Before she went to the front door, Jessica walked around the side of the garage to the back of the house. If anything, the garden at the rear stretched farther than the one at the front. The surface was also beginning to brown after a couple of weeks without rain, the bushes running along the sides needing a trim. The only other thing noticeable at the rear was that an extension was half-built at the far end of the house. Because she hadn’t been inside yet, Jessica didn’t know what it was attached to but there was already a large conservatory, so she assumed it would offer another room both upstairs and downstairs. The brickwork appeared to be finished but there were holes where windows hadn’t yet been fitted.

Jessica walked back to the front of the property. The style of bricks wasn’t of the type used for most houses. Instead the building was made of much larger stones and somehow seemed both old-fashioned and state-of-the-art at the same time. The whole place was huge and she guessed it would have at least six bedrooms given the number of upstairs windows.

After Jessica had rung the doorbell, it took almost a minute before Charlie Marks opened it. He was bare-footed and wearing what seemed to be the same shorts from a few days previously, as well as a loose-fitting white linen shirt.

‘Sergeant,’ he said, welcoming her in. ‘Did you find the place okay?’

Jessica couldn’t be bothered explaining herself so just replied with: ‘Yes.’

‘I won’t waste your time. As you can see, the place is pretty big and I don’t even begin to know where to start. I’ve not touched many of my brother’s things but there’s still so much space. It looks like there are loads of Dad’s things still in boxes upstairs too. After we talked the other day, I began looking through some of the photos and items upstairs.’

The man started walking away from her as he spoke and Jessica followed. While the entranceway had white stone flooring, the staircase was wide and covered with a red carpet. The stairs looped around, ending on a landing with a choice of doors and a varnished wooden floor. It was an odd mix of apparently being finished and furnished, with other areas that hadn’t been touched in years. There were thin layers of dust on some of the surfaces and boxes stacked in a few corners.

‘I’ve not checked through all of these rooms,’ Charlie continued, pointing towards one end of the upstairs hall. ‘I’ve been sleeping in the one furthest down there because the room seemed empty.’ He turned around and pointed to the closest opening. ‘That one there is full of boxes.’

He pushed open a door and led Jessica inside. The room had large windows directly opposite the door that looked out over the back garden. A four-poster bed was on her left but unmade and had a collection of random items on it. There were more boxes pushed to the edges of the room and a dressing table with a cracked glass top.

Jessica walked to the window, peering towards the extension. ‘What’s that?’ she asked, pointing towards the structure.

Charlie had picked up something from the bed and came over to stand next to her. ‘I’ll show you if you want? It looked like Ed was having a swimming pool put in but it’s not finished for whatever reason.’

‘Why’s everything in boxes? Was he looking to sell?’

Charlie shrugged. ‘I don’t think so, although he had offered to half-sign it over, so maybe. We’ve lived here most of our lives but it’s always been a little like this. I told you before I don’t think Dad really knew what to do with it all. He spent loads of time in the garden and conservatory. Some of this stuff was still in boxes when I moved out five years ago or so. I think you just get used to living in a certain way, don’t you?’

Jessica knew that was true; she was always likely to be a little messy whatever happened to her in the future. ‘Why did you call me over?’

Charlie offered her a framed photo he had been holding. ‘Look.’

She took the object from him and turned it around. The frame was made of dark wood and the photo showed what Jessica at first thought was a football team. Something didn’t seem quite right and she quickly realised there were too many people in the photo. Even though she had no interest in sport, she knew a football team had eleven players. She then saw an oval-shaped rugby ball resting next to a trophy at the front of the picture with one row of players kneeling and another standing behind.

The people pictured all seemed to be in their teens but Jessica couldn’t recognise any of the faces. ‘What am I looking at?’ she asked.

‘Turn it over.’

Stuck to the wood on the back was a note that had been meticulously hand-written. It had the name of the rugby team and then one by one listed all of the players’ surnames. She skimmed through the list and saw the word ‘Marks’, then turned the photo back over and looked at the young man who must have been Ed. He was crouching in the front row and, now she was looking, she could see a strong resemblance to his brother. The hair was darker but he was a similar build and had the same smile.

Jessica flipped the frame back over and looked through the names for a second time. This time, her eyes were drawn to the name ‘Barnes’. She felt a tingle of excitement as she again turned the frame over. The young man she assumed must be Lewis Barnes was directly behind Ed, towering over him. She didn’t know rugby positions but was aware a team often mixed smaller lads with much larger ones.

‘How did you find this?’ she asked.

‘By accident really. It was in a box of other photos. I’d started looking through them just because . . . well, because of everything going on. There were a few of Ed and me as kids and others of Dad playing football with us and so on. I saw that one and noticed the names on the back.’

‘Did you play?’

‘No, it was never my thing. I remember him playing for a couple of seasons when he was about sixteen or seventeen. It was one of the local clubs around here. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you the name without that note, mind you.’

‘Do you know any of the other boys in the picture?’

Charlie shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t recognise the faces or names. The only reason I noticed anything was because of the writing on the back and you’d asked about a “Barnes”. I don’t know if that’s who you’re after but the last name matches.’

Jessica nodded, thinking the match was unlikely to be a coincidence. There was an awkward pause as she continued to scan the photograph and names before changing the subject. ‘What’s it like being back up here?’

Charlie smiled. ‘Different, drier for a start.’

‘It’s not usually.’

‘So I gather. I’m not sure what to do with my time to be honest. I was planning to come up and look for a job. I’ve got some savings to get me by for a while but it feels weird.’

‘Where did you work in London?’

‘The publishers were called Bennett Piper. It was a family company at some point but not by the time I got there.’

Jessica tried to sound dismissive, as if only half-listening. ‘Can you give me a few minutes? I need to make a call.’

‘Sure, I’ll go downstairs. Give me a shout when you want me.’

Charlie turned around and left the room. Jessica was going to phone Izzy at the station but didn’t want the man to be around to hear her. She still wasn’t entirely ready to discount him as being a suspect, even if he was only one in her own mind and not officially. Having now seen the extent of the house, it was clear the property was worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, if not more. If Charlie was interested in getting his hands on the place, cutting off his brother’s hand, as well as someone else’s, and getting someone to leave them in a public place seemed a very convoluted way of doing it.

Jessica took out her phone and dialled DC Diamond’s extension. She asked the constable if she had a pen handy and then read out the list of surnames from the back of the photo.