But he has not been to her house for nearly a month as he was given time off over Christmas.
Imagine his horror when he entered through the side door off the lounge and immediately noticed a large amount of blood on the wall.
Stepping into the lounge, he saw a body on the floor — it was Mrs Milner, face up on the carpet, with maggots on her rotting corpse.
Luckily, this is not a real murder; instead, it is a mock crime scene investigation, staged behind police tape in the corner of a lecture room at the University of Otago.
And the crime officers who have to figure out this slaying are secondary school pupils taking part in the annual Science Academy.
Lecturer and forensic anthropologist Dr Angela Clark said the pupils were working together to collect evidence and solve a murder mystery.
"They are going to look at bloodstain patterns, look at fingerprint analyses, they are going to swab for DNA."
Academy director Steve Broni said about 50 pupils attending the academy this year were nominated by their teachers as potentially high achievers.
"We see it as a way of trying to identify these potential scientists from heartland New Zealand."
Pupils from rural communities had the potential to do very well in science, he said.
"If you think about Kiwi characteristics, you know, like the resilience, the ingenuity, the No8 wire mentality ... you put that in a science context, and you’ve got a winner."
Their time at the science academy gave them a chance to experience the university’s lab facilities and learn from specialist teachers.
"Our theme for this year is ‘the truth is out there, but can you find it’."
Over the next six months, the pupils will be working on a science communication project, which they will present to a public audience at the end of July.
