Free Shroud of Evil by Pauline Rowson

one of the techniques for coping with witnessing a violent death – they each perfected their own. After the initial shock the adrenalin of the investigation would kick in. Horton felt it now but this time it was tinged with anxiety and apprehension which he couldn’t shake off. The forehead was visible, the brown eyes were still open, and the nose and fleshy lips with the cleft in the chin were showing beneath it.
    ‘Do you have an ID?’ Gaye asked.
    Horton told her who it was and relayed the circumstances behind the finding of the body and its location. She listened attentively without comment. By the time he’d finished, the mortuary attendant indicated with a nod that he had got the pictures he wanted.
    ‘Shall we turn him over? Perhaps you’d give us a hand, Inspector?’
    It was the first time Horton had viewed the rear of the corpse and his interest was immediately heightened when he saw that the sail had been doubled up around the body with the ends joining at the back and the knots in the lines securing it tied expertly. His eyes flicked to Gaye.
    Clearly she read his thoughts.
    ‘They’re bowline knots,’ Horton said. Even though Uckfield owned a boat it was of the motor cruiser variety and Horton wasn’t sure he knew all things nautical – in fact he doubted it. ‘They’re perfect for when you need a strong loop of line around something to secure it. This killer knew what he was doing.’
    He thought back to where Kenton’s car had been found. Both Oyster Quays Marina and the Camber were within walking distance of the Admiralty Towers car park. Had Kenton met someone on a boat in either of those places? But if so why park in Roger Watling’s space? Maybe Kenton knew it would be vacant until Saturday morning and was expecting to be back long before then.
    Horton watched with bated breath as the mortuary attendant began to untie the knots. After a few moments he peeled back the double thickness of the sail to reveal that Jasper Kenton was naked.
    ‘No immediate evidence of cause of death,’ Gaye said, studying the neck, buttocks and back of the legs. ‘No sign of strangulation or stabbing and no blunt force trauma to the skull. Inspector, if we could call on your assistance again, we’ll lift him and get him unwrapped, as Superintendent Uckfield put it. Perhaps you’d like to help me extract the sail, Superintendent.’
    Uckfield looked as though he didn’t like to but had to grudgingly oblige.
    Horton took a breath and steeled himself for the unpleasant task of lifting the body with the help of the burly mortuary attendant. Gaye drew first the lines away and put them in an evidence bag and then with Uckfield’s assistance began to pull away the sail from the body. Horton could see that although sizeable it wasn’t from a big yacht. He and the mortuary attendant replaced the naked body of Jasper Kenton on to the mortuary slab while Uckfield and Gaye stuffed the sail into a very large evidence bag and heaved it on to the trolley.
    Red faced from the exertion, Uckfield said, ‘The killer must have had a hell of a job wrapping him up in that.’
    ‘Which suggests he is strong and fit,’ answered Horton, thinking of the beachcomber, recalling those strong suntanned hands as he’d given Horton the tatty business card. He’d certainly looked fit even though he must have been in his fifties.
    But Gaye contradicted him. ‘The victim could have fallen dead or unconscious on the sail cloth, which had already been folded over in preparation to receive the body. It would only be a case of undressing him, unless he was already naked, and then easing the body one way and then the other to tie the knots. It would have been easier if there were two of them. Let’s turn him over and see if we can find out how he died.’
    This time Horton’s services weren’t required. The mortuary attendant and Gaye turned the body on to its back and immediately Horton saw what must have been the cause of death. ‘He