What Will Burn, by James Oswald, part four: She was too old and frail to save herself from burning to death. What a horrible way to go...

Janie glanced up at the clock over the door, disappointed to see that it was barely noon yet. A long afternoon lay ahead of her before shift end, and she had a horrible feeling she wouldn’t be going home then either.

‘How did we even find out about this? The pathologist reckons she’d been dead a week and nobody noticed.’

‘Local farmer delivering her groceries, apparently. Talk about being cut off, eh? There’s an old track goes right up to the cottage, but the bridge collapsed a few months back and everything has to come in by tractor.’

Janie made a mental note to add interviewing the farmer to the list of actions already piling up.

‘Guess we’d better speak to him. And find out who else has been there recently.’

‘Who’s SIO on this then?’ Blane asked as he laboriously tapped at the keyboard.

‘We don’t even know if it’s suspicious yet, Lofty. Nothing at the scene to suggest it wasn’t just a horrible accident. Let’s see what the post-mortem brings up, aye?’

‘You know when that’ll be? Don’t want to waste too much time on this if it’s no’ suspicious. I’ve enough work for two as it is.’

‘Doctor Cadwallader said he’d let me know, but it might be a few days. Just need to make sure we’ve all the background on the poor old dear before then. I’ll take what we’ve got to DI Ritchie soon as she gets back in from wherever she is right now. She can decide whether to make our lives more difficult than they already are.’

‘You reckon we’ll get any more officers soon?’ Blane asked.

It was a question that bounced around the echoing walls of the near empty CID room most days. The team hadn’t exactly been large to start with, but they’d lost two detectives since the summer. One retired, one... well, who knew? Maybe they’d all be reassigned to other teams within the Specialist Crime Division. Still nominally based in the city but tasked wherever there was an investigation needing their skills.

Or maybe there would be yet another reorganisation and something entirely new would rise from the ashes.

‘Kirsty’s asked. Many times. Doesn’t help that they’re still arguing over who’s going to be the new station chief here. Nobody wants to make any staffing decisions until the top spot’s filled.’

‘Well maybe I have some good news for you then.’ Blane clicked once more, sending whatever he’d been doing to the printer.

He pushed back his chair, swivelled it around to face her. ‘Word is the new boss starts next week. Apparently she’s coming up from England. The Met, no less.’

‘She?’

‘That’s what Jay says.’

Blane nodded towards DC Stringer’s desk, empty since he was on late shift and wouldn’t be in until it got dark.

‘He’s been known to get it wrong from time to time, mind you.’

‘Not on something like that.’

Janie followed Blane to the printer, busily churning out twice as many pages as they’d asked it for.

‘Wonder what persuaded her to come north.’

‘Probably hit the glass ceiling down there. Reckoned she’d have more chance of promotion if she moved. Either that or she really likes haggis and whisky.’

‘You’re such a cynic, Lofty.’

Janie grabbed the first few sheets from the printer and started flicking through them. Not much detail at all. Cecily Slater, so much a recluse that nobody noticed when her house caught on fire. Too old and frail to save herself from burning to death. What a horrible way to go.

‘What’s the plan of action?’ Blane asked.

‘Write it all up and pass it on. We’re only lowly constables, after all.’

What Will Burn is the eleventh book in James Oswald’s best-selling Inspector McLean series:

The charred remains of an elderly woman are discovered in a burned-out game-keepers cottage, hidden away in woodland to the west of Edinburgh. Clearly no accidental fire, Detective Inspector Tony McLean suspects that neither is this simply a grim arson attack. There is far more to the victim than her humble surroundings might suggest, and something ritualistic to her horrific murder. Nor will it be the only case of death by fire that Tony and his team will be faced with. This is only the beginning, and with such evil clouding the air, Tony begins to wonder what else will burn...

To continue reading What Will Burn, by James Oswald, is published in hardback by Wildfire, priced £16.99, tomorrow, Thursday 12, February

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