Stilled Voices (DCI Murrain Book 4) by Alex Walters

Author:Alex Walters [Walters, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-10-14T20:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

'How's it looking?' Murrain asked. He and Marie Donovan had just emerged from the interview with Judy Clayburn and had encountered Neil Ferbrache, fully suited, emerging from the kitchen.

Ferbrache removed his helmet before responding. 'To be honest, we haven't found much inside so far. There's no sign of any struggle. No evidence the killing took place in here. We've found a few fingerprints that don't match either of the Clayburns, but they have a cleaner who comes in three times a week so they'll probably turn out to be hers. The rear door was left open but it hadn't been forced, so it looks as if it was probably opened from the inside. There's no sign of any other break in. The front door was locked from the inside, so it looks as if no-one came in or went out that way, and none of the downstairs windows seem to have been disturbed.'

'What about in the garden?' Donovan asked.

'That's where it gets a little more interesting. There are some patches in the back garden that look as if they're probably blood. It's difficult to be definitive at the moment because the evidence has been degraded so much by the weather. We've now set up a protective tent over the area, so we can at least prevent it getting any worse. We've taken samples and will get them tested. But it looks probable that the killing took place somewhere in the back garden.'

'So how would the body have ended up in the water?'

'The land behind here drops pretty steeply down towards the stream. There's only a fairly low fence at the rear of the garden. From the position of the bloodstains – if that's what they are – the body might have either fallen or been pushed over the fence and dropped down the slope. At another time, it would have ended up on the bank, but with the waters so high it could easily have rolled all the way in from up here.'

Murrain nodded. 'Do you think it was an attempt to hide the body?'

'I'm guessing not. If the killer knew how high the waters were, I suppose the aim might have been to let the waters take it. But it's really just an overgrown stream so, even at a time like this, it wasn't going to take the body very far. More likely the body either toppled over by itself or was pushed to help keep the blood off the killer's body.'

'What do you reckon, Ferby? To me, this feels too much like Gorman's killing for comfort.'

'That was my thinking. The circumstances are almost identical. The body's found outside, having probably left the house in the small hours. No signs of any kind of break in or struggle. The nature of the stabbing looks very similar. Just looking objectively at all of that, I think you'd be struggling not to link them, at least tentatively.'

'What's even more weird,' Donovan added, 'is the similarity between the two victims' occupations.

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