pounding head, a pain in her skull that was immediately exacerbated by the thunka-thunka-thunka of a television news helicopter that was circling above them like a raptor.
A crowd had gathered on the pavement, held back by crime scene tape that was looped tightly from a streetlamp to the cemetery fence on either side of the entrance. Among them, Isabelle saw a few members of the press, recognisable by their notebooks, by their recorders, and by the fact that they were being addressed by a bloke who had to be the duty press officer from the Stoke Newington station. He'd glanced over his shoulder as Isabelle and Nkata climbed out of the car. He nodded curtly, as did the local constable. They weren't happy. The Met's intrusion into their patch was not appreciated.
Blame politics, Isabelle wanted to tell them. Blame SO5 and the continual failure of Missing Persons not only to find a missing person but also to strike from their list persons who were no longer missing. Blame yet another tedious press expose of this fact and a consequent power struggle between the civilians running SO5 and the frustrated officers demanding a police head to the division, as if that would solve its problems. Above all, blame Assistant Commissioner Sir David Hillier and the manner in which he'd decided to fill the vacant position that Isabelle was now auditioning for. Hillier hadn't said as much, but Isabelle was no fool: This was her test run and everyone knew it.
She'd commandeered DS Nkata to drive her up to the crime scene. Like the constables at the scene, he wasn't happy either. Clearly, he didn't expect a detective sergeant to be required to act the part of chauffeur, but he was professional enough to keep his feelings unspoken. She'd had little choice in the matter. It was either select a driver from among the team or attempt to find Abney Park Cemetery herself, using the A-Z. If she was assigned permanently to her new position, Isabelle knew it was likely going to take her years to become familiar with the convoluted mass of streets and villages that had, over the centuries, been subsumed into the monstrous expansion of London.
"Pathologist?" she said to the constable once she had introduced herself and Nkata and had signed the sheet recording those entering the site. "Photographer? SOCO?"
"Inside. They're waiting to bag her. As ordered." The constable was polite ...just. The radio on his shoulder squawked, and he reached up to turn down the volume. Isabelle looked from him to the gawkers on the pavement and from them to the buildings across the street. These comprised the ubiquitous commercial establishments of every high street in the country, from a Pizza Hut to a newsagent. All of them had living accommodation above them, and above one of them - a Polish delicatessen - an entire modern apartment block had been built. Countless interviews would need to be conducted in these places. The Stoke Newington cops, Isabelle decided, should be thanking God the Met was taking the case.
She asked about the tree carvings once they were inside the cemetery and being led into its labyrinthine embrace. Their guide was a volunteer at the burial ground, a pensioner of some eighty years who explained that there were no groundsmen or keepers but instead committees of people like himself, unpaid members of the community devoted to reclaiming Abney Park from the encroachment of nature. Of course, it wasn't ever going to be what it once had been, the gentleman explained, but that wasn't the point. No one wanted that. Rather, it was meant to be a nature reserve. One'll see birds and foxes and squirrels and the like, he said. One'll note the wildflowers and plants. We aim just to keep the paths passable and make sure the place's safe for people wanting to spend some time with nature. One wants that sort of thing in a city, don't you agree? An escape, if you know what I mean. As to the carvings on the trees, there's a boy doing
'em. We all know him but can't bloody catch him at it. If we do, one of us'll let him have it, he vowed.
Isabelle doubted this. He was as frail as the wild snapdragon that grew along the path they followed.
He took them down trails that grew increasingly narrow as they coursed their way into the heart of the cemetery. Where paths were wide, they were stony, pebbled so variously that they