Free The Dark Room by Minette Walters Page B

impossible, but, frankly, statistics and psychology are against you. It was a very physical crime, requiring energy and extreme savagery, neither of which are
typical of female murderers. That’s not to say there aren’t some extremely savage and dangerous women about, but, in my experience, they prefer to conduct their murders within the four
walls of a house, using a pillow over the face, poison, guns and knives even. I’d plump for a man or men, if I were you, with the possibility of a woman in tow who witnessed the whole event.
It really is a pity there’s been so little rain recently. A nice piece of soggy ground and I could have told you how many people were there, what they weighed and probably how tall they
were.’ He paused briefly. ‘Of course you realize there’ll have been a great deal of blood, and that’s a brute to clean off, as you know. Your killer will probably have left
bloodstains in the car he drove away in. I certainly feel those are areas worth concentrating on.’
    ‘Tell us about the victims,’ said Frank Cheever. ‘We’ve got height, build and colouring. Anything else? What do their clothes say?’
    ‘Ah, well, Jerry’s having a field day with them.’ Clarke pulled out another set of notes. ‘It’ll be a while before he can give you a full analysis but
this is what he’s come up with so far. These people weren’t poor, quite the reverse in fact, Jerry says look at the wealthier end of the market. The woman first. Not much help from the
jeans, which are stone-washed men’s Levi 501s, but the T-shirt is American, made by a company called Arizona, and imported into this country by the Birmingham-based Interwear. Preliminary
talks with them indicate that these T-shirts retail at fifty-five pounds from only ten stores throughout the country, all of which are centred in London, Birmingham or Glasgow. We’re
expecting a faxed list this afternoon, and Jerry will send it through to you as soon as it arrives, with precise details of the size, colour code and style that she was wearing.’ He followed
the notes with his finger. ‘Her trainers are a Nike brand, retailing at eighty-five pounds, and her underwear, again not too helpful, is top-of-the-range Marks and Spencer. The point is,
nothing that she was wearing was what you or I would call cheap, considering all her clothes are of the casual type.
    ‘Now, the man. He’s the better bet, by a long chalk. The pullover is dark green, Army-style with leather-patched elbows, designed by Capability Brown and retailing only
through Harrods at a price of one hundred and three pounds.’ He smiled at Frank Cheever’s grunt of excitement. ‘That’s only the beginning, my friend. The shirt is a casual
green/brown check from Hilditch and Keys in Jermyn Street, retailing at eighty-five pounds. Trousers by Capability Brown again, one hundred per cent lined cotton, with pleated front and button
detail, colour described as taupe, and retailing out of Harrods for two hundred and fifty pounds. Socks by Marks and Spencer, shoes probably purchased in Italy because Jerry has no record of an
importer who deals in that particular brand, but he’s working on it. His best advice is that our chap has an account with Harrods and probably one with Hilditch and Keys as well. He has
located some interesting fibres on both sets of garments which he believes are from the same carpet, probably a thick-pile, off-white Chinese rug, and some hairs which he suggests tentatively are
cat hairs, but give him a few more days and he claims he’ll be able to describe the room these two were in before they were taken to Ardingly Woods.’
    ‘Anything else?’ asked Cheever.
    Clarke chuckled. ‘Isn’t that enough to be getting on with? Good God, man, we’ve had them less than twenty-four hours. What else are you expecting?’
    ‘Some reasonable fingerprint impressions,’ he said. ‘You were doubtful yesterday, but perhaps you’ve had new thoughts