Part 49: Kiss Goodbye - Part 5

Murder or suicide:





But Agonni were doused in petrol and set alight after he'd broken his neck and died.

He may have engineered some way to make that happen. We should examine the scene for clues.

Do you think it's a serious possibility, Prof? Sounds a bit far-fetched to me.







How about this short piece of rope, Prof? Looks a bit sus to me.

Hmm, yes. The rope...Certainly he could have used the rope to break his own neck, couldn't he?

How's that then?

Well, imagine the rope used in combination with one other thing at the scene. What could that be?





I've got it! The desk! He fixed the rope to the ceiling while he were standing ont' desk, and then jumped off.

It looks like he were a portly fellow. His neck could never have taken it. It would've snapped like a twig!

There's no need for quite such a graphic description, Lucy.

Discussing a victim being burnt alive while the killer watched is fine, but talking about how a neck snapped is beyond the pale.

But yes, I agree with your deduction.

Aren't you overlooking summat though, Prof? If he'd done that, he'd still be dangling fromt' ceiling.

Indeed. So he must have used some implement to break the rope after he jumped.

Can you think what that might have been?




Oh, I get it. He used the lighter to set fire to the rope.

And his body as well.



Eventually the rope would have burnt through, destroying the evidence of his elaborate suicide.

Leaving his charred body ont' floor and nowt else, eh?

And making it look just like he'd been murdered by someone rather hand doing himself in.

So that explains it then. Now we know how the room were locked fromt' inside!

Don't get too excited, Lucy. If our theory were correct, you'd expect to find some signs of scorching on the ceiling.

Before we go any further, would you mind contacting forensics and asking them to see what they can find?

Aye, no probs.