The Sixth Estate (The Craig Crime Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t know what was on their mind, never mind the neighbours.
    “You don’t agree?”
    Craig answered first. “No, I don’t. I saw enough in a case we had in April to know that people are rarely what they seem. Five apparently upstanding people with secrets so bad that they were prepared to commit suicide rather than have them revealed. And none of their family members had a clue.”
    Julia topped up their coffees, nodding him on. “What’s your theory then?”
    Craig shook his head. “I don’t have one yet, but I have a lot of questions. First of all, the study was obviously Oliver Bwye’s kingdom, so how did the whole family end up in there? If they did. We still haven’t confirmed whose blood was all over the floor. There’s no sign of a struggle anywhere else in the house, so were the wife and daughter marched into the study at gunpoint, or did Bwye call them in?”
    Liam leaned forward, gesturing at the file. “Do you have photos of the gun cabinet?”
    Julia withdrew a pile of ten by tens and handed them across. He selected three and spread them out, giving an admiring whistle. Oliver Bwye’s gun cabinet was antique. It must have cost a fortune, but then people with money spent it on something and there were only so many eco-friendly houses that you could build.
    Craig ran a tanned finger down one photograph, taking in the cabinet’s intact glass and lock.
    “Did forensics find anything on it?”
    Julia shook her red curls. “Not a thing; no prints except Bwye’s and no blood. The lock had been opened with a key, not forced.”
    “Bwye’s prints could have been left there at any time and the assailant probably wore gloves. The question is how did they open it? The lock’s intact so that means either Bwye opened it or he gave them the key.”
    Liam cut in. “He might have been forced to open it.”
    Craig spoke slowly, thinking. “He might have…perhaps by threatening his family. I can’t imagine he would have done it without duress. But his bloody fingerprints are elsewhere in the room, so why no blood on the cabinet if they had to force him?”
    “Maybe they did it before he was hurt?”
    Julia rifled through the photographs, selecting a head and shoulders shot of a powerfully-built man. She stared at it for a moment before handing it to Craig.
    “Bwye’s a big man so they’d have had to be strong or used a weapon to make him do anything.”
    Craig shook his head. “If they’d already had a weapon to threaten him with then why bother with the gun? Unless…they might have wanted to use it in the killings to incriminate him.”
    “Or to avoid a trail leading back to them?”
    Both ideas made sense but something was still niggling at Craig.
    Julia carried on. “Bwye was a rugby player at university; played for the old boys until 2005. He still went for a five mile run every day.”
    Craig glanced up sharply. “When and where?”
    She looked surprised at the question. “Every morning at seven o’clock. He ran around the grounds.”
    “How long did it take him?”
    “About fifty minutes according to Bernadette Ross. He didn’t push himself; it was just to keep fit.”
    “OK. That means he would have arrived back at the house around seven-fifty, leaving him forty minutes to shower, have breakfast, perhaps read the papers before Ross arrived.”
    She nodded. “And watch the News. Bwye showered and then went to his study to watch the eight a.m. News and check on the stock exchange. That’s why he had a TV in there. Then he had breakfast at his desk and read through the papers before Ross arrived at half past.”
    Liam thought for a moment. “Who delivered the papers?”
    Julia stared at him, startled. She hadn’t asked, but instead of becoming defensive as she would have done a year before she looked sheepish.
    “I didn’t even think to ask. That’s why we need your team on this case.”
    Liam tutted inwardly at the rookie mistake as Craig changed the subject. “Andy says