Reckless Endangerment(14)

As I said earlier, Kate could be very hard on her own sex. But above all else, she was a good detective and knew the value of apparently inconsequential statements made by anybody immediately after a crime had been committed. Especially those made by the victim.

Linda Mitchell appeared in the hall from the kitchen. ‘I thought I’d bring you up to date, Mr Brock.’

‘Anything interesting so far, Linda?’

‘There are obviously fingerprints all over the place and it’ll take some time for Fingerprint Bureau to come up with any matches. And there’s this.’ Linda held up a plastic evidence bag. ‘It looks like the jewellery that Mrs Gregory said was stolen.’

‘Where on earth did you find it?’ I asked.

Linda smiled. ‘On a shelf in the garage behind some pots of paint, would you believe? I’ll have it checked for prints, not that I hold out much hope of finding any.’

‘But why would someone steal jewellery and then hide it in the garage?’ I asked. ‘What d’you make of that, Kate?’

‘If he did,’ said Kate. ‘On the other hand, it might not be the real thing,’ she suggested. ‘And when he realized that it was valueless he dumped it.’

‘But why bother to put it in the garage?’ I asked. ‘Why not just leave it anywhere. Having looked round the house, I doubt that he was too worried about being untidy.’

‘I can tell you now that it’s not valuable,’ said Linda. ‘The necklace might look like gold, but it isn’t. The stones aren’t diamonds either – they’re crystal – although they have the appearance of being the real thing at a first glance. I’d say that she’d get away with it in a room with soft lighting, but an expert would spot the difference immediately.’

‘Any other surprises?’

‘Yes, I found a window sash weight in the garage as well, and what appears to be an almost new clothes line, but a length has been cut from it. They were also secreted on a shelf behind paint tins, along with the jewellery. I’ll keep you posted on anything else we find.’

‘Could the rope that was used to tie up Mrs Gregory have come from that clothes line?’

‘It’s possible, Mr Brock, but I shan’t know for certain until the lab’s carried out a few tests on it and conducted a comparison with Mrs Gregory’s bonds that were found in the hall.’

‘Thanks, Linda. Is it all right if Kate and I have a thorough look round the rest of the house now? We had a cursory glance earlier, but your chaps were still at work in some of the rooms.’

‘They’ve finished dusting for prints now and the video chap’s got all he needs. You’ll find Sergeant Poole around here somewhere. I think he’s made a start.’

We began with the ransacked sitting room and found Dave having a look around. Kate and I sat down on a sofa to compare notes and Dave took a seat in an armchair opposite us.

‘What d’you think, Kate?’

‘I think the widow Gregory’s one carney little bitch who seems to have a habit of fainting every five minutes. And she was very composed when we were talking to her. Too bloody composed in my view.’ Kate was clearly not taken in by Sharon Gregory’s simpering pose. ‘I think she’s lying through her teeth. Her account was much too detailed. If she was as terrified as she claimed to be, she came up with a pretty good description of this mysterious guy’s jeans and trainers. One minute she said she was scared out of her wits, but the next she said she didn’t think the noise was anything serious. And if she didn’t like the question, she claimed to have fainted. Again!’

‘Do I get the impression that you didn’t like her, guv?’ asked Dave, addressing himself to Kate.

‘Got it in one, mate, but overall I’m not too impressed by her story,’ said Kate. ‘She was a bit too vague when I pressed her, and she wasn’t red-eyed as if she’d been crying her eyes out when she discovered her husband had been topped. And when I had a look at her wrists there were no signs of rope burns, which is what I’d’ve expected to find if she was tied up in the way she described and had attempted to escape. There were no marks on her ankles either.’

‘Perhaps she wasn’t tied up very tightly,’ I suggested. ‘What did Miller have to say about it, Dave?’

‘All he said was that when he found her she was secured with rope around her wrists and ankles, guv, and she was lying on her side. He didn’t enlarge on it.’

‘We’ll see if he can tell us a bit more when we have a word with him later on.’