"'My sister Mary, a forensic scientist, was murdered by a crack addict at a crime scene 'the police were supposed to have secured.'" "You want us to take on Chesham's pathology work?" "Well in a word, yes." "The way the Buckinghamshire Police scapegoated Lizzie is appalling." "Lizzie Fraser committed suicide this afternoon." "It is a bad one." "Yeah." "They've entrusted it to a humble DI who's six months along." "I almost envy her." "Her shock." "Ever since Dad I feel..." "Numb." "Mick worshipped Jessie." "He would've done everything to save her." "This is the Wraith inquiry." "It is indeed." "DNA evidence suggests she likes working with men." "Weak, needy people she can manipulate." "Was there anyone up there with you, at the farm?" "The devil." "The devil was up there with me." "First impressions?" "From a pathology angle, she's strikingly varied." "Strangulation, stabbing, execution-style shooting." "Have you ever had a good suspect?" "Eliminated suspects, A-Z." "Out of 35,000 women, only nine closely resembled Janet's profile but DNA ruled them out." "None of them were the Wraith." "Who does Janet think you're looking for?" "She's a thrill seeker of the most dangerous kind and the biggest kick of all is embroiling the weak and the needy in her crimes." "Killing by remote control." "So the petrol he used to start the fire - that belonged to Mick, right?" "It was an unusual alkylate type which matched the stuff in Mick's chainsaw, so it's probably." "Shouldn't you be sitting down." "No, I'm fine." "And the, erm, the bike D-lock he put around Luke's neck." "We know that belonged to Mick how?" "SOCO gave the serial number to the manufacturers..." "Who matched it to Mick's details." "Of course." "The burglary was carefully planned, but the rape was feverishly improvised." "Why do you think they went to such lengths to secure Mick and Luke?" "Couldn't this woman, the Wraith, couldn't she have stood guard over them with a stun gun?" "He's a tough guy, ex-SAS." "Why take the risk?" "At the postmortem you said the welts on Mick's wrists" "Tough guy, ex-SAS." "I don't know..." "That makes him shockproof?" "I don't know." "Look, we don't even know the Wraith was standing guard." "What, you think she went into the house with the killer and Jessie?" "You think she witnessed the rape?" "At the killing of PC Amar she got in the car with the gunman." "I just can't get my head around a woman having anything to do with this." "Do you want to get a drink or something?" "Aye, later would be nice." "Later?" "I need to make a house call first." "Parents of PC Amar." "I don't want them hearing about the link to the farm murders on the news." "What, you want me to..." "Only if you've nothing better to do." "My goodness." "So... there's no question it's her?" "We found her DNA." "It'll be all over the news tomorrow." "We wanted you to be prepared." "Thank you, Tom." "So... she's killed a child now?" "Yeah." "Why?" "What does she want?" "To get our attention." "But why?" "!" "Hey..." "It'll be all right, Nasreen." "It'll be all right." "The victims... at the farm." "Were they..." "Were they shot, like Maalik?" "We can't get..." "No." "No, they weren't shot." "They were strangled... and stabbed." "It's very important that you don't divulge those details to anyone." "It could jeopardise a future conviction." "Of course." "All our conversations are in confidence." "Nasreen and Khalid understand that." "Why wouldn't she use the gun?" "Why would she change her MO?" "Khalid, please, don't." "Stop trying to think like a copper." "It doesn't help." "I've got to do something." "I can't just..." "I can't just sit here all day!" "I have... a question... if I may." "Khalid..." "Please." "No." "It's all right." "What is it, Khalid?" "Are you sure Karl Basharov didn't kill my son?" "Khalid, please, don't." "I'm so sorry." "It's a valid question." "Her DNA was in that car." "DNA doesn't lie." "I'm sorry." "Now, one day soon, her luck will run out... and I'll be there." "I give you my word." "Are you OK?" "Fine." "Sorry." "You've lost someone recently?" "My dad." "How long?" "A month." "Bit more..." "And now all the formalities have come and gone and you still can't grieve for him." "Yeah." "It's this work." "Dries us up." "Shrivels our hearts and we don't even know it." "But it will come out in the end, has to." "When?" "My wife died of breast cancer last year." "I wasn't there... at the end." "I was in Glasgow tracking down some woman we were sure was the Wraith." "I'm sorry." "When this is all over... this case... it'll hit me." "I know it will." "I'm almost looking forward to it." "Daddy!" "Hey, little man!" "Are you all right?" "How are you doing?" "Are you