‘Just wrong … I can’t imagine how it gets left on his lap like that.’ Joel tried to run a simulation through his mind of Daniel Evans’s arrival. The state of mind he must have been in to come here to end his own life. Yet he had cleared a space and dragged a chair out into the middle, and had pulled the blinds down to reveal a window that he then hadn’t faced, preferring instead to face the door and whoever was to discover him from the hallway beyond. He had then turned the gun on himself at an awkward angle when he could have easily jammed it under his chin or in his teeth. Death would have been quick, his loss of cognitive ability would have been instant, and yet the weapon had untangled itself from his trigger finger – or thumb as was more likely – to end up on his lap.

‘Let’s get a better grip on the outer cordon before anyone else gets here. We’ll put it on from the main vehicle gate. The cars that are here will need to stay here for now; CSI will want tyre prints for elimination. And can you find out if we’ve got a Police Search Adviser on today? I doubt they’ll have a team until tomorrow but they’ll appreciate an early heads-up.’

‘No problem.’ Sergeant Taylor instantly stepped away, her phone already in her hand.

‘Once the walkthrough’s done I’ll need to speak with you.’ Joel was staring back over at the wide-eyed security guard.

‘With me … What for?’ he breathed.

‘Standard. Whoever finds the body has to tell us all about it. It should be a pretty simple statement, nothing to worry about.’

‘OK …’ he said, though he still seemed unsure.

‘Where’s your dog? Do you need to check on it, or …’

‘My … Oh, I don’t have a dog. The budget ran out.’

‘Your van says—’

‘I know, it says dog. We leave it on there as a bit of a warning, you know …’

‘I see. I feel safer already.’

The sergeant walked back into view as she was ending a call. ‘Right then. You’ve got four coming to help out. I’ll stick around until I’m needed elsewhere. I spoke to the FRU who have the list of on-call PolSAs. They have your number to pass over once they get someone.’

‘Excellent, thank you.’

‘Anything else you need?’

‘I don’t think so. I’ll speak with CSI and then I’m going to have a drive round the area to see what we’ve got in the way of CCTV or Automatic Number Plate Recognition. Even a neighbour with a pair of eyes would do. I’m not holding out much hope seeing as we’re in the middle of nowhere and it’s a Sunday.’

‘Some of the other units on the estate might have some activity, even on a Sunday.’