Free The Cold Hand of Malice by Frank Smith Page B

room in the house. Which suggests that they were there for some time before becoming aware that someone else was in the house. I say “suggests”, because again there are a couple of possibilities.’
    Grace brushed the hair away from her eyes as she marshalled her thoughts. ‘Look,’ she continued earnestly, ‘at first glance, it appears to be the work of the same thieves. The contents of Mrs Holbrook’s handbag were emptied on the floor, and a small amount of money was missing. They didn’t take her credit cards, nor did they in the other cases, which is strange, considering that they can be worth far more than cash.
    ‘But then we come to the vandalism. And this is where I have trouble, because when I took a good hard look at the damage in the Holbrook house, it struck me as being very, very selective, and I think that may be what Charlie was getting at when he sent me over there. Admittedly, they made quite a mess; stuff is strewn about all over the place, but there wasn’t anything of real value that was damaged. As I said, it appeared to me that someone was being very selective in what they broke, and six hundred pounds would be nothing to someone like Holbrook.’
    ‘What about—?’
    ‘The rings?’ Grace finished for him, and shook her head. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘Opportunism, perhaps? Too valuable to pass up? But that would suggest that they know enough about jewellery to realize their worth, and somehow I doubt that, because they demonstrated no such knowledge in the earlier burglaries.
    ‘And let’s not forget,’ she continued before Paget could respond, ‘this is the only time they didn’t stop to take food or make a meal.’
    Paget nodded slowly. ‘We did wonder about that,’ he said, ‘but decided that even they wouldn’t have the stomach to stay around for the usual meal after killing Laura Holbrook, so they got out as fast as they could. Which, as I said earlier, could also account for the lack of damage in this case. But you’re suggesting it could mean that someone may have used the same MO as a cover to murder Mrs Holbrook. Right?’
    Grace gave a non-committal shrug. ‘All I’m saying is that it is a possibility,’ she said. ‘But if that should turn out to be the case, then the question is: who knew that Mrs Holbrook would be alone in the house at that particular time? I spoke to Tregalles this afternoon, and he told me that it was only a short time before they were due to leave that Mrs Holbrook said she had a migraine, and decided to go to bed. So, no one, other than Holbrook and the Ballantynes, knew she’d be alone in the house.’ Grace gathered the folders together. ‘But you’re the detective, my love,’ she said with a grin. ‘You work it out.’
    ‘All right, let’s assume for the moment that you’re right,’ said Paget. ‘Holbrook and Ballantyne were together the whole evening, assuming their stories check out. I understand there’s a bit of a discrepancy in their statements about the times, but unless they are both lying they have alibis. If they are lying, then both would be equally involved, and I find that hard to believe.’
    ‘Unless Holbrook hired someone else to do the killing while he was well away from the house and could count on Ballantyne and others for an alibi,’ Grace suggested.
    ‘Possible,’ Paget admitted, ‘but it’s not very likely, is it? That is unless he has criminal connections we don’t know about. Besides, he’d be laying himself open to blackmail. Either way, we need a motive.’
    ‘As I said, you’re the detective, darling. I just offer suggestions based on my findings.’
    As always, Paget had toyed with other possible explanations for the killing of Laura Holbrook, if only because it had become second nature never to accept without question what appeared to be obvious at first glance. But Grace had put some meat on the bones – not a lot, but enough to give him something to think about, and past