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Sergeant Barraclough’s team of SOCOs and an incident room set up. You can start by taking statements from near neighbours and the milk tanker driver.’ To Mike she added, ‘And I suppose I’d better speak to Superintendent Colclough. It’ll make his day. A double murder in the middle of a heatwave.’

Chapter Three
    12.45 p.m.
    She watched Matthew stride back down the garden path and moments later heard his car start. Then she turned back to Korpanski. She was about to use him – and not for the first time – as a sounding board.
    â€˜I can’t be convinced,’ she said, ‘that Aaron went alone to get the cows and then came back.’
    â€œTo get Jack,’ Mike said patiently.
    â€˜All right,’ she said. ‘Even if he had left him in bed and wanted him to help. Surely once they’d fetched the cows from the field they would have taken them straight to the milking parlour and started the milking. Otherwise the animals would just have wandered all over the place. So how far did he get with the cows and why did he come back?’
    â€˜Well not as far as the cowshed. Shackleton said not one cleat had been fixed.’
    She tried to suppress her amusement but Mike had seen the ghost of a smile. ‘The things they stick on the udders.’
    â€˜I guessed that.’
    â€˜So our killer probably approached the farm through a herd of cows?’
    Mike nodded. ‘He’ll have muck all over him.’
    â€˜Let’s try this. They get the cows in somewhere between six and seven. Someone drives here, or walks, interrupts their trip from the field. Aaron’s in the doorway, pulling his wellingtons off. Jack’s upstairs. No.’ She shook her head decidedly. ‘It doesn’t fit, Mike. They were disturbed before they got to the cows.’
    â€˜But Shackleton said ...’ Mike objected.
    â€˜Whatever Shackleton said they were disturbed here before they went out.’
    Mike scowled at her. ‘Are you trying to say it was the killer who let the cows out?’
    â€˜Maybe.’
    â€˜Then why? They can’t give him an alibi.’
    â€˜I don’t know, Mike. I’m simply thinking. That’s all. It could have been to destroy footprints – or tyre marks – or something. But I am certain that if they’d both started to lead the cows in from the field to be milked they wouldn’t have come back, leaving the cows to wander around. And if Jack had come back he wouldn’t have gone upstairs unless he was going to fetch something. Let’s just have a look at...’ She picked up the boot that paired with the one on the dead man’s foot. It was dusty and dry. ‘As I thought,’ she said. ‘He hasn’t worn them this morning.’
    â€˜The weather’s hot,’ Mike pointed out.
    â€˜Have you had a look out there in the lane? Cow pats everywhere. And a farmer wouldn’t pick his way around them. He’d walk straight through.’ She picked up another, larger pair. ‘And I assume these are Jack’s.’ She turned them over. ‘He hasn’t been out this morning either. So our killer ...’ She frowned. ‘Why he let the cows out of the field is beyond me —’ She was silent for just a moment. ‘What else did Shackleton say?’
    â€˜Only that the cows are usually back in the fields by the time he gets here at ten.’
    â€˜This Shackleton, Mike. He would have known the family well.’
    â€˜What are you trying to say?’
    â€˜Nothing. I’m just collecting facts. Did he know straight away that something was wrong?’
    â€˜Pretty soon. At first he just thought they were a bit late with the milking, that they’d overslept.’
    â€˜Was that usual?’
    Korpanski shook his head. ‘But he thought it all the same.’
    â€˜So when was he sure something was up?’
    â€˜Almost at once. As soon as he