A short cough from the doorway made Nell turn in surprise.

‘Sorry, Sergeant, did I scare you?’ Eve was dressed in an all-blue plastic suit, her white hair tucked neatly inside the hood, and she wore the barest hint of a smile as she walked over to O’Brian’s body.

‘I won’t shake hands.’ She stopped by the remains of his head. ‘Cross-contamination and all that.’ Her blue eyes studied Nell for a moment before turning to look down at the body. ‘I see you’re familiar with the back of Mr O’Brian’s head? Or lack of it, I should say.’

‘Any idea of the murder weapon?’

‘Not yet, but then it will no doubt be pretty standard – a hammer, fire poker. Criminals these days lack originality.’

Nell doubted they ever had it, and certainly none she’d ever come across. ‘So, something metal you think?’

Eve crouched down by the body. ‘I didn’t say that, Sergeant.’

Paul opened his mouth but Nell gave him a quick shake of the head. Eve’s list of murder weapons suggested metal, but Nell wasn’t going to argue and she certainly didn’t need Paul leaping to her defence.

Eve lifted O’Brian’s T-shirt. ‘Have you seen this?’

Nell crouched down beside her, taking in O’Brian’s exposed flesh, the hair on his back just below two bloodied letters inscribed on his chest.

‘“A W”?’

Eve didn’t reply, instead she traced a finger around the edges of the wound. It seemed oddly intimate and Nell averted her eyes.

‘What would “A W” stand for?’ Nell looked up at Paul, who thought for a moment then shrugged.

‘Nothing I can think of.’

‘No, nor me.’ She looked to Eve. ‘Any ideas?’

Eve kept her eyes on O’Brian. ‘No. But someone wanted to leave you a message, that’s for sure.’

‘Well, I wish they could have been a bit clearer,’ Paul said. ‘What the hell is “A W” going to tell us?’

Eve smiled up at him. ‘Well, that’s for you to find out, isn’t it?’

‘Must be pretty important if the killer wrote it on O’Brian’s skin.’ A thought came to Nell. ‘Did they do it prior to death?’

‘I’d say post. I’d have expected more bleeding if it was prior.’

Well, that was something, she supposed, but Nell still couldn’t see Kelly-Anne doing something like that, even if he was already dead. It just clashed with her portrayal of the downtrodden girlfriend. Unless a portrayal was all it was.

‘Do you think, having seen Kelly-Anne and O’Brian together, even briefly,’ she added as Eve gave her a warning look, ‘that she would be capable of doing this?’

Eve let out a short laugh. ‘That girl wouldn’t tie her shoelaces if he didn’t tell her to.’ She pushed herself up to standing. Nell joined her, knees protesting.