John Doe was recent, the others weren’t. The oldest victims were judged to be between two or three years old, nothing but bone and fragments of clothing left. There was hope that they could be matched to the list of missing persons via dental records, but that would be a lengthier, administrative process. The final line of the report confirmed what Chandler already knew: that the shirt found around the axe handle did indeed match Heath’s.

Why would Heath be stupid enough to leave such a crucial piece of evidence there to be found? Of course he couldn’t have known that the graves would be discovered but how could it happen? Had Heath been rushed into burying the John Doe while another victim – Gabriel – waited in the shed, like a conveyor belt of murder? But the body in the grave had been dead a few weeks. Why keep John Doe that long without burying him? His corpse would have stunk the cabin out in no time in this heat. And why keep it and then rush to bury him? There were no signs of interference post-mortem, sexual or otherwise. There was a chance that he was giving Heath too much credit for intelligence but there seemed only one feasible solution.

Against his better judgement Chandler sought out Mitch. As ever, he was stowed away in his sequestered office, the blinds shut tight, staring at a map of the town and the Hill projected on the wall, pretending not to be dealing with a hangover.

Chandler abandoned any attempted greeting and came right out with it, loud enough to make Mitch cringe.

‘I have a theory.’

Mitch closed his eyes but didn’t respond.

‘About the piece of shirt we found—’

‘Before you go on – about last night,’ interrupted Mitch. Chandler didn’t want to discuss it. There was nothing to discuss. ‘This isn’t about last night.’

The hot, still air deadened the room. Mitch spoke first.

‘Okay, go ahead.’

‘I think Heath’s being set up. By Gabriel.’

Mitch didn’t react so Chandler continued.

‘To make it look like Heath was responsible for the murders. We found the piece of Heath’s shirt around the pickaxe, placing him at the scene. But by now you’ve seen the prelim report from forensics stating that the most recent victim had been dead three to four weeks.’

Mitch nodded slowly. ‘Yes, and—?’

‘Well, the soil around the body had been disturbed a lot more recently than that. There was still some moisture in it, so, either the victim was buried a few weeks after death – and you know in this heat the stink of a dead body would have made the cabin unbearable, so it doesn’t seem likely the killer would have kept it around – or the soil was disturbed more recently. And there would be only one reason to do that. To plant evidence.’