Once he had recovered from the shock of his discovery, Geraldine thought he would be busy telling everyone he knew about his experience that morning, but for now he was still reliving the horror. She thanked him. Clearly he had no idea that the victim he had found lying in his back garden had not been a house burglar struck down by alcohol or drugs, but a murder victim who had been dead for a while.

‘Did you notice anything strange about the body?’ Geraldine asked.

Roger shook his head, frowning. ‘Like what?’

At that point his daughter came in with a tray. ‘Here, dad,’ she said to her father. ‘Tea’s ready. Are you sure you won’t have a cup, Sergeant?’

Geraldine shook her head. ‘No, thank you. I just need to ask your father a couple more questions and then I’ll leave you in peace. Did you notice anything unusual at all at the scene, sir?’

Roger frowned as he took a cup in a hand that shook slightly.

‘Apart from the dead body, you mean?’

Geraldine nodded.

‘No, I can’t say that I did. There was just that man lying there and to be honest I didn’t look at anything else.’

‘You mentioned in your initial statement that you attempted to move the body. Can you give me more details?’

Roger put his cup down on the low table between them and leaned forward.

‘Oh yes. When I found him he was lying on his front, and I thought he might struggle to breathe in that position, with his face squashed against the ground, so I did my best to roll him on to his side into the recovery position. It’s what I learned on a first aid course.’ He paused, before confiding, ‘I was tempted to leave him there to suffocate, but I thought better of it.’

‘Dad, you would never have left him if you thought your intervention might save his life,’ his daughter chipped in.

There was a hint of reproach in her voice. Perhaps she intended to remind him that he was talking to a police officer, and should be careful what he said.

Geraldine nodded. ‘Yes, of course, I understand. Did you check for vital signs?’

‘No, no. Nothing like that. I’m not sure I’d know how. In any case, once I saw his face, it was pretty obvious he was dead, even to someone like me who doesn’t know about that sort of thing. And the smell –’ He wrinkled his nose in disgust. ‘He was – well, he was dead all right. Dead as my dahlias. I mean, there was no way he was still alive. It was horrible, horrible.’ He shuddered at the recollection. ‘Anyway, once I had him on his back I could see there was no way he was still alive and breathing.’