The pathologist smiled before launching into his findings. ‘There’s no pulmonary oedema, and no sign of haemorrhaging in the sinuses or airways or lungs. If she had been conscious when she entered the water, she would have struggled to breathe, which would have caused pressure trauma in the sinuses, airways and lungs. There is no evidence of bleeding, and no debris from the water which would almost certainly have been sucked into her sinuses and lungs while she was attempting to breathe.’ He paused.

‘In other words, she was dead before she entered the water,’ Geraldine said.

He nodded. ‘Possibly some time before, probably long enough for the body to lose rigidity so that it would have been easier to transport.’ He frowned. ‘I’d say she was dead for at least thirty hours before she was deposited in the river, maybe longer. That’s just an initial impression, but I’m confident further analysis will confirm my estimate.’

‘Can you be more specific?’

‘It’s impossible to be more precise than that.’ Jonah’s tense expression relaxed into a resigned smile. ‘Now if this was CSI or some such TV programme, I would pin the time of death down to the nearest hour for you. The nearest minute. And of course my own conclusion would be confirmed by her watch, smashed at the exact instant of her death. Unfortunately I’m not a glamorous star of fiction, but a tubby pug-faced pathologist working in the real world, and it’s all rather messy and unsatisfactory. Don’t blame me. I hate disappointing you like this, but I’m not responsible for reality.’

‘So someone deposited the body in the water after she died?’

‘Yes, and before you ask, cause of death was suffocation.’

Geraldine’s eyebrows rose. ‘Perhaps she was dumped in the river in an attempt to conceal signs that she had been suffocated?’

‘I can only tell you what happened. Speculating about why it happened is your job, not mine.’

‘But you’re sure that was how she died?’

Jonah nodded. ‘As sure as I can be.’

‘So were there signs of suffocation that the killer failed to conceal?’

He nodded again, pointing to a small evidence bag. ‘We found microscopic fibres in her sinuses and airways that she had inhaled, suggesting something was held over her mouth and nose before she expired, and there were a few of the same fibres still lodged under her fingernails. It’s not absolutely conclusive but yes, that appears to be how she died.’

‘Appears to be?’