Windchill Read Free Page A

it?"  
    "It is, aye. Sharon'd kill to live in Juniper Green."
    "Not you?"
    "Maybe a bit of assault and battery but not killing." Cullen set off towards the hubbub, a wave of dread hitting his stomach as he thought of the words they'd have later. "Come on."
    A uniformed officer was manning the crime scene outside the house's front gate. He held out a clipboard as they approached. "Need to get you to sign in."
    "Right." Cullen filled in both of their names. "Is DI Methven here?"
    "Aye." The uniform rolled his eyes. "He's inside the house now."
    "Cheers." Cullen led over to the building, noting DS Catriona Rarity running the inner locus, the interior. She stood in the front doorway, the door open wide; inside, the cream walls were soot damaged higher up, the expensive wood-flooring covered in mud and sailing with water.
    A figure in a SOCO suit stormed out - tall, athletic and male - before tugging at his mask and goggles and letting the whole thing rest behind him. DI Colin Methven.
    Another figure followed him, a similar motion revealing Jimmy Deeley, the city's chief pathologist. He led two assistants as they took great care to roll a gurney into the back of a van, a black body bag lying on the top.
    Methven trotted up the path towards Cullen and Buxton and watched the pathology team load up the van. "Morning, Constables."
    "Morning, sir." Cullen did up another button on his coat, the sweat now turning to a sheet of ice. "What's made you drag me in today?"
    Methven scowled at him before nodding over to the van. "The fire service got the call late last night. It's taken them until this morning to stabilise the building and do a proper search. That's when they found the body."
    "How bad is it?"
    "Not that bad. My understanding is they got here in sufficient time to prevent the blaze getting out of control. Our victim is reasonably well preserved."
    "Victim?"
    "Indeed. I'll come on to that. The body found was not a blackened lump, put it that way."
    "I see." Cullen folded his arms, the cold now biting into him. "Any idea who it is?"
    "Steven McCoull."
    "How do they know it's him?"
    "He had a distinguishing feature, Constable." Methven leaned down and ran his hand up and down his leg below the knee, the suit crumpling with the motion. "Deeley managed to get hold of his GP. Reckons Mr McCoull had a metal pin inserted in his leg as a result of a cycling accident in his teens. Knocked off in front of a bus on Lothian Road. Needless to say, they've found it."
    "Okay. So, you said he was a victim?"
    "Which is the reason we're here, gentlemen. This is bloody suspicious." Methven clapped his hands together and turned his back on Deeley's crew, closing his eyes as he spoke. "All of his teeth and fingernails were removed and his arms were broken."
    "So he wasn't that badly burnt?"
    "Quite. I've seen the corpse and I'm thinking the cause of death was smoke inhalation rather than fire." Methven finally reopened his eyes, little slits beneath his thick eyebrows, little strands escaping up. "We found what looks very much like a toolbox in the living room. The metal's charred rather than melted."
    "So, you're saying it looks like he was tortured before he died?"
    "That's my working hypothesis, Constable." Methven smoothed down his eyebrows, a couple of strands still escaping. "People in Juniper Green don't tend to pull out their teeth before setting fire to their own house."
    "You live here, don't you, sir?"
    "Currie."
    "Right." Cullen waved around, his arms taking in the entirety of the house. "What else's been happening here?"
    "We've now got street teams going door-to-door around the neighbours under Catriona Rarity's command."
    Bollocks. Cullen winced. "And you want us on that?"
    "I do." Methven focused on Cullen as he thumbed behind them. "Make yourselves useful and go and speak to an Alistair Walker. Lives two doors down in number fourteen. He called the fire in last night." He sighed. "Too late, obviously."

Chapter 5

    Cullen stopped