all right?" "Yeah..." "Still not convinced that the Wraith was there, are you?" "DNA evidence..." "Is it infallible?" "Properly collected, labelled and processed, it's pretty bloody close." "You've just listed three areas where human error could occur." "True." "But this DNA was found inside the pipe in the form of blood, so... when, how?" "Well, no offence, but sometimes scientists screw up." "Look at the mosque bomber case." "From what I hear that was as much the fault of over-zealous coppers as Chesham Lab and Professor Fraser is no longer here to defend herself." "OK, I'm sorry." "It was a bad example." "But accidental contamination - it's possible, isn't it?" "It's possible." "It's always..." "What?" "The swab I used to lift the blood off the pipe was... different." "Different from what?" "Different packaging." "Different manufacturer, not the one we normally use." "Is that significant?" "I don't know." "What?" "We inherited these swabs." "From where?" "Chesham Labs." "Why's that?" "We've been doing their work while they're under review and they've been showing their gratitude by giving us stocks and supplies because, well, they're broke, basically." "The swabs are sealed." "Could someone at Chesham have contaminated them?" "Oh, very easily." "These big labs buy swabs wholesale in their thousands." "They're then re-sterilised and packed in individual sealed bags and then boxed, in batches of 24 but there is always a 25th swab which is never opened unless contamination's suspected." "The control swab?" "We must test the control swab from the batch which picked up the Wraith's DNA." "Shouldn't we be testing all the swabs from Chesham?" "That's where Byrne and the Wraith inquiry have done all their testing?" "Far too expensive." "I can order tests on two batches, maybe three." "That's it." "Then let's hope we get lucky." "Who is Karl Basharov?" "I knew you were going to ask me that." "Like you said, we don't work in isolation." "PC Amar's death prevented him testifying at the trial of a Russian people trafficker." "Basharov?" "What was he on trial for?" "Murder." "Amar's testimony was critical in so much as he'd seen Basharov at a location where we later found two Estonian girls shot in the head." "Did Basharov beat the charge?" "CPS dropped the case when Amar was killed." "Mission accomplished, then." "Basharov was not behind Maalik Amar's death." "Maalik's father didn't seem so sure." "Couldn't Basharov have paid the Wraith to do the hit?" "The witness testimony motive seems very strong." "Basharov only came over from Moscow three years ago and he brought his own people with him." "A small-time female drug addict?" "Wouldn't even be on his radar." "What so Amar's death was just a massive stroke of good luck?" "For Basharov?" "So it would seem." "Well, I need to go home, get some sleep." "The briefing's at 5am, right?" "If you can make it." "Yeah, of course." "Night." "Night." "I was just about to call you." "'Ah, great minds." "You OK?" "'" "'Nikki?" "'" "I think we need to talk to Janet." "What's going on?" "Long story." "Hi, Janet." "The murder of PC Amar reads like a professional hit." "Two shots to the head, one shot to the chest, and all the shell-casings were removed from the car." "OK?" "Well, compare that with the overkill of Ray Carpenter and the incompetent, almost tentative nature of the Meg Stiles murder." "Well, Meg Stiles was her first victim." "Nevertheless..." "It feels like the work of three different killers?" "From a pathology perspective, yes." "But, I mean, you profiled her, so I assume you understand her psychologically?" "Hang on, have you all come here to question Janet's findings?" "Leo, it's all right." "I can see where they're coming from." "My profile was based on what I was told by the police... that DNA made it a scientific certainty the same woman either committed these crimes or was present at their commission." "So the question for me wasn't, is this the work of one person, but only, could I reconcile such differing crimes?" "And you could?" "Yes." "I profiled her as an intelligent high-functioning heroin addict with extensive criminal connections who was addicted not only to drugs but to all forms of risk, specifically the baiting of authority." "So the peaks and troughs of her addiction produced... correspondingly diverse crimes in terms of organisation?" "And in terms of motive." "She killed Meg Stiles for drug money," "PC Amar to rile the police and the overkill visited on Ray Carpenter... that betrayed a gleeful sadism." "So the only commonality was there was no commonality?" "I would dispute that." "All three murders evince a sociopathic narcissist who lives for kicks." "These