‘Either he had a nasty fall,’ he said, ‘or someone gave him a hefty whack on the head with a heavy blunt object. I’m guessing he would have been knocked out and probably never recovered consciousness. At any rate, there are no signs of any defence wounds. He died of a haemorrhage, caused by the head injury.’

The three of them stared at the damaged skull for a moment.

‘He was probably wrapped in a blanket before he was moved,’ Jonah went on. ‘We found wool fibres all over his clothes and exposed areas of skin. They’ve been sent for analysis but I can tell you they were a mixture of colours.’

‘Could it have been a tartan blanket?’ Geraldine asked, remembering the blanket Roger had been wrapped in.

‘It could have been.’

Ian raised his eyebrows enquiringly. But the likelihood that Roger would have killed Jason, reported the body, and then gone to his daughter’s house to wrap himself in the same blanket he had used to transport the body was so remote as to be barely worth following up. All the same, she resolved to send a constable to collect the blanket. They could not afford to overlook any possible lead. And once they found Jason’s killer, they might also have discovered who had killed David.

Jonah had the body turned over and Geraldine heard Ian draw in his breath at the sight of the dead man’s face. His skin was mottled green and purple and the eyes which bulged from his face would have been difficult to close.

‘I know,’ Jonah said, nodding at Ian. ‘He would scare hardened fans of horror movies. So,’ he continued in a matter-of-fact tone, ‘I gather this one was related to the corpse you brought me just seven days ago? I have to say this is a very different kind of killing. I’d be surprised – don’t quote me on this please, it’s just a stray thought based on mere supposition – but I’d be surprised if they were killed by the same person.’