gardens yesterday. She had half expected when she arrived to see a car parked outside and find the missing family had returned from wherever they’d been. But there was no car; it was eerily quiet. She parked the van and got out, her gaze falling on the tree where Olivia had been found. It was so sad, and she didn’t think she could ever get used to it no matter how many suicides she attended. She took the key from her pocket and opened the door once more; it didn’t smell quite so pleasant as when she’d gone inside yesterday. She could still smell the plug-in air freshener, but there was another darker, heavier scent beneath it.
She didn’t announce her arrival this time. The house looked exactly the same as it had yesterday when she’d checked. There were no trainers or school bags in the hall, which you’d expect if two teenagers were here. She ran upstairs, checked each room in turn and this time she opened wardrobe and cupboard doors. There were different-size suitcases in a cupboard. So, they hadn’t gone away.
Downstairs she checked the kitchen; there was a door next to the American-style fridge-freezer. Dan must have assumed it was the adjoining garage door yesterday. To be sure, she slid the bolt across and tugged it open. Blackness enveloped her eyes and a strong, earthy smell filled her nostrils. How had they missed this? It definitely didn’t lead to the garage, rather to a basement of some sort. Tugging the torch from her body armour, she turned it on, shining it around to look for a light switch. A pull cord dangled to the left of her and she yanked it, causing a small bulb to flicker on and illuminate the steep, wooden steps.
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. She had never liked cellars. Bad things happened in them. She’d read a book once, The Ghost House, and had been scared for days over the goings-on in that cellar. The smell she detected when she’d first walked into the house was coming from down there. It was much stronger. Like rotting meat. She crossed her fingers that maybe a freezer had defrosted. She thought about calling for someone to come and back her up and realised that Dan was in the other van and probably her nearest patrol. She’d rather run into the depths of hell and face Satan than have to rely on Dan to be her backup today. She could do this on her own. If he turned up and there was nothing down here, that would be another round of ammunition for him to fire her way. Spurred on, she began to walk down the wooden steps. The smell was getting stronger the closer to the bottom she got and she wondered if there might be a dead animal in here. Maybe a cat had got trapped, or a squirrel.
Still shining her torch around despite there being some light from the bulb, Morgan stepped onto the concrete floor and turned slowly to take in the large space. There were the usual things you’d expect to find in a cellar: stacks of boxes, shelves containing tools and tins of paint. Nothing out of the ordinary. As she moved around the beam from her torch illuminated a jumble of clothes in the far corner.
The light hit two small circles and reflected back towards her.
She screamed so loud it echoed around the cellar as she realised two eyes were staring at her.
Jumping back, it took her mind a few moments to process what she was seeing and then she felt her legs begin to quiver. Her hands tried to grab the radio to press the talk button and missed. She tried a second time.
‘5129 to control, I need urgent assistance.’
Her voice was barely a whisper.
‘5129, you’re very faint, can you repeat the last?’
‘Urgent assistance. I’ve found the missing family from the suicide yesterday.’
‘Are they kicking off?’
She shook her head. ‘No, I think they’re dead.’
‘Where are you?’
‘Easdale Road, the same address as the suicide.’
Morgan could hear the radio burst into life as patrols began to shout up they were on their way. She took a pair of blue nitrile gloves from her pocket and slipped them on, painfully aware of the need to preserve the scene, but also mindful that she needed to make sure there wasn’t anything that could be done for them. She remembered the DS’s harsh words yesterday about not being medically trained