latest murders I can't speak for because I don't know the details." "And you never felt like you were tailoring the foot to the shoe?" "OK, enough." "If you're suggesting the Wraith's crimes were..." "It's possible that the DNA linkage was flawed." "Flawed?" "!" "Well, how?" "As a result of..." "long-term contamination at Chesham Lab." "Tom Byrne." "'Sir, it's me." "I don't know what kind of face Dr Alexander's putting on for you but it's not her real one." "And DI James is still very much on the team." "Go home, Ginny, get some rest." "You see conspiracies round every corner." "All the physical evidence suggests Ash Tree Farm was the work of a lone male killer." "The one thing that doesn't is DNA found on a swab we inherited from Chesham Lab, the same lab where the majority of these Wraith DNA hits were found." "Hang on." "Just back up, will you?" "What is there to suggest exactly that these common female DNA hits are not genuine?" "There was a very strong alternative suspect for the murder of PC Amar." "And not to speak out of turn but we do know something went awry at Chesham with the mosque bomber forensics." "Control swabs exist precisely to expose this kind of contamination." "In every case where the Wraith's DNA was found, the control would've been tested and if it'd come up positive for DNA, anybody's DNA, we would've known about it." "Agreed?" "We don't have an explanation, Leo." "I'm just suggesting that maybe we dig a little deeper." "OK." "OK, tomorrow I'm taking Lizzie's husband Greg down to Chesham lab to clear out her office." "It's not still under review?" "The physical inspection was completed last week." "I've arranged for Simon Avery to let us in, so while I'm helping Greg, why don't you have a word, air your concerns?" "Our concerns." "Hello, Greg." "Simon, hi." "Simon, hi." "Why the entourage?" "Detective Inspector James has been working closely with Harry." "What's going on?" "Is this to do with the review?" "It's just something we need to get to the bottom of." "Could you open up Lizzie's office and we'll have a talk?" "Yeah, sure." "I'm afraid there's quite a bit to sort out." "Knowing Lizzie, that's the understatement of the bloody year." "This sounds redundant now, Leo, but, erm..." "I can't tell you how much Lizzie appreciated y-you stepping into help." "Of course." "You know, she came back that night, she was just so relieved, you know." "She was kind of hopeful she'd turned a corner on the whole... bloody mess." "She loved this one." "Oh, yes." "I'm sorry, Greg." "I know what you're going through." "We were together for 19 years, Simon!" "We had children!" "There is no comparison!" "I was offering compassion." "Not comparisons." "Simon, could you rustle up some tea?" "Then Harry and DI James can ask their questions." "Sure..." "God!" ""I was offering compassion... not comparisons."" "What was all that about?" "Ancient history, really." "What did he mean by "no comparison"?" "I used to go out with Lizzie's younger sister Mary." "She was a forensic scientist." "She was murdered at a crime scene." "At a crime scene?" "Mm." "The police were supposed to have secured." "I was at the scene." "She died in my arms." "I'm sorry." "It was a long time ago." "And as Greg says "there's no comparison"." "Thanks." "Let me get this straight." "You're seriously positing that the Wraith's DNA came from the swab rather than the pipe?" "We're exploring that possibility." "Right." "Would you be exploring it if the swab came from your lab rather than mine?" "Course not." "Well, why not?" "Because this is where all the Wraith DNA samples have been detected since 2000." "Not all." "The majority." "You take my point." "Yes, I think I do." "You're questioning the integrity of that detection." "In the light of a case like Ash Tree Farm we have to, I think." "Well, as you've made a link with the Wraith Inquiry" "I take it you're working with Detective Superintendent Byrne?" "We briefed him already about Ash Tree Farm." "Right, so he knows you're here." "You're working with his inquiry?" "What's your point?" "Well, simply that DSI Byrne and I have discussed the possibility of contamination before." "You have?" "Yes." "Many times, in fact, over the years." "So many crime scenes, so far apart, so diverse." "The relative scarcity of female killers." "And?" "I've always been able to reassure him on two key points." "One, the control swabs in all the cases where the Wraith's DNA has been found have tested negative for DNA, if it's the Wraith's or otherwise." "Two, all female staff with access to the lab have had their DNA compared with the Wraith's." "No match." "Business or pleasure?" "Think carefully before answering." "Wrapping