Private Sydney (Private 12)

My cousin surveyed the scene and I caught a glimpse of repulsion on his face at the state of the body.

The crime scene technician was now photographing the kitchen. The small space was becoming more crowded by the minute.

Mark bent down to view the body. ‘She’s wearing a wedding ring on her left hand. I was told she was a single mother.’

‘Widow,’ I added. ‘Kids are in day care apparently.’

Mark glanced around the room. ‘You work all that out gawking at a body?’

He was in one of his moods. Even the other detective seemed wary of him. He turned his attention to Rex King.

‘Doc, what do you know so far?’

Rex nudged half-glasses further up his nose with the back of his wrist.

‘She sustained a head injury to the frontal region and nose, and there is bruising around her neck. It looks like she was grabbed and slammed into something solid.’

‘Like a wall.’ I pointed to the hole in the hallway.

‘And then she was dragged in here,’ Mark commented.

‘Tied to a chair and beaten,’ Rex explained. ‘I can’t say whether she was conscious or not, but she was alive when the knife penetrated her lower abdomen. Lividity and body temperature put time of death between one and three hours ago.’

Mark checked his watch. ‘That makes death somewhere between one-thirty and three-thirty.’ He turned to face me and sighed. ‘Why are you here?’

With an index finger theatrically tapping his chin, he delivered his best. ‘Oh no, don’t tell me. She’s one of your conquests.’

Anger surged through my veins. I wanted to ram the smirk on his face right to the back of his head.

Darlene was quickly between us. ‘For God’s sake. Are you still going on about Becky marrying Craig? This is about Louise Simpson, not you.’

Mark stood intimidatingly close to Darlene. ‘I can get you kicked out of here in a flash,’ he snapped. ‘This is between Craig and me.’

I had no idea what had inflamed him again. ‘What’s your problem? A woman has been murdered and you are attacking me over old history.’

‘Are you going to tell me how you knew the victim?’

I took a slow breath and explained about Gus and Jennifer Finch. I thought I could see a faint smile appear on Mark’s lips, then just as quickly disappear.

‘I see.’ Mark rocked on his heels. ‘You provided two strangers with intimate details of our victim – for payment, of course – hours before she was found brutally murdered. And now you can’t tell us where to locate these people.’ He moved even closer. ‘Hope you get good job satisfaction.’

I lunged at him and Darlene was on her feet again, the other detective blocking us. Mark raised his hands in the air as if surrendering.

‘He’s not worth it, Craig. He wants you to hit him. Right here, in front of witnesses,’ Darlene warned.

I swallowed back the rising bile. Darlene was right. Mark would love nothing more than to report I’d started a fight at a crime scene so we’d never be allowed on one again. Finding Louise’s killer had to be our priority.

Rex spoke calmly. ‘Detective, a knife is missing from the set.’

A magnetic strip attached to tiles on the wall above the stove contained a series of knives increasing in size. There was a space between the first and third.

That meant the killer may not have planned to murder Louise. Maybe she refused to be their surrogate and things turned sour.

‘Right, that place of yours is filmed 24/7. I want the video footage of the couple you saw this morning.’

I sighed. This was going to sound like we had no intention of cooperating.

‘The computers went down overnight and we have no vision from midnight until after the couple had gone.’