Easton headed off into the hallway. Dani slipped on the pair of blue latex gloves she was carrying in her pocket.

The dead man in front of her was wearing nothing but a pair of black boxer shorts. His body was covered in blood, and although he had other scrapes and cuts, there didn’t appear to be any serious wounds other than the two in his belly.

She looked over his hands. There was grime under his nails. Together with the scrapes and bruises on his body, he’d definitely been involved in a fight or struggle at some point, but it was possible those marks had been inflicted at an earlier time. Hopefully Ledford could provide some clarity on that.

Dani looked around her. Other than the blood smears in the room, there were no obvious signs of a struggle. She thought about moving the body to inspect for other wounds on his back. She didn’t. Ledford would soon be there and he’d want to do things his own way.

Instead Dani straightened up and took a look around.

There was nothing else of interest in the lounge so she headed out to the hallway. The apartment had two bedrooms, both with en suites, and a large kitchen/diner. Everything was neat and ordered, expensively fitted but with little by way of warmth or homeliness. No ornaments or photo frames or art on the walls. One of the bedrooms had a single bed, with a bare mattress on top and an empty wardrobe. Dani walked into the other bedroom which had a much grander king-size bed, with mussed up shiny bedclothes on top.

She moved over to the large chest of drawers nestled next to an ornate dark wood fireplace. The first drawer contained t-shirts. Expensive t-shirts at that. The second contained similarly pricey clothes. The third down was something of a dumping ground with all manner of correspondence and stationery and forms and records. Dani picked up a utility bill, just a couple of weeks old. It was addressed to Mr J Colton.

She rifled through the other items and found several other letters addressed to J or Jimmy Colton, including a mobile phone bill, a credit card statement and a letter about a gym membership. Then she found a bank statement. A little over five thousand pounds was the balance just a few weeks ago, though the ins and outs over the period shown were several times more than that.

‘Mr Paul Reeve,’ Dani said out loud as she looked at the addressee.

‘What have you got?’ Easton asked. His unexpected voice made Dani jump. She spun around. Easton was casually hanging in the doorway.

‘Jesus, Easton, why are you sneaking up on me like that?’

‘Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.’

‘Over here.’