‘That sounds about right to me,’ James said, pointing to the shotgun. ‘I don’t normally draw conclusions this early on, but I reckon this has all the hallmarks of a murder-suicide. This man, who we believe to be Robert Bateman, appears to have tried to blow his own head off. And I’m guessing that was after he killed his wife.’

‘That’s what I initially thought,’ Coppell said. ‘And it’s a fact that most murder-suicides take place in domestic settings and involve a man and his spouse. But this isn’t so straightforward.’

James nodded. ‘I agree. For starters who stabbed the girl?’

‘Well I think I can help you there, Inspector,’ Coppell said. ‘You see, there’s strong evidence to indicate that there was someone else here.’

James felt a rush of heat burn through his chest. ‘What are you talking about?’ he asked.

Coppell gestured towards a hallway entrance to the right of the kitchen.

‘That leads to a back door which was open when we got here. Now, if you look at the floor there are bloody shoeprints leading from here all along the hallway and out of the house.’

James saw the distinctive markings on the light-coloured tiles and swore to himself.

‘Are you sure they weren’t left by one of our victims?’ he said.

Coppell gave an emphatic nod. ‘I’m positive. None of them are wearing shoes.’

CHAPTER FIVE

By the time the bloody shoeprints reached the back door they were barely visible. But the impressions nearer to the kitchen were clear, and revealed a distinctive, rigid sole pattern.

‘They look to be a size nine or ten to me,’ Coppell said. ‘And I’ve seen enough in my time to be confident that it was a bloke who left them and not a woman.’

James knew that the prints would be a key piece of forensic evidence. The pattern would hopefully reveal a specific shoe type and manufacturer. And the size and make might well help them to build a physical profile of the person they would now be looking for.

‘This raises the possibility that the scene back in there was staged,’ James said. ‘Whoever these prints belong to could have put the shotgun in Mr Bateman’s hand to make it look like suicide.’

‘If that was the case then wouldn’t the perp have taken more care when making off?’ Coppell responded. ‘Hard to believe he didn’t realise he’d left a messy trail of blood.’

‘We both know how careless killers can be, Tony. It’s why we get to catch so many of them.’

Coppell nodded. ‘Good point, Inspector. Let’s hope we’ll be able to shed more light on what might have happened after we’ve processed the scene.’