It took evisceration to discover which wound had killed her. One of the slashes had severed her inferior vena cava. She also had a ruptured spleen, pancreatic haemorrhaging and a damaged liver. She could have perhaps held on for the emergency services with a severed vein, but together with all her other injuries, unconsciousness and death, though not as speedy as Ella’s, were inevitable in under five minutes without medical help. He’d read in her notes that she was probably found ten or so minutes after the attack. His conclusion was the same: exsanguination.

He felt dog tired, though he’d never let on to Kelly. It was a rarity that he had to perform two autopsies in one day, even in one week normally. That said, there was no way he would reconsider entertaining everyone tomorrow night. The opportunity didn’t come around that often. He knew that June and Amber had great affection for Kelly. He hadn’t detected a sniff of resentment from either one; in fact they had a lot in common: they were all strong women with definitive opinions they weren’t afraid to vocalise, and they were all childless, for a start.

He was looking forward to seeing Josie too. Now it was time for him to prepare.

Chapter 15

Kelly and Will studied the CCTV footage when they got back to the office. There were two cameras situated not far from Wordsworth Towers and the data controller for Penrith Council had readily handed over the files. As expected, most of the male figures around the estate wore hoodies and bandannas covering their faces, but Will seemed to know a thing or two about the more prominent characters hanging about.

‘When I worked patrol, I was partnered with my old schoolmate,’ he explained to Kelly.

‘You still keep in touch?’

‘Of course. He ribs me about being out of uniform now and I wind him up about being still in it.’

‘What does he do?’

‘He heads up patrol for that area; he’s Sergeant Liam Brook now.’

‘Impressive. He must be good at his job.’

‘The best. He’s got plenty of informants, but not surprisingly, he’s not that keen to hand them over.’

‘I understand. It’s tricky, but we could come to some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement.’

‘That’s what I said to him.’

‘You discussed it already?’

‘Kind of. These two look like the main players: the Cotton brothers. They haven’t been round here long – they’re from Lancashire originally – but they dominated pretty quickly, and they’re fairly brutal.’

‘How do you know all this?’

‘Liam and I talk. He’s my best mate. I’d die for him and him for me. We went through some stuff, you know?’