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They looked back at Amanda’s body and saw her face was purple and bloated, there was a noose tight around her neck, and her eyes were still open

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‘Do you think this was suicide?’ asked Erika A few hours had passed and Isaac Strong was attending the crime scene with Nils Akerman and his teaated and you can see the deep groove in the neck,’ said Isaac gently tilting the victilass tumbler on the carpet at the top of the stairs, with a residue of what s splash on the wall,’ said Isaac ‘We’ll need to check as in the glass, it could have been that so was dissolved in the drink… or that she was taken by surprise’

Erika and Peterson looked back at Amanda Isaac went on,

‘There is a bruise in the centre of the lower back which concerns me, and the use of the stairs can ohich could ht, there was someone here and in the darkness she walked into the noose The bruise in the lower back could be where she was shoved off the top step’

Peterson got up and went to the loft hatch which lay halfway up the stairs, attached to the other end of the rope

‘The rope was tied to the inside of the loft hatch There’s a metal bar still attached to the other side of this hatch, a bracket for a pull-down ladder,’ he said ‘And the hatch has one of those pull down latches which can be opened with a pole with a hook on the end’

Erika looked around at the mess of plaster and dust in the hallway

‘Any chance of a time of death Isaac?’ asked Erika

‘I’ll know more when I’ve had a closer look,’ he said The crirapher moved in and the hallway lit up as he took pictures

Nils appeared in the living room doorway,

‘I think you’ll want to take a look at this,’ he said

They followed hi room was much the same as the last time they saw it Only the laptop had been re over the , and the landline in the hall has been removed,’ said Nils ‘But her purse is still on the counter in the kitchen beside the kettle It’s got two hundred pounds still inside and all the credit cards’

‘So it wasn’t a robbery’

‘There’s no sign of forced entry,’ added Nils

‘The kitchen door was still open e arrived,’ said Peterson

‘But if the person cah the kitchen, they would have seen the purse there’

Erika noticed so on the top of the coloves from her pocket

‘She wasn’t the thinnest person,’ said Peterson as she picked the se Erika noticed that the chocolate inside ell past its use by date, it had solidified and was oozing out of the orange foil