The Cure of Souls

– TWO – Strung Up

MID-MORNING, MERRILY went back to the vicarage, and then she planned to go and visit the Shelbones – or try to. Lol wanted to go with her, and then thought no: love lightly. Don’t seek to possess.

He went into the studio to think about creating a new song before Prof arrived back. Any new song; he knew it wasn’t going to be a problem. The sky was washed clean. The Boswell guitar felt like a living thing.

It was around eleven-thirty when DI Frannie Bliss phoned from Leominster.

‘Hope you don’t think I lied to yer about that press statement, Lol, but it’s not happened, has it? And now the lovely Snow Maiden’s gone on a few days’ leave. Which was unexpected.’

‘It’s God, Frannie. God looks after key personnel.’

‘You didn’t talk to anybody yourself, then?’

‘Never really got chance, in the end.’

‘Ah well…’ Pause. ‘Merrily wouldn’t be there, would she?’

‘Gone to work. I mean… she’s… at work. Presumably.’

‘Only, with the boss skiving off, the PM report on Stock’s arrived on my desk, with no little controversy.’

‘We were talking about Stock earlier.’

‘A lot of people are talking about Stock again this morning.’

‘It’s what he would’ve wanted. We were still trying to think why he did it – hanged himself.’

‘It’s a mystery,’ Frannie Bliss said. ‘And not the only one.’

‘Can I give Merrily a message?’

Bliss thought about it, sighed. ‘Bugger it,’ he said. ‘This is tormenting me a bit. Stock strung himself up with his shirt, right?’

‘That’s what we heard.’

‘The PM report says the severe ligature marks found on his neck are what you might call inconsistent with that. According to the Home Office pathologist and the forensics lab, we should be looking for a length of rusty wire, maybe seven or eight millimetres thick, probably multi-stranded. There was no sign of any such wire in Stock’s cell. We can be fairly sure he did not bring any in with him. And it was certainly not around his neck when he was cut down. Needless to say, the remand centre is being searched, no doubt, even as we speak.’

‘Strange.’

‘It is, isn’t it? There was also an impression on the side of his neck strongly suggestive of a hook being attached to the wire. One of my lads, who was a farmer’s boy, had an idea what this might be.’

Lol said, ‘You’re talking about hop-wire, aren’t you?’