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Chapters (60)
  1. CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR LEIGH RUSSELL
  2. Glossary of acronyms
  3. Prologue
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. 51
  55. 52
  56. 53
  57. 54
  58. 55
  59. 56
  60. Acknowledgements

‘So it looks like Jason might have been murdered as well as his father-in-law,’ Ariadne said, her usually cheerful expression dark.

Geraldine sat down at her desk without answering.

‘I wonder if…’ Ariadne’s voice tailed off.

‘If?’ Geraldine prompted her friend.

‘I was just thinking the two deaths must be related. It seems too much of a coincidence otherwise.’

‘Hang on, let’s not run ahead of ourselves,’ Geraldine replied. ‘We don’t even know who the second body is yet. Jason could be the killer, and after drugging and suffocating his hated father-in-law he might have killed someone else.’

‘Someone who witnessed him suffocating David outside his house?’ Ariadne said, her eyebrows raised.

‘All I’m saying is that there are any number of possibilities,’ Geraldine replied. ‘That’s just one of them. It’s also possible the body found this morning has nothing to do with David and his murder. Let’s wait for the facts before we start drawing conclusions.’

Ariadne merely grunted, as if to say, ‘All right, have it your own way, but you know as well as I do that we’ve found Jason.’

34

34

It didn’t take the laboratory long to report that the body found near the allotments was indeed Jason Colman. DNA taken from his toothbrush confirmed the identification. For the second time in a week Geraldine drove Ian to the mortuary, where Jonah greeted them with an unaccustomed air of despondency. His ginger hair looked more wispy than usual, and his blue eyes seemed to have lost their habitual twinkle. His freckled face, always pale, looked positively sickly under the bright mortuary lights.

‘You know how I like to solve your cases for you, Geraldine. I’m really sorry to have to disappoint you, but the time of death in this instance is really not at all clear cut.’ He gave a resigned shrug.

‘Can you give us an approximate time frame?’ Geraldine asked. ‘Even unofficially?’

Ian raised his eyebrows. Geraldine had spoken to Jonah on her own several times since Ian avoided viewing corpses whenever possible. By contrast, Geraldine had never felt squeamish around the bodies of victims, seeing them as an opportunity to discover information about the cause of their deaths, rather than the physical remains of a living, breathing person. Thanks to Ian’s frequent absence from such viewings, Geraldine had developed a relationship of trust with Jonah who was happy to chat to her off the record. In fact his insights often suggested useful lines of enquiry.

‘Due to the progression in the putrefaction I’d say he was probably killed around two weeks ago,’ Jonah replied.

‘It can’t have been more than ten days, eleven at the most. That’s when he went missing,’ Ian corrected him.