Nine Liars (Truly Devious, #5)(29)

“Fine and nice and good. Let’s see it.”

On hearing this, David began to move around the room, away from the focus of the camera.

“Switch on the main light so I can see,” Dr. Quinn said.

“Yeah . . .” Stevie kept David out of frame as she crossed over to the light switch by the door. She illuminated the room and continued panning around. The room was so small that David had to squeeze behind her and step up on the bed to keep out of sight. It let out a small, plasticky creak.

“Oh, hello, David,” Dr. Quinn said. “Come over and wave to me.”

Stevie opened her mouth in a pathetic attempt at denial, but before she could embarrass herself, Dr. Quinn shook her head. David pulled on his shirt and adjusted it, then stepped in front of the camera.

“Hi,” he said. “It’s been a while. I was just showing Stevie how the kettle works.”

He pressed down the lever on the kettle and it lit up and gurgled happily, as if it were delighted by the prospect of a nice cup of tea.

“It’s a complicated machine,” Dr. Quinn said.

“Took me a while to master it.”

“Leave Stevie’s room now. I’ll be on the phone with her for a while, so there’s no point in waiting outside.”

“Yep,” David said. “Yep. Anyway, Stevie, that’s how the kettle works so, see you tomorrow . . .”

She knew. Of course she knew. It could have been an educated guess, or maybe she had someone on the inside, or maybe she had tapped into the CCTV mainframe. She was Dr. Jenny Quinn, so anything was possible.

“I think it would be best,” she said, “if David kept out of your room. It’s late there, and you must be exhausted from your trip. Jet lag hits fast, though I find it’s often worse on the second day. Get some rest. Enjoy your kettle.”





FROM THE NOTEBOOK OF DCI PHILLIP STARLING, GLOUCESTER CONSTABULARY





24 June 1995


Background:


Incident took place at Merryweather, a large house on over fifty acres, with numerous outbuildings and extensive grounds. The owners are currently in Greece, and it was known locally that the house might be unoccupied. Son of owner, who attends Cambridge, returned to the house with eight friends for a visit, arriving approximately 10.00 p.m. last night. No staff was present on this evening and all have been accounted for.

Interviews of seven witnesses/housemates paint a consistent story of a house party with a game of team hide-and-seek being played on the grounds between 11.00 p.m. and 2.30 a.m. During this time, all members of the house party were freely running the grounds and were both hiding and seeking. (Witness statements contain details.) There was a powerful electrical storm going on while the game took place.

At approximately 2.30 a.m., the storm took down power lines at the opening of St. Swithun’s Lane, which is the only road that leads in or out of Merryweather. Merryweather and the village of Ramscoate-on-Whyle lost electricity, and emergency services dispatched a van to deal with the downed wire and prevent fire or accidental electrocutions. This van arrived at 3.00 a.m. and remained in place until 7.30 a.m. To prevent vehicles or people from going near the wire, they stationed the van across the opening of St. Swithun’s Lane, blocking entry or exit. During this time, no vehicles could have come in or out of Merryweather without encountering the van. The workers reported that no vehicles or persons came down the road, which was not surprising, given the hour and the severity of the storm. (Note: Merryweather has an electric gate which is accessed by a numerical keypad. The code is known to many locals who work at or make deliveries to the property. With the power down, the gate would have to be forced open, and there were no signs of forced entry at the gate.)

The seven witnesses returned to the house when the power went out. Two members of the party, Rosalyn Mortimer and Noel Butler, did not respond to calls that announced the end of the game. The witnesses said that there was a romance budding between the two, and it was assumed they had gone somewhere in private and did not wish to be disturbed. The remaining seven stayed in the house the rest of the night, drinking and talking. None reported hearing anything out of the ordinary, but the storm would have easily drowned out any cries for help or noises of intruders. Witness Suzanna Rillington states that she “clearly saw” the beam of a torch at the front of the house. She could not provide an exact time, but given the fact that the sun had not yet risen, she estimated this would have been around 3–3.30 a.m.

Around noon today, witnesses Theodora Bailey and Sebastian Holt-Carey went looking for the lost members of the group. In their search, they found an upturned wheelbarrow in front of a woodshed located near the garage. The woodshed is used for wood and garden implement storage and contains nothing of value. The door of the woodshed had been forced open, tearing the latch from the wood. The shed is locked with a padlock, which was found intact. Assuming that someone had attempted to burgle the shed, the witnesses entered to inspect the damage. Inside, they found the bodies of Mortimer and Butler.

Impressions of victims and scene:

Both victims were found partially covered in firewood, and both had been attacked with a sharp, heavy weapon that left wedge-shaped injuries, consistent with an axe. The axe normally kept in the woodshed was missing. A long-handled axe was found by PC Whitsgale in small stream running through the property. Both victims had multiple injuries and massive blood loss. The location of the wheelbarrow and the use of the axe indicates disturbance of a crime in progress.