The Reaper

‘What do you see, Constable?’

‘The CD player in the Wallis house.’

‘What do you notice?’

‘N-Nothing, sir.’

‘Exactly. It’s been turned off. DS Noble tells me that a Mr Singh went round to the Wallis household to complain about the noise. Do you understand?’

‘Yes sir. I think so.’

‘Explain it to me then, Constable.’

‘It was Mr Singh, sir. He went round. Said the front door was open. He went in and turned off the CD player. Said it was on very loud. I told him he shouldn’t have but he said he had no idea, at that time, what had happened. Until he turned the lights on, he thought they were all asleep.’

‘The lights were off?’

‘Yes sir. According to Mr Singh.’

‘Then how did he manage to turn off the CD player?’

‘The display, sir. He said it was very bright, sir. He could see to move round the room okay and well…’

Brook’s tone softened. ‘I see.’ He tossed the picture of the partially eaten pizza towards Aktar who examined it briefly before looking away. He wouldn’t lift his eyes from the bed cover. He looked, and clearly felt, a fool. ‘You’re very lucky, Constable. I think we may be able to forgive one mistake as your actions haven’t compromised the case–this time.’

‘It won’t happen again, sir.’

‘It better not. And I wouldn’t mention it to anyone unless you want the Force and yourself held up to ridicule.’

‘Don’t worry, sir.’

‘When are you out of here?’

‘This afternoon, sir.’

‘Report for duty to DS Noble, he’ll have some chores for you. Who’s your partner?’

‘WPC Jones, sir.’

‘Wendy Jones.’ Brook felt a tic of apprehension. ‘Good officer. Take her with you. This order is direct from the Chief Superintendent and you take your orders from DS Noble and myself. Understand?’

‘Perfectly, sir.’

Brook made to leave but turned back. ‘And Constable. The next time you feel peckish at a crime scene, send out for a bag of chips.’

Aktar’s foolish expression returned. ‘Yes sir. Thank you, sir.’

Brook drained his third plastic coffee of the day and shuddered. He tossed the thin beaker into the adjacent bin. ‘What have you got, John?’

Noble flicked a notebook. ‘Pizza Parlour didn’t send anyone round to the Wallis house with anything last night and you were right, they don’t deliver in vans. I spoke to the manager. He said they did have an identical order to the one at the crime scene. A Four Seasons, an American Hot and a Seafood. All family size…’

‘Let me guess. They were collected, not delivered and the customer paid cash.’

‘Right.’

‘What about CCTV?’

‘They don’t have it.’

Brook smiled. ‘Our boy’s determined not to make it easy for us. Description?’

‘Nothing useable. A man. Middle-aged maybe.’

‘That’s it?’

‘Nobody remembers who picked it up. They only look at the money–as you suspected.’

‘Yeah, it’d be nice to be wrong for a change. What else?’

‘DC Morton took a formal statement from Mr Singh next door. Singh said he went round to the Wallis house about half an hour after midnight. The front door was open but he didn’t suspect anything. The CD player was on loud so he turned it down and then off. He said he had no idea the Wallis family were dead because the lights were off. When he turned on the lights–bingo!’

‘And the volume?’

‘He said the music was distorted.’

‘So it must have been on full. Interesting. Okay. Have Forensics got his clothes and shoes?’

‘They have.’

‘Prints?’

‘Yep.’

‘Did we ask him about times?’

‘He said he didn’t go round straight away. He said he heard the music start earlier but it got really loud just past midnight–he looked at his watch. He stood it until half past before going round.’

‘So our killer turned the music up and left just after midnight.’

‘It looks that way.’

‘And Jason got home soon after and had his pizza.’

‘Wouldn’t he have heard the music?’

Brook nodded. ‘Yeah, it’s a strange one. Even out of his head you’d think he’d hear it and investigate.’

‘Maybe he thought it was the TV.’