be concerned. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but it didn’t make sense that the rest of Olivia’s family seemed to have disappeared. It would be interesting to see what the post-mortem results brought back. Yesterday he had been a hundred per cent sure it was a straightforward suicide. Today, he wouldn’t like to say. Part of him wondered if he should go back and search the house with Morgan.
The office door opened.
‘Ben, can I have a word?’
He looked up to see Detective Chief Inspector Tom Fell. He was smiling, so it wasn’t bad news. Ben stood up, following Tom out into the corridor and into his own office, closing the door behind him.
‘Morning, sir, everything okay?’
‘Yes, just a couple of things really. Have we really not located that poor woman’s family?’
‘No, we’re on it though. Husband’s car has a marker on it now and the officer who was first at scene has gone back to check the property and see if she can find anything that might have been missed yesterday.’
He nodded. ‘Good, that’s what I’d do. Look, I’m sorry to say that we’re losing Ian. He’s going through to Barrow. So with him gone, Mitch’s retirement and Des still on long-term sick leave, we’re short-staffed. Can you put out a shout to see if anyone wants to come off section and do an attachment for three months? It would give us an extra set of hands.’
‘Actually, boss, I think I know someone. She’s pretty new, though, just out of company.’
‘You mean she might be a bit green? I was thinking someone more experienced. Who applied last time?’
Ben thought back to the last set of emails he’d received and grimaced. Dan was always emailing him for a placement, but there was no way he was working with him. There was a clash of personalities between them; no matter how hard he tried not to let it, Dan’s lazy attitude towards the job annoyed Ben. There had been more than a couple of crimes that should have been solved with a bit of hard work and common sense. Dan had a knack of not following up on enquiries as efficiently as he should and Ben’s team had stepped in and got the result Dan should have in the first place. The other officer who had shown an interest was now on maternity leave.
‘Leave it with me. Would you have a problem if it was someone relatively new?’
‘Not at all, as long as they’re keen and can follow orders. We both know the key qualities are to listen to what they’re being told and be of some use.’
Ben wasn’t sure if Morgan was going to fit the bill, but she was definitely keen and willing to work hard. He would speak to her about it later, see if she was interested.
His phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He took it out, to see ‘Dr Death’ flashing across the screen, excused himself from Tom and darted out.
‘Morning, Declan.’
‘Morning, Ben. I’ve just done a preliminary examination of the body brought in last night and had to suspend it until I spoke to you. I found something of interest I thought you might like to know before I carry on.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘There are horizontal ligature marks as well as the mark of the noose. At this stage it’s impossible to say whether that means it took her a couple of attempts, or someone else strangled her and hanged her to make it look like suicide, but it makes both a possibility.’
‘I’m on my way, can you wait for me?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thanks, Declan, I appreciate you phoning. I think Morgan is right, something has been off about this from the start.’
He hung up, berating himself for not looking closer yesterday at the scene. Morgan had said there was no sign of a step, that the ladder was brought over from the shed. He’d been too eager to dismiss it as suicide; he’d been to a couple of hangings from trees in public areas where the deceased had climbed the tree to get high enough to do it. You didn’t normally carry a stepladder with you on these sorts of occasions. He went back into the office, which was still empty; everyone had gone straight out to follow up on their enquiries after the briefing. Christ, this place was like a ghost ship.
Nine
Morgan pulled into the driveway of Olivia Potter’s house; it was a different scene today from the chaos that had formed on the perfectly landscaped