PC: I ran out of that house. I ran away from there.
DI G: What did you do with the knife?
PC: Threw it away.
DI G: Where? Where did you throw it?
[suspect shakes his head, breaking down into tears]
The last document in the file was a report from the court- appointed psychiatrist, Dr Helen Graham, who said she had examined Craven on three separate occasions during his remand. In her opinion he was suffering from a mild personality disorder which gave him 'a sometimes tenuous grasp on reality and a tendency to fixate on abstract, often religious ideas', but there had been no evidence of violence in his character during his long prison term. He had attended classes conducted by female teachers and been in contact with a female parole officer without any suggestion of inappropriate behaviour. He wasn't clinically insane, and in her view there was no evidence to support any suggestion that he was suffering from diminished responsibility or a temporary psychological illness. During their three sessions Craven had refused to discuss the circumstances of the alleged offence, but on one occasion did express remorse for what he had done. Dr Graham concluded that there was no reason to question the validity of Craven's confession and expressed the opinion that the stress of release had caused him to commit a crime very similar to that for which he had originally been imprisoned.
Stapled inside the back cover of the file was a copy of Craven's criminal record and a handwritten statement of the facts of his first murder. At eighteen, he had met a twenty- three-year-old nurse named Grace Akingbade at a Bristol nightclub. Late in the evening they were seen leaving together. Grace's body was found in her room in a hospital accommodation block the following afternoon. She had been beaten and strangled but there was no evidence of sexual molestation. Craven was arrested the same day and made a full confession. His explanation for the killing was that the young woman had mocked him when he had failed to perform sexually.
Jenny finished reading and made up her mind that there was nothing to investigate. If Craven wanted to protest his innocence he would have to do what everyone else did and find a criminal lawyer to fight his battles for him. There were far more deserving cases on her desk.
She looked up with a start as Alison thumped through the door and dumped a fresh heap of papers in front of her.
'Are you all right, Mrs Cooper?'
'You shocked me.'
'Fun as it was watching an autopsy on a nine-year-old, I thought I'd better tear myself away.'
Jenny noticed that she was wearing shiny red lipstick and had brushed her dyed blonde hair forward over her cheeks. 'It suits you,' she said, her heart still pulsing hard against her ribs.
'Thank you,' Alison said with self-conscious abruptness and swiftly changed the subject. 'The pathologist confirmed death by alcohol poisoning so social services have asked the police to look at criminal negligence. I doubt it'll end with charges, but at least it's off our plate for the time being. We've had an anonymous email from a man who claims he was one of the gang which erected the crane and says they were using sub-standard bolts, and Dr Kerr just emailed an interim report on Alan Jacobs - it's not looking too pretty. Oh, and there's been a fatal RTA on the Portway I should probably go and have a look at.'
She turned abruptly to the door.
Jenny sensed there was more to Alison's agitation than her caseload. 'Is everything all right?'
'I've had more relaxing mornings.'
'Is it Terry again?'
'Terry?' Alison said, as if her husband was the furthest thing from her mind. 'He's no trouble to me now he's in Spain.'
'Another holiday?'
'I don't know what you call it,' Alison said, 'but I suppose you might as well know before you hear gossip. He's been seeing some woman he met out there last time.'
'I'm sorry. I'd no idea—'
'Neither did I till last Thursday. But I told him if there was something he wanted to get out of his system I'd rather he did it out of my sight.'
Jenny knew there had been arguments, mostly over her husband Terry's desire to sell up and retire to a Spanish condo while he was still young enough to get round the golf course, but she had no idea relations had turned this sour. 'So, where does that leave the