Page 13 of Her Lips Are Sealed

Marc looked up. ‘Did you confirm alibis?’

‘Not yet, boss, as I just said I’ll be going to verify them after the briefing.’

Morgan went on. ‘Rachel has a sister, Rena, that Dan said looks just like her, so someone is going to have to inform her and make sure that the body we have is Rachel and not that of her sister⁠—’

Marc interrupted again. ‘Yes, we don’t want a mix up with the ID again like we had last time, with the poor girl that was dragged from the lake at the old summer camp. It was unprofessional and just stupid.’

‘No, we don’t.’ Ben nodded.

‘The main concern for me after the fact that poor Rachel was murdered inside of her own home, is the note that I found underneath Rachel’s pillow in the bedroom.’ Morgan nodded to Wendy who put a close-up of the note on the screen.

Cain let out a low whistle. ‘Jesus, what is that supposed to mean? Have they never heard of a full stop?’

‘That I think is telling us there is another victim already in the killer’s sight,’ Morgan said. ‘We have to figure out how he’s choosing his victims and fast. Even better, we need to find him before he has the chance to do this again.’

Cain was shaking his head. ‘How? We don’t know how he chose this victim. I mean that’s just mad, we don’t even know where to begin.’

Morgan wanted to sigh so loud, but she didn’t because he was right. They had very little motive for Rachel’s murder, so how they figured out the next victim with nothing was going to be impossible. Then she remembered. ‘Oh, actually,’ she said, ‘we do have one thing. Rachel accused her previous cleaner of stealing from her, and there was a lot of upset around her accusation against Paul Graham, who was then sacked for being a little too aggressive when confronted about it. So we at least have three names to go on for now.’

‘Bring him in.’ Marc didn’t even make eye contact with her.

‘Who?’

‘This Paul Graham, before another body turns up.’

Ben looked to Cain. ‘Do you want to go find him, Cain? Take a task force officer with you if he’s violent and bring him in for interview, please.’

Cain nodded.

Ben turned to Amy. ‘Can you do the magic, please, and bring up the intelligence records for all three of them, see if they have any previous? I also need a list of any recent prison releases, any sex offenders in the area or who have moved into the area.’

Marc arched an eyebrow at Ben. ‘Is it a sexually motivated crime? Did Declan say there was any sign of sexual assault?’

Ben frowned back at him. ‘She was in her underwear with bright red lips, so yes, to me it looks as if it’s a sexually motivated murder.’

‘Sex offenders sometimes get off on the act of violence and murder itself without actually sexually assaulting the victim, or whoever did this was afraid of leaving their DNA behind.’ Morgan was glaring at Marc the whole time she spoke.

‘Point taken, I’m just asking, that’s all. Someone must play devil’s advocate, might as well be me. Where do these guys live? I mean we know where the neighbour is, but does the cleaning guy live locally or drive in?’

Ben said, ‘Like I said it’s early days, we are going to leave here and investigate all of that. I just think it’s important that we are all aware of the ticking clock above our heads. It’s only a matter of time before this guy strikes again. I can’t stress how vital it is that we work as a team to eliminate the current suspects we have but to preferably incriminate one of them. Morgan and I will deliver the death message to the sister. Post-mortem won’t be until tomorrow as the mortuary is out of use today while the flooring is getting retiled, so let’s use our time wisely and do everything we can to find the suspect.

‘It’s obvious that Rachel was murdered in cold blood by whoever she let into her flat. Declan estimated around the hours of eight and ten p.m. last night, give or take. So, if we get the PCSOs out on house-to-house enquiries and any available patrol officers, they can canvass the entire area. Ask about CCTV, doorbell cameras that kind of stuff specifically from six onwards because I don’t think our guy just walked in at eight and killed her straight away. I think there’s a good chance he may have been hanging around the area waiting for the right moment when the street was quiet, so nobody saw him going in. I want every takeaway in the area spoken to as well, they have cameras. I want to know if anyone suspicious has been loitering around in that area. It’s a small street, very few houses. Let’s get cracking and please, be careful out there okay.’

NINE

‘Are you sure it’s the right address?’ Ben was hunched over the steering wheel staring at the sign that read Oddfellows in faded yellow writing above the oak door of what looked like a pub that had seen better days.

Morgan checked the address she’d written in her notebook. ‘According to quick address it is.’

Ben shrugged and they both got out of the car. Morgan wiped her palms along her trouser leg. Her stomach felt as if it was in knots. This never got any easier and it shouldn’t, she didn’t ever want to feel as if telling someone the person they loved was never coming home was just another part of the job. The day she felt no empathy towards the victims and their families would be the day she gave up being a detective.

Ben knocked on the door a little too hard and she rolled her eyes at him, hating the police knock that signalled how your life was about to come crashing down in the worst possible way.

‘She might not be home.’ Morgan kind of hoped that she wasn’t when a voice from behind them called out.

‘Can I help you?’

They turned to see a woman with a Lidl shopping bag walking towards them.