Page 13 of The Scene of the Crime (Jessica Russell #1)

The en suite bathroom was expensively decorated with two sinks, a large walk-in shower and a Jacuzzi bath.

There were his and hers cabinets containing personal hygiene products and medicines.

Johan’s cabinet contained various health vitamins, ibuprofen and other over-the-counter painkillers.

Jessica noticed a plastic bottle with melatonin written on it.

She knew it was used to help aid sleep and was only available on prescription in the UK.

This bottle had a red heart and CVS Health written on it.

Jessica googled it and discovered that melatonin was available over the counter at pharmacies in America.

She took a picture of the bottle and wondered if Johan had taken some melatonin before he went to bed the previous night.

Jessica then went down to the living room and looked at the contents of the cabinet drawers scattered around the room.

She also deduced that the coffee table had been pushed or knocked to one side from the four visible indentation marks on the carpet.

On the floor beside the table were two magazines and two remote controls, one for the television and the other for the lighting and window blinds, suggesting a struggle had taken place in the living room between De Klerk and his assailant, during which the coffee table had been moved and the controls knocked to the floor.

As she made more notes on her iPad, she heard Diane laughing. She had an infectious laugh, which made others join in, even at the most inappropriate times.

‘How’s it going?’ Jessica asked as she stood by the archway entrance.

‘I’ve done the 3D photography and nearly finished with the blood swabbing,’ Diane said, recovering herself. ‘Mike was just telling me a funny story about when he was a probationer PC . . . go on, tell Jessica.’

‘It’s not that funny,’ he said hesitantly.

‘Di clearly thought it was,’ Jessica said. ‘And we share the same sense of humour.’

Chapman held his hands up in surrender. ‘OK, I was with an old sweat PC at a murder scene. A big pool of blood was on the parquet floor, and a cat was sleeping in an armchair. I was told to get the cat in case it woke up and walked in the blood. When I touched the cat, it lashed out and scratched my hand. I lost my balance and fell in the blood . . . and to top it off, the cat ran off through it as well, leaving a trail of bloody paw marks everywhere.’

Jessica laughed as she envisioned it happening. ‘I bet the crime scene manager wasn’t impressed.’

‘He was livid, as was the SIO. They took my clothing at the scene and left me to find my way back to the station. I had to walk two miles wearing a white crime scene suit and shoe covers over my bare feet. The looks I got along the way made it even more embarrassing. When I got back to the station, everyone started meowing.’

Jessica smiled and felt herself warming to him. ‘I think Mrs De Klerk might be away or abroad, as her passport wasn’t in the folder with her husband’s,’ she said, getting back to the business in hand.

‘Let’s hope so,’ Chapman replied. ‘I’ll tell Anderson.’

‘Any initial thoughts on the course of events in here?’ she asked Diane.

‘Visually, the blood distribution suggests a violent struggle, which is no surprise. I think the first injury to his head occurred over there.’ She pointed to the corner of the marble worktop with an overturned knife block.

‘I’ll come to my thoughts on the knife block in a second, but they are the same make as the one Taff retrieved from the hospital.

As you can see, there are circular blood droplets on the tiled floor which have fallen from a height, suggesting the victim was standing up at the time with his back to the assailant when he was initially hit.

This blow caused the first wound on his head, resulting in the blood drops on the floor. ’

‘He wouldn’t have seen him coming then,’ Chapman remarked.

‘As odd as it seems, he may have,’ she said.

‘There are two scenarios . . . firstly, De Klerk saw the assailant coming towards him, turned, and hurriedly attempted to, or did, pull the eightinch knife from the block, thus causing the block to fall on its side. Before, or as De Klerk grabbed the knife, the assailant struck him on the back of his head, possibly with the jemmy used on the safe. His head splits open and starts to bleed. He turns, and a struggle ensues. He stumbles forward and falls to the ground a few feet away. He is now face down and is repeatedly struck again on the back of the head while prone on the floor . . .’

‘How do you work that out?’ Chapman interrupted.

‘From the low-level blood spatter on the cabinet door and castoff trail on the ceiling.’

