With a Narrow Blade Read Online Free PDF Page A

way to the second door, which lead into a tiny kitchen. SOCO had already been here, for two constables stood around the kitchen table, drinking tea from their thermos flasks. One looked about eighteen and a bit green around the gills, the other was older, and far more sanguine. Both straightened up when they spotted her.
    ‘DI Greene, SIO,’ Hillary introduced herself. ‘You first up?’
    ‘Yes ma’am.’ The taller, older of the two, reached unasked for his notebook and commenced to give a short but detailed account. Behind her, Janine got her own notebook out, ready to start transcribing. ‘We received a 999 call at 8.27 this morning from a female person, who gave her name as Mrs Caroline Weekes. She reported finding the body of her friend, in her house, and said she’d been stabbed to death. We were dispatched, and found a woman waiting at the gate. She appeared pale and had been crying, but was able to confirm her identity and the telephone call and told us where to find the victim.’ He cleared his throat, and turned the page. ‘I told Constable Myers here to stay with Mrs Weekes, and proceeded inside. I could see only one set of footprints, still wet and approximately size five, leading down the hall to the lounge. I took these to belong to Mrs Weekes. Inside, I saw the body of an elderly woman, sitting in her chair. Life was extinct. She had what appeared to be the hilt of some sort of ornamental knife or dagger protruding out of her chest. I immediately reported back in, and asked for SOCO and detective division. When back-up came, I had a WPC escort Mrs Weekes back to her home. I have her address. The victim, according to Mrs Weekes, is Mrs Florence Jenkins, 76, widow and sole resident.’ He closed the notebook and glanced at Hillary.
    ‘You said life was extinct. You checked this with a finger to the side of the neck?’
    ‘Yes ma’am.’
    ‘You didn’t touch the body or anything else?’
    ‘No ma’am, I was careful. Hands firmly in pockets,’ he repeated the policeman’s mantra with a smile, and Hillary grinned back. She recognized him vaguely from around, and no doubt he knew her as well.
    Barrington, who’d been listening and looking over Janine’s shoulder, noted the uniform’s easy manner around Hillary Greene, and felt yet more of the tension leave him.
    ‘Right. Well, you can’t stay here in the warm and dry all morning. Might as well start on house-to-house, and make yourself useful,’ Hillary said. ‘It’s almost stopped raining.’
    The younger one hastily emptied his plastic mug and screwed the lid back on his thermos.
    ‘Since we don’t have an approximate time of death yet, keep it vague,’ Hillary advised. ‘Did anyone see or hear anything unusual? Did she have any visitors in the last forty-eight hours. General gossip. Was she well liked, or was she the neighbour from hell? You know the drill,’ she added. ‘Keith, you can help them out. I want a list of those who seem to know her the best. I might need to do some follow-ups. As soon as DS Ross deigns to show up, I’ll get him to help you out too.’
    ‘Guv,’ Barrington said.
    ‘Janine, I want you to do a thorough search of the house, see if you can find any signs of a break-in or illegal entry. And I want a full inventory of the contents of the house. We’ll have to get somebody, a relative or close friend, to go through it and see if anything’s been stolen.’ It didn’t quite have the feel of a burglary gone wrong to her, but it had to be checked out, nonetheless.
    ‘Boss,’ Janine said heavily. More scut work.
    ‘Then get on to doing a background check on her.’
    Janine nodded, and Hillary watched them all troop out, then walked to the door to the lounge again.
    So, it was an old lady. She couldn’t see much from her position in the doorway, for a white-overalled figure was knelt down in front of the chair, concealing the body from her view as he dusted the chair arm for prints and traces, but there