‘Oh, but you said it so beautifully, Rory, I thought you must be fluent.’

‘Mmm.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m told we have quite a conundrum here. Would you talk me through it?’

Marie related the events of the night before and what she’d subsequently discovered.

‘So you worked out what a simple red welt meant. How very astute of you. I’ve got Cardiff Erin on her way and a couple of SOCOs.’ Rory was referring to one of his two technicians, Erin Rees, who he fondly referred to as Cardiff, from her birthplace. ‘We’ll need to comb that garden for traces of the prowler. As you suggest, it looks very much like our prowler was actually a killer.’

‘Good luck with that, Prof,’ said Marie. ‘It’s a bit of a jungle out there. The neighbour seems to have charged in there like a rhino.’

‘Typical! Oh well, no one ever said a SOCO’s job was cushy. They’ll cope.’

They stood back while a constable placed a pile of bags containing coveralls and overshoes by the door.

‘Suit-up time. Let’s take a look at our hapless lady.’ Rory pulled on the protective clothing and secured a mask in place. As he did so, another uniformed officer arrived with a clipboard and scene log forms, and two others strung yellow plastic tape around the front entrance, while yet others cordoned off the rear. Crime scene management and proper evidence preservation and recovery were vital to seeing a successful case through the court.

Marie watched them put down protective boards on the front path and into the house. It reminded her of the trial of Giles Bannon. She’d suspected that procedure had been sloppy, and the smart new lawyer had jumped on it. The actions of first responders could have a massive impact on a case. Luckily, everything here was textbook. She wanted to make things right for the old lady, to make up for her callous, violent end.

She turned to Rory. ‘Regarding contamination, when we arrived at the scene, we had no idea that this was anything other than a sudden death. The doc did his bit and we also checked, as did the neighbour who found her, but all of us spent minimal time with the body. And I climbed the stairs just that one time to check for indications of foul play.’

‘And you found some, dear heart. As I said, very astute.’

She shrugged. ‘I’d seen those injuries before, Rory. You don’t forget.’

‘That you don’t.’ Rory looked at his watch, then back at Nan Cutler. ‘This is very much off the top of my head but, considering it was a warm night, it’s my guess she fell around midnight at the earliest, possibly an hour or two later. Would that fit in with the sighting of the prowler?’

‘PC Laker said the neighbour was leaping around in the back garden at around eleven. So, yes, if he managed to gain entrance quickly, it wouldn’t have taken him long to attach the tripwire. Apparently, she was quite deaf, so he wouldn’t have disturbed her while he was setting it up.’ She frowned. ‘There’s lots of loopholes yet, like how did he know she would wake? We’ve also been told that she never went down the stairs alone, so why then?’