up my case." "Which part of "your investigation has been subsumed into our inquiry" was ambiguous to you?" "Have you not got better things to do?" "You disobeyed an order from a senior officer and you're obstructing a live inquiry." "Such bullshit!" "Don't." "Expect a summons from the Borough Commander's office within 24 hours." "And give your Federation rep a call if I were you." "Stupid, stupid!" "Hello?" "Yeah." "Right, thanks." "Negative?" "Negative." "There's two sets of shoeprints in the blood." "Mick's and a pair of size 12 Kevlar mine boots." "No third set." "She kept her distance." "But that doesn't fit with her blood being found inside the pipe that suggests she was in the thick of the struggle." "So... where are her shoeprints?" "I don't know." "But, as you say, her blood was found inside the pipe." "She was here." "Inciting the rape of a woman?" "Killing a child?" "You think someone would do that just to goad the police?" "Why not?" "She's killed a cop." "So what's left?" "How do you up the ante, raise the stakes?" "Same reason she gravitated from heroin to crack cocaine." "Monstrous escalation." "And to come back down to earth for a moment... her DNA was discovered at two different labs." "Twice in Buckinghamshire and once in Suffolk." "And there's no one person who has worked at or who has access to both." "How many other crimes does DNA suggest she committed with male accomplices?" "A dozen or so, and always guys lower down the criminal food chain." "And none of them, bar one, has ever identified her or given you a description?" "No." "Why not?" "Because they're more afraid of her than they are of me." "I'm not a cold-blooded killer." "I can't." "Come on, Lee." "You've had fun with Mum." "Now it's time to clean up." "I can't do it." "Do it!" "Do it!" "Lee, breakfast!" "Coming, Mum." "It's my fault." "Don't flatter yourself." "No-one talks me into anything I don't want to do." "You want to get a coffee or something?" "Yeah, OK." "Oh, shit." "No, sorry, I can't." "Never mind." "Another time." "No." "No, no, I, erm..." "I've got to be at the hospital." "I decided I should find out what colour baby-grows to buy." "Fire engines or fairies?" "Yeah." "I've left it a bit late." "So..." "Who's Dad?" "Yeah, well..." "Where's Dad?" "Yeah." "I wanted a baby too much for it to be dependent on finding Mr Right." "Good for you." "So...?" "So I've got a mate with a high IQ and great cheek bones... and he was kind enough to oblige." "OK." "What are friends for." "You're shocked." "No, I'm not." "Yes you are!" "I'm not!" "My dad had the exact same expression when I told him." "I'm cool." "I am down with it." "I mean, I f-feel a bit for the guy with the cheekbones but apart from that..." "I'm going to cancel." "Oh, bollocks, you are!" "I'll come with you... if you like." "Or maybe not." "Yeah, no..." "I'd like that very much." "Right." "Good." "I've been looking at the Ash Tree Farm evidence and the killer definitely doesn't fit the profile in terms of the Wraith's usual male accomplices." "Why not?" "The stun-gun, the handcuffs, the Kevlar boots... they're all top-of-the-range..." "Outside a junkie's remit?" "Except that I don't think money was the real motive here." "All the elaborate props, the clear, advanced planning, feels like taking a sledgehammer to crack the proverbial." "Well I don't know about that." "Mick Francis was ex-SAS, so you'd want to go prepared." "Ah, Leo, that's it." "Overpowering and robbing an ex-SAS officer - now that would be a goal worthy of all that planning and effort." "You mean it wasn't really about the cash, it was all about the trophy - a scalp?" "As was raping his daughter." "The police should be trawling for robberies with similarly disproportionate and elaborate MOs." "I'd better call Byrne." "Mind if I speak to him first?" "He can be tricky and I'd like him to know this came from me." "Yeah." "Of course." "Are you sure you want to know?" "Sure." "It's a boy." "100%?" "110%." "Pretty well-endowed, I'd say." "Oh, my God!" "Congratulations." "Oh, thank you." "Look." "Keep me posted." "The Borough Commander." "Will do." "And thanks for coming." "Don't be daft." "I'm honoured." "Harry." "I worked on a theft case once in a bank cash centre." "The thief was clever - he stole one Ј50 note a day for five years because he knew the counting machines had a margin of error of one note over or under and a tiny shortfall would be put down to this." "He was patient, but I was more patient." "We need to test all the swabs from Chesham Lab and to hell with the expense." "To hell with the expense." "Leo." "We have an earlier crime that may have been carried out by the Ash Tree Farm killer." "Two months ago, a