Page 50 of Child's Play

Kim could now see that the man was slim build, roughly her own height wearing brown trousers and blue slip-on Skechers.

His sports jacket sleeve was rolled up to reveal a standard men’s sports watch and the bulge of a wallet in his front trouser pocket, ruling out a robbery gone wrong.

‘Did you check for?…’

‘Yes, the X has been cut into the skin on the back of the neck, post mortem.’

‘Was it obvious?’ Kim asked.

Keats shook his head and held up his pen. ‘No, had to move the clothing aside to find it.’

‘Pity you didn’t bring your ruler,’ she remarked.

So, the branding of the X again was not obviously on show and in the same place as Belinda Evans.

‘It’s like it’s a message to them and not us,’ Bryant observed, appearing beside her.

‘Agreed,’ Kim said as they both continued to stare at the area around the body, at the ground that had been uncovered because he’d been moved.

Bryant broke the silence as they both took in what was now staring them in the face.

‘Guv, are those chalk marks what I think they are?’

‘Yes, Bryant, I bloody well think they are.’

The body was not lying on the white lines of the pub car park at all.

He was lying on top of a hopscotch grid.

Thirty-Three

Penn placed the last of the evidence boxes on the wooden table and closed the door.

Lynne had fetched fresh coffee, and Doug was looking miffed that his easy day in court had been cut short.

Travis had secured them a small room at the station with a round table, whiteboards but no window. The DI wanted them as far away as possible from the current investigation into the murder of the defence witness, Dexter McCann. He didn’t want either case tainted, and wanted the new murder to be viewed objectively by officers not directly involved.

Penn had tried to explain that the two were inextricably linked.

Travis had shaken his head, resolutely. ‘Whoever killed Dexter McCann last night has no bearing on whether we got the right man last year. We have to keep the cases separate,’ he’d explained, expelling them to an office in Siberia.

On the plus side they were only a short walk away from the canteen.

‘Okay, guys. We gotta go through this from the beginning, just like the boss instructed,’ Penn said opening the first box that contained the statements. DI Travis had made it clear that he was to lead the review, after he’d informed him that his boss had agreed to the temporary secondment.

A part of him hoped she’d fought just a little bit.

‘Right, first thing I want is a timeline,’ he said, taking the bandana from his suit pocket. It was afternoon and the gel used to keep his hair flat was on the losing side of the battle.

‘And our man is back,’ Doug said, leafing through the statements.

Lynne smiled and looked away.

Penn grabbed the black marker pen. ‘Okay, incident was twenty-sixthofOctober,’ he said, noting it on the board.

‘Ricky Drake identified our man on the twenty-ninthofOctober,’ Doug called out.

‘Nuryef was questioned on the thirtieth. Same day his missus said he’d been at home all night.’