Page 10 of Her Lips Are Sealed

Morgan jumped so much her feet almost left the floor. ‘Jesus, Wendy, you scared the crap out of me.’

Morgan turned to face her. ‘He’s already got another victim lined up.’ This thought made her skin crawl with goosebumps and she shuddered.

‘Shit, give me that, I need to bag it up. It’s a good job you’re wearing gloves or your prints would be all over that. Did you at least photograph it before you put your sticky little fingers all over it?’

Morgan held out the piece of A4 lined paper to her and nodded. ‘It was under the top pillow.’

Wendy tutted. ‘Let’s pray to Locard the God of forensics and hope he left us some nice DNA on it. Do you think he put the lipstick on and kissed it himself? It’s so strange, I’ve never seen anything like it.’ She sealed it into a clear, plastic evidence bag.

‘It’s very unsettling is what it is. May I?’ Morgan took the evidence bag from her and went back to finally look at Rachel’s body. She crouched down next to it and held up the letter as close to her face as possible.

‘I think he made her put the lipstick on and kiss the paper, sealed it with her kiss. Her lips are bright red, yet she has no other make-up on that I can see. No foundation or mascara. You just wouldn’t walk around with bright red lips, would you, if you hadn’t done your make-up.’

‘I wouldn’t walk around with bright red lips full stop, but definitely not without a full face of make-up first. Oh Lord, I hope he did that after he killed her,’ whispered Wendy.

The thought made Morgan feel sick.

She stood up. ‘I need to show Ben.’

She hurried out of the door to go and show him what she’d found, with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that this was much bigger than either of them had anticipated.

SEVEN

Ben had his back to Morgan and was staring up at the buildings that ran along the street. She knew he was looking for CCTV cameras, doorbell cameras and thought he’d be lucky. It was a quiet back street with a few shops and offices, although there was a pub and a hotel further down. They may strike it lucky, but they didn’t have a direct view to the front door of Rachel’s flat.

‘Hey, I found this.’ She held the clear evidence bag containing the letter towards him.

He took a fresh pair of gloves out of his pocket and snapped them on before taking it from her. He read the note, frowned then read it again. When he looked at her his eyes betrayed what his next words were going to be before he even said them.

‘What the fuck is this? Where did you find it?’

‘Tucked under the top pillow on the bed. He wanted us to find it, the corner was sticking out.’

He was shaking his head. ‘Briefing, in ten minutes. Has Wendy seen this?’

‘Yes, she wasn’t happy about me picking it up, but we need to act on it. I couldn’t leave it there.’

‘No, you did the right thing.’

Morgan looked up and from out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marc striding towards them and groaned. ‘Here he comes,’ she whispered.

Ben automatically turned around to see who she was talking about and whispered back, ‘Where the hell has he been anyway? I rang him as soon as the job came in and he didn’t pick up.’

‘Maybe he’s finally found himself a girlfriend to keep him busy.’

‘Yeah, let’s hope so, and to keep him out of the way.’

Marc’s mouth was set in a straight line; he looked angry as well as grim. ‘What have we got?’

‘Female, found dead inside of her kitchen by the cleaner who had to let himself in with a key.’

Marc arched an eyebrow. ‘Is he coming in?’

Morgan shook her head, unsurprised to hear Marc go straight to suspecting the cleaner. ‘Not right now, nothing to suggest it was him. He was late for work after a doctor’s appointment. His boss confirmed that, but I’ll go speak to the surgery to confirm it too. She’s been dead some time, rigor mortis has fully set in.’

‘What’s to say he didn’t kill her last night and come back this morning as if nothing happened?’

Morgan shook her head. ‘Nothing, boss.’