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‘Any sign of a struggle? That mess in the hall?’ They had walked past the shards of a broken Chinese figurine on the hall floor when they came in. ‘Inside the house only that broken statue thing in the hall. That had stood on the little rococo table and had always been in danger of being knocked over, according to Mrs Longmaid. And she is glad it finally was. Her words, not mine. The studio out the back is a total mess, though.’ ‘The bullet?’ ‘We’ve recovered two bullets, one of them missed. But you won’t like them, inspector. One went right through the man’s brain and hit the inside wall of the safe, then the back before it was spent. The other one missed the victim, caromed round the inside of the safe. ’ He held up the evidence bag with the projectiles inside. ‘Both extremely deformed.’ McLusky managed not to swear as he glared at it. ‘But we’ll be able to tell if it came from the same gun?’ ‘I wouldn’t bet on it.’ ‘Damn it.’ McLusky would however have bet that the SOCO enjoyed delivering bad news. His unglamorous job was to scrape stuff off floors and walls and pack it off to a forensic lab somewhere, and he didn’t have to worry about apprehending criminals. In fact, the more crime there was the more scenes of crime to visit and the safer his job. McLusky’s career, what there was of it, depended on getting results. ‘Who found the body?’ ‘Mrs Longmaid.’ ‘You spoke to her? How did she seem?’ ‘I only spoke to her about the statuette in the hall. She was drinking. I thought she was already quite plastered.’ ‘For want of a better word.’ ‘Sorry, sir.’ ‘No, no, plastered will do.’ McLusky squeezed out of the room. ‘No sign of forced entry anywhere,’ he said as he descended the stairs with Austin. ‘The killer charmed his/her way in or was known to him,’ Austin speculated. ‘Or married to him.’ ‘True.’ ‘And you don’t have to charm your way in with a gun in your hand. You open the door to someone pointing a .38 at you, what do you say?’ ‘Not today, thank you.’ ‘Exactly.’ They found Jennifer Longmaid in the sitting room which had already been gone over by scene of crime officers who had by now moved on to the painting studio. Looking at her McLusky thought that both the superintendent and the SOCO team leader had a point. Mrs Longmaid had indeed been drinking though probably not to drown her grief; she had drunk the better part of a bottle of vintage champagne. At first glance she seemed to be sprawled on a sofa in her underwear but she was in fact wearing a very insubstantial black silk dress and a pair of patterned black tights. She had kicked off one high-heeled shoe and was balancing the other on one toe. She let it drop when the officers entered the room and pulled her legs under her. ‘That outfit doesn’t suit you, inspector, it makes you look like a sanitation worker. And I loath the sound it makes when you move. I don’t suppose you’ll join me in a glass of champagne? I opened a bottle of the good stuff.’ From the armchair in which he had sat down all McLusky could read of the label was the name Alfred Gratien. He disliked champagne and the only champagne house he recognised was Bollinger. ‘I realize this must be a difficult time for you and I’m sorry to have to bother you with questions . . .’ ‘No bother at all.’ She lifted both glass and eyes towards the ceiling. ‘I’m not grief-stricken. Shocked? Yes. Outraged at the violation of my home? Definitely. But not wracked with grief. Of course it may hit me later but I doubt it somehow.’ She drained her glass and leant forward to replenish it from the bottle on the coffee table which afforded McLusky a look down her dress. Since he was clearly meant to look he did and confirmed to himself that Mrs Longmaid wore no bra. ‘Was it you who found the body?’ ‘Yup.’ ‘Would you mind going through the events for me?’ Jennifer Longmaid’s account was brief. She had been shopping for clothes in Bath. On her return to the house she had found the broken statuette in the hall. She had called her husband’s name and when she received no answer looked for him in the studio. It was a shambles. Back at the house she had found her husband’s body in his study.