‘It’s not as strange an idea as you might think, old chap. If they take the body away for a post mortem, and to carry out further investigations, it could be weeks before they release it for burial. We all know that. In the meantime, we have the whole family in a state of shock that can be seriously damaging. It’s impossible to know the real effects of what these young girls have just witnessed, and to prolong those memories could do irreparable harm. For the sake of the whole family, I urge you to consider it. A cremation on the site where he died could be a merciful thing for them all. It would be a catharsis, some sort of end to an appalling situation. It would give them an opportunity to grieve in the way they think best.’

‘It’s highly irregular, and there’s something deeply primitive about it,’ Hardy said, shaking his head. ‘God, what a bloody awful thing. Even during the emergency I never saw anything like this, although it has the hallmarks of those bastards and their savagery.’

‘Come on, Jeremy,’ Dr Markham lowered his voice, to be sure that only the inspector could hear him. ‘I would be really concerned for Hannah’s mental state if this should drag on, and for Sarah Mackay too. She’d only just got engaged to him. What they saw was beyond any reasonable human capacity to absorb and survive. We don’t want another, indirect victim in either of these young women. They’re in a pretty bad way already. Look, I’m willing to sign the death certificate and make a statement saying that the body was too mutilated to be removed from the place of death. It’s not that far from the truth, anyway. This young man is lying up there on the ridge, pegged out like a sacrificial goat, with his organs cut away, and no eyes in the sockets. If the body is retained, pending a coroner’s inquest, that’s what the family will be forced to think about, to focus on, every day. Because it wouldn’t be finished. I don’t think a young, impressionable mind can hold out in circumstances like that. I’m sure you could square it with the authorities.’

‘I don’t know. I agree with your reasoning, and I’ve known Hannah and Piet since they were teenagers, admired the whole family for their hard work. But there are regulations.’ The policeman rubbed his eyes, exhausted and sickened by the night’s events.

‘Look here, you may already know who’s responsible for this, if what poor Sarah says is true. God knows what his motives were, and it may take you a while to find out. But in the meantime, you should allow the family to cremate Piet, and then you can concentrate on catching this bastard and be finished with it.’