Page 29 of Her Last Breath

‘No fingerprints on the canister or any signs of tampering with the bag?’

‘None, ma’am.’ DC Berry put up pictures showing Mark’s body. ‘The adhesive tape around his throat to tie the bag in place was haphazard. If somebody else had taped it into place, we might expect it to be a more precise cut and fix. You can see there are faint nail marks on the bag itself. It’s common when a victim is feeling the suffocating effects to try and pull the bag off, a survival instinct.’

Jane examined the close-up pictures.

‘Did Dr Lydia do the post-mortem?’ she asked.

‘No ma’am,’ DC Berry mumbled, the colour rising to his face. ‘There were no signs of anything that pointed to anyone else being involved, so he was sent to the hospital morgue for Dr Nina to work on.’

The same histopathologist that Alice was sent to.

‘Did she give an estimate of when he might have died?’

‘Between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., ma’am,’ said DC Berry.

‘Given what we know about Alice Rogers, about her death being a staged suicide, I want Mark Burrows’ death to be treated as suspicious. Is the body still in the hospital mortuary?’

DC Berry nodded.

‘Notify Dr Lydia. What else do we know about the deceased?’

‘Burrows was estranged from his ex-wife, no significant friends or associates.’

DS Johnson was speaking to the room in a voice that lacked energy. Clearly he was affected by something about this case. Jane was curious to know what.

‘Apart from Harrison,’ DC Berry added.

There was silence as the name of their prime suspect hung in the room, filling the space around it with conjecture.

‘Anything else about him that might be useful?’ Jane urged, looking between DS Johnson and DC Berry.

‘Word was that he had tangled with some big players on the drugs circuit, was afraid of payback,’ DS Johnson continued. ‘He was pocketing some of the profits.’

‘Uniform did discover a substantial amount of cash in the lock-up, ma’am,’ DC Berry added.

‘Could this be the payback he was afraid of?’ Jane asked.

‘Unlikely,’ DS Johnson said. ‘If the rumours were true, what they would have done to him would have been far worse than what he did to himself.’

Having seen enough revenge killings in the Met, Jane understood what he meant. They were horrendous, done to send a clear and terrifying message, without ambiguity.

‘Did the fear of those reprisals mean he decided to act first? Take his own life?’

‘That’s what I thought,’ DS Johnson said.

‘Only he had the cash, he had the opportunity, so why didn’t he just leave Burnley? When did he last flag on our system?’

‘A staff member accused him of dealing from a hospice car park a few weeks back,’ DC Chan told her. ‘Uniform sent a patrol over, but it didn’t go anywhere.’

‘Thank you. Let’s interview the complainant, see if they remember anything else.’

Jane gathered her thoughts, before sharing them with the team.

‘OK, we now have two people connected to Liam Harrison, both dead in suspected suicides, one of which we suspect was murder. I don’t believe in coincidences, so I want a full report on Mark Burrows’ last movements. Look into the rumours DS Johnson has shared with us and most importantly, find out where Harrison was on the day Burrows died.’

After her team dispersed, Jane headed into her own office. The nauseous feeling in her stomach was coming in waves now that she was no longer centre stage at the briefing. Unbuckling her baton holster, she rummaged through her bag for something to settle her stomach. Looking up sharply as someone knocked on her door, Jane was surprised to see DS Johnson entering her private sanctuary, his face grim as he shut the door firmly behind him.

‘I need to talk to you,’ he said earnestly. ‘About Mark Burrows.’