security guard at an electricity sub-station was attacked." "He said a young man in a green Volvo estate pulled up asking for directions." "Next thing he knew the kid felled him with a stun gun and robbed him." "Can we match the stun gun burn?" "I've requested the file." "Janet says the security guard is a clear precursor of Mick's ex-SAS officer status." "Both crimes were challenges... missions that the thefts prove he accomplished." "If that's true, then Mick Francis..." "Was targeted by someone who knew he was in the SAS and who knew he shut up shop early on a Friday." "A customer seems likely." "Here we go." "Burns on Mick Francis's back." "Burns on the security guard's." "Same burns, same stun gun." "And the model's new, expensive, and illegal." "And there can't be many in Britain." "Yeah." "The stun gun barbs." "Could they have affected the security guard's recall?" "Only for the ten or so seconds he was incapacitated." "Why?" "So there's no way he could've been mistaken about there only being one assailant?" "Unlikely." "Chief!" "It's the DVLA." "They've checked Mick's customers... one green Volvo estate." "Mum?" "Mum!" "Mum?" "Police are on their way." "I'd come with me, if I were you." "I'm your last chance." "Where are you taking me?" "Argh!" "Is it the model you expected?" "Yes." "Well, we've two eyewitnesses who saw Lee going off with a woman in a hooded top." "Byrne." "Good news?" "Maybe." "Possible sighting." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Ginny!" "What the hell are you doing?" "!" "He's seen her face, Guv, he can tell us who she is!" "12 YEARS we've been waiting for this!" "Step away from him!" "Please help me, help me!" "I don't know what she's talking about" " I don't know any woman!" "Please..." "Don't touch me!" "Please!" "Don't leave me here." "Give me the weapon." "Virginia Gray, I'm arresting you on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm..." "Sir, you can't do this!" "You can't do this!" "You can't do this, sir." "You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention, when questioned..." "I did it for you." "Something, which you later rely on in court." "I did it for you!" "Deborah Harding, I'm his brief." "Can you hurry up, please, we need to take our own photographs as a matter of urgency." "Hang in there, Lee, we're going to get you out of here very soon." "Lee, here's how it is." "All the forensics is stacking up." "Your DNA matches blood found inside the pipe Mick Francis hit you with." "We'll also match your boot prints." "Your knife." "'Your stun gun and the cash we found in your bedside drawer.'" "So, right now, you have one card left and the sooner you play it, the better." "You didn't want to hurt anyone, did you?" "You didn't want to rape that poor woman." "And you certainly didn't want to kill a child." "'She forced you into it, didn't she?" "'" "'Made it impossible for you to say no?" "'" "Who is she, Lee?" "Oh, Christ, not again." "What d'you mean "not again"?" "The bitch who mashed me up was on about the same thing. "Who is she?" "What does she look like?"" "' "How did you meet her?" I've seen this E-fit before." "The Wraith." "'The woman who shot that copper in Marlow?" "That's right.'" "It's bullshit I don't know this woman." "The only woman I know is my mum, unless you count those frigid bitches at school and..." "Shut up, Lee." "Shut up now." "What is the supposed connection between her and my client?" "DNA proves she was there with him at Ash Tree Farm." "Really?" "And, er, where did you find her DNA?" "In the pipe." "Sorry" " I'm being a bit dim." "So you're saying Mick Francis hit both of them 'with the same pipe, causing them both to bleed?" "'That's what our evidence tells us." "Or maybe the evidence is telling you something different' but you just don't want to hear it." "Such as?" "Such as the Wraith committed these murders and my client's DNA was planted after the fact?" "Say, by the detective that beat him to within an inch of his life?" "'Such as, DNA means squat if you can't attach a plausible scenario, 'and you can't.'" "The burden's on you to prove this mentor-protege relationship, which my client fully denies." "Can you find one person who has ever seen them together, 'one CCTV image, one e-mail, one text' that connects them?" "Well, if not, it sounds like a very large reasonable doubt-shaped hole." "'We'll take a break now.'" "I think the brief has this back-to-front." "Lee's DNA was on that pipe, no question, but the Wraith is another matter." "We have to consider the possibility of contamination." "If Lee carried out the assault on the substation guard alone, then why not Ash Tree Farm?" "She's the reason he escalated from