‘Apart from the amount of time it takes the companies to get back to us,’ Dexter said.
‘That’s fine. That’s not on our timesheets. We’ve got plenty to be getting on with in the meantime. Which reminds me. We’ve had a few bits back. Perhaps most crucial are the preliminary DNA and forensics results as well as the post-mortem report, which, as expected after waiting around for a couple of days, have all come in at once. On the plus side, it does help us build up a picture of what happened to Martin Forbes.
‘The post-mortem is strangely conclusive and inconclusive at the same time. It states there were signs of hypothermia, but that it probably wasn’t the cold itself that killed him. Their conclusion on that front is that it’s likely he bled out from the head wound and haemorrhaged following damage to his cranium. That’s the skull, Dexter,’ she said, listening as a rumble of laughter rolled through the room. ‘Having said that, they note the cold would’ve made his heart pump harder and faster, accelerating his blood loss. Likewise, the blood loss would’ve had a similar effect both on itself and in lowering his body temperature. Basically, with the two combined, he stood no chance. As for the head wound, we’re looking at blunt force. Forensics think it was probably a baseball bat or similar. Now, it’s not easy to conceal a baseball bat, so it’s likely our killer took Martin by surprise. There aren’t any signs of a struggle — no skin under the fingernails or anything — but there’s evidence the killer tried to strangle him, although that wasn’t the cause of death. Reading between the lines, I think the head trauma knocked Martin out, the killer either believed the strangulation had worked because Martin’s breathing and heartbeat had got so shallow as to be undetectable, or they simply realised there was no need because he was bleeding profusely and was clearly on his way out.’
‘But there wasn’t a huge amount of blood found at the scene, right?’ Sara asked.
‘Correct. There was some on the wall he’d been propped up against, but that’s probably from direct contact with the wound. All signs seem to indicate he was dead before he was put there. Now, there was extremely heavy rain on the night Martin died, from about eight-thirty until midnight, when the temperature dropped sharply. Anything out in the open would have easily been washed away by the time we turned up. But Martin’s body was under an arch in the viaduct, and actually stayed pretty dry. We’d expect to find forensic evidence or blood spillage if there was any, so we can only conclude that there probably wasn’t. That means he’s been killed, then transported there. Odd, seeing as it was barely yards from his running route anyway. Could just be coincidence. But the next question has to be where was he killed? As I see it, there are two possibilities. First, that he was killed on or near his running route, then transported to the viaduct, which is also extremely near his running route. Or, alternatively, that he was taken from his route, transported elsewhere, killed, then brought back. The riskiest option, but you can see why someone might choose it if they thought it’d reduce the likelihood of forensic evidence being found at the scene. Both pose us major issues. If it’s option one, it’ll be like looking for a needle in a haystack. We’re talking open, public roads, evidence washed away by heavy rain, the passing of time — I could go on. If it’s option two, the kill spot could’ve been anywhere. But there will be forensic evidence still out there. The location of the murder. The vehicle he was transported in. We know that area’s not exactly rife with CCTV to say the least, so we’re limited as to what we can do to generate leads. I’m thinking of a public appeal. Has a friend been behaving out of sorts, did your uncle pop out for a couple of hours, have you seen your neighbour rinsing blood out of a Ford Mondeo — that sort of thing. Any thoughts?’
The team murmured their agreement, although they all knew a public appeal would likely open up a can of worms itself. Caroline could imagine the social media posts now: Why haven’t the police found the killer yet? Why are we doing their jobs for them? Isn’t that what we pay their wages for? Too busy prosecuting innocent motorists! It was one of the many reasons why Caroline kept off social media as a rule. It was futile trying to point out to a keyboard warrior that motoring offences — funnily enough — tended to be dealt with by road traffic units rather than murder investigation teams, and that was before she got round to mentioning that the fact they’d been prosecuted showed they weren’t all that innocent after all. Regardless, the potential benefits of a public appeal would far outweigh the eye-rolling caused by gobby Facebookers.
‘Just one other thing,’ Dexter said. ‘I checked up on the Russell Speakman investigation, to see what involvement police had at the time. I couldn’t find much, but the investigating officer was DCI Bob Barrington. I don’t know if he’ll remember it at all, but he might. He retired shortly after, so you never know.’
‘Nice one, Dex,’ Caroline replied. ‘Do we have contact details for him?’
‘Yep. He’s still local. Lives over in King’s Cliffe, apparently.’
‘Excellent. Be rude not to pop in and say
