Entry Island Read Free Page B

into the arched roof. A large dining table and chairs stood off to the left, and at the far side an open-plan kitchen was partitioned from the main entrance by a standing dresser. A staircase dog-legged up to a mezzanine level on the right, and to their left another three curved steps led up to a sitting area with a grand piano and three-piece suite set around an open fireplace.
    Almost in the centre of the floor a man lay on his back, one arm thrown out to his right, the other by his side. He was wearing dark-blue slacks and a white shirt that was soaked in blood. His legs were stretched straight out, slightly parted, his feet in their Italian leather shoes tilting to right and left. His eyes were wide open, as was his mouth. Unnaturally so. But the most striking thing was the way his blood was smeared across the floor all around him. In streaks and pools and random patterns. Bloody footprints seemed to circle him. Naked feet, which had left a trail leading away from the body towards the kitchen and then back, fading on the return before picking up fresh blood to track away to theconservatory and down the steps. The main body of blood was almost dry now, oxidised, sticky and brown in colour.
    ‘Jesus!’ Marie-Ange’s voice came in a breath. ‘When you said mess you weren’t kidding.’
    Aucoin said, ‘This is how it was when we arrived. Mrs Cowell claims she attempted CPR and tried to stop the bleeding. Without success.’
    ‘Obviously.’ Marie-Ange’s tone was dry.
    Aucoin shifted uncomfortably. ‘The footprints are hers. She ran over to the kitchen to get a towel to staunch the flow of blood. One of my men found it lying out there in the grass at first light. When she couldn’t revive him she ran down the hill to a neighbour’s house for help.’ He paused. ‘That’s the story she told them, anyway.’
    Marie-Ange moved around the body like a cat, examining every pool and spatter of blood, every footprint and smear on the floor. Sime found it difficult to watch her. ‘There are other footprints here,’ she said. ‘The tread of a shoe.’
    ‘That would be the nurse. She came when the neighbours called. She had to ascertain that he was dead. Then she called us.’
    ‘If the wife attempted CPR she must be covered in blood herself,’ Crozes said.
    ‘Oh yes, sir, she is.’ Aucoin nodded gravely.
    ‘I hope you haven’t allowed her to wash or change.’ Marie-Ange cast him a look almost as acid as her tone.
    ‘No, ma’am.’
    She turned to Lapointe. ‘We’ll need to have her photographed and medically examined, checked for fibres and injuries. I’ll want samples from beneath her nails. And you’ll need to bag her clothes and take them back with you to Montreal for forensic examination.’ She returned her attention to Aucoin. ‘Is there a doctor on the island?’
    ‘No, ma’am, just the nurse. There’s two of them. They come week about.’
    ‘She’ll have to do then. And I guess I’ll have to be the examining officer, since it’s a woman.’
    Blanc said, ‘Was there any sign of a break-in?’
    Aucoin’s laugh was involuntary. But he quickly caught himself. ‘No. There would be no need to break in. No one on the island locks their doors.’
    Lieutenant Crozes clapped his hands. ‘Okay, let’s get started. Have you interviewed the wife, Sergeant Aucoin?’
    ‘No, sir. I took statements from the neighbours, that’s all.’
    ‘Good.’ Crozes turned towards Sime. ‘Why don’t you and Blanc set up in the summerhouse and take an initial statement before we do the medical exam?’

CHAPTER THREE
    The sound of her voice was almost hypnotic. Monotonous, unemotional. She recounted the events of the night before as if she were reading them off a printed account for the umpteenth time. And yet the images they painted for Sime were vivid enough, filled as they were with detail that he supplied himself from his own picture of the crime scene.
    But it was a picture that came and went, in sharp