a stun gun to rape and murder." "Then why is there no evidence she was there except the DNA?" "Look." "I understand you don't want to consider the possibility of alternative scenarios." "Alternative scenarios?" "Tunnel vision." "It's why you didn't notice that DI Gray had gone completely round the bend until it was too late." "That's a low blow, Nikki." "So is the fact we can't use the pipe injury on Lee's face as evidence because DI Gray has made a total bloody mess of it!" "I don't believe for a moment this is contamination - not for a second." "If I did, if it was, we'd both lose." "The CPS would rule the pipe and the blood unsafe and we couldn't retest because it's the fruit of a poisoned tree." "Lee Ness will walk if there's any suggestion the DNA from the pipe was contaminated." "Probably." "So how hard should we be trying to prove it?" "I didn't mean it." "I think you did." "Look, even if it is contamination - that DNA must belong to some woman." "So?" "Well, that has to be our biggest clue." "How?" "It's been run against the national database - no matches." "We have got the Wraith's DNA on another swab sterilized and bagged at Chesham Lab." "You're kidding!" "I think all the swabs that picked up the Wraith's DNA were pre-contaminated." "How?" "But I thought Byrne was guarding against contamination by using other labs." "But where did they get their stocks from?" "Look, I'm sorry, Leo, I know that's woefully inadequate but I really am, especially after you reached out." "Why didn't you tell Byrne you supplied swabs to the other labs he used?" "Because I didn't know he was using other labs until relatively recently." "And when you did?" "Well, I suppose I didn't think it mattered." "You'll have to explain that." "Look, he was worried about contamination, I wasn't." "I never doubted this woman existed or that it was her DNA we were detecting." "Who else has worked consistently at Chesham labs since 2000, apart from yourself and Lizzie?" "Nobody." "But Lizzie is a pathologist." "If the contamination's accidental - a handling issue or mishandling..." "If she was responsible it would have to be deliberate?" "Yes." "Which is unthinkable." "But you've thought about it?" "Only since her suicide." "Why?" "I don't think we need to explore this avenue any further." "I think we do, Leo." "Look, I loved Mary, Lizzie's sister, and I believe she was in love with me." "But the person she loved most in all the world was her big sister, and vice-versa." "And?" "I fully expected her to lead the charge in blaming the police for their role in Mary's murder." "But she didn't?" "No." "That fell to me." "Lizzie, well, appeared to forgive... if not forget." "Well, that was her nature." "Yes." "But you're saying that in fact, she never forgave the police but created the Wraith to send them on a 12-year wild goose chase?" "!" "Look, Leo's right - this isn't something we need to explore because Lizzie's DNA doesn't even match." "That doesn't prove anything." "She was a pathologist, she could've used any Jane Doe's DNA to contaminate those swabs, she could." "What happened to Mary's killer?" "He died in prison before the case even came to court." "How?" "Drug-related heart failure, I think." "You'd have to ask Byrne." "What's Byrne got to do with it?" "Well he was, he was the ranking detective at the scene when Mary died." "What?" "You didn't know that?" "Hello, Nikki." "'What does the name Mary Fraser mean to you?" "'" "Mary Fraser's murder was a tragedy, what could it possibly have to do with this inquiry?" "I'm not sure, but within months of her death you found the Wraith's DNA at the Stiles murder." "Coincidence." "I don't think so." "I don't think her DNA was even there." "The swab that detected it was already contaminated." "What about the control swabs?" "This wasn't an accident, this was sabotage." "Come on Nikki!" "When we absorbed Chesham's work they offered us their stocks." "Out of 2,000 swabs, we've found the Wraith's DNA on five." "Never on the control swab, never more than one per batch." "No, no, it's not possible." "I'm sorry." "I know what you've given to this case." "No, you really don't" "But Meg Stiles, Ray Carpenter, PC Amar, all these cases are unrelated crimes carried out by different people." "We found a syringe of her blood at the Stiles house." "We sent that blood to at least two other labs, not just Chesham." "Chesham supplied those labs with swabs." "Is it possible that the syringe was planted at the scene?" "Anything's possible" "But was there anything unusual about its discovery?" "We didn't find it until the following morning." "Who was the pathologist that attended?" "Bear with me." "Professor Lizzie Fraser." "'My