A Dreadful Past Read Online Free PDF Page B

it was kept in a glass-fronted display cabinet but one or two pieces were placed on shelves about the house, the vase in question being one such piece.’
    â€˜So they took items like jewellery in the main?’ Carmen Pharoah glanced round the room, also noticing the solid nature of the house.
    â€˜Yes, that sort of thing,’ Middleton confirmed, ‘and some hard cash but Father never kept much money in the house. Watches were stolen and some silverware.’
    â€˜They forced the window, I believe?’ Ventnor continued.
    â€˜So it seemed, and reached in and turned the barrel lock inside the front door which could not be seen from the main road,’ Middleton explained. ‘The house had a L-shaped floor plan with the door on the inside of the L and even then the road, which never carried much traffic at that time of night, was about one hundred yards away.’ Middleton paused as if in thought. ‘It’s a point I think worth making that the burglary, as I recall it, was particularly messy. There was no “skill”, if I can use that word to describe such a needlessly violent crime. It seemed that it was a case of batter in, no matter about the noise, lift the phone off the hook to prevent anyone phoning the police from any upstairs extension, grab what you can, hoping the noise will make the householders do the sensible thing and lock themselves in their bedrooms, letting the burglars escape with the loot. Use violence only if the householders attempt to protect their property.’
    â€˜Which they did,’ Ventnor added.
    â€˜Yes … sadly, which they did.’ Middleton sighed in agreement. ‘Grabbing the vase most likely to carry the valuables away with them was strange – any half-baked crew would have brought a swag bag of some description or just stuffed their pockets with the loot, and the time … ten twenty p.m … was earlier than I would have thought was usual. Burglars break in at night when the householders are sleeping, not late in the evening when there is a chance that they might still be up and about. That is one aspect of the burglary that has always greatly puzzled me … the house lights would still be burning, for instance. That would deter any burglar, I would have thought.’
    â€˜Yes,’ Ventnor mused, ‘that is indeed unusual. Did they get away with much in terms of overall value?’
    â€˜Perhaps a few thousand pounds’ worth of items,’ Noel Middleton advised. ‘By that I mean low four figures – really it was hardly worth murdering three people for, if you ask me.’
    â€˜Indeed … indeed. And your father had no enemies that you know of?’ Ventnor asked.
    â€˜Again, as I have said before, none that I know of,’ Middleton replied. ‘He was a professional man, you see, a lawyer, not a businessman. It’s businessmen who make enemies … businessmen and criminals … and he was neither. He could be ill-tempered and quite difficult – hard to like, even – but I knew of no one who hated him so much that they were prepared to murder him and his family. So I’m sorry, I can’t be of any help there. I am certain it was a burglary that got very badly out of hand, perpetrated by a bunch of cowboys which then went totally pear-shaped. I am sure that it was not a premeditated murder perpetrated by an enemy of his and made to look like a burglary gone horribly wrong. I really am very sure of that.’
    â€˜Fair enough.’ Ventnor consulted his notes. ‘I see that a lady called Graham, a Mrs Anne Graham, discovered the bodies of your parents and your sister. Who was she? What can you tell us about her?’
    â€˜She was the cleaner, the cleaning lady. The woman who comes and does,’ Middleton explained. ‘She came every Wednesday, as regular as clockwork, arriving at about ten in the morning, so she found the bodies within twelve hours of the