The Final Cut by Robert Jeffreys

Author:Robert Jeffreys
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, Crime thriller, police, detective, domestic violence, sex work, modern slavery, prostitution, noir, Western Australia, Perth, 1960s, Jane Harper, AJ Finn, Ian Rankin, Rebus, Michael Robotham
ISBN: 9781760687083
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2021-07-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Saturday, 27 November 1965

2 p.m.

An hour or so later, Spencer returned with the forensic reports for the Hardy murder enquiry. Cardilini took the body forensic report and left her the crime scene forensic report. ‘Let’s go through them and then swap,’ he suggested.

Thirty minutes later he had a troubling list:

Hardy’s blood-alcohol reading suggested he was incapable of walking in a straight line, let alone driving a car.

His stomach contents indicated he’d eaten a Sunday roast at least three hours earlier.

The clothes he was found in suggested he hadn’t dressed for a trip to town and yet he was always considered a snappy dresser.

The fatal knife wound confirmed he was standing over his assailant – just as he’d stood over Jennifer Clancy when he beat her up.

‘You go first with the crime scene report,’ Cardilini said, a fresh pot of tea on the desk.

Spencer expelled a breath and arranged her notes. ‘It would seem quite straightforward.

‘One: body positioning is in line with Hardy having staggered backwards, collapsing and then dying from blood loss within minutes.

‘Two: the blood trail in the park starts where the high-heel shoe imprint was taken, then there are the same shoe imprints up to the bitumen pathway.

‘But I have one question.’

‘Go on.’

‘We’re assuming the knife stayed in the assailant’s hand, right?’

‘Why are we assuming that?’ Cardilini asked.

‘Because there are no shoe prints to the body to retrieve it.’

Cardilini pulled the file towards him. ‘She took her shoes off, maybe?’

‘And risk stepping in Hardy’s blood? No woman would step barefoot in the warm blood of a man she’d just murdered. Well, I wouldn’t.’

‘Okay.’ Cardilini frowned. ‘What else?’

‘The forensics say the knife remained lodged in Hardy’s groin. That’s odd. Knife left in him but nowhere to be found.’

‘She came back for it, not in high heels, and avoided the blood?’

‘That’d be taking a big risk. And she does all this without being seen and then returns to her flat? All before ten?’

‘And no blood was found on the clothes she was wearing that night or any of her other clothes,’ Cardilini said.

‘That’s right. What do you think?’

‘I don’t know. When I rang forensics about that, they were quite pointed in stating there wasn’t any blood spatter on the ground where they thought Hardy was stabbed.’

‘I can’t believe they didn’t find any,’ Spencer said.

‘Maybe they missed it.’

‘What else did they miss?’

Cardilini shrugged. ‘How sound is her alibi after ten?’

‘Spry and Archer accepted it. I’d say it’s reasonably sound. What did you get?’

‘Hardy’s car being parked a block away; did that trouble you?’

‘No. That made sense. If he went to beat this woman he wouldn’t want his car or licence plate to be seen.’

‘What about his blood-alcohol reading.’

‘Yes. And how did he get to that reading on a Sunday night without being seen at any of the local pubs before 10 p.m. closing?’

‘And he had no beer with him,’ Cardilini said.

‘A few discarded beer bottles were found in the park fifty yards away. That mightn’t have been him.’

Cardilini nodded. ‘If

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