Brook smiled at Grant and explained. ‘Two years ago The Reaper used that name to hire a van. He turned back to Noble. ‘How much was the ticket?’
‘Three grand.’
‘Christ,’ said Grant. ‘What the hell are we dealing with here?’
Brook said nothing. If he didn’t know that Sorenson was already dead…
‘If she’s in the way, wouldn’t it have been easier to just bump her off?’ shrugged Noble.
For some reason Brook took umbrage at this. ‘An innocent old lady. The Reaper would never stoop to something like that.’ Brook examined the house keys given him by Mrs Petras. ‘This looks like the one.’ He handed them to the lead Scene of Crime Officer. ‘Quick as you can, Colin.’ He missed the look of reproach from beneath Colin’s protective mask.
‘What are we looking at?’ asked Brook, bending down to peer at the stain at the rear of Mrs North’s house.
‘Oil,’ said Colin, through his mask. ‘Two different spots. Here and here,’ he said pointing. ‘It’s Three in One.’
Brook looked around the backyard. They were on a small pathway culminating at the kitchen drain. Beyond that, the yard was paved around a bordering flower bed with a few desultory plants trying to survive. There was no shed. ‘From what?’
‘Best guess — mountain bikes.’
Brook nodded. ‘Two separate stains, maybe two bikes propped side by side. Perfect getaway. How do we know they’re mountain bikes?’
Colin pointed at a colleague a few yards away preparing a bucket of plaster of Paris. ‘We’ve got a tyre impression near that bush.’
Brook nodded and stood upright. ‘How long before I can get in the house?’
‘Half an hour.’ Colin walked away.
‘Okay. Good work, Colin,’ Brook said after him, a second later. ‘Thank your team for me.’ A raised latex hand was the only acknowledgement. Brook turned to see Grant’s smile. ‘What?’
‘Two bikes, two perps,’ nodded Hudson, sipping his tea in Charlton’s office. ‘You were right, Laura. Nice catch.’ Charlton, Brook and Noble nodded in agreement.
‘So assuming Mrs North isn’t The Reaper and is unlikely to own a mountain bike, let alone two, where are we?’ asked Charlton, seated behind his desk. His eyes alighted on the four detectives one by one.
‘We’re in awe, sir. That’s where,’ said Grant finally.
‘Why so?’
Brook took a deep breath. ‘The scale of the planning that’s gone into this is so meticulous that it almost makes me begin to doubt that we’re dealing with a copycat. Leaving aside the elementary blunder of leaving us a fingerprint and the traces of his DNA from the fence panel, I’d say this was planned as thoroughly as any previous Reaper killing. If not more so.’ ‘Go on.’
‘Two weeks before the Inghams die, the killer or killers spend a small fortune persuading Mrs North, an elderly widow, to move out of her house and go to Australia for six weeks. All expenses paid. Somehow they know she had a brother in Sydney that she hasn’t seen in years. The house is to be looked after as part of the prize and they take a set of keys. It’s perfect. They have time to prepare and quietly amass all they need in Mrs North’s house, so they didn’t need to risk storing things like the rope and the barbecue in the derelict Wallis house.’
‘I thought the Inghams stole the barbecue?’ interrupted Charlton.
‘They did and they didn’t,’ said Grant. ‘Explain.’
‘It’s so simple, sir, it makes me want to cry with admiration,’ she continued. ‘SOCO found the box and all the packaging for the Weber in Mrs North’s house. So instead of wheeling it round to the Ingham house or risk being seen delivering it, they just let them have it.’
‘I don’t follow,’ said Charlton.
‘What’s the best way to get something nicked on the Drayfin, sir?’ asked Noble.
Charlton thought for a minute then shook his head. ‘Tell me,’ he said with a hint of shame in his voice.
‘Carelessness. They just left it out in the backyard in plain sight — probably the week before the murder, I’d say,’ said Brook. ‘Mrs North’s yard backs onto the Inghams’…’ He shrugged as though the rest were too obvious for words.
‘…and all they had to do was wait for one of the boys to see it, knowing they’d just help themselves,’ concluded Grant.
‘They probably even watched from an upstairs room to make sure,’ said Noble.
‘It’s brilliant,’ conceded Charlton.
‘And when the Inghams won the meat from the phoney competition, the killers knew the Inghams would have something to cook it on…’
‘And, as they’re watching, they can see when they’re going to cook it,’ added Hudson.
Charlton nodded. ‘Okay, I’m impressed.’
‘It gets better,’ said Grant. ‘We found plastic wrappers for a tray of premium cider in Mrs North’s house.’
‘So…’
‘We have a theory why no one saw any deliveries of food and drink,’ said Brook. ‘The killers have bought everything in advance, long before it was needed and transported it to Mrs North’s house. The day before the murder, we know from Stephen’s text to Jason that the Inghams had won a competition and were expecting a delivery, let’s say sometime later that evening or the next day. Now The Reaper knows for sure someone’s going to be at home waiting for their winnings. When it’s darker, the killer or killers carry all the stuff from Mrs North’s front room to the bottom of their yard. The Reaper knocks on their door. Or maybe even waits in the yard for someone to come outside, then calls over the fence. “Hey, are you expecting a delivery of meat and booze because it seems to have been delivered here by mistake?” Then they just hand it over.’
‘It’s beautiful,’ agreed Hudson.
‘Wouldn’t they be suspicious of a neighbour handing over this stuff? Especially someone they don’t know,’ asked Charlton.
‘Not enough to refuse them,’ said Grant. ‘They’re on benefits after all. And the killer or killers could easily pass themselves off as relatives looking after Mrs North’s house.’
‘Don’t forget people like the Inghams think all honest people are stupid,’ observed Hudson. ‘They wouldn’t be suspicious of anyone. They’d probably have contempt for them. They certainly wouldn’t be afraid.’
‘So everything’s in place,’ nodded Charlton.
‘Now all they have to do is watch and wait,’ said Brook draining his coffee. ‘The Inghams fire up the barbecue the next night and our killers start to prepare. They fill their syringes and prepare the rope. They’re wearing some kind of protective clothing, gloves, overshoes, hairnets — assuming they have hair.’
‘Like our own Scene of Crime clothing?’ asked Charlton.
‘Very likely,’ agreed Brook. ‘As a further precaution, key rooms in the house are covered with sheets to collect hair and fibres just in case. They touch nothing without gloves on and never put on a light.’
‘Hang on. If the killers have access to Mrs North’s house for two weeks, why don’t they practise the hanging in
‘Mrs North’s away and her next-door neighbour knows it,’ replied Brook. ‘Any noise could end up with the police being called. If anyone hears them in the Wallis house they’ll think it’s just kids.’ Noble nodded. ‘Now as soon as the barbecue is lit they spring into action and move down to the kitchen. They bring all the sheets down and carefully fold them into two backpacks or something they can carry with them and still cycle.’
‘How do you know they put down sheets if they took them away?’ asked Charlton.
‘They left a new one behind in the kitchen, still in the plastic,’ said Noble.
Charlton nodded. He wondered fleetingly whether to ask if they’d checked the wheelie bin outside but managed to stop himself. ‘What then?’
‘The bikes were kept in the living room — there’s a small trace of oil on the carpet there. When all’s quiet they wheel them outside, leave them out of sight from the road for a quick getaway. They wait for the boys to pass out. They lock the house and climb over the fence to the Ingham house. The rap music should cover any noise. And
