‘The killer would have to be physically strong and probably quite muscular to be able to drag Foxley to the bathroom and the bedroom,’ Lawrence added.

‘So most likely a young man?’ Jane asked hesitantly.

‘Who knows? He could be middle-aged and fit . . . I can’t tell you for certain. All I can say is that this was a rage-driven murder.’

‘Is there a possibility there were two killers?’ Jane asked.

‘It’s possible, if one was keeping lookout and didn’t get involved in the attack, but I only found one set of bloody shoeprints,’ Lawrence replied.

Spencer flicked through his notebook. ‘What about the handcuffs?’

‘They are police issue. There must be thousands out there. He didn’t have any abrasions to either wrist.’

Jane scribbled in her notebook. ‘Was there any indication that Foxley was a sadomasochist?’

Lawrence shook his head. ‘I didn’t find any pornography or S&M magazines. In fact, we didn’t find very much. It’s unusual not to find any papers, letters or diary, anything that would give us an insight into Foxley’s private life.’

‘Any drugs?’ Spencer asked.

‘No, just a lot of vitamins and health drinks. The toxicology report will come back in a couple of weeks. The pathologist did observe that the victim’s nasal cavities seemed raw. He took samples so we’ll wait for the results. Obviously he examined the body for injuries and bruising, and also checked his anus for any signs that he was raped or in a homosexual relationship.’

Tyler stood up, thanked Lawrence and asked if he could join him in the incident room as some of the other officers would like to ask him questions. He picked up the file from James Myers and held it up in the air.

‘We’ll need to go through this and decide who interviews who. But first off, let’s bring in this bloody dog walker, Eric Newman.’

Tyler and Lawrence walked out.

Jane turned to Spencer and saw he was nodding off to sleep. She poked him in the arm. ‘Spence!’

He opened his eyes wearily. ‘Jane, I’ve got to have a kip . . . I can’t take it all in. I’m too knackered.’

‘Well, have a sleep in here. I’ll go and start putting together some reports from this morning.’

She watched as he rolled his jacket up into a cushion and crawled under the boardroom table.

As Jane walked over to her desk and started typing, Tyler came over and was about say something when DC Dors piped up: ‘We’ve got Eric Newman. He’s in interview room one.’

‘About bloody time.’ Tyler tapped Jane on the shoulder. ‘Come and interview him with me.’

*