The Murder House

by Michael Wood

  ‘Photographs. Finn?’

  The fresh-faced trainee detective was looking less fresh-faced than this morning. He’d unbuttoned his top couple of buttons on his shirt. His hair was a mess from running his fingers through it, probably through frustration, and he looked tired. It didn’t take him long to fit into the team. The desk once occupied by Faith Easter was a mess of photographs from the wedding reception.

  ‘Rose Bishop came in just after lunch to look through the photographs. She was a bit … well … she wasn’t in a great state …’

  ‘Pissed?’ Rory asked.

  ‘Just a bit. Anyway, she went through the pictures and identified the majority of the guests at the reception. We’ve contacted most of them who have given us alibis for where they were around the time of the murders. The majority also had photos of their own they’d taken and have emailed them across to me. I’m still going through them as there are hundreds, as I’m sure you can guess. Now, out of the photos from the digital cameras, there are twelve people who Rose Bishop didn’t know the names of. I’m guessing either Leah or Oliver might know.’

  ‘Print them off for me, Finn, and we’ll get them to have a look.’

  ‘I’ve got them right here,’ he said, holding up an envelope. ‘Also, I’ve been on to the official photographer. He said he hadn’t even uploaded them to his computer yet. He’s had two other weddings and a christening to do. I told him it was urgent, so he’s coming in tomorrow with his laptop. I should be able to identify the main players pretty quickly after all the photos I’ve been looking at today.’

  ‘Excellent work, Finn, thank you,’ Matilda said with a genuine smile of gratitude.

  ‘I tell you something, I’m not in a great hurry to attend a wedding any time soon. I feel like I’ve lived through this one a dozen times already,’ he said. A ripple of laughter echoed around the room.

  Matilda’s gaze lingered on the trainee detective a little too long. She blamed herself for Faith Easter’s death. Looking back, she should have realized the danger she was in and acted sooner. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Trainee DC Finn Cotton was the next generation. Life went on. He seemed to be fitting into the team with ease, and he was more than capable.

  ‘Any news from forensics about the fingerprints and hair?’ Matilda asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Aaron chimed up, flicking through his notebook for the relevant page. ‘They’re processing them now, we should get the results tomorrow. Although, if we think the scene is staged, are we going to trust the results?’

  ‘That depends what they are. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Has anyone been looking into the new member of the Mercer family, Leah’s husband, Oliver?’

  The room fell silent as officers exchanged guilty glances.

  ‘I’m guessing that means no.’

  ‘He’ll probably accompany his wife when they come here. I’ll keep an eye on him, ask him a few questions,’ Sian said.

  ‘Thank you, Sian. Right then, I think we should call it a day. Hopefully, Leah and Oliver will be able to give us more information so tomorrow we can make some headway. In the meantime, go home and have an early night. It may be your last one for a while.’

  Noise levels in the suite rose again as detectives began to pack away and file out of the room. Matilda went into her office and sat at her desk. She angled herself so if anyone looked it would seem she was reading something on her laptop. In fact, she was looking over the top of the laptop and keeping an eye on Scott. Usually at the end of the day, he and Rory would leave together. They shared a flat so there was no reason why they’d bring two cars to work. Sometimes they went to the gym after work, or maybe for a few pints, depending on how stressful the day was. Scott slapped his laptop closed, yanked his jacket from the back of his chair and left the office alone. By the time Rory was ready to leave, he looked shocked to find his flatmate had gone without him.

  Sian was the only one left. She and Matilda were going to interview Leah and Oliver when they eventually turned up. Once everyone had left, Sian picked up the phone to make a private call to her husband. As Matilda left her office, she turned to one side and lowered her voice.

  Matilda walked over to Scott’s desk and had a good look. Scott was always neat and tidy, in his appearance and in his work. So far, his appearance hadn’t changed. He still came to work in a clean suit and shirt every day, smart tie and a neat haircut. His desk, however, was a mess of paperwork, files, crumpled chocolate wrappers and dirty cups. This was not the Scott Andrews Matilda liked and admired.

  ‘I’ve just had a call from downstairs. Leah and Oliver have arrived,’ Sian said, making Matilda jump. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Have you managed to have a word with Scott yet?’

