the bushes and the garage and not be seen, then step out and take a clear shot through that window."
Evan looked around the back garden. It was quite long and narrow, with nothing more than some more straggly bushes, a patch of lawn, and a clothesline. It backed onto a similar garden belonging to the house behind. The gunman would have been well hidden, standing between house and garage. Evan wasn't even sure if anyone would have seen anything from an adjacent upstairs window.
"Do you want me to go and see if anyone is home in the houses on either side?" Evan asked. "They might have had the only view of the shooting. The gunman would have been pretty well hidden between the house and garage, wouldn't he?"
"Let's talk to the widow first and see what she's got to say," Bragg said. "Come on. Back inside before we mess up any footprints."
Like a row of ducklings, Evan thought again. As they came around to the front of the house the police doctor was just getting out of his car.
"This is getting to be a habit," he said dryly. "Nasty business. We're dealing with a wacko-a really sick mind, if you ask me."
"Take the doctor through to the kitchen and stay with him, Wingate," Bragg said. "Pritchard, you go and see if the neighbors are home and whether they heard or saw anything. Evans, come with me. I take it the wife's upstairs in her bedroom?"
This was directed at the sergeant, who still hung about awkwardly in the hallway.
"Yes, sir. I would have stayed with her, but she didn't want me there."
"Didn't want you there? Good God, man, it's not what they want. What if she tries to commit suicide from grief and shock?"
"Sorry, sir. I just thought . . ." the sergeant began but Bragg had already pushed past him, taking the stairs two at a time.
The bedroom was just big enough to fit in a double bed and a chest of drawers. Luckily there was a built-in wardrobe down one wall; there would have been no space for a freestanding one. The bedroom furniture was white and looked like the Scandinavian type you assemble yourself, but an attempt had been made to make the room pretty with a lilac duvet cover and flowery curtains. Megan Owens had been sitting on the edge of the bed and jumped up as she heard them. Evan got a shock when he saw how extremely young she was. Hardly more than a teenager. She was wearing jeans and a Gap sweatshirt. Her face was free of makeup, and she could still easily ride for half fare on the busses if she'd wanted to. A pretty little thing too-small elfin face and dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was ashen white, and she clearly had been crying.
"I'm Detective Inspector Bragg, North Wales Police, Major Crimes Unit," Bragg said quietly. "This is Detective Constable Evans. Do you feel up to answering a few questions? We want to get to the truth here, don't we? For his sake."
She nodded without speaking.
"All right. Sit down, or lie down if you feel more comfortable. Now take us through the morning until you came home and found your husband's body. Every little thing you can remember. You got up when?"
"I got up around seven thirty," she said. "I made some tea. Did some housework. Put a load in the washing machine."
"And your husband? What's his name, by the way?"
"Terry. Terrance William Owens like his dad." She gulped back a sob as she said the words.
"What time did Terry get up?"
"About nine thirty, maybe."
"Was he on a late shift?"
"No, he was unemployed, and it was really getting to him. He couldn't be bothered to do anything, not even get up in the mornings."
"So he got up at nine thirty."
"Maybe a little later. I told him I was going out shopping because we were out of milk and eggs, and he got a bit upset about there being no eggs because he wanted an egg for breakfast. But I told him he'd just have to have cornflakes or wait until I got back from the shops. He got upset really easily recently. It was the stress of being out of work, you know. It's not good for a man."
"So you went to the shops and came back when?"
"I didn't exactly look at the time, but I was as quick as possible, so that he could have his egg for