The old lady was sitting down with her leg propped up on cushions. The strapping was unmistakably a professional hospital job.

Stacey nodded. ‘Now, listen to me, Ratty. This is serious. Do yourself a favour and stay out of those houses. Keep your head down and make sure you have people around you. You might need alibis for other dates and times, and not for just minor stuff either. You’ll see it on the news tonight. Just make sure you don’t step out of line, or your ma could be looking after herself from now on.’

They saw Ratty’s Adam’s apple move up and down as he swallowed. ‘On the news?’

‘Yep. It’s bad, Ratty. So be warned, keep that head right down.’

They called at the site office on their way out, and as Stacey had expected, the card game had gone on until almost one in the morning, and yes, Ma Jones had made a killing.

Ratty might have lost at cards, but the game had been very lucky for him.

CHAPTER SIX

By two in the afternoon, Jackman had been to the crime scene, talked to the neighbours and begun enquiries into the background of the victim, Mrs Nancy Eliza Cutler.

Marie and he had walked silently through the house, examining all the insignificant objects that constituted her life. Everyone but Marie had been made to leave, so that the two of them could absorb it all, fix it in their minds, to reflect on later. Marie had seen Rory do the same thing on many occasions. In fact, it was understood that you always waited for the prof to do his bit before you went in.

Both he and Jackman were trying to capture some remaining trace of the killer. Often this wasn’t even tangible. You might say it was something in the air.

Now that they were back in his office, Jackman was still quiet and ruminative. Thoughtfully, he spun the globe on his desk and watched the continents flash past. Marie was just beginning to think he must be getting dizzy when he stopped the globe and looked up at her. ‘Coat hangers.’

‘Pardon?’

He laughed. ‘The old lady was especially neat and tidy, wasn’t she?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘The place was full of souvenirs, ornaments and all that, almost cluttered, but they were all dusted and clean. The pictures hung perfectly straight, everything in its place.’

‘And her wardrobe was the same,’ Jackman said. ‘Coats at one end, then jackets, skirts, dresses and finally blouses. Everything was spaced out along the rail, so it wouldn’t get creased, and spare hangers, just four of them, lying on the bottom shelf.’

Marie frowned, wondering what was coming.

‘Okay, so, in the spare room, another wardrobe. From the smell of mothballs, these must have been her late husband’s clothes that she’d never been able to part with. Everything hung in the same order — coats, jackets, suits and so on, except—’ he raised a finger — ‘two empty coat hangers, still on the rail, with the clothes on either side pushed back. Looking at where they were taken from, I’d say an outdoor jacket and a pair of trousers had been removed. And removed hurriedly too — an adjacent jacket had practically fallen off its hanger. It looked like someone had grabbed them quickly and shut the door. I’ll ask Forensics to check carefully for prints in that wardrobe.’