  ‘Yes. Well, sort of. I spoke to him very briefly at lunchtime.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘He said he was fine. I asked him if the case was affecting him and he said no, it’s just another case.’

  ‘Do you believe him?’

  ‘Yes. He’s right. We can’t treat cases any differently.’

  ‘So you don’t think there’s anything wrong with him?’

  ‘You do, I take it.’

  ‘Look at his desk.’

  ‘Ah,’ she said, looking down. ‘Maybe he’s got something on his mind. Girl trouble, perhaps.’

  ‘Is he seeing someone?’

  ‘He hasn’t mentioned anyone. Do you want to me to have a word with Rory?’

  ‘No. I’ll do it.’

  ‘OK. I’m just going for a quick wee before we interview Leah.’

  Sian left the room ahead of Matilda. While alone, the DCI took the opportunity to rummage around on Scott’s desk. There was nothing apart from work here so she opened the drawers. She felt slightly guilty as she picked her way through notebooks and files, but if she found something that gave her a hint of what was troubling Scott, she’d be able to carefully broach the subject with him.

  In the bottom drawer, face down, was a photograph. On the back, written in Scott’s neat hand, it said ‘Blackpool. January 2008’. She turned the photo over and looked at the happy, smiling face of a young Scott Andrews. She smiled back as she looked into his warm eyes. She’d never seen him smile so wide before. This was genuine happiness. He was standing on the pier, the Tower in the background. He had his arm around someone who was kissing Scott’s cheek. Matilda mused. Could this represent what was troubling Scott? If not, Matilda had found Scott’s second secret.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The desk sergeant knew the importance of Matilda’s visitors so put Leah and Oliver into one of the family rooms. It was much nicer than the interview rooms with their smell of desperation and guilt, stained tables and chairs screwed to the floor. There were a couple of cheap sofas in here, a small kitchenette, and a TV in the corner along with a selection of toys and children’s books. This room was mostly used for child witnesses, to put them at their ease. This was where Rachel Mercer would end up when she was in a fit enough state to talk through the nightmare she was forced to endure.

  Matilda entered the room with Sian following. She introduced them both, and Leah immediately started crying.

  Leah was a tall, slim, attractive young woman of only twenty-five, although her crying and screwed-up face made her look ugly and old. Her long dark hair was greasy, and her clothes looked thrown on. She had obviously dressed in haste, not caring how she looked to the world. Sitting next to her was new husband, Oliver. He was two years older. He had the same dark coloured hair, but his was closely cropped. He was broad shouldered and had a patchy stubble. He had a heavy brow which gave him a menacing look. Maybe he was worried for his wife. This would not have been the start to married life either of them was expecting. They both sat rigid on the edge of their seats looking nervous, scared, frightened.

  ‘Can I get you anything to drink? Mrs Mercer?’ Sian asked.

  ‘It’s Ridgeway now. She’s Mrs Ridgeway,’ Oliver interjected, his voice strong and level.


  ‘Of course, sorry.’

  ‘I’d really like a cup of tea, if that’s possible?’ Leah said through her tears.

  Sian smiled. ‘Mr Ridgeway?’

  ‘Same. Thank you. I’m sorry for snapping.’

  ‘That’s fine. Don’t apologize.’

  Sian went over to the other side of the room to make the drinks. Matilda sat opposite the sofa in a matching armchair.

  ‘I’m sorry to meet you under these circumstances, Leah. I do need to ask you some questions about your family.’

  Leah leaned forward and whipped up a tissue from the box on the coffee table. She sniffled hard and wiped her eyes.

  ‘That’s fine. It’s weird but, on the way home, I kept thinking there’d been a mistake, that you’d got it wrong, but as soon as you came in, I knew. I just knew.’ She started to cry again. Her accent was pure Sheffield, but her voice was light and weak.

  Matilda noticed the distance between Leah and Oliver. As newlyweds their love should be at its strongest. Even at a tragic time like this, they should be touching, holding hands. Oliver should have his arm around her, supporting the love of his life. But they were sitting apart like strangers next to each other on a train.

