Shrine to Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

of the bed.’
    Taylor raced through the yellow folder. He soon found out a photograph of the lone, innocuous laurel leaf on the pink bedroom carpet. The SOCO photographer had sensibly included the side of the bed and a bedside table leg to show the exact place where it had been found. It was about eight inches from each piece of furniture.
    Angel studied the photograph for a few moments then said, ‘It’s an evergreen, Don. It’ll stay this colour for some time.’
    ‘ I suppose so, sir,’ Taylor said. He frowned. ‘Do you think it’s really significant? It’s only a laurel leaf. There are millions of them in the park.’
    ‘ I don’t know. It’s a slightly unusual discovery…in such a remarkably clean and uncluttered house.’
    Taylor nodded.
    ‘ We need to know if there’s a laurel bush in Redman’s garden,’ Angel said, ‘or, if not, are any in the gardens nearby? Also I wonder if it was windy that way on Sunday night. Let’s consider if it is plausible that such a leaf could have been blown into the victim’s bedroom by mother nature? Right?’
    ‘ Oh yes, sir.’
    ‘ If it isn’t, then we have to assume that it had been brought there by the murderer on his shoes, or in his clothing, or in something else he brought with him or…or in some other way? Anyway I’ll be down there soon, I’ll have a look round.’
    Taylor considered it a waste of time, but that’s what Angel wanted and he was the boss. Taylor had learned that he should never underestimate Detective Inspector Michael Angel. His reputation for catching murderers had spread across the UK and beyond. The newspapers wrote him up as if he was a Canadian Mountie: Inspector Angel, the copper who always got his man.
    ‘ Right, sir,’ Taylor said and he went out.
    Angel took a weathered envelope out of his inside pocket and ran down his notes. He spotted something then felt in his side pocket for a business card…Krill’s business card. He turned it over and found the home address and the phone number that Krill had written there for him. He reached out for the phone and tapped in the number. It was soon answered by Mrs Krill.
    ‘ It’s inspector Angel. Sorry to bother you. Just a little query. I wondered if you knew how many towels there would have been on the heated towel rail in your father’s bathroom, that’s all.’
    There was a moment’s silence.
    Angel added: ‘We are trying to establish whether the murderer took a towel from the rail away with him or not.’
    ‘ Sorry, Inspector, I really don’t know.’
    Angel licked his top lip with the tip of his tongue. ‘I wondered…your father was probably a creature of habit…if he had some number that exactly satisfied his…requirements?’
    ‘ I really don’t know,’ she said. ‘I’m really sorry.’
    ‘ That’s all right, Mrs Krill. It is just a detail.’
    There was the shortest of pauses.
    ‘C an you tell me, Inspector,’ Mrs Krill said, ‘when I may be able to…to organize my father’s funeral?’
    ‘ I’m afraid that there is an inevitable delay. I’m sorry about that. It will be a week or two depending on the progress of the case. I will let you know.’
    ‘ Thank you,’ she said.
    ‘ Have you had any further thoughts about the message on the mirror, Mrs Krill? Does “V to go” mean anything to you at all?’
    ‘ I’m afraid not.’
    Angel pulled a face. There was no joy there. ‘All right, Mrs Krill. Sorry to have bothered you.’
    He replaced the phone and immediately left the office for the car park.
    He drove the BMW to Redman’s house. The SOCOs van and DS Taylor’s car were parked outside. The PC was still on the step.
    Angel pursed his lips as he ambled round Redman’s small front garden. There were no laurel bushes. He went round to the rear of the house. There were two lawns and a small orchard at the bottom, but there were no laurel bushes there either. He returned to the front of the house, went out of the front gate and along