at a café. They didn’t talk about the past, just about this and that. ‘Everything felt natural between us,’ he said, ‘like we’d known each other for ever.’
    ‘Did Natasha talk to you about her school, or her foster family?’ Bolter asked.
    ‘Said she was very happy with both. Missed her mum, of course, but we steered off that.’ He gave Karen an apologetic look. ‘Like I said, I didn’t want to rake over things. I just wanted to be there for her. Like I never was for her mum, I suppose.’
    ‘And Natasha seemed content?’
    ‘Hugged me. Gave me a kiss. Called me Granddad. Said she couldn’t wait to see me again the next week.’
    Karen Greenslade’s composure finally cracked and she broke down in muffled sobs. Judy Harris leant forward and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder.
    Jack looked at his daughter: he was grey and lined and full of the pain of a lifetime of regret. ‘I’m so sorry for you, sweetheart. She was a beautiful, beautiful girl. You did your best.’
    ‘Thank you, Mr Greenslade,’ Bolter said, his gaze fixed on Karen as she continued to weep. ‘I won’t detain you any longer. Mrs Cooper, please.’
    Jenny steeled herself. Now it was her turn. Her only opportunity to justify herself. She wondered if her pounding heart would allow her to speak. She was forcing herself to her feet when a man pushed through the door at the back of the hall having evidently hurried to be there.
    ‘Ah, Dr Markham,’ Bolter said. He turned to Jenny. ‘My apologies, Mrs Cooper. We’ll hear from the examining pathologist first, if you don’t mind.’
    Jenny sank back into her chair gratefully and tried to breathe. She had to be strong. It wasn’t her fault . She had only tried to make Natasha feel happy and secure, hadn’t she?
    Dr Markham took his place in the witness chair and recited the oath without glancing at the card. In his mid-thirties, he was tall, relaxed and confident. It must be easy dealing only with the dead, Jenny thought. No danger of emotional entanglements in a mortuary.
    His post-mortem findings were cut and dried: death through multiple catastrophic trauma. Instant and painless. A full suite of blood tests had failed to reveal the presence of any alcohol or drugs in Natasha’s body.
    Jenny waited for the uncomfortable questions she assumed Bolter had prepared for him: was there evidence of recent sexual relations? Did her medical records show any recent requests for contraception? Did she have any tattoos or piercings that might give a clue to her sexual orientation? But Bolter took a different tack.
    ‘I passed a request to you via my officer earlier this morning, Dr Markham, asking if you wouldn’t mind conducting a thorough search of Natasha’s clothing. Have you managed to do that?’
    ‘I have,’ Markham replied. He reached into his jacket pocket and produced two small, clear plastic bags. ‘There was small change and an elastic hair band in her jeans pocket,’ he placed the first bag on the table next to him, ‘and a small scrap of paper with what appears to be a phone number written on it in the right-hand pocket of the red hooded top. That was all.’ He placed the second bag on the table alongside the first.
    ‘Hand them to me, please,’ Bolter said.
    Jenny felt her shirt clinging to her body with cold sweat as Bolter opened the second bag and pulled out a tiny, crumpled piece of paper which she knew was the corner she had torn from her legal pad the last time she had seen Natasha.
    She replayed the moment in her mind:
    I wish I could have had a mum like you.
    If you’ve a problem, whatever it is, you can call me and