‘If they weren’t, whoever killed Wheeler did a hell of a job replicating Ben Draper’s murder. Of course, I’m a pathologist, not a psychologist,’ Randy went on, ‘but if you were to ask my opinion …’ He left a pause, which somehow seemed to make clear that he would give his opinion whether anybody asked him to or not. Now that they were above ground, it was notable how the pathologist’s usual personality had reasserted itself. ‘… I would have to surmise that neither murder was particularly well planned. In all likelihood, they weren’t planned at all. Which is good news, on the one hand, because it makes it unlikely that you’re dealing with a psychopath. On the other, the killer is clearly highly volatile. And it would take an extraordinary effort of will to throttle someone with your bare hands. To look your victim in the eye as they suffocate. And, what’s more, to do it twice.’

Fleet took a moment to contemplate what Randy had said. Apart from all the other implications, it seemed to put Callum Richardson further in the clear. A professional acting on Richardson’s behalf would almost certainly have been more clinical.

‘Based on the physical evidence,’ Fleet asked the pathologist, ‘do you think Lance’s killer could have been a woman?’

Randy’s smile showed he knew exactly who Fleet had in mind. ‘I don’t see why not,’ the pathologist said. ‘If the blow to the victim’s head incapacitated him, as I believe it would have done, the killer need not have been that strong. Although there’s the position Wheeler was left in to consider. If you’ll forgive the pun, a body is a hell of a dead weight. To kill a man and then string him up would have taken strength. Or, at least, determination.’

Fleet thought about what Randy had said before, about the effort of will it would have taken to manually strangle a person to death. Moving the body afterwards, regardless of how heavy it was – and Lance, if anything, had struck Fleet as being underweight – would surely have been child’s play in comparison.

‘Although, on the subject of the position of the body,’ Randy went on, ‘that’s something else you may wish to ponder. The killer must surely have known that the true cause of death would come out. Not as quickly as I discerned it, perhaps, but even a third-rate pathologist would have spotted the signs of violence eventually. So why bother trying to make it look like suicide if it was obvious from the start it wouldn’t stick?’

It wasn’t something Fleet had so far considered, but the answer came to him immediately. ‘To buy themselves time,’ he said.

Randy had evidently already reached the same conclusion. He tipped his head in acknowledgement.