Hold Your Breath by M.L. Rose

Author:M.L. Rose [Rose, ML]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 32

The hallway was narrow, and the bare floorboards creaked under Roy’s boots. The house wasn’t in good shape. The fading yellow wallpaper was peeling at the corners. A smell of rotten vegetables came from the kitchen that lay directly ahead. A staircase went up from their left.

Roy moved ahead on the ground floor, while Rizwan and a couple of uniformed constables raced up the stairs. The first room had a TV on the floor, and a tattered old black leather sofa. Pizza boxes and beer cans, along with some lads magazines, littered the floor.

An old, musty smell pervaded the room, and Roy crinkled his nose. The windows were all shut, and he resisted the urge to open one sash of the bay windows that faced the street. But he didn’t want to disturb evidence.

With a gloved hand, he lifted the lid of one of the pizza boxes. One slice remained, and it didn’t look that old. This pizza was probably eaten last night. The beer cans were all empty. There was an old patterned rug on the floor, with liquid stains on it.

He moved on to the next room, where there was a dining table, and a set of garden doors, that led to the small lawn outside. The lawn was overgrown, and tall weeds grew at the sides and back, by the fences. Roy cast his eyes around the room. The dining table had four chairs, and he noticed food crumbs on the table.

He moved into the kitchen, and the smell of rotting food was stronger now, assaulting his nostrils. He grimaced, and opened the garden door, which had a key hanging from the lock. There was a plate in the sink, with two pieces of cutlery. That would be useful for DNA. He opened the cupboards, and found them reasonably well stocked with cans, tea and coffee. Luke was definitely living here, and he wasn’t long gone.

Rizwan shouted his name and Roy went up the stairs. A small bathroom lay to his right, facing the street. There were two bedrooms to his left, the rear room facing the garden. Riz and a uniformed constable were inside the first bedroom. The wall opposite the bed, and above the desk, had numerous photos, maps and newspaper articles stuck on it.

Most of the photos were of Emma. Her parents also appeared in some. The photos were taken with a long-distance lens, through foliage, and between buildings. He saw several close-ups of Emma’s face, including a few of her wearing a blue evening dress. She was posing in one of them with Declan standing next to her.

‘Bloody hell,’ Rizwan muttered. ‘He was obsessed with her.’

‘And her family,’ Roy pointed to the photos of Edward and his wife. Luke was following them around. Roy got closer to the wall, and tapped the photo of Emma in her evening dress. ‘Emma was found in that dress, wasn’t she? He took this on the night of her murder.’

Rizwan agreed. ‘And the waitresses saw him speaking to her, in the dark corner by the stairs.

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