The house was full of police. Bob Forbes said the search for forensic evidence had been widened, and that his bedroom was currently under investigation. Someone took him to a spare room, where a fire was lit and fresh clothes brought from his suitcase. They asked if he needed a doctor, but he shook his head and said the first-aid box would be enough.
Hot water was drawn from the unreliable old boiler, and half a bath filled. While he luxuriated in the water, DCI Forbes came to talk to him. Ethan explained what had happened, and insisted they start a hunt for Sarah right away. Forbes gave orders to a junior detective, who went off to alert headquarters.
‘We’ll need a photograph,’ said Bob, ‘details of what she was wearing, all the usual stuff.’
There was a good-quality photo in Gerald’s bedroom, in a frame on the bedside table. Ethan added what details he could remember, then went down to the kitchen to fix himself something to eat. Sitting at the table brought back vivid memories of the previous evening. What had happened during that meal? he wondered. He’d never met anyone like Sarah before, and he cursed his bad luck everyone thought she was his niece. They weren’t blood relations at all, but if they wound up together, it would certainly look like incest, and that would hardly go down well in the family or anywhere else. The awful thing was, he had only ever felt this way about one person in his life before. Abi. And the events of last night had intensified his feelings, made raw by fear and a desperate need to protect Sarah from the brutes who’d taken her. Or killed her. He shuddered, and realised there was something he’d forgotten.
He asked Mary Boyd, a detective he’d worked with on several important cases, if the forensic team was planning to go through the library.
‘I don’t think so, sir. Maybe later. Do you want something in there?’
‘Just a book,’ he said. ‘There’s something I want to check. I was reading it yesterday.’
‘I’m sure that will be OK, sir. This is your house, isn’t it?’
‘It’s the family house.’
‘He was your uncle or something, wasn’t he? One of the victims?’
‘Grandfather. I was very close to him. It’s a huge blow.’
She sympathised, then he went to the library. No one was there, and it took him only moments to find the book and put the letter and map in his pocket.
He was on edge, desperately wanting to know if there was any news of Sarah. He found Bob Forbes, who said he’d heard nothing yet, but assured him HQ had taken Ethan’s story seriously and had sent out a general alert.
‘Who’s in charge?’
‘Not sure. I’ll find out.’
‘I want to be put on the search team. Bob, I’m just wasting my time here. The super doesn’t want me on the murder case because I may be emotionally involved. I’ve been taken off my other case, and here I am standing around making coffee and fretting.’
‘Actually, the super’s on his way over. He was asking about you, wanted to know if you were here. There’s been a bit of a delay on the A46, but he’s past that now. Should be here any minute.’
Five minutes later, Superintendent Willis left his driver to find a parking space, and came trudging up the drive to the house. Watching him through a ground-floor window, Ethan thought he seemed tired and distracted. Snow already lay on his bare head and the shoulders of his black overcoat. Ethan did not think it was just the snow that hampered his footsteps. The policeman on the door let him in.
Willis spent several minutes talking in the hall with Forbes. Ethan waited in the morning room, which was unaffected by the investigation. Being there brought back memories of holidays with his parents, and of his mother in particular. Today, his heart misgave him. He awaited Willis’s arrival without hope, or the expectation of hope. The super’s face as he approached the door had told him all he needed to know. Ethan thought of his mother, of her hope for life and the sudden illness that had spent two years defeating her, turning all hope sour. He had spent so many hours with her in this room, playing while she read, and, much later, reading aloud to her as she sat wasting in the chair he sat in now.
The door opened and Brian Willis stepped into the room. The door clicked shut behind him. The dim afternoon light, pearl-coloured from the snow, gave him a translucence at once contradicted by the expression on his face.
He did not sit down. For several moments, he looked at Ethan, who got to his feet to greet him. Ethan thought he seemed uneasy, wanting to speak yet unable to frame the right words. Then the super spoke.
‘DCI Usherwood, I know you were questioned along with the other guests yesterday. I understand you were the one who found the two bodies?’
Ethan shook his head.
‘Mrs Salgueiro found them, sir. She came out screaming, and I went in. I notified HQ right away.’
‘That was very prompt of you. Tell me, did you do anything else while you were in the study? Did you touch anything?’
Ethan frowned.
‘Sir, I was shocked by what I found, but I didn’t panic. I’ve been on dozens of murder scenes. I closed the door and forbade entry, then I found the nearest phone and rang in.’
‘Where was the phone you used?’
‘In my own room. It was quite close, and I knew there was a phone there. Sir, is something wrong?’
There was a long pause, then Willis shook his head.
‘I don’t know. I’m sure there’s an explanation, but… Just a tick.’
The super went to the door and opened it part way. Moments later, Bob Forbes came in. He was carrying something in his hand, a plastic evidence bag with something in it, something long.
Superintendent Willis took the bag and held it out towards Ethan.
‘DCI Usherwood, have you ever seen this before?’
The object he held out was a knife. It was a folding knife of unusual design, with a brown horn handle and a long, slim blade. The blade was about five inches in length and seemed very sharp. Ethan noticed traces of blood on it.
He shook his head.
‘No, sir. If it was in the study when I went in, I didn’t notice it.’
‘You’re quite sure of that? You’re sure you’ve never seen it before?’
‘It’s quite distinctive, sir. I’ve seen plenty of knives in my time, but never one like that.’
‘That’s curious. Just a moment.’
The super turned to Forbes, who hadn’t looked Ethan in the eye since entering the room, and handed the transparent envelope back to him. He muttered something which Ethan didn’t catch, after which Forbes left the room.
‘What’s going on, sir? Are you suggesting I know something about that knife, that I’m holding back…?’
The super tutted, as though in disapproval.
‘Just wait a moment,’ he said.
Ethan wondered what was going on. The super had never been the friendliest of men, but he’d never been curt like this.
The door opened and Bob Forbes stepped back inside. This time he was holding several larger bags, all containing what looked like items of clothing. Again, DI Forbes avoided looking at Ethan.
One by one, the DI handed the evidence bags across.
‘Have you seen this before?’ asked Willis, holding up a bag containing a woman’s thong, a pretty thing with a pink see-through panel in front. There were darker marks on the panel, random blotches that might have been blood.
Ethan shook his head.
‘I no longer have a wife, and I haven’t had a girlfriend in several months, sir. No, I’ve never seen this before.’