Down in the Blood: PI Blake Hollow Book 2 by Malcolm Richards

Author:Malcolm Richards [Richards, Malcolm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781914452109

26

The crackle of police radios came through the closed living room door. Blake sat alone in the far corner, watching Judy and Charlie on the sofa, the children nestled safely between them as their tired eyes fought to stay awake to watch cartoons on the television. Blake had already given a statement to the police and was now waiting for permission to go home. The forensics team was not available, so uniformed officers had gloved up and were busy searching for fingerprints in the kitchen, hallway, and in Stacey’s bedroom. The grotesque wax doll had already been photographed, bagged and tagged, but not before Blake had taken her own picture of it before the police had arrived. She wondered who had made such an awful thing and left it under the bedsheets of an innocent young child.

Her gaze wandered to the television screen, where animated characters were busy bashing each other over the heads with mallets while colours flashed like a kaleidoscope. On the sofa, Charlie was gaunt and pale. Judy’s eyes were red from crying. She glanced over at Blake, and for a second her frightened expression gave way to anger. Kissing the girls’ heads, she got to her feet and padded over to where Blake was sitting in an armchair. Her dress was creased and tear-stained, and sprigs of hair had sprung loose from her hair clip. She stood over Blake for a moment, then sat down on the carpet, awkwardly folding her legs beneath her.

“How are you bearing up?” Blake asked softly.

A fresh tear sailed down Judy’s cheek. She wiped it away.

“I swear I locked the back door,” she whispered, then glanced over her shoulder to make sure the girls weren’t listening. “In fact, I know I did. I remember doing it.”

“Maybe he picked the lock,” Blake said, lowering her voice to match Judy’s.

“Did you go out to the back garden? Maybe you forgot to lock the door when you came back in.”

“I promise you I never left the house.” She glanced over at Stacey, who was curled into her father’s side and sucking her thumb. “Is she okay?”

“She’s shaken up. The police want to interview her, but they’re waiting for a female officer.” Judy leaned in closer, dropping her voice even further so that Blake had to lean forward to hear. “What did she tell you, when you went into her room?”

Blake repeated what she had already shared with Judy, that Stacey had seen what she thought was a monster with large horns and no skin, and that it had come into her room and tucked the wax figure into her bed.

Judy shuddered. “What the hell was that thing? It looked like a Voodoo doll.”

“I don’t know,” Blake said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Another tear slipped from Judy’s eyes. She quickly swept it away. “Whoever put it there, they wanted to hurt Stacey. But why? She’s seven years old for Christ’s sake.”

Blake shrugged. “Maybe the intention was to scare more than to hurt.”

“Well, they did a bloody good job!”

Over on the sofa, Charlie and the girls turned their heads in unison.

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