Page 95 of Her Last Breath

Her e-mail alert showed her Dr Lydia was at work and sending her an update. Jane texted her:

In the office. Call if you need.

Dr Lydia called within moments.

‘My husband is playing rugby. I am bored, so came into the office. Actually, I was thinking of you. You closed the case. That is good.’

‘Yes.’

‘Everything else is OK?’

A beat while Jane thought about sharing her mother’s death, then decided against it – she needed someone to treat her like a professional.

‘Yes. I haven’t had time to read your e-mail yet.’

‘It is an update only.’

‘Update on what?’

‘I finished the post-mortem for Bill Hargreaves about an hour ago. I am writing my report as we speak.’

‘Tell me,’ said Jane, leaning forward in her chair.

‘My hunch was right. The hoist you found in his garage fits with the injuries that the poor man suffered. He was hanged to near-death, lowered to let him breathe, then hung again. The process was repeated until he died.’

Jane paused a moment as images of a suffering Bill Hargreaves flitted through her mind. Bill who spent his life secretly trying to fight against corruption, putting himself at risk.

‘So he was tortured then?’ Jane thought aloud. There was no evidence of anything similar happening to Alice or Mark. Why would Colin change tactics for Bill?

‘I don’t think torture is the correct word. This method, I think, would prolong death.’

‘For how long?’

‘Minutes only.’

‘If Colin got a thrill from actually killing his victims, why wouldn’t he then just do it quickly?’

‘Yes, you see what I am also thinking now.’

‘I think so. He prolonged the death because that’s his thing, that’s what he’s getting off on. That’s the climax for him, not the method but those final moments. He wanted to see Mark Burrows slowly die through the plastic bag, he wanted Bill Hargreaves’ death to be long and drawn out. Alice, I assume, would have suffered something similar.’

With growing clarity, Jane began to understand the emptiness in Colin’s life, the power he got from making life-and-death decisions, the connection he felt, the validation at the point of death. Jane had felt that herself the previous night. She had done right by her mother and in a way it made her feel more connected to her than ever.

‘I’m sorry you had to do this,’ Jane said. ‘The original post-mortem should have raised enough flags to be investigated.’

‘We can be candid, lovely. The original post-mortem did flag these. The problem is the rope around his neck and the position in which he was found all pointed to Hargreaves hanging himself. His personal and professional life indicated he may have wanted to end everything.’

A slight pause before she continued:

‘The pathologist wasn’t sure what she was dealing with, only that there were some contraindications which shouldn’t have been present. The pinpoint bleeds on the eyes, for example, not really something we would see in a hanging. But they weren’t pronounced enough to point definitely to the method of his death, which we suspect now.’

‘Did these suspicions get flagged to my team?’

Jane remembered DC Berry saying they had dismissed the findings as the evidence Bill hanged himself was far more compelling. But what if the initial report hadn’t been explicit? Could they have stopped Colin Wilson before he murdered Alice Rogers and Mark Burrows? Jane didn’t like to think DS Johnson had made such a massive blunder while leading the team. Was it carelessness over the small cases that had eroded trust towards him from the top brass?

‘Give me some time while I look for confirmation, but, yes, I would think they did. Why are you in the office on a Sunday anyway? How is your mum doing?’

Jane felt like someone had just knocked the wind out of her.