Free Death Bed by Leigh Russell Page A

force, it was also frustrating for the detectives working on the case. Twenty-four hours after the discovery of the body they should have been questioning the victim’s family, sifting through possessions, consulting known contacts, and putting together a timeline to plot her movements immediately before she died. They were all impatient to move the investigation forward, but time was passing and they were getting nowhere.

PART 2

16
A LONG SHOT
    G eraldine was pleased to be away from her desk as she and Sam drove back to Tufnell Park. She wanted to keep busy. The alley was still being searched but they had no idea where the woman had been killed, and with every passing hour, the trail leading to her killer would be growing colder. If he hadn’t left the area already, he would be busy covering his tracks while they rushed around, clueless and increasingly uneasy.
    They had attempted to talk to the occupants of properties in Tufnell Park Road on either side of the alleyway that morning, but only one old woman had answered the door to the flat above Dave Crawley’s. Grey-haired and bowed, she didn’t speak much English.
    ‘Yes?’
    Geraldine had held out her warrant card and introduced herself.
    ‘We’d like to ask you a few questions.’
    ‘Yes?’ the old woman had repeated.
    ‘We want to ask you a few questions.’
    The woman had shrugged.
    ‘He not here.’
    She had begun to close the door.
    Geraldine had waved her warrant card in front of the old woman again.
    ‘Police.’
    The old woman’s eyes had narrowed in understanding as she pulled back in alarm.
    ‘What you want, missus? He not here.’
    ‘Were you here last night?’
    ‘Night? Night?’
    ‘Here. Home.’
    Geraldine had pointed at the floor.
    ‘Were you here last night?’
    The woman had smiled suddenly, revealing strong yellow teeth.
    ‘Ah home. Yes.’
    She nodded, pleased to have understood.
    ‘Home. I live in house. Yes. And the man. Is my son.’
    ‘Did you - ’
    Geraldine sighed.
    ‘Last night. Did you hear anything unusual?’
    The old woman had shaken her head and made a tutting sound with her tongue, vexed at not being able to understand.
    ‘He not here. And I no speak good. He not here. He work.’
    ‘Thank you. We’ll come back later.’
    ‘Yes, missus. Thank you.’
    None of the other neighbours had been at home during the day. It was a different story when they returned in the evening. They started again with the flat above Dave Crawley and this time a young man came to the door.
    ‘You again? Ma said you’d be back.’
    He leaned against the door jamb staring at Geraldine through a greasy black fringe.
    ‘This is about the woman found in the alley, isn’t it? Have you got him yet?’
    He spoke fluently but with an obviously Eastern European accent.
    ‘Have we got him? Who do you mean?’
    ‘The killer. Has he been arrested yet? The man who killed that woman in the alley.’
    ‘What makes you think it was a man?’
    He shrugged.
    ‘You just assume, don’t you? I mean, it’s always a man, isn’t it?’
    ‘Did you notice anything unusual last night?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Did you see any unfamiliar cars in the street?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Did you hear any cars stop outside some time after midnight?’
    ‘No.’
    They rang the bell of the ground floor flat beside the alley and a youth of about eighteen came to the door. He introduced himself as a student and after a fleeting hesitation invited them in.
    ‘It’s the police asking about that woman they found,’ he announced as he led them into a small living room.
    Two other young men looked up from a game of chess and Geraldine and Sam posed the same questions to all of them.
    One of the lads thought he might have heard a car draw up outside during the night, but he couldn’t tell them what time he’d heard it or anything else about it.
    ‘Can you describe the sound of the engine?’
    He shook his head and his eyes flicked back to the chess board.
    ‘It was just a