The Cold Hand of Malice by Frank Smith Read Free Book Online Page A

and Holbrook and arrange a time for them to come in and give a formal statement.’
    ‘Already done, boss,’ Tregalles told him. ‘Ballantyne is coming in this afternoon, but Holbrook won’t be in until tomorrow. His doctor doesn’t think he’s in a fit state to talk to anyone today, but thinks he should be OK tomorrow. Was there anything else?’
    ‘Yes, there is,’ said Paget slowly, ‘although I think this is something for one of Len’s people,’ he said, turning to Ormside. ‘I’d like you to get me as much background material as possible on the Holbrooks. Were they happily married? How is Holbrook’s business doing? Any financial problems? Who benefits from Laura Holbrook’s death? You know the sort of thing.’
    Tregalles eyed Paget narrowly. ‘I thought we had this one pegged,’ he said. ‘I mean it’s the same MO, same tools, same sort of damage. The only difference is that there was someone home who shouldn’t have been because of a last-minute change of plan due to Mrs Holbrook’s migraine.’
    ‘And you’re probably right,’ Paget agreed, ‘but let’s make absolutely sure we don’t become too focused on the obvious.’
    ‘I hope you weren’t too upset when I reset the alarm this morning,’ said Grace as they carried their after-dinner coffee into the living room and sat down. ‘I know you hate to be late, but I couldn’t let you go stumbling out of here into the morning traffic with no more than a couple of hours of sleep.’
    Paget smiled and shook his head. ‘It’s a good job you did reset it,’ he told her, ‘because I’d have probably slept till noon if you hadn’t. Anyway, my well-trained staff had everything under control by the time I got there, so there was no harm done. How was your day? I hear you spent it in the Holbrook house. Find anything I can use?’
    It wasn’t exactly a rule, but they had both agreed early in their relationship that they should try to avoid talking shop at least until after dinner. Grace, who was very health-conscious and knew about these things, had made the point that it was bad for the digestion. Paget agreed, not so much because he was worried about his digestion, but because too much conversation during dinner allowed the food to go cold.
    Grace wrinkled her nose. ‘Not really,’ she said. ‘Once again we found a few strands of fibre mixed with dog hair, and a bit of dark fuzzy material that seemed to be out of place among the bedclothes, but that was about it. I don’t know who these people are, but they’re clever enough to avoid leaving clues behind them. Fingerprints all over the house, of course, but I’m willing to bet not one of them belongs to those two killers.
    ‘Charlie’s being a bit more enigmatic than usual, though,’ she continued. ‘He seems to think he’s found something odd about this particular burglary, and he wants me to see if it strikes me the same way, but I’m afraid, if it’s there at all, I haven’t seen it yet. It has something to do with a comparison of crime scenes, but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be looking for.’
    ‘He didn’t give you a clue?’
    ‘Not really. Just handed me copies of the reports from all the other crime scenes, and said, “see if anything strikes you as odd about them”. And that was it. I asked him again this afternoon if he could give me a bit more to go on, but he just smiled, you know the way he does, and said, “No. If it’s there I’m sure you’ll find it; if it’s not, then perhaps it’s my imagination after all.”’ Grace made a face. ‘I don’t know what he expects me to find, but one thing I have learned over the years, is that you don’t ignore one of Charlie’s gut feelings, so I shall go back there tomorrow and keep digging. Has he mentioned anything to you about it?’
    ‘No, but if there is anything there to be found, believe me, I wish you luck, because we are literally grasping at straws on this one.’
    ‘What about your