Morgan shrugged. ‘Can’t say, but I didn’t think we had released about the murder weapon being left inside their chest.’
Ben turned to Al. ‘I don’t know offhand if that information was made public, but we’re going to have to look into it.’
Al began to give orders to the three officers standing next to him. ‘Me and you will take the upstairs, Daisy; Eric and Paul can take down. Clean sweep, every cupboard, wardrobe, room, searched. I want to know that we didn’t miss an inch of this place.’
Eric held up a hand. ‘Attics and cellars?’
Al nodded. ‘Absolutely, anywhere we can’t access we’ll either see if there’s a key or break the door down.’
‘The victim is the security guard; I’m sure she’ll have a set of keys for the place on her,’ Morgan said.
‘Perfect, seeing as how you’re suited, Morgan, can you retrieve those for us in case we need them? Unless there is anywhere a fully grown male can hide in the room the body is in, we’ll give that one a miss. We don’t want to storm through it and ruin everything.’
If she could have kicked herself, she would have, gladly.
Marc said, ‘I’ll accompany you; I can take a look at the scene then.’
‘Yes, boss.’ Her voice was loaded with a lack of enthusiasm for the task she’d just been asked to perform. When was she going to learn to keep her mouth shut? Wendy had joined them and was standing with her hands on her hips.
‘Can you be very careful on the staircase; don’t touch the railings or go near the broken pieces of the radio that’s in pieces at the foot of them. I’ve only body cammed and photographed,I haven’t had time to process anything before we had to exit the building. Also, the corridor leading down to the room the victim is in.’
Al was nodding. ‘Absolutely, Wendy, we won’t compromise anything unless the killer appears and starts causing chaos.’
Wendy smiled at him – who couldn’t smile at Al? He was one of the good guys and always had a smile for everyone.
‘Thanks, appreciate that.’
He gave her a little salute and then led the team to the entrance. Turning back he waved Morgan to him.
‘We’ll go first; you follow, okay?’
‘Great, thanks.’
He winked at her, and she couldn’t stay annoyed for long, besides this was her own fault. Sometimes she was too observant for her own good. But that was a good thing, right? If she didn’t pick up on the small things that mattered, then she wouldn’t have such a great track record at doing this, at finding the bad people who thought they were God and could choose who lived and died because of their twisted beliefs.
FIVE
It had been too close for his liking. He had known the place was desolate but what he hadn’t even accounted for, and this was way beyond sloppy on his part, was the fact that she would have a walkie-talkie on her. Why had he not taken that into consideration? He glanced down at the dog who was sniffing around the base of the tree, debating on whether this one needed marking or not. He had been on the main road by the time the police van had sped past so fast it had almost been a blur; they never even looked in his direction. Why would they? He was driving on a road he was supposed to be on.
He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, the air smelled of damp soil, grass and there was still a tang of ozone lingering – that had been some storm. He had been soaked to the bone running out of the door and through the gardens to get to his car that he’d left in a lay-by half a mile away.
‘Evening.’
He turned to the direction the voice had come from and saw the old guy from a few doors down. ‘Evening.’
He was walking his Yorkshire terrier that was growling and straining at its leash to attack the dog.
‘Got yourself a rescue, I see? You can’t beat them for company.’
He nodded, that was as good of an excuse for the sudden appearance of the dog as could be. ‘Yes, well it’s my sister’s but she’s working away so I’m looking after it for the foreseeable.’
What was his name, he didn’t think he’d ever introduced himself. The old guy was nodding.
‘You won’t want to give him back. I bet you two become inseparable. I don’t know what I’d do without Milly. She was my wife’s really but when she died…’ He paused and swiped at his eye with his sleeve. ‘Silly old bugger still upsets me, and it’s been nearly a year. Anyway, have a good evening.’
He smiled at him. ‘You too. I’m sorry about your wife, I had no idea.’
The guy shrugged at him. ‘You wouldn’t, you didn’t live here then but thank you.’