sister Mary was murdered by a crack addict 'at a crime scene the police were supposed to have secured." "'Now, I did not sue for dismissals," "'I did not seek to apportion blame 'and I urged my colleagues 'in the Forensic Science Service to pull together with the police to ensure her killer was convicted.'" "What about Simon Avery?" "He used to be a forensic scientist." "Did he attend?" "No." "Avery never worked in the field after Mary was killed." "Too traumatised." "Besides there were question marks over his conduct the day." "His conduct?" "I thought it was all your fault?" "Well we weren't exactly blameless either." "OK." "We've got a deceased, as yet unidentified female through there." "Looks like she's been stabbed to death." "Now we've secured this floor but not the next, so confine your work to down here only." "'We hadn't cleared the upstairs.'" "That was our fault - the whole building should have been cleared." "'But Avery had years of experience in the field... 'he should've known better.'" "Mary!" "Mary!" "No!" "Mary!" "YELLS:" "Mary!" "If he knows that it was more his fault than yours, then taking revenge on you is his way of re-writing history." "Simon?" "Simon Avery?" "No." "Could he have planted that syringe overnight at Meg Stiles' house?" "Theoretically - scientists from his lab processed the scene." "Who was the murdered woman in the crack house?" "We never identified her." "Was she an addict?" "Aye, riddled with it." "Why?" "The blood you found at the Stiles scene tested positive for crack and heroin, didn't it?" "What else did you find out about this woman?" "Some of the drug addicts said she was Canadian, 'but she had a tattoo of Australia on her arm so...'" "Well, either makes sense." "Not to me it doesn't..." "The Wraith's DNA never even scored a partial match against the UK database... not a parent, not a sibling, not a cousin." "Hold on, Nikki." "We found one of her hairs in the Amar car two years ago." "At the scene or at the lab?" "At the lab, but the follicle was complete, we got DNA from it!" "Well, then he's preserved her body and he is keeping it close by." "The body of the Jane Doe was lost in transit between Chesham Lab and the crematorium." "I don't know." "She didn't have many friends or family so there wasn't much of a fuss," "I suppose, but the paperwork 'releasing the body to the crematorium was signed by Simon Avery.'" "And what about the DNA?" "I don't know." "He must have removed it from the database somehow." "You can rest easy about Lizzie." "Thanks, Harry." "Simon Avery, we have a warrant to search your property." "Enter." "The scene's secure." "No knife-wielding crackheads on the premises." "Avery!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "No, stop!" "That's exactly what he wants!" "The subject - a still unidentified female - has been dead for a number of years but the body has been preserved in a freezer." "The body has sustained significant injuries post-mortem." "Quantities of flesh, and hair and, apparently, blood have been removed and stored frozen it seems in a variety of vials and syringes." "There are some signs of early stage decomposition... which would suggest the body has been thawed and re-frozen at least once, perhaps for extraction of further blood and tissue samples." "There is extensive evidence of long-term intravenous drug use and severe trauma to the chest consistent with stabbing... both of which... both of which were comprehensively documented at the original postmortem in 2000." "Small quantities of Hydroquinone were found at Avery's house." "That's the chemical that appeared then disappeared in the mosque bomber case." "Sorry, so what are you saying?" "That he set Lizzie up?" "Did he bear any kind of grudge against Lizzie?" "No, I don't think so." "I mean they worked together for years." "What about before Mary's death?" "What did Lizzie make of him then?" "You mean, did she approve?" "Mm?" "Well she thought that Mary could do better." "And did she tell her that?" "Come on, you know what big sisters are like." "Might she have tried to talk her out of the relationship?" "Probably." "I don't know." "Does this really matter now?" "!" "It may have mattered to Avery." "What was it you said?" ""There's no comparison."" "You may have been wrong there." "What is it you are so scared of Shannon?" "He's going to find me." "Make sure she knows I'm worried." "Shannon Kelly is 15 years old, and we suspect she was sexually abused." "The death last night, body collapsed in the street." "He wouldn't have felt ill until he died where he dropped" "DI Vickers." "I need Professor Dalton to attend a crime scene now." "In a suitcase?" "She could be from anywhere."