Chapter 4 – Establishing the Facts

The Honore police team gasped when they saw the body of the singer everyone was talking about the night before. The dressing room was square in shape, about three metres square, with a coffee table in the middle, four chairs at the right hand side and a cupboard on the left. There was a counter with drawers underneath facing you as you walked in the door and there was a kettle and four cups and an empty glass on it. Heather lay on the floor between the table and chairs and her guitar case was at the opposite side of the table, her handbag on the furthest away chair and her jacket on the back of the next one, which had been pushed forward and almost touched her head. A crumpled set list and a small pile of CDs lay on the table along with a crisp packet. The blow to Heather's head was on the left hand side nearest the chair and there was a small pool of drying blood on the floor and a spraying on the table legs.

'I can't believe I was talking to her about songs just eight hours ago!' exclaimed Jack as he knelt down to get a closer look.

'You OK Inspector?' enquired Florence.

'Yes, just a bit of a shock, for everyone I suppose' he assured her. 'Anyway', he said, addressing Herve who had shown them to the dressing room. 'Let's get this straight'. This woman was found dead in this room at 1am by your barmaid?'

'Yes' replied Herve cautiously, watching J P taking photos of the body, and Dwayne beginning to look around the room. 'I called 911 and reported the death and a doctor came an hour later, at two. Confirmed she had died but said she couldn't confirm death had been caused by the injury to the head. She must have tripped on something, her things were left out in such a mess!'

'True. For a sudden death like this a post mortem will be necessary to confirm cause of death' Jack filled him in.

'So, when did you last see the victim alive?' asked Florence.

'Around half past twelve, after she had finished signing CDs and talking to audience members. She packed away her merchandise and came through here to pack up the rest of her things'.

'How did she seem? Was she still in good health or was she anxious?'

'She was fine. There was no cause for concern at that time'

'So she must have died in the half-hour between then and when she was discovered. Did you or anybody who was still here at the time hear her fall or scream?' asked Jack.

'Nobody mentioned it, but she was in the room on her own and the few people who were still here at the time were either in the bar or still in the hall where there was music playing'.

'It must have been a very hard blow to the head to have killed her' remarked Florence.

'Yes, very tragic' said Herve.

'Could you excuse us for a minute?' Jack asked him.

'Sure' said Herve. 'I'll be in the office across the corridor'.

After he had left Jack addressed Florence 'What are you thinking?'

Florence pointed to Heather's face. 'Well, normally when someone suffers a fatal head injury you would expect to see bleeding or fluid coming from the nose or ears?'

'Of course, and there's nothing' sighed Jack. 'And look at this!' He opened the victim's mouth to reveal a brown, withered tongue and scarring on the inside or her cheeks. 'Definitely nothing to do with the blow to the head!'

'And I was just wondering, chief' joined in Dwayne. 'What did she hit her head on? I can't see anything in the room with enough blood on it'

'Very good point Dwayne!' Jack acknowledged. 'There are a lot of things lying about as Herve said, plenty tripping hazards, but she would surely have had to have hit her head on something very big and hard for death to have been caused so quickly. Surely it would be obvious what it was, and there would be more blood, but as you say there is nothing!'

'There is some blood coming from the head, though' pointed out J P, who had photographed the wound. The others had a look at it.

'I can't say for sure, but in my experience this doesn't look like a bad enough bump to cause death' Jack concluded. 'We will have to wait for the post mortem results, but I am inclined to think the state of the victim's mouth tells the true story. J P, can you take a photo of this please?'

'Yes sir' the young officer said, taking the picture while Jack held the mouth open.

'This looks more consistent with poisoning' pointed out Florence.

'My thoughts exactly' agreed Jack.

'So you think she was murdered?' Dwayne stated what was practically the obvious.

'More than likely. Poisoning poorly disguised to look like a tragic accident' Jack agreed. 'Any food or drink lying around?'

'Over here!' J P picked up the water glass that Heather had been given before the start of the show. It had a lipstick stain which indicated Heather had drunk from it, 'Empty but there would be a trace, wouldn't there?'

Jack sniffed the inside of the glass 'Nothing obvious but it could be in there'. He proceeded to sniff the four cups but shook his head. 'No, nothing, but there is a bad smell in the room though. Bag these and send them off to the lab'.

J P put the glass and cups in evidence bags and put them carefully aside while Dwayne kept looking for anything else that could be relevant. Florence picked up the crisp packet and sniffed inside it. 'Nothing unusual about this...smells just like the potato chips you get here'

Jack smelled the packet for himself 'Yes I agree but bag this too anyway'

'Sir!' said Dwayne, pointing to a waste paper bin and gagging. The others went over and saw the vomit in and around the bin.

'Vomiting and nausea are usually the first signs of poisoning' pointed out Jack. 'Right, Dwayne, J P, keep looking in here. In the meantime the body can be released, and Florence, I think we need to go and have another chat with Mr Picard'

'You think she was murdered?! She didn't die from the head injury!?' Herve gasped across his desk at Jack and Florence.

'Well we can't be sure until the post mortem results come back but from what we've seen it doesn't look like it' Jack clarified.

'But who would have done this?!'

'That's what we need to find out. Were there still a lot of people in the centre at the time Mrs Munro would have died?' Jack continued.

'No, I had already asked my barmaid to lock the front door so the only people that would have been here were myself and Claire, the barmaid, the young man that was sitting with you and your daughter during the concert, and a couple from Scotland who seemed to know Mrs Munro'

'Are there any other doors, a stage door perhaps, where anyone else could have got out or in?' asked Florence.

'There is the fire escape at the back of the building but I would have known if it had been opened as it would have set off the alarm' Herve assured them.

'So, the only people who could possibly have done this were the five of you that were here?' Florence continued.

'I suppose so. But as I told you I didn't see or hear anything'

'Do you have CCTV?'

'Not real CCTV. The camera in the corridor is a dummy'

'Well we'll have to speak to all of the people you mentioned. I assume you can easily get in touch with Claire?' asked Jack

'Yes, but I had never met the others before'

'Well, I know where the young man, George, is staying because my daughter walked him there yesterday. Do you know anything about the Scottish couple at all?'

'Only that they're musicians too and playing a gig in the square this afternoon'

'Great, we'll head down there and catch them as they'll probably be setting up. We'll be back to speak to you all straight away so don't go anywhere, OK?'

'OK' agreed Herve, seemingly reluctantly.