her head was the CCTV camera and she looked up at it; there was a loose wire coming from it. There was the answer why no footage recorded the day of the murders. She found herself walking towards the oak tree. How had they both managed to get up there with no ladder? Unless someone removed it after they’d jumped. She dashed back towards the house, up to Ben.
‘The ladder, we need to check that for prints. If someone killed Olivia and tried to kill Harrison, they’d have used it to hang their bodies from the tree and the external camera, it looks as if it’s been tampered with.’
Ben nodded. Ending his phone call, he looked at her. ‘At this rate you’re going to be putting me out of a job and running my department. Good call, Brookes, we’ll get it taken to the lab along with the other samples.’
‘Worth a shot.’
‘Always. Keep the ideas coming; with a bit of luck you’ll have this mess solved by teatime and we can go back to chasing burglars and drug dealers.’
She went back downstairs. Even though she didn’t think either of them had climbed the tree unaided, she was going to give it a go. She’d rather be outside in the fresh air than cooped up in that house. Just knowing so many people had died such violent deaths in there scared her more than she’d ever admit.
Scaling the tree was more difficult than she’d anticipated, but she did manage to get up to the branch that seemed to be the strongest and from where both Olivia and Harrison had tied their nooses. She looked across the rest of the garden and saw a thin trail of black smoke rising into the air above the trees that bordered the edge of the property. Someone was out there and had lit a fire.
Clambering back down, she headed in that direction, her interest piqued.
Thirty-Five
There was a dry-stone wall running alongside the grounds of the house, separating it from the woods on the other side. It was high, but Morgan knew she’d be able to clamber over. Looking back over her shoulder, she made sure Ben wasn’t watching her; it wouldn’t look very ladylike. She grabbed hold and pulled herself up then jumped down onto the other side, surprised at how big a drop there was, as the ground was much lower on this side. The scent of burning woodsmoke filled the air, mingling with the smell of damp leaves, and she walked along the tiny path through the canopy of whispering trees towards where she thought it was coming from. The woods were peaceful; the sound of the splashing water as it bubbled along the stream in the background was soothing. She hadn’t even known these woods existed. Forests, beaches and woods had been her favourite places to be when she was younger; they stirred something inside her chest that always made her feel at ease. Following the path, she turned a corner and saw a tiny stone cottage, smoke billowing from the chimney. She looked around, wondering if she was daydreaming, because it was like something out of a fairy tale.
An older woman came out of the lilac-painted front door, her arms folded across her chest, and stared at her.
‘Can I help you?’
‘Maybe. I’m a police officer and we’re investigating a serious crime at the house which backs onto these woods. I saw the smoke and wondered if you might have seen or heard anything on Friday.’
The woman beckoned her to come inside the house.
Morgan looked around; she should have told Ben where she was going. No one knew where she was, and she couldn’t see the house from here. Still, she opened the gate and walked along the path, ducking under the low doorway to step inside the cottage. It was light and airy inside, not at all what she’d been expecting. It was tiny but the kitchen and living room were all one room. The walls of the kitchen were lined with jars and bottles filled with all sorts of dried herbs and liquids. She wondered if she’d just stepped inside the witch from Hansel and Gretel’s cottage.
‘Would you like some tea? You look as if you could do with some.’
‘What sort of tea?’ Morgan was half expecting her to say a special blend, freshly foraged from the forest floor.
‘Yorkshire. I only drink that, for my sins.’
She laughed. ‘Yes, please, that would be nice. I’m Morgan by the way, Morgan Brookes.’