flashy blue BMW was talking to him, blocking his entrance. He didn’t look as if he was about to move.
‘What’s this clown doing?’
Ben beeped his horn, but the car still didn’t move. The PCSO looked towards him and shrugged. Ben got out of his car, striding over to the BMW, about to drag whoever was being an arsehole out of the driver’s door.
‘Is there a problem here?’
Ben recognised Jamie Stone, the editor of the local paper, but wouldn’t give him the pleasure of acknowledging him.
‘Yes, there is. I want to go up to the house.’
Ben crossed his arms. ‘Why? Are you family or a close friend?’
‘No, I’m the editor of—’
‘I know who you are. You say you’re not anything to do with the family who live here?’
‘No, I’m a reporter. The public have a right to know—’
He cut him off again. ‘A right to know what exactly?’
‘About this?’ he finished lamely.
‘At this moment in time, neither the public nor you have the right to know anything. This is an ongoing case which has nothing to do with you. So, I suggest you move your car out of my way before I arrest you for police obstruction. As the editor of that piece of crap paper, you should know that all enquiries into serious incidents are run through the constabulary press office.’ He lowered his voice. ‘So, piss off out of my sight before I arrest you.’
‘Hey, you can’t talk to me like that.’ He radiated a sense of anger towards Ben.
Ben turned and waved Morgan over. ‘Have you got your cuffs on you and pepper spray?’
She jumped out of the car, a pair of cuffs dangling from her fingers and began to walk towards him.
Ben leant in and grabbed the guy’s collar.
‘You can’t do this. It’s police brutality, I’ll have you reported.’
A red mist fell over Ben’s eyes and if it hadn’t been for the voice of DCI Claire Williams behind him he’d have dragged the arrogant man out of his car and cuffed him. He let go of his collar and stepped back.
‘What is the problem here? You are indeed obstructing a police officer, so I’m going to ask you kindly to move your vehicle. I like to think I’m a reasonable person.’ She looked at the Apple Watch on her wrist. ‘So I’ll give you ten seconds and then I’ll be arresting you.’ She smiled the whole time she spoke, and the driver of the car shook his head.
‘You wait, you won’t hear the last of this. I’m good friends with the Crime Commissioner.’
‘Are you really, then you’ll already have his number. I won’t need to give it to you. Ten, nine, eight, seven.’
The car engine roared into life and he drove away, the whole time shaking his head.
Ben stared at Claire; his opinion of her had just gone from okay to awesome.
‘What a prick; I wouldn’t worry about the Crime Commissioner either.’
‘Why?’
‘I’m married to him.’ She winked at Ben, who laughed.
They drove up to the house where another PCSO was standing outside the front door, holding the pale green crime scene booklet for them to sign in.
Ben opened the boot of his car. A box containing every piece of protective clothing they needed was filled to the brim. Carrying a small box of blue nitrile gloves, Morgan got out of the car, a reluctant but determined expression on her face. But he decided she didn’t need to go back in: he wasn’t that mean.
‘Do you want to sign us in, Morgan? Then you can go and make a start on the CCTV enquiries at the houses nearest.’
He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard her release the breath she must have been holding in.
She took the booklet from the PCSO and wrote their names, asking for Claire and Abigail’s surnames as they filed into the property one by one. Ben led the way.
Reaching the closed door to the cellar, he turned and announced, ‘It’s bad.’
Claire nodded. ‘They usually are, at least the ones we attend. They are much worse than a fight that’s gone horribly wrong.’
He knew that, of course, but he felt it was his duty to warn them. He would have said it to a seasoned detective with thirty years’ experience. Opening the door, he began to make the descent into the now floodlit cellar, which smelt distinctly worse than it had a couple of hours ago.
At the bottom of the steps, Ben stood to one side, letting Claire and Abigail take in the scene