‘Okay. Good.’ Maggie was satisfied that she was doing the right thing. ‘We should do something.’

‘I’ll call Shirl now.’ Kim slipped off her flip-flops and went and stood in the cold water. It felt so good. ‘Speak in a bit,’ she said, sitting down, not minding that her blue cotton dress was getting soaking wet. The twins looked at her in amusement before deciding what she really needed, was to be splashed. A lot.

18

12.30pm 27 June

Barrett put down the phone and marched out of his office into the incident room.

‘Right, I need your attention,’ he said, clapping his hands together and silencing his team. ‘I’ve heard back from the pathologist. As suspected, Janet’s body did not go into the water in the city centre. After taking various water samples, they have concluded that the body went into the water somewhere in the Stourbridge Common area.’

A mutter went around the room.

‘From injuries to the victim’s skull, they have removed splinters of wood. It seems she was beaten with something wooden before being tossed, or falling, into the water. We know that Toni Jones died as a result of similar injuries. We also know these women knew each other, and both attended the same book club. It appears that the murder of Toni Jones was planned. The geranium petals seem to give weight to this theory. However, Janet’s murder was different and her injuries, although they would have proven to be fatal, were not as frenzied as the injuries of the previous victim. Therefore, I suggest we treat this as a crime of opportunity. The SOCOs are currently searching for the weapon that was used on Janet. The pathologist has confirmed that the splinters are sycamore wood. There are a number of sycamore trees growing on Stourbridge Common. For now, we will work on the assumption that the killing was not premeditated.’

‘Do we know what was used to kill Toni Jones?’ Elly asked.

‘From the severity of the injuries, the pathologist has confirmed that the murder weapon was most likely made of metal. She has suggested something similar to a large Maglite torch.’ Barrett looked down at his notes. ‘There is one woman left to interview, but in the meantime, I want you all to dig into the lives of both dead women, and work out what else, if anything, links them.’

Everyone nodded and went back to work, while Palmer approached Barrett with a theory he’d been considering.

‘Sir, what if Janet Cox knew more about Toni’s murder than she was letting on? I’d say that was a pretty good motive for our killer, and it would explain a few things.’

‘I’d come to the same conclusion myself, Joe,’ Barrett agreed.

‘I think this gives us even more reason to interview Shirley Grubb. If Janet knew something, perhaps she confided in her friend.’