She was shown in by a uniform and thanked him. Lights flashed and she heard a camera going off. She smelled the familiar, acrid stench of burning and accelerant in the air.

‘Serious Crime Unit,’ the uniform announced. A forensic officer, covered head to toe in white plastic, emerged from one of the reception rooms and greeted her, removing his mask.

‘Ugly stuff, Kelly.’ They’d worked together before.

She took a deep breath, slipped plastic socks over her shoes, and followed him inside. The property was a bungalow. There was a kitchen on the right and a living room on the left, with a toilet behind the front door. The cool evening air lowered the temperature of the house, creating a breeze, which carried the smell of the dead, as well as fire. The main sitting room was dimly lit, but forensics had set up lamps over the body and above various important points of interest. She noted that the CSI had placed number cards on the floor and a trail led off to another entrance to the kitchen.

‘Overkill,’ said the forensic officer. Kelly nodded.

The woman lay face up with a large knife still sticking out of her chest. Cat litter was strewn across the floor.

‘Seventy-three stab wounds. We haven’t turned her over. I thought this one should be bagged entirely without too much disturbance.’

‘Good call. The pathologist can examine the posterior,’ Kelly suggested. After all, forensics and the CSI were there to process the scene, not the deceased: that was the coroner’s job.

‘Fine, if that’s what you want.’ The forensic officer was happy to take Kelly’s lead. She suspected he’d also like to get back to his wife and kids at a good hour.

‘I don’t think there’s any doubt as to cause of death here,’ Kelly said. The forensic officer nodded, but it would still have to be signed off by the coroner. Kelly had worked with the coroner countless times before but now she had a personal relationship with Ted Wallis, she felt protective towards him, as if she had the power to prevent him seeing what she saw right now. The enactment of total rage and the vision of what could be done to human flesh never got easier for Kelly. She walked around the body and was brought up to speed by the CSI about what had already been bagged.

‘Fire accelerant here. Blood spatter here, and here. Trauma occurred here, after burning outside.’

‘Burning outside? I thought I smelled smoke and chemicals.’

‘You did. She had quite the menagerie. The bird aviary is totalled. She had kennels as well, they’re still smoking.’

‘Show me.’

Kelly followed him out into the garden through the kitchen, and it seemed that everywhere she put her foot, she had to avoid a number tag.

‘It was quite a frenzy,’ she said.