Why?

It was at this point that Rhona noticed another mark, this time on the window ledge behind the sink. Using a magnifier, Rhona took a closer look.

It was a bird print like those she’d seen among the soot in the sitting room. Rhona took a photograph, then went looking online for a possible match to confirm her suspicions from earlier.

It didn’t take long.

It appeared that a crow had been both in the sitting room and in the scullery. In here it had perched on the window ledge next to the sink. Had the crow escaped the sitting room to enter the scullery, its sudden appearance startling Karen, causing her to accidentally cut herself?

Or maybe it had strafed her.

It wasn’t uncommon for a single crow or a flock to strafe humans. It had happened quite recently to students on a campus in Cork in Ireland. The actual reason had been difficult to decipher, although it was thought to have occurred because a nestling had been on the ground nearby and they were protecting it. An alternative explanation could have been that they were demanding food. Perhaps, in this case, that’s what the crow had been after?

So a roof crow had appeared, either from the sitting room (what about the closed door?) or perhaps entering via an open back door?

Rhona stepped outside.

Treads were here too and there were photos already accessible taken by the investigation team looking into the scullery, although none capturing the bird footprints.

The back door was surrounded by ivy and, examining the foliage more closely, Rhona located three dark congealed spots on the glossy leaves, plus some spotting on the gravel of the path.

So Karen had still been bleeding when she’d come outside.

Standing looking towards the open door, Rhona now spotted another item of evidence of what might have driven Karen outside.

Tucked in at the edge of the path was a black feather, a match, Rhona suspected, for the crow that had caused Karen to flee her home.

There was no further blood spill to provide a trail, which suggested Karen’s wound had stopped bleeding. So why didn’t she go back inside and clean up the mess?

It seemed out of character for her not to have done that.

Perhaps something had happened to prompt her to leave. In her hurry, she’d grabbed her bag, leaving the back door open. Perhaps significantly, she hadn’t taken her mobile with her.

It was described on the evidence list as a pay-as-you-go, which couldn’t be traced, but maybe she didn’t want calls of any description. And the car? It too could be traced, so better to leave it behind.

Karen Marshall, Rhona thought, had run away, or someone had made her do so.

She now headed for the attic stairs, flicking on the light switch at the top of the ladder.

Just like the rest of the house, the loft space was tidy and well organized. Only one box lay open and that had Karen’s name on the side. A few well-thumbed books had been unpacked, their titles and the date on the side suggesting this box held Karen’s childhood. Is this where she’d kept the diary?