  ‘I want you to know that I am truly sorry about what has happened to your family, but my team and I will be working around the clock to find out who has done this, and why,’ Matilda said. A little white lie never hurt anyone.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ she sniffed hard. ‘Everyone loved my mum and dad. They were good people. They went to church. My dad organized events for charity for crying out loud. Why?’

  ‘We don’t know that yet. We’re hoping you can give us as much information as you can about your family so we can find out.’

  Sian brought the drinks over on a tray and placed them on a table. Oliver leaned forward and took his tea. He added milk and one sugar. Leah didn’t move.

  ‘When can I see Rachel?’ Leah asked.

  ‘We’ll take you to her as soon as we’ve finished here.’

  ‘Is she OK?’

  ‘We don’t know. Physically, she’s fine. She keeps screaming. We don’t know what she saw.’

  ‘Oh my God. She loved her dad so much. They were inseparable.’

  ‘Leah, we’ve been told Rachel’s mum died. Is that correct?’

  She sniffled and wiped her dripping nose. ‘Yes. She died when Rachel was three. There was a pile-up on the motorway, several died. She was one of them. If you look back into our family, you’ll see we’re bad luck.’

  ‘That’s not true,’ Oliver said, hesitantly placing a hand on Leah’s lap. He quickly removed it.

  ‘Oh it is. Aunties and uncles dying in their thirties from cancer. My Uncle Phil, my dad’s brother, he was caught up in a terrorist attack. My Aunt Monica, she wasn’t my real aunt, we just called her that, she was mugged. She hit her head on the kerb and never regained consciousness. We’re bad luck.’ Leah gave in to her emotions once again, leaned forward and let out a torrent of tears.

  Oliver tried to ease her pain. He sat closer to her and put his arm uncomfortably around her shoulders. ‘Can we do this another time?’

  ‘I know it’s difficult, Oliver, but we need to know if there was anyone in Leah’s life who could have had a grudge against your family.’

  Leah shrugged out of Oliver’s hold. Her hands were fists, her knuckles white and her leg left was shaking involuntarily. The tears were streaming down her face and she was biting her bottom lip hard. Matilda studied her and recognized the signs of anxiety.

  ‘There isn’t. You heard what she said. Serena and Clive did a lot for the community. They were the perfect family.’

  Matilda and Sian exchanged knowing glances.

  ‘We’ve already found out about Clive being investigated by the GMC on three occasions. Could that have had anything to do with it?’

  ‘I was waiting for that to be brought up,’ Leah sobbed. ‘He was cleared of any wrongdoing on all occasions. I told you, we’re bad luck.’

  ‘What about Jeremy?’

  The tears increased. ‘Jeremy,’ Leah pined. ‘I couldn’t have asked for a better brother.’

  ‘Could this have something to do with him?’ Matilda asked. ‘Did he have any money worries, for example?’

  ‘He’s a junior doctor, of course he’s got money worries,’ Oliver said.

  ‘Were you close to Jeremy, Leah?’ Matilda asked.

  She nodded.

  ‘Is there anything in his background that we need to know about? Do you know of anyone who would want to harm him in any way?’

  ‘No. He lived for two things; his work and Rachel. That was his life. Oh God,’ she descended into a wreck of emotions once more. ‘Fuck. Shit. Fuck,’ she silently screamed through gritted teeth.

  ‘Is everything all right?’ Sian asked Leah, looking confused.

  ‘Yes. I’m fine. I mean, I’m not fine. I’m …’

  Matilda looked to Sian and briefly shook her head, telling her not to push it.

  ‘Mr Ridgeway, what about you?’ Matilda asked.

  ‘What about me?’ he replied with scorn.

  ‘You’ve just joined the Mercer family. Is there any way this could be connected to you?’

  ‘Connected to me? What are you talking about?’ His face reddened and a vein throbbed in his neck.

  ‘Oliver, please, calm down,’ Sian said in her best soothing tone.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Matilda continued. ‘Some of these questions aren’t going to be easy, but we have to ask them in order to find out the truth.’

  Oliver took a deep breath. ‘You’re right. I’m sorry. You’re just doing your job. As far as I know, there’s nobody who would want to harm me in this way.’

