Close Your Eyes Read Online Free PDF Page B

evening, but a mobile phone trace shows she left the farmhouse just after eight-thirty. We tracked her movements to Clevedon Court Woods on Tickenham Road. It’s a known dogging site. Secluded. Private.’
    ‘Did anyone see her there?’
    ‘We set up a mobile incident room and tried to talk to drivers, but word spread pretty quickly. Nobody bothered turning up.’
    ‘Could she have arranged to meet someone?’
    ‘Nothing has showed up on her text messages, phone records or emails, but she could have planned it earlier.’ Cray rubs at her eyes, which are puffy from lack of sleep. ‘There’s another complication. We know that Mrs Crowe joined an online dating agency six months ago. She went on two dates – both with local men.’
    ‘Did she have sex with them?’
    ‘They denied it at first. One of them was married. His semen stains were found in Elizabeth’s car. The other is a widower. He had sex with her at a flat in Bristol. The widower has an alibi for the night of the murders. The married man is still on our radar.’
    A dripping tap makes a dull plinking sound like someone plucking on a single harp string. Standing at the kitchen sink, I gaze out the window where the shadows are lengthening and trees are etched against the ridgeline. Something catches my eye – a movement near the stables. A ginger-and-black tabby cat is sniffing at the rubbish bins.
    ‘Did they have any pets?’ I ask.
    ‘A cat,’ says Monk. ‘She’s missing.’
    ‘I think she’s come home.’
    He opens the back door and walks through the garden. I watch him crouch and call softly to the tabby, holding out his hand. The cat looks at him suspiciously. He moves closer. With a flick of her tail, she’s gone, disappearing into the long weeds that brush the curved belly of the diesel tank.
    ‘She’s probably starving,’ he says, returning to the kitchen and opening cupboards. He finds a can of cat food and looks for an opener. Cray is impatient to continue.
    ‘There is an adopted son – Elliot – aged twenty-six, lives in Bristol. Has a history of substance abuse, two minor convictions. He was fostered at age eight and adopted soon afterwards. Elizabeth had been told she couldn’t have children but fell pregnant with Harper almost immediately. Isn’t that often the way?’
    ‘Does Elliot have an alibi?’
    ‘Claims he spent the night with a stripper in Bristol, but can’t remember her name or address.’
    ‘Convenient.’
    ‘Exactly.’
    ‘How did he and his mother get on?’
    ‘Elliot sided with the father during the divorce. Wouldn’t talk to Elizabeth. That didn’t stop him putting his hand out for money.’
    ‘Does he inherit the house?’
    ‘As far as we know.’
    I pour myself a glass of water. My left hand shakes as I raise it to my lips. I brush water from the front of my shirt.
    ‘So this Tommy Garrett – the neighbour – discovered the bodies. Apart from being found at the scene is there any reason to suspect him?’
    ‘The kid does a lot of work around the farm – mowing the grass and cutting firewood. About six months ago Mrs Crowe lodged a complaint that someone was stealing underwear from her clothesline. She blamed Tommy but had no proof. The local police gave him a lecture and that seemed to resolve matters.’
    ‘Does he have a key?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘What about an alibi?’
    ‘Says he was watching TV until late.’
    ‘Anyone confirm it?’
    ‘His grandmother won’t hear a bad word said about him.’
    Cray is ready to show me Harper’s room. At the top of the narrow staircase we turn back on ourselves and follow a landing through the length of the house. There are bedrooms on either side. Some of them have en-suite bathrooms, which are naked shells, half-finished, awaiting tiles and fittings. There are drop sheets on the floors where tools and bags of tiling grout await the return of tradesmen.
    We reach an attic room with a single bed tucked beneath the sloping roof. It is a typical