Not Dead Enough

the fire door to the stairwell, and saw to her dismay that, despite her call to the bolshy caretaker – who lived in another block nearby – the workmen had left the stairwell blocked for the weekend with lengths of plasterboard and a whole pile of timber.
    Cursing them, she debated whether to try to stumble her way through it all, then, thinking better of it, she pressed the button for the lift. And seconds later heard it clanking, jerking, bumping obediently upwards, reaching her floor with a jarring clang, before the door slid open with a sound like a shovel smoothing gravel.
    She stepped in and the door closed again with the same sound, enclosing her. She breathed in the smell of someone else’s perfume and lemon-scented cleaning fluid. The lift jerked upwards a few inches, so sharply she almost fell over.
    And now, too late to change her mind and get out, with the metal walls pressing in around her and a small, almost opaque mirror reflecting her mostly invisible face, they lunged sharply downwards.
    She was about to realize she had just made the worst mistake of her life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    The world of Sussex Police is central to my Roy Grace series of novels, and I am indebted to the many officers and support staff there who make me so welcome and give me so much help. At the top of the list is Chief Constable Joe Edwards for his very kind sanction. Totally indispensable is my wise, good friend, retired Chief Superintendent Dave Gaylor, who has been my mentor within Sussex Police for many years, as well as my inspiration for the character of Roy Grace. He is my chief researcher, a font of creative ideas, and has the patience of a saint, helping me in so many ways on this novel, as on the previous ones. It would have been a considerably lesser book without him.
    To single out a few other names in particular – and please forgive omissions – Chief Superintendent Kevin Moore has been incredibly supportive, and High Tech Crime Investigator Ray Packham of the High Tech Crime Unit and his wife, Jen, have been brilliantly helpful and inventive with their ideas. I’ve had a quite exceptional amount of help in understanding the current state of Brighton’s lowlife – and the policing of it – from Constable Paul Grzegorzek of the Local Support Team. And also Sergeant Julian Clapp, who sent more than a few shivers through me when walking me through the custody process, and Inspector Mark Powles of the Sussex Police Force Identification Unit.
    I want to thank Detective Inspector Roy Apps, Detective Inspector Paul Furnell, PC Matt Webster, Inspector Andy Parr, Sergeant Mark Baker, Chief Superintendent Peter Coll; Sergeant Phil Taylor, Head of the High Tech Crime Unit, and John Shaw, formerly of the High Tech Crime Unit, now at Control Risks Group; Julie Page of the PNC; Detective Sergeant Keith Hallet of the Sussex Police Holmes Unit; Brian Cook, Scientific Support Branch Manager; Detective Inspector William Warner; Senior Scenes of Crime Investigator Stuart Leonard; Senior Analyst Suzy Straughan; DS Jason Tingley; Family Liaison Officers DC Amanda Stroud and DS Louise Pye; and a very special mention to Senior Support Officer Tony Case of the HQ Criminal Investigation Department, who has been incredibly generous with his time, help and enthusiasm.
    Huge thanks are also due to my fantastic Munich team of helpers: Kriminalhauptkommissar Walter Dufter, Ludwig Waldinger and Detlef ‘Ted’ Puchelt of Bayerisches Landeskriminalamt, Franz-Joseph Wilfling, Kriminaloberrat at Kriminalpolizeidirektion 1 München; Andy and Sabine from Krimifestival München; Anette Lippert for all her hard work with the Munich geography for me; and, of course, the Greatest Living German Actor, Hans Jürgen Stockeri, for his enduring patience in driving me to every landmark in Munich at least ten times in search of locations for scenes.
    I’ve had great help from Essex Coroner Dr Peter Dean, consultant pathologist Dr Nigel Kirkham and Home Office Pathologist Dr Vesna Djurovic. And from Dr Robert Dorion, Director of Forensic Dentistry at the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale, Montreal, and author of the definitive ‘Bitemark Evidence’. And I owe a massive thanks to my wonderful friends at Brighton and Hove Mortuary, Elsie Sweetman, Victor Sinden and Sean Didcott, for their endless patience with me and their immense kindness and thoughtfulness.
    Thanks also to Brian Ellis, Dr Andrew Davey, Dr Jonathan Pash,