The Murder House. Michael Wood

away with tears stinging her eyes.

       Chapter Five

      The knock on the door made ACC Valerie Masterson jump. She was perusing a brochure on motor homes, which she quickly hid under a file on her oversized desk, before calling for her visitor to come in.

      Matilda entered the room. She had driven to the station from Fulwood and gone straight into the toilets to scrub at her hands and face. Yet, even though she had been wearing gloves at the crime scene, she felt as though her hands were covered in blood and no amount of washing would make her clean.

      ‘Matilda, come and sit down. I’ve just heard. How bad is it?’ she asked. She went over to her coffee machine and started making Matilda a cup.

      Matilda shook her head. ‘It’s like some kind of sick horror film.’

      ‘How is everyone?’ she asked, handing Matilda the coffee.

      ‘Not good. I think we’re going to have to offer counselling. Rory is taking this hard.’

      ‘That’s not like him.’

      ‘I know. I’ll ask Scott to keep an eye on him. Since he was attacked he’s been more sensitive.’

      ‘Do we know who they are yet?’

      ‘I think so. Clive and Serena Mercer.’

      ‘The Mercers?’ Valerie asked. Her eyes wide.

      ‘You know them?’

      ‘No. There was something in the local paper about them last week. Hang on.’ Valerie opened her laptop and began searching the Internet. ‘Yes, here we are. He’s an anaesthetist and she’s a neurologist. They’re always in the news for helping to raise money for various charities. Serena’s been doing a lot of protesting about saving the Sheffield trees. If memory serves, she was arrested late last year,’ she said with a hint of a smile. ‘Anyway, it was their daughter’s wedding, and the vicar who married them all those years ago came out of retirement to marry their daughter. They had the same church and everything. You’re saying they’ve been killed?’

      Valerie turned the laptop around and showed Matilda the article on the site of the local newspaper. The main photograph was of Clive and Serena standing next to their daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law, who were hugging. All four were grinning to the camera.

      ‘So has their son. His daughter has been taken to hospital. We don’t think she’s physically injured though.’

      ‘Oh my goodness.’

      Matilda closed the laptop. She could feel the smiling eyes boring into her. ‘The press is going to be all over this when it gets out.’

      ‘Well, leave that to me,’ Valerie said. ‘I want you and your team to put all your efforts into this. Drop whatever you’re working on and get this solved as soon as you can.’ Valerie returned to her side of the desk. ‘I don’t mean to sound heartless here, Matilda, but this has come at the best time for us. You’re now running a Homicide and Major Enquiry Team and this is your first test. Solve this, and solve it fast, and it will show those upstairs they did the right thing putting you in charge. We could get more money out of them for more officers. Then we can tackle some of these cold cases.’

      ‘I’m short of detectives as it is. I haven’t had a replacement for Faith yet and now Kesinka’s on light duties.’

      ‘I’ll get some drafted in but it will only be for this case. You can’t have them on a permanent basis.’

      ‘I need at least one permanent to cover Faith.’

      ‘I’m working on it.’

      Matilda drained her coffee cup and stood up to leave. She hadn’t failed to notice the brochure for motor homes sticking out of her in-tray. Valerie wasn’t fully focused on getting more detectives for the HMET at all. She was due to retire in less than two years and the plan was for her and her husband to travel around Europe while they were still able to. Valerie’s mind was on one thing – buying the right camper van.

      When Matilda Darke was first promoted to detective chief inspector, she was put in charge of the Murder Investigation Team. Budget cuts soon intervened and, five years later, the MIT was closed down and Matilda was put in charge of CID. When the press got hold of the information that South Yorkshire Police had more than twenty-five unsolved murders on their books, the pen pushers on the top floor decided to launch a Homicide and Major Enquiry Team which would deal with all serious crime and, in their spare time, tackle some of these cold cases. It was basically the Murder Investigation Team with a new name. Matilda was, once again, put in charge, and she was able to hand pick her team. She purposely chose the same team she had when running the MIT. They were even in the same open-plan office the MIT worked from.

      The new unit had been up and running for less than a month. However, a lack of resources had meant the cold cases hadn’t even been touched yet. The murder of DC Faith Easter last year had been a blow to everyone on the close-knit team, and now DC Kesinka Rani, who was heavily pregnant, was on restricted duties, following a health scare in which she collapsed at a crime scene, until it was time for her to start her maternity leave. So, Matilda had only a DI, two DSs and two DCs. It was not enough.

      As Matilda headed for her office she was stopped in the corridor by DI Christian Brady. He was usually composed, neat and professional, but this morning, his shirt was sticking out of his trousers and his tie was loose around his open-neck shirt.

      ‘You look harassed,’ Matilda said.

      ‘You’d think being a DI would give you some power, wouldn’t you? I’ve spent almost an hour having an argument with a sergeant to send a team of uniforms out to Fulwood. He was behaving like they were his own personal PCs.’

      Matilda smirked. ‘Have they gone?’

      ‘Yes. They’re on their way now. Aaron’s already on site. He’s going to tell them what to do.’

      ‘Excellent.’

      ‘There are several DCs on the fast-track in CID. Can’t we steal them?’

      ‘Only if you want to give the ACC a heart attack. We need her say-so before we do anything.’

      ‘We’re going to end up with a couple of trainees, aren’t we?’

      ‘Not if I can help it.’

      They walked down the corridor at speed, taking long strides to get to the HMET suite.

      ‘Rory called a few minutes back. He said forensics are going to be there all day, possibly tomorrow too. There’s a lot to process.’

      ‘I know. I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life. It’s shocking,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Fingers crossed house-to-house will give us something. Whoever did this is going to have been drenched in blood. You don’t take a change of clothing with you to commit a crime, so someone must have seen something.’

      ‘Famous last words,’ he said as he held the door open for her.

      ‘You’re getting as cynical as I am.’

      ‘I know. Horrible, isn’t it?’ He smiled.

      Matilda made her way along the suite towards her office. She couldn’t help it, but she threw a glance at the desk Faith used to sit at. Her heart sank. It wasn’t getting any easier. Faith wasn’t the first detective under her charge she had lost in the line of duty. They all tore away at her conscience, caused a piece of her to die inside.

      ‘Boss,’ Kesinka struggled to stand up. She seemed to be getting bigger by the day. ‘I’ve just had Sian on the phone. You’re not going to believe what she’s found at the murder house.’