‘Logic would suggest that his car must be somewhere within easy reach,’ she said. ‘He wasn’t really dressed for hiking, was he?’

‘He was wearing a rainproof coat,’ pointed out Murfin. ‘So he must have expected to be outdoors for a while, at least.’

‘But no boots. Just the sort of shoes he might wear at the office. Of course, somebody else could have brought him here.’

‘And there’s no visible blood spatter on the ground,’ said Fry. ‘That could be thanks to the rain, or because he was killed somewhere else.’

‘So if he came here in someone else’s car, he might still have been alive when he accepted the lift.’

‘Do dead people accept lifts?’

‘Probably not,’ conceded Murfin.

‘And no ID on him at all? What was in his pockets?’

‘Some loose change,’ said Murfin. ‘Comb, tissues, a pair of reading glasses in a metal case. I suppose we might be able to trace him through the optician, if necessary.’

‘Which optician?’

‘SpecSavers, but no branch name on the case.’

‘Blast. They’re everywhere.’

‘Yes, I suppose he could be a tourist,’ said Murfin. ‘Even in March.’

‘Great.’

‘Oh, and there’s a receipt from somewhere called the Le Chien Noir. It’s a restaurant in Edendale. Quite upmarket, I believe. Expensive, anyway.’

‘Not the sort of place I’m likely to know, then.’

Murfin held up the evidence bag and squinted at the receipt. ‘The print is a bit faint, but it looks like dinner for two.’

‘What date?’

‘The ninth. That was last night.’

Fry nodded. ‘The condemned man’s last meal. I hope the chef was up to scratch.’

‘This restaurant is a long way from the crime scene,’ said Murfin. ‘Eight or nine miles, or more.’

‘So how did he get from dinner at Le Chien Noir to a field near Birchlow?’

Fry looked down at the victim again. Rain still glinted on his face from the lights set up inside the tent. Blood was darkening rapidly in his hair, smears drying on the sleeve of his nice waxed coat.

Despite the difficulties presented by the location and the weather conditions, the crime-scene examiners would have followed all the protocols for evidence collection. Trace hairs and fibres first, then bloodstains, any possible tool or weapon marks, visible fingerprints or footwear patterns. Finally, latent patterns that required powder or chemical enhancement. Not much chance of some of those in the monsoon season.

Although Fry had been given an estimate by the ME, she knew that time of death should be based on witness reports and not on physical evidence. Measuring body temperature was prone to error, and the degree of rigor mortis wasn’t as accurate as it was sometimes cracked up to be. But in this case, her stiff was, well . . . hardly stiff at all. The corpse had been pretty fresh when it was first spotted.

She looked across the moor. Somewhere over there were the remains of the agricultural research station. Although units had been despatched in response to the 999 call some time ago, the airwaves had been ominously quiet since then.