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Operator: OK. They’re a few minutes away from you now; they’re making their way along the main path in the woods. Can you give me some more detail about where you are, can you tell me where they need to turn off the main path? Caller: There’s a pile of logs opposite the entrance. Cut-up logs in a pile. About halfway round the path. Operator: I’ll let them know. Caller: I’m lying with him. He’s breathing really bad. Operator: Can you shout? I want you to stay with him, and tell me straight away if he stops breathing, but can you shout, to help them find you? They’re very close, but they can’t see you. Caller: HELP! OVER HERE! HELP! Operator: Well done. They can hear you. Keep shouting. Caller: HELP US! HELP! OVER HERE! Where are they? Operator: Don’t worry they can hear you and they can see you now. Caller: I can see them. HERE! QUICK! HE’S HERE! Operator: Are they with you now? Caller: Yes, they’re here. Operator: OK, I’ll leave you with them, OK? Caller: Yes, thanks, all right. Operator: Thank you, bye.
JIM We made it to the woods in one hour. I used blue lights. On the way in the car we got more details. About Ben Finch’s condition. About Joanna May, and the room in the basement of her flat. ‘We interviewed her,’ I said to Woodley. ‘We should have fucking seen it.’ He didn’t respond. The paramedics were still working with Ben Finch in the woods. They couldn’t get the ambulance to the site so they’d had to stabilise him and move him in stages. We parked and I ran. I wanted to be with Ben. I wanted to see his clear blue eyes for myself, see if there was life in them. I wanted to tell him that he would be OK, that his mother was waiting for him. I wanted to do that for him at least. Rain was falling in a downpour, crashing through the canopy above. The trees lining the path were bowed and streaked from it. They arched over me, a skeletal tunnel of bare branches, urging me onwards, making me feel as if it was impossible to make progress. My breathing was ragged and fast, my heart thumping, my clumsy feet tripping over sticks, stones, each other, never moving fast enough. With every step I was soaked some more, but with every step I cared less. I rounded a bend in the path, and ahead I saw the ambulance, and a stretcher being loaded on board. I pushed myself, tried to reach them in time, tried to shout out, but it was futile, because they slammed the door shut long before I reached them, and by the time I got there the ambulance had begun the tricky process of turning around. Mark Bennett was guiding it. I stayed back, stood to the side of the path as the ambulance manoeuvred past me, watched him pat the back of it as a farewell. And Bennett, all dressed up in waterproofs, jaw clenched and wet from rain said, ‘That lad’s not in a good way, Jim. Not at all.’ It had got to him. I could see that. And I said, ‘I wanted to see him.’ I wiped the rain from my face, felt my sodden clothing cling coldly to me. ‘Nothing we can do for him now. It’s too late for that. It’s in the hands of the medics.’ And I hated him for saying that, and I hated him for being there when it should have been me, and I hated myself for letting harm come to that boy, any harm at all.
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Gilly Macmillan grew up in Swindon,
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Burnt Paper Sky Table of Contents A
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JIM BEFORE
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DAY 2 JIM
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JIM
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JIM
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JIM
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DAY 3 JIM
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DAY 4 JIM
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DAY 5 JIM
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DAY 6 JIM
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DAY 7 JIM
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DAY 8 JIM
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DAY 9 JIM
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JIM
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JIM
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RACHEL
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RACHEL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS BIBLIOGRAPH
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Author’s Note During the research
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PROLOGUE NOVEMBER 2013 - ONE YEAR A
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imaginary interview goes really wel
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But whether I’ve been awake or as
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BEFORE DAY 1 SUNDAY, 21 OCTOBER 201
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eally honest, I hadn’t noticed it
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‘OK,’ and he was off, careering
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as if the woodland was holding its
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appeared on the path. Our progress
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‘That’s good news,’ she said.
