Free Secret of the Dead by Michael Fowler

about how the case was detected.”
    Suddenly, Hunter got an image of Barry Newstead. He knew exactly what Jamie Parker was talking about. He’d been introduced to many unorthodox methods in his pursuit of villains during his early CID days; all of them instigated by Barry. He couldn’t help but crack a grin as he turned towards the door.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Dressed in a black and grey D&G logo T-shirt and faded denim jeans, Katherine Edwards answered the front door with her mobile pressed to her ear. She pointed to it and mouthed the words ‘My mum’ back at DCs Tony Bullars and Carol Ragen, standing shoulder-to-shoulder inside her porch.
    She waved for them to come in with her free hand, spun on her heels and sauntered off along the hallway towards the back of the house, still speaking on her phone as she went. She was finishing her conversation as the two detectives caught up with her in the kitchen.
    “Yeah the police are just here now. I’ll give you a ring later when I find out what’s what, okay? Yeah love you too bye.” She ended the call and placed the mobile onto the marble surface of the kitchen’s central work island. It was a bright and airy L-shaped kitchen diner in a contemporary black and white theme. Italian design high gloss units lined soft cream walls. Most of the light came from a large set of French doors, which gave a view out to her well tended garden. Today, everything was in the grip of the first signs of winter. The clipped bushes and mature trees could just be made out in the morning’s cold damp haze .
    The expensive, well designed look of the kitchen reminded Tony that she had told him the previous day that as well as holding down a full time job as a sports injury therapist, she boosted her income with private consultations working from home.
    “Sorry about that. That was my mum I’ve only just managed to get hold of her and break the news. She didn’t get back from Gran Canaria until the early hours of this morning.” She picked up the electric kettle and filled it from the tap. “Can I get you a drink? Tea? Coffee?”
    Both agreed on tea.
    “Sorry to burden you at a time like this, Katherine,” opened Tony with a sympathetic look. “But as you can probably appreciate we need to move on this quite quickly in order to find your father’s killer. I know I bombarded you with quite a number of questions yesterday, but I need to go back over things with you. We have a number of gaps that need filling, both in terms of his past history, as well as recent events in his life. We’re hoping you will be able to fill those in?”
    “I couldn’t sleep last night. I can’t believe what’s happened. It’s something you dream about isn’t it, someone in your family being murdered I mean. And Dad as well. All those murders he’s investigated in the past and now he himself has been murdered.” She set the filled kettle back onto its electric base and switched it on. Then she plucked out three cups from a wall cupboard and arranged them around the kettle. Turning back to face Tony, she swept a hand through one side of her dark bob of hair, tucking it behind her ear. “You can’t imagine it, can you?”
    She fixed him with her grey/blue eyes. “This is such a shock. Thing is, I thought I’d done most of my grieving for him several months ago when I found out he had terminal cancer. I’ve been to hospital so many times with him these past few months that I’d thought I’d become hardened to the fact that he was going to die.” Her voice trailed off on a brittle note. Dabbing a forefinger into the corner of one eye, she turned quickly back to face the boiling kettle. “But this...I mean Dad murdered. It’s just so hard to imagine.”
    Tony got a whiff of her perfume. It reminded him of roses. He couldn’t help but think that at 42 she was in really good shape. She was tall and slim, with a well toned physique, though today he noted how drained she looked. Dark rings circled her