He described what he’d seen in the alley next to the pub and what Annie said had happened after the school nativity play.

‘So what does your gut tell you?’ Stevens asked.

James shrugged. ‘That Sonia Jenkins might or might not have murdered her husband. She had motive and opportunity, but she seemed genuinely shocked and upset when I told her that he was dead.’

‘So is she the only suspect we have?’

James told him about Janet Dyer and said they needed to find out if Charlie had any enemies.

‘I think we should bring in more help,’ Stevens said.

‘I agree. Meanwhile, I’ve asked uniforms to carry out a door-to-door along the road leading to the square, to find out if anyone saw or heard anything late last night.’

James shifted his attention to the pathologist, Pam, who was still crouching next to the body.

This was the first time their paths had crossed because none of the cases he had so far dealt with in his new role had involved a corpse. But she had a solid reputation and was highly regarded by his colleagues in Kendal.

He was about to introduce himself when she stood, lowered her face mask, and turned towards him.

‘You must be Detective Walker,’ she said. ‘DS Stevens here told me you’re SIO on this case.’

‘That’s correct. It’s good to meet you.’

‘Likewise. But we’ll save the handshake until later so that I don’t cover you in blood.’

She had a stern face and deep voice, and James took an instant liking to her.

‘So what can you tell us about our victim?’ he said.

‘As you’re probably already aware, there are stab wounds to the chest and stomach that were inflicted by a long-bladed knife,’ she said. ‘Either one of them could have proved fatal. There are no obvious defence wounds so I’m guessing he was taken by surprise. It could be that his killer jumped out from behind that tree over there and attacked him. As for time of death, I would say around midnight.

‘But these are very much initial observations. I’ll be able to tell you more once I get him back to the mortuary. I’ve asked for the body to be picked up as soon as possible, before the bad weather closes in.’

‘What about his dog?’ James said.

‘I’ve carried out a cursory examination and can tell you that there are no surface wounds of any kind. The poor thing almost certainly froze to death. I gather the temperature dropped to minus twelve last night and that’s seriously low for a dog that size. I suspect she didn’t want to leave her owner.’

As Pam crouched down again next to the body, Stevens told James that he had been through the victim’s pockets and all he’d been carrying was a set of keys and a mobile phone. Both items had been bagged and were in the forensic van.

‘I tried to check the phone,’ Stevens said. ‘But it’s password-protected so we’ll need to get the techies to have a look.’