Free The Doll's House by Louise Phillips Page A

matchstick. His strong Cork accent was very much still in place despite more than thirty years in Dublin. It had a harsh, no-nonsense sound to it.
    ‘I see you there at the back, Quigley. Is the interview over? Is Mr Keegan talking?’
    ‘Patterson’s getting his girlfriend Suzanne Clarke in for a chat. Keegan’s adamant he was with her all night.’
    ‘And your take?’
    ‘There’s a history of domestic abuse there. She’ll say whatever he wants her to say. We’ll put the squeeze on both of them. Chances are she’ll be the first to crack.’
    Matthews, checking the next job number in the file, turned to O’Connor sitting directly to the left of Butler. ‘O’Connor, fill us in on Morrison.’
    ‘Post-autopsy, he’s hoping tests will confirm substantial amounts of liquid in the lungs. If the heart was still beating when Jenkins was plunged into the water, then the pathology reports should confirm diatoms travelling from the bloodstream into the kidneys, brain, and perhaps even the bone marrow.’
    Butler interrupted, ‘If Jenkins has some of the killer on him, under his fingernails or anywhere else, O’Connor, tell Morrison we need that information ASAP.’
    ‘The trace evidence has been coded top priority.’
    Matthews continued, his next question to Sarah Walsh, Hanley’s assistant. ‘What have you techie guys got from the scene?’
    Standing by the side wall, Sarah Walsh answered, ‘A bonanza of items. Enough blood samples to keep everyone busy for a while. Hanley is still there, but we have some visuals.’ Pointing to the projector, she asked, ‘Will I load them?’
    ‘Go right ahead, Sarah.’ Matthews gave the nod to two male officers at the back to close down the blinds.
    The opening images were of blood deposits found on the interior ledge of the canal wall. Sarah Walsh’s voice held everyone’s attention as she flicked through the slides. ‘These blood deposits were in close proximity to where the body was found floating. They are also in line with the eye-witness statement regarding positioning of both men after they exited the car. The angle of blood splatters is relevant. When large drops of blood fall on a hard surface, in this case a concrete ledge, how the splatters form defines the angle of blood loss. Here,’ Sarah Walsh pointed towards the image, ‘when the blood hit the surface, small secondary droplets developed, surrounding theoriginal circular stains formed from the larger ones. Because the smaller droplets hit the surface at angles of less than ninety degrees, these secondary stains are elongated and the tails are clearly visible.’ She paused, allowing everyone to take in the information. ‘These tails indicate the relationship of the body to the surface being somewhere between a thirty-five- or forty-five-degree angle. Meaning the victim was practically lying on the ledge before he was plunged into the canal.’
    ‘If what you’re saying is true, Sarah,’ O’Connor observed, standing up and walking over to her, ‘the killer used the ledge to support the victim before drowning him, positioning himself on it, making it easier to hold Jenkins under water.’
    ‘Probably – we’ll be running fibre tests. If the killer knelt on the ledge, we should be able to pull something from it, no matter how minute.’
    Butler turned to O’Connor. ‘I’ll want to know what that profiler of yours has to say about this. What’s her name again?’
    ‘Kate Pearson.’
    ‘We’ll need her report as of now. Allocate that to O’Connor, will you, Matthews? And, for God’s sake, will someone open those bloody blinds? We might be still in the dark, but we don’t have to make it a permanent state of affairs. Right, O’Connor, get back up here and tell everyone what else you have.’
    O’Connor didn’t like being summoned like some unruly teenager, but he did as he was told. The line of command within the force was never questioned, even if the chief super, at times, was the