Evanly Bodies - By Rhys Bowen Page 0,10

breakfast, I'd imagine. So it would be the interval between her serving the egg and his having a chance to finish it."

"And if the scene was staged, and the egg put on the table just to confuse the investigation?" Bragg asked.

"All I can say is he hadn't been dead long when I arrived. No more than an hour probably. Of course he was lying in a south-facing window with the sun shining full on him. That would have helped keep the body warm. But there was no sign of rigor mortis when I first saw him."

"And cause of death?" Bragg asked.

A bloody great hole in the side of his head, Evan was dying to say. He thought the doctor remarkably patient when he answered evenly, "A gunshot wound to the left temple, fired at fairly close range, I'd surmise."

"Any chance it could have been suicide?" Bragg asked.

The doctor glanced from Bragg to the body and back again. "Not unless somebody removed the weapon afterward. I'm no ballistics expert, but I would estimate the shot came from a few feet away. Your spatter experts will tell you more accurately than I."

"In which case where did the shooter stand, I wonder?" Bragg asked. "The table's close to the window, and yet the shot is in the left temple-unless he turned around and then back again as he fell."

"The shot could have come in through the window, sir," Evan said.

Bragg turned on him with a patronizing smirk. "Through the window, Constable? The window, in case you haven't noticed, is closed."

"Somebody could have closed it," Evan said.

"He's not wrong, sir," Detective Sergeant Wingate said, looking out into the garden. "Those bushes would offer splendid cover, and someone standing right beside that yew would have a perfect line of fire at a person seated at the table."

"And after he'd killed the poor bloke, he then went into the house and calmly shut the window, did he? Rather risky, wouldn't you say?" Bragg said smugly.

"Not if he knew the house was empty. He'd probably observed the wife going out with the dog and knew there were no live-in servants."

"In other words, he'd cased the joint first?"

"Well, it's clearly not a murder committed in the course of a burglary, is it?" DS Wingate said. "I've taken a look in the other rooms downstairs, and nothing whatsoever has been disturbed. They've some nice silver, too."

"Until we have gone over the whole house with Mrs. Rogers, we have no way of knowing whether a burglary has or has not occurred. The man's a professor. Important papers could be missing. You young officers are great at jumping to conclusions. All in aid of the hasty arrest and your picture in the paper, is it?"

"No sir. Just trying to talk our way through the various scenarios."

"I'll decide what we talk about, Wingate. At your former station I'm sure you were all mates together; but I like to run a tight ship, and I'm the captain, got it?"

"Aye, aye, Captain," Wingate said dryly. He caught Evans's eyes, and Evan realized with gratitude that he had at least one ally in the camp.

"So you'll leave us your report then, Doctor?" Bragg asked.

"I'll have it typed up and sent over to you," the doctor said.

"We'll be setting up shop at the Bangor Police Station. That's where you can find us. Thanks for showing up so quickly. Evans will show you out."

"I can find my own way, thanks," the doctor said, picked up his bag, and departed.

"Right, Constable, take this down," Bragg said. "Plan of attack: Interview wife. Go over house with her. Locate the weapon. Search outside for footprints. Possible eye witnesses. Question neighbors. That should get us started until we've got a forensic report and a possible motive. Wingate, you take Pritchard and search the grounds. Watch where you tread so that you don't disturb anything. We'll need casts of any footprints. Evans, you can come with me, and we'll talk to Mrs. Rogers. Ten to one she did it herself. Cherchez la femme. That's what they always say, isn't it?"

"Do they, sir?" Evan said, and noted a grin from Wingate. "If she did it herself, don't you think she might have taken longer to call the police so that the time of death wasn't so obvious? And don't you think she'd have removed the boiled egg and established a better alibi than walking the dog?"

"What did they teach you during detective training, Constable? Didn't they tell you 'always start with the obvious'?