Page 5 of Her Lips Are Sealed

‘I take it you found her, mister?’

He turned to her and nodded. ‘James, Brian James. Yes, I’ve never in my life seen anything like that and I’ve seen some stuff.’

The woman passed him a mug of tea and Morgan noted how much his hands were trembling. She didn’t think he did this, but she couldn’t rule him out – he could be a very good actor.

‘I’m sorry you had to see that, it’s awful. How well do you know—?’ She realised she still didn’t know the victim’s name.

The woman sat down next to Brian. ‘I’m Linda and the client was Rachel Derry. Brian has only been working here for four weeks, but he goes to Rachel’s twice a week. Every Monday and Thursday afternoon.’

‘Did you know Rachel? Was she usually there when you went to clean, Brian?’

‘I met her a couple of times, she was so friendly, so nice. Told me to help myself to the tea and coffee. She told me she mainly worked from home and would go to Costa once I arrived so I could clean without her getting in the way.’

He asked Morgan, ‘Who would do that to her? Why did they do that?’ He lifted the mug to his lips with fingers that were shaking so much Morgan was afraid he was going to give himself third degree burns.

‘At this point we don’t know any more than you do.’

He turned so he was looking directly at her. ‘But you’ll catch them, right, you’ll lock them up so they can’t ever do that to anyone else?’

‘That I can guarantee, Brian. I will work night and day to find the person who has done this. I promise you.’

He reached out a hand and squeezed hers. ‘Good, thank God for people like you. Nobody deserves to die like that.’

His grip was weak, and she smiled at him. ‘No, they don’t. What time did you get there today?’

He glanced at Linda. ‘I was a bit late; I had a doctor’s appointment that ran over.’

Linda smiled at him. ‘It’s okay, Brian, I knew you were going there, you told me yesterday.’

‘It was one forty-five, I know because I wrote it down on my time sheet.’

‘Good, that’s good. Which doctor is it? the one on Windermere Road? What was the house like when you arrived?’

He nodded. ‘Yes, St Mary’s. It was the same as always, windows shut, front door was locked – usually when Rachel is home, she doesn’t lock it, so I assumed she’d left. I had to use a key to get in.’

Morgan was writing this down. Whoever left the scene locked the door behind them, which meant they either had a key or took the spare.

‘What did you think when you went inside? Did it look the same, was there anything out of place or did you notice Rachel straight away?’

He shook his head. ‘I was so worried about being late I didn’t even look into the kitchen. I went to get the cleaning supplies out of the little cupboard and when I turned around, I saw her feet. I thought she’d fallen over or something. It didn’t look any different than usual, well, apart from Rachel being on the floor.’

‘Then what did you do?’

‘I rushed towards her to help her up and that’s when I realised she was dead.’ He squeezed his eyes shut as if trying to block out the image from his mind.

‘You’re doing great, Brian, I know this is hard. How did you know she was dead? Did you touch the body, feel for a pulse?’

‘No, I know that you should never touch a body. If she’d been breathing, I’d have helped her but I knew she was beyond that. Years ago, I worked at the Co-op funeral home in Barrow, and I’ve seen my fair share of dead bodies. I left the house and phoned the police.’

‘Thank you, we appreciate that. Not everyone thinks as clearly as you did.’

‘I didn’t want to mess up any forensics, I know how important that stuff is. I can’t believe someone would do that to her; she was a nice person.’

Morgan looked at Linda. ‘How long has Rachel been a client? Did she have any cleaners before Brian? Did she live alone?’

Linda nodded. ‘Yes, she’s been with us since she moved in last year. Walked around and booked a cleaner the day she got her keys; told me she was the worst person at keeping things tidy. She lived on her own apart from her cat. Oh, the poor thing, where is it? Was it locked inside with her?’

Morgan pictured the little flat that was spotless, not a thing out of place, nothing to suggest she was a messy person. She hadn’t noticed a cat either, then again, she hadn’t been looking for one.