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FM: Do you think that expressing fe
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JC: It was a promotion is what it w
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suspect, is not going to be an easy
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RACHEL John couldn’t stand the wa
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It was the awkward twitch of Inspec
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‘Solid eight hours,’ I said. I
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RACHEL Inspector Miller said that b
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JIM Kenneth Steele House is where I
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had four pairs of officers in place
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at others. He was always watching m
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JIM I was quite pleased with how th
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his parents as well as his grandpar
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‘Expertise is on our side,’ she
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RACHEL My sister Nicky was waiting
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unstoppable. She told me that the w
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the streetlights and the geometric
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JIM Addendum to DI James Clemo’s
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FM: So you recommended Emma for the
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DAY 3 TUESDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2012 Be a
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RACHEL In the car on the way to Ken
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‘If you are the person who is wit
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‘This way,’ she said. She swept
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‘It’s a soft alibi.’ Fraser w
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trace of dignity or vulnerability,
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missing”, and that everybody is l
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looking woman too: nicely dressed,
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‘Were there signs that the arm wa
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accident. But we’ll check it out
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To the insultingly practical: Don
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FM: So apart from the negative pres
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they’re focused on the job? FM: Y
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DAY 4 WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2012 Cr
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RACHEL I slept only fitfully after
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WEB PAGE - www.whereisbenedictfinch
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JIM I spoke to Emma before I left f
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say that he doesn’t play by the r
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‘Bye,’ Fount said to him. ‘Wh
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thanked her for what she did for us
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I sat on the bed for a long time, u
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JIM Fraser and I had a pre-meet bef
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‘He’s got an alibi, doesn’t h
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RACHEL Nicky phoned the police and
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door in the middle of the night. Yo
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an orange wash remained. It struck
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RACHEL When I got back inside Nicky
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JIM On the night of Wednesday, 24 O
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DAY 5 THURSDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2012 You
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RACHEL I slept the night in Ben’s
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individuals closest to Ben, and he
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‘What about their son, Charlie Bo
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He took another sheet of paper from
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more imperfect than any version of
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JC: She said she was knackered. She
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It led swiftly to the fourth state.
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Quick response appreciated, obvious
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WEB PAGE - www.whereisbenedictfinch
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I didn’t know what to say. I look
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RACHEL Zhang agreed to come and giv
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sensation. Then she spoke to him of
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abstract shapes floating within it,
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JIM I got one of the DCs to pick up
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RACHEL This time, I made no attempt
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dog, black and white like Skittle,
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FM: I’m not intending to. That’
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everything that had happened. But I
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JIM We worked closely with John Fin
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DAY 7 SATURDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2012 An
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RACHEL In the early hours of the mo
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school year, but I started to work
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tight. A hospital band was visible
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cancer himself. The whole family, w
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Another page. A different drawing:
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‘The blog.’ I was slow; I didn
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told him to fuck off. ‘Tell Frase
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‘Stop asking me to be patient. Ho
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JIM In the incident room the blinds
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swing. ‘So what are we thinking?
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‘She’s drunk?’ I asked when h
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Page 264 and 265: JC: Fine. He coaxes his lips up int
Page 266 and 267: JIM It was Emma who I thought of al
Page 268 and 269: DAY 8 SUNDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2012 The P
Page 270 and 271: RACHEL When dawn came there was no
Page 272 and 273: JIM Nine o’clock Sunday morning,
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Page 278 and 279: RACHEL My cab driver on the way hom
Page 280 and 281: tall bear of a man, with very dark
Page 282 and 283: ‘To be honest, I assumed Nicky wo
Page 284 and 285: He actually put his hand over his h
Page 286 and 287: ‘Cool,’ my avatar said. ‘New
Page 288 and 289: me wants you here to run the invest
Page 290 and 291: I behaved in an arrogant and disgus
Page 292 and 293: RACHEL I logged on to Furry Footbal
Page 294 and 295: ‘I know it was him,’ I said. Th
Page 296 and 297: Her handbag was on the seat between
Page 298 and 299: so that my toes were already numb.
Page 300 and 301: ‘It’s what Miss May said, about
Page 302 and 303: He sat back down. ‘Again,’ he s
Page 304 and 305: JIM Nicky Forbes was disturbed by m
Page 306 and 307: RACHEL It took me twenty-five minut
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Page 316 and 317: RECORD OF EVIDENCE: AVON AND SOMERS
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Page 326 and 327: RACHEL A few weeks ago, somebody as
Page 328 and 329: that he loved so much in return. Th
Page 330 and 331: JIM Addendum to DI James Clemo’s
Page 332 and 333: JC: Yes. FM: Have you seen her sinc
Page 334 and 335: RACHEL We might never have closure,
Page 336 and 337: us that. He came to our house and w
Page 338: BIBLIOGRAPHY The following websites
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