Ragged Alice by Gareth L. Powell

Author:Gareth L. Powell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor.com

13.

THE MAYOR’S HOUSE WAS situated at the top of a steep lane and overlooked the town. From the front, you could see the sea. From the rear, fields and woodland and, in the distance, the outbuildings of the abandoned RAF base a couple of miles up the coast.

His body lay stretched across the kitchen table. One arm dangled loosely. A shoe lay on its side. As with the previous two victims, his eyes had been punctured—this time with pencils—and an incision made in his abdomen.

Holly let her weight rest on her crutch.

“Who found him?”

“The cleaner,” Scott said. “Her name’s Mrs. Andrews. She comes in twice a week to give the place the once-over. She found him when she turned up for work at nine this morning.”

Holly’s eyes roved over the kitchen’s counters. A dirty plate lay in the sink, and a single mug sat next to the kettle, waiting to be filled.

“So you’ve had people here since nine?”

“Jensen and Potts secured the scene, and the forensic people have already been in. We just thought we should let you see the room before we moved the body.” A private black-liveried ambulance waited outside to transport the corpse to the coroner’s mortuary. Its driver stood out on the pavement, smoking a cigarette.

“Is Potts the one that was being an asshole at the butcher’s shop?”

“That’s him.”

“Why didn’t you call me earlier?”

“To be honest, we figured you could use the rest.”

Holly decided to ignore that. “This cleaner,” she said. “She has her own key?”

“And an alibi for last night. She was at the bingo until eleven.”

“And what was the time of death?”

Scott checked his notes. “As far as the doc can tell from a preliminary examination, somewhere between six and nine thirty. But I’m hoping to narrow that down once the pathologist takes a look at him. And the coroner’s going to want to take a look and all.”

Holly frowned. “So Davies might already have been dead by the time I got run off the road?”

“It’s possible.”

“Damn.” Holly massaged her forehead with the fingers and thumb of her free hand. She glanced back to the solitary dirty plate in the sink.

“Where’s Mrs. Davies?”

“Staying with friends in Cardiff, apparently.”

“Has she been informed?”

“An officer went round this morning to break the news.”

“How did she take it?”

Scott rubbed his jaw. “She wasn’t that upset by all accounts.”

“Do you think she might be a suspect?” If Lao’s gossip was to be believed, the woman’s husband had slept with Hughes and Owen. Could all this be the work of a jealous, neglected spouse?

“I’ll ask the Cardiff people to look into her whereabouts last night.”

“Okay, and get the uniforms to canvass the neighbours, to see if any of them noticed anything out of the ordinary.”

“Will do.”

“And I want a full debriefing from Jensen and Potts.”

“Yes, guv.”

* * *

Scott drove Holly back to the hotel, where, waving away all offers of help, she hobbled her way from the kerb to the incident room and collapsed into one of the chairs surrounding the central conference table.

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