A Room Full of Killers - Michael Wood (motivational books to read txt) 📗

‘Yes, I would. Why?’

‘Like an inmate of Starling House.’

‘Only this particular inmate is still free,’ Adele finished Matilda’s thought.

‘Cup of coffee and chocolate, ice cream and crushed-up cookies, or continue with the wine?’

Pat and Adele pondered for a brief second before answering in unison. ‘Ice cream and crushed-up cookies.’

A few minutes later Matilda returned with a tray carrying three bowls and spoons, a large tub of vanilla ice cream and a packet of chocolate chip and hazelnut cookies.

‘Tell me about this passport you found,’ Matilda asked as they all helped themselves to dessert.

‘I should have taken a photograph of it but I didn’t think at the time. It was out of date and the photo showed a chubby girl. For the life of me I can’t remember the surname, but she was called Catherine.’

‘Could it have belonged to Debbie and Daniel’s mother?’

‘No. The dates didn’t match. The date of birth was March 1977.’

‘Making her thirty-nine,’ said Adele as she shovelled ice cream into her already full bowl.

‘Could Debbie and Daniel have had another sister?’

‘Surname wasn’t Hartley,’ Pat added, taking the ice cream from Adele.

‘It’ll probably be something simple like it was left behind by whoever had the house before Debbie,’ Matilda laughed.

‘No. I’ve got the feeling it’s relevant. The chubby girl looked familiar. I just can’t place her. It’ll come to me, I know it will.’

‘Adele, did you get the post-mortem and crime scene report I called you about earlier?’

‘No. I’ve just come for the free food and wine.’

‘I genuinely believe that,’ Matilda smirked.

‘Cheeky cow. Yes, I have your reports. I was reading them when I was stood up at lunchtime,’ she said, a slight dig at Matilda having to cancel their lunch meet at the last minute.

‘You can read a PM report while eating your lunch?’ Pat asked.

‘Yes. Why?’

‘I could never do anything like that. One mention of an enlarged liver and my stomach would turn right over.’

‘You don’t seem to do too badly now,’ Adele remarked as Pat opened her mouth wide for a spoon laden with ice cream and chunks of cookie.

‘I’m retired. It’s different now.’

‘Well, seeing as Pat is no longer squeamish I shall keep in the gory details,’ Adele took the file from her bag and opened it on her lap. ‘I’ve got the PM report and a lovely Crime Scene Manager in Manchester who I flirted with emailed me a CSI report on the Hartley house. It’s not known how the killer gained access to the Hartley home as all entrances and exits were locked from the inside. However, none of the ground-floor windows had locks. They were of a design that was recalled because of their lack of safety features. There’s a diagram in the crime scene file that shows how easy it is to pop the frames open from the outside.’

‘Had any of the windows been tampered with?’

‘There’s no evidence of that but there wouldn’t have been anyway.’

‘So the killer could have gained entry from any window on the ground floor, escaped through the same route, and the police wouldn’t have been able to tell?’

‘That’s about the size of it, yes.’

‘Bloody hell. The killer could be anyone then,’ Matilda groaned.

‘What type of weapon was used?’ Pat asked.

‘Something resembling a meat cleaver.’

‘You’re joking!’

‘Bloody hell!’

Adele leaned over the side of the sofa and pulled an iPad out of her bag. She turned it on and tapped on it a few times. ‘The lovely crime scene manager I spoke to emailed me over a few crime scene photos. As you’re retired, Pat, you can have first look.’

Pat placed her bowl of ice cream on the coffee table and took the iPad from Adele. ‘Oh my God, Adele,’ she placed a hand to her mouth. ‘This is just … oh God.’ She handed the iPad to Matilda.

‘According to the PM report Laura Hartley received eighteen blows to her head, chest and neck. Her head was almost severed from her body. Daniel received twelve blows. They were mainly to the arms, which suggests he was awake and trying to protect himself. The blow that killed him was the one to his face. It split his skull wide open.’

‘Jesus Christ,’ Pat said. ‘What about Ruby?’

Matilda was flicking through the photographs on the iPad. Her screwed-up face evidence of how disturbing the images were.

‘Ruby received more nicks from the blade than actual blows, which suggests she was caught in the crossfire when her mother and father were attacked. There were ten marks on her body, mostly to her arms and body, which were either deflected off her parents or where the killer missed. She received two direct blows with the cleaver, either of which could have killed her.’

‘Eighteen blows for Laura, twelve each for both Daniel and Ruby,’ Pat said. ‘That’s forty-two swings with a meat cleaver. How the hell did Thomas Hartley manage to sleep through all that?’

‘According to Thomas’s statement,’ Matilda said, glad of an excuse to turn away from the crime scene photos and pick up her own notes. ‘Once he was comfortable on the sofa he fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the dog started fussing around him.’

‘Wouldn’t the dog have woken and barked when the killer broke in?’ Pat asked.

‘If the dog knew the killer he wouldn’t have made such a fuss though, would he?’ Matilda suggested.

‘What happened to the dog?’ Adele asked, digging around in her bowl of ice cream to find more cookie pieces.

Matilda flicked through the file. ‘I’ve seen it here somewhere. Here it is. Debbie Hartley said she took the dog back to her place but he missed the others so much. He was pining all the time and stopped eating. He went to sleep one night and just didn’t wake up again.’

Pat placed a hand on her heart. ‘Oh the poor thing.’

‘Going back to the murders,’ Adele said with a mouthful of ice cream. ‘Wouldn’t the Hartleys have screamed when they were being attacked? If someone’s going at you with an axe