  ‘What do you do for a living, Oliver?’ Sian asked.

  ‘I’m also a junior doctor. I work at the Northern General.’

  ‘Is there anything either of you can tell us that you think might help us in finding who did this to your family?’ Matilda asked, a slight edge to her voice. While she sympathized with the newlyweds, she needed information about the Mercers to move this case forward, and quickly.

  Leah shook her head.

  ‘Not that I can think of,’ Oliver replied.

  Matilda sat forward. ‘Leah, during the post mortem of your father, we discovered he had a tumour on his brain. Were you or anyone else in your family aware of this?’

  She looked up, eyes red and blotchy, tears streaming down her face. ‘A tumour?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You mean he was dying?’

  ‘I’m afraid so.’

  ‘He didn’t … I mean, he never … no. No.’ She fell into Oliver’s arms.

  ‘Is it possible he didn’t know about it?’ Oliver asked.

  ‘He was seeing a consultant at Leeds General Infirmary. He told him he’d cut down his working hours and his family were very supportive.’

  ‘We didn’t know,’ Leah said quietly into Oliver’s chest. ‘We didn’t know.’

  ‘I’m very sorry,’ Matilda said.

  Leah sat up, sniffled and wiped her nose. ‘Why didn’t he tell us? We’re a close family. We didn’t keep secrets. He could have told us.’

  ‘Leah, you know what your dad was like,’ Oliver said. ‘He lived for his work. He would have been made to give it up. He would have hated that.’

  She nodded. ‘You’re right. He still should have told us, though.’ She turned to Matilda. ‘Do you see what I mean; we’re bad luck. The whole family is jinxed.’

  They sat in silence for a long minute. Leah tried to control her emotions but the tears refused to stop. Oliver sat with his arm around his wife. His right hand gripped her right shoulder a little too firmly for Matilda’s liking. Whenever she made eye contact with him, he quickly looked away.

  ‘Can I see Rachel? She’s going to need me. I’m all she’s got left now,’ Leah said, sitting up and wiping her eyes.

  ‘Of course. We can continue this di
scussion tomorrow,’ Matilda said, standing up. ‘Do you need a place to stay tonight? We can put you up in a hotel.’

  ‘No. Thank you. We can stay at my parents’ house,’ Oliver said.

  ‘Right. Well, we’ll get a car ready and take you to the hospital.’

  The journey to the Children’s Hospital wasn’t long, but it was fraught with tension and a heavy atmosphere. In the back seat, Leah tried to stop her sobbing but was failing. On the opposite side, Oliver looked out of the window, his face blank, devoid of emotion.

  As they walked along the corridor, Oliver held his wife’s hand. It disappeared inside Oliver’s huge fist, his knuckles were almost white.

  ‘Leah, you need to stop crying. You need to be strong for Rachel,’ he said quietly.

  ‘I know. I’m trying.’

  Sian had sent a text to Kesinka to let her know they were here and to get the armed guard out of the way. Leah was in a state already. A tactical support officer armed to the teeth wouldn’t do her any good. A doctor was waiting with Kesinka outside the door when they approached.

  ‘How is she?’ Leah asked.

  ‘Physically, she’s fine. She has no injuries apart from slight bruising around her waist from where she was tied up. Please, don’t stay too long. She gets distressed easily,’ the doctor said in her well-used soothing tone.

  Leah took a deep breath. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose and put the tatty tissue in the pocket of her skinny jeans. With a shaking hand, she pushed down the handle and opened the door.

  ‘Rachel, sweetheart, it’s me, Auntie Leah.’

  Rachel was on her side, her back to the door. She stirred, sat up, looked over to the doorway and let out a scream that only a wounded animal should make.

  Chapter Twenty

  Typical. He had been waiting all day for someone to stop and give him a lift to London and the one person who did had only one thing on his mind. The trucker had practically dragged him into the cab at the back. Luckily, he was fat and slow. A quick punch to the throat winded him just long enough for him to make his escape. As he jumped down from the cab, he noticed the trucker’s wallet on a shelf under the dash. He swiped it as he left. It was the least he owed him.