Few domestic murders were ever planned meticulously in advance and from what he had seen of Niall himself, a man with a clearly volatile temper, and from what the neighbour had reported, this had all the hallmarks of a classic and tragic argument gone too far. If he had murdered his wife, Ashdown Forest would have been geographically perfect for Niall Paternoster. The internal police statistics on deposition sites showed that normally killers would drive their victim’s bodies a maximum of thirty miles from the crime scene, wanting as short a journey as possible for fear of either being stopped and searched or having a crash.

Ashdown Forest, with its mix of open heathland and dense woods, spread over a wide area, made it tricky to search, and Grace wanted this done quickly. With the current warm weather, a body would decompose rapidly, making the task of forensic examination increasingly hard. There was also the risk, in woodlands, of foraging animals carrying off body parts for food and clothing items for nests and lairs. If the killer was fortunate, a body in a shallow woodland grave could be completely gone in just a few weeks. And if the body was already dismembered, which is what this sounded like, that could happen much faster – in just days.

Grace went through a mental checklist, rattling off items to Branson. ‘After the POLSA has made the assessment, get the team to search the immediate area of the forest car park. Get the handlers to bring cadaver dogs. At the same time, put a drone up to do a wider sweep.’

Human bodies were heavy to carry, so if Eden had been buried intact, her body was likely to be close to the car park. But if it was only body parts he was carrying, Niall could have ventured much further away. ‘Deploy the volunteer search team – see if you can get them out today. And one other thing: we may well need the help of the pollen lady, depending on what’s found in the forest. If it’s what we expect, pollen evidence on the foot pedals of his car and on his shoes might help put him at the scene.’

‘All noted, boss. I don’t think your good buddy, the ACC, will be happy sanctioning the cost of the dive team and all this as well.’

Ever since Sussex Police’s own dive team, the Specialist Search Unit, had been dismantled, they now used the services of a private firm. They were highly effective but didn’t come cheaply.

‘No,’ Grace replied with a smile, so absorbed back in his work that he had momentarily forgotten the nightmare this day had become. ‘He won’t.’

44

Tuesday 3 September

It was over an hour after he had ended the call with Glenn Branson before the A&E consultant returned to give Roy and Cleo an update on Bruno. Adrian Burton looked more gravely serious than he had previously. Roy and Cleo were sitting together holding hands and comforting each other.