‘Collectors?’ suggested Murfin. ‘There are people who collect anything.’

‘Oh, yes. I bet it’ll be worth a fortune on eBay.’

‘Do you want me to check?’

‘No, Gavin. We’ll leave that for later.’

‘Serial killers love dismemberment,’ said Fry. ‘The psychologists say that taking body parts from their victims as trophies gives them a feeling of control, a sense of achievement previously lacking in their lives.’

‘We’re not dealing with a serial killer,’ said Hitchens firmly. ‘Don’t even joke about it. This is Edendale, not Ipswich.’

‘We have two bodies already,’ pointed out Fry.

‘Two doesn’t make a series.’

‘Well, perhaps …’

‘I’m serious here. The last thing we want is to start a scare. Besides, there might be no connection between these two victims, apart from the fact that they were buried a few yards apart. Heck, we don’t even know they were murdered. They might be accidental deaths, or they might be suicides. So let’s have no talk about serial killers. There’s absolutely no justification. Understood?’

‘Yes, sir.’

Hitchens relaxed a little. ‘We don’t want our new detective superintendent arriving in Edendale and finding us panicking unnecessarily. Now, do we?’

‘No, of course not,’ said Fry.

She looked at Cooper, who had been silent so far. But he lowered his head, refusing to respond. No doubt he had his own theories. She’d get them out of him later.

‘Actually, we’re calling our second victim “she”, but we won’t get confirmation of gender for a while yet,’ said Hitchens. ‘So no assumptions, OK?’

‘No assumptions,’ said Fry.

That taste was in her mouth again. She didn’t know where it came from, or why. It was like a pregnancy craving, but she wasn’t pregnant, thank God. No chance of that.

‘Are you all right, Diane?’

She became aware of Cooper standing nearby, watching her with concern written all over his face, as if he had stumbled across someone who was ill.

‘Of course I’m all right. What are you staring at?’

‘I just thought –’

‘Ben, were you thinking of hanging around here until the rain stops? We both have work to do back at the office.’

Cooper shuffled his feet in the mud. ‘They’ve found a shoe, about ten feet from the second body, just under the surface of the soil.’

‘A woman’s shoe?’

‘Yes, size four.’

‘Can they get a shoe size from a skeleton?’ asked Fry.

‘I don’t know, Diane.’

Fry paced back towards the house, skirting the crime scene tape. But then her feet slowed as if the weight of the mud was drawing her to a halt, and she stopped.

‘If Raymond Sutton knew those two bodies were buried in the yard, would he have been willing to sell the farm? He must have known there was a good chance a new owner would start digging the place up, if it was going to be developed.’