Page 16 of One Left Alive
Eleven
Over the years he’d been in the police, Ben had attended some pretty tragic crime scenes. The worst had been a house fire where two children had died. Thankfully the smoke had got them and when he’d pushed his way in – despite being told not to by his superior – and found them, they had looked as if they were asleep. He’d been to some terrible accidents, a fair few murders and suicides, but this, however, was by far the most horrific. He went down the wooden steps first, Amy following behind.
Standing at the bottom step, Ben took in the scene in front of him. On first observation it looked like any old cellar, apart from the strong odour of blood and decomposition, and then when his eyes fell onto the bodies in one corner it was hard to believe what he was seeing. It looked like someone had discarded a pile of clothes there, until he realised the clothes had body parts attached to them and stained cloths covering their faces. Immediately he thought that whoever had done this knew the victims, their guilt causing them to cover their eyes so they weren’t looking at them. Judging by the pools of blood on the floor they had been killed down here.
He shone his torch at the walls and ceiling, sucking in a deep breath. There was blood spatter everywhere. Whoever did this must have been covered in blood. He took his time scanning the rest of the cellar, but there was no obvious sign of a murder weapon.
‘Bollocks.’
He heard Amy whisper the word behind him and he had to agree it was definitely bollocks. He crossed towards the two remaining bodies. There were discarded packets where the paramedics had ripped open necessary medical equipment to save the girl, which meant this crime scene had been contaminated, but for the greater good; preserving life took priority over anything else. Although he wasn’t sure, judging by the head injuries inflicted on the remaining members of her family, whether she was going to thank them for it. There was a good chance she’d have sustained some serious brain damage, not to mention losing her entire family in one go. If she came around, would she rather they’d left her to die? He shook himself out of it, not going any further.
‘We need this documenting by CSI before anything else gets disturbed. What the hell happened down here?’
Amy didn’t answer, which was unusual. He turned to look at her. Eyes wide and taking deep breaths through her mouth – this wasn’t like her; she was usually as tough as he was. It only reaffirmed to him just how bad this crime scene was. He pointed to the stairs and shoved her gently in that direction. She turned and didn’t pause, mounting them a lot faster than she’d come down. He followed suit, and the pair of them exited the house into the fresh air. Although the smell in the cellar wasn’t as bad as it could have been, it was enough to have permeated his nostrils and it lingered in the back of his throat.
The ambulance was gone, he saw, along with Morgan. That was good; at least she was out of here for the time being. He’d need to get a full statement from her later. The CSI van was now parking in the space the ambulance had vacated, and behind that was the DCI’s battered Land Rover. Tom lived on a remote farm with his wife, Christine, and never went anywhere without his trusty steed as he called it. He watched as Tom waved him over and he opened the door, climbing into the passenger seat.
‘What have we got?’
‘A pretty big mess, sir. Two bodies in the cellar, both with their heads staved in, and pieces of cloth over their faces. Another victim has been taken to the RLI by ambulance.’
‘Shit. Is there a reason we didn’t find them yesterday? Wasn’t the house searched?’
‘Yes, it was. There are no signs of anything untoward happening in the house; it’s clean. The cellar door was bolted from the outside and, to be fair, it looks as if it’s the adjoining garage door. The garage was checked from the outside; rookie but very easy mistake to make.’
He nodded. ‘But there’s one still alive; if we’d have found them yesterday…’
He didn’t finish his sentence; he didn’t need to. Ben was painfully aware of the consequences of such a mistake.
‘It’s done, it is what it is. We need to focus on the scene now.’
‘Anything unusual I should be aware of?’
‘Well apart from an entire family turning up dead and their faces being covered, not really. According to the pathologist, Olivia’s hanging is looking suspicious, so I did consider whether the father may have murdered his family. Perhaps he hanged Olivia, then took his daughters into the cellar and killed them and himself.’
‘Only that story doesn’t add up. How did he cover his own face and lock the cellar door?’
‘True, sir, maybe Olivia killed them and couldn’t take the guilt so took a couple of attempts to hang herself?’
Tom nodded. ‘That seems more feasible, unusual but not entirely unheard of. Who found the bodies?’
‘The officer I was going to offer the attachment to.’
‘Seems like a good shout. There’s nothing like being thrown in at the deep end to learn how to swim. Do you think she’ll be interested after this?’
‘Hard to say, but quite possibly. I get a feeling she’d like to see this through to the end.’
They both got out of the Land Rover. Wendy, the duty CSI, was gathering the equipment she needed from the back of the van. Hoisting her camera case over her shoulder and picking up the heavy bag she needed, she set off towards the house. Ben followed.
‘Do you know where you’re going?’
‘Cellar, I hate cellars. They’re always full of creepy shit, not to mention creepy crawlies.’
He smiled; for a tough crime scene investigator whose job involved bodies that were crawling with insects, she really had a dislike of them. It made him feel better, though, when she was trying her best not to puke into her face mask while he was doing the same behind her.
‘You’re safe, no insects that I could see. Not sure about close up though. I didn’t go too near. But they weren’t covered in flies, which is always a good sign, although there could be lots of spiders.’
She turned and looked at him. ‘Thanks.’
