The Murder House. Michael Wood

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СКАЧАТЬ or less,’ Matilda said with a smile. ‘Just one more room to sort out.’

      ‘I bet you’re glad. There’s nothing like your own home, is there?’

      ‘No,’ Matilda replied. She returned to looking out of the window. She had only officially moved in a week ago. It was a bit early to be calling it her home. When she thought of home, she thought of the house her husband built; the one they both agonized over the plans of: how big the kitchen should be, where the downstairs toilet should go, the colour of the tiles in the bathroom. James had put his blood, sweat, and tears into that house. That was her home – their home. This new house was … at the moment she didn’t know what it was; somewhere to lay her head.

      They pulled up as close as they could to the police cordon. From here, they couldn’t see the house but the faces on the uniformed officers who were milling around were grim. It was not a good sign.

      Matilda looked around at the nosy neighbours as they stood on the side of the road gossiping among themselves. ‘You know those cases that you always go back to, that you can’t shake off? I get the feeling this is going to be one of them.’

      ‘Haven’t we had enough of those, lately?’ Sian quipped, pulling her coat tight against the cold.

      Pathologist, Adele Kean, parked behind them. Her assistant, Lucy Dauman hesitantly got out of the front passenger seat, flicking back her blonde hair, a habit she was well known for.

      ‘Rory told me to imagine the worst crime scene I can, then times it by a hundred,’ Adele said, her face pale with worry. ‘Please tell me he was exaggerating.’

      ‘I haven’t been in yet,’ Matilda said. ‘I’ve been told it’s bad.’

      ‘Oh my God,’ Lucy muttered.

      ‘Lucy, get a couple of suits out of the back and we’ll probably need to double up. We’ll need extra gloves and overshoes too.’

      Lucy remained where she was. She was relatively new to this job and only in her mid-twenties. She was fine assisting in post mortems, but crime scenes always seemed to upset her. Adele, however, was a seasoned professional, yet even she looked green. This was going to be a nightmare for Lucy. She slowly walked to the boot of the car to get what they needed.

      All four women made their way down the driveway to the beautiful stone-built double-fronted house with its sash windows, side breast chimney, and a cast iron shoe scraper by the door. Neither of them spoke. A uniformed police officer was standing on the doorstep. He knew who they all were and began writing their names down on his clipboard. His hand was shaking.

      ‘I’m sorry, I can’t recall your name,’ he said to Lucy in a quivering voice. She told him and spelled her surname. He gave her a smile of thanks, but it wasn’t genuine. He looked too frightened to smile.

      An ambulance was parked close to the house, its back doors open, but nobody was inside.

      The front door was opened from the inside and Rory greeted them. He was wearing a white forensic suit which was covered in bloodstains. To the untrained eye, Rory looked like the murderer and had been caught in the act. Usually, DC Fleming was the life and soul of the team, always ready with a joke or a sarcastic comment to lighten even the most difficult of moods. However, he was looking down at the floor, his expression ashen.

      ‘Rory?’ Matilda asked.

      ‘Ma’am, nobody needs to see this if they don’t have to,’ he said quietly.

      ‘Oh God,’ Lucy said.

      ‘Where am I heading for, Rory?’ Adele asked.

      ‘Forensics are on the top floor in the attic bedroom. There’s a body on the stairs, be careful. And … prepare yourself for what you see on the first-floor landing.’

      ‘Thanks. Let’s suit up then, Lucy.’ Adele tried to sound professional, but there was a definite tinge of fear in her voice.

      Matilda angled her head to look past Rory into the kitchen. A uniformed officer was comforting a fellow officer who was bent over, in tears.

      ‘Who’s that?’

      ‘PC Tranter, ma’am. She’s not handling it very well. I told her to have a break.’

      Matilda and Adele exchanged glances. Both looked worried.

      ‘There’ll be nothing we can do until forensics say it’s OK for us to go in. Rory, is there anywhere we can go for you to talk us through it?’

      ‘The living room is free,’ he said.

      The lounge was a huge space, expensively decorated in neutral colours, though the feature wall with a real fireplace was painted in a warm deep blue. The carpet smelled new, the curtains were rich and expensive. The whole room oozed class and taste.

      Rory headed for the sofa and slumped down in the middle. ‘I have never seen anything like this before in my life. It’s like a horror film up there.’

      ‘Are you all right?’ Sian asked, sitting next to him.

      ‘No,’ he said. ‘I will be. I just need a minute.’

      Matilda sat on the edge of an armchair. She looked at a gorgeous grandfather clock in the corner of the room and listened to the heavy ticking. It would look great in her new hallway. There was a photograph on the mantelpiece of a couple raising a glass of champagne to the camera. They looked happy.

      ‘Rory, what have we got here?’

      He swallowed hard then looked up at his boss. ‘There’s a young guy on the stairs, about my age, I’d say. He’s been stabbed a fair few times.’ He blew out his cheeks and took a deep breath. ‘On the first-floor landing there’s an old-ish bloke who’s practically been decapitated.’ He swallowed hard. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just … there’s so much blood. I’ve never seen so much blood. Every time I close my eyes, I’m just seeing red.’ He ran his fingers through his short dark hair and took a deep breath. ‘On the top floor there’s a woman. You can’t make out her face at all.’ He took another breath which shook with fear. ‘In the small bedroom at the top of the stairs there was a young girl. She was tied to a chair.’ His voice quivered with emotion. ‘She was drenched in blood.’

      ‘Is she dead?’

      ‘No. She hasn’t got a mark on her. I think the blood must belong to the other victims. God only knows what she must have seen. There was a dog with her too; a Dalmatian, only a puppy. He was covered in blood as well.’

      ‘Where are they now?’ Matilda asked.

      ‘The girl is at the hospital. I think she’s in shock. She didn’t say anything. A PC is with her. The dog is in the back of the forensics van.’

      ‘OK. The dog is a crime scene. He’ll need checking out. Maybe the killer touched him. Or maybe the dog bit him.’

      Rory nodded. ‘I carried her to the ambulance,’ he said, a tear rolling down his face. ‘You should have seen how she was looking at me. She couldn’t take her eyes off me. I didn’t know what to say to her.’

      ‘Rory, СКАЧАТЬ