Chapman looked up and saw the blood trail marks, which he hadn’t noticed until now.

Diane used her hands to demonstrate. She held her right hand out and closed her fingers.

‘Think of my fist as the weapon,’ she then held out the palm of her left hand, ‘and this is his head.’ She banged her fist a couple of times onto her palm.

‘When a blunt object makes contact with a bleeding head, it forces the blood to travel outwards and upwards, causing the impact spatter stains on the cabinet door. If I swing it backwards, the blood on the object flies off and travels upwards . . . resulting in the cast-off bloodstains on the ceiling.’ She again used her fist and palm to demonstrate the effect.

Chapman still looked confused. ‘If he was first hit when standing by the knife block, why isn’t there any impact or cast-off blood on the ceiling there?’

‘Because there was no bleeding head injury when the first blow was struck, but after that impact, there would be.’

‘I get it now. Thanks for explaining. It’s fascinating,’ he said.

Diane continued, ‘From the blood smearing and pooling on the floor, De Klerk was either dragged forward a few feet or pulled himself forward. The blood spatter on the next cabinet along and on the floor suggests this is the area where he was stabbed and found by the first attending officers. The direction of matching bloody footprints implies that the assailant stepped in the blood after stabbing De Klerk. I should also add that the assailant may have pulled the knife from the block, or De Klerk dropped it, and the assailant picked it up.’

‘There are signs of a disturbance in the living room,’ Jessica said. ‘The coffee table looks as if it has been pushed over and there are items on the floor.’

‘So, the struggle could have started there,’ Diane said. ‘De Klerk ran to the kitchen to get a knife to defend himself and was struck on the back of the head while trying to do so.

I can’t find any blood distribution that suggests the assailant was injured, but I’ve taken samples in different areas for DNA profiling. I found a mobile phone with smeared blood on it under the dining table, which I assume belongs to De Klerk. It’s boxed and bagged for DNA and prints.’

‘Will you do digital forensics on it as well?’ Chapman asked.

‘No one on the team is an expert in that field, but we can give it to the lab’s digital unit for examination. Will they need a warrant to do it?’ Jessica asked.

Chapman shook his head. ‘No. There are reasonable grounds to believe De Klerk’s last calls, texts and messages might contain information relevant to the investigation, so my approval to examine the data is fine.’

‘What about the laptop?’ Diane asked.

‘We don’t know if it’s De Klerk’s yet, so we may need to apply for a warrant there, but that’s for Anderson to decide.’

Taff walked in through the patio doors from the garden.

‘Good timing, Taff,’ Jessica said, leaving him looking puzzled.

She explained her theory about a struggle in the living room and asked Taff to examine the kitchen floor, from the left side of the living room entrance up to the knife block, for signs of bare footprints with the suspect’s footwear overlaying them.

‘What will that tell us?’ Chapman asked.

‘I can’t say precisely when any barefoot prints got there, but if they are overlapped by what we believe to be the suspect’s footmarks, it strengthens Jessica’s theory that De Klerk went towards the knife block and was followed by the assailant,’ Taff replied.

‘Anything of value in the garden, Taff?’ Jessica asked.

‘I found a detailed footprint in the soil of the raised bedding area in the far-right corner of the garden. It matches those in the blood and the hallway. I’ve taken some photos but I need to do a plaster cast. The intruder must have climbed over the wall from Homer Road.

There are also jemmy marks on the sliding patio door, which I’ve yet to photograph. ’

Jessica followed Taff, briefly pausing by the sliding door to look at the jemmy marks.

The brick wall looked at least nine feet high.

A raised brick bedding area filled with colourful roses and plants ran along it.

To her left, there was a stone-paved area with a shed, brick-built barbecue and luxury garden furniture.

To her right, in the adjoining corner wall, there was a tall wooden gate that led to Homer Road.

Jessica noticed a marker cone in the bedding by the gate, which Taff had clearly placed as an indicator of the footmark when taking a photo from a distance.

She looked at the mark in the soil, which was from a left foot.

The right foot had landed on the flowers and crushed them.

The gate had two sliding bolt locks, and the top was lined with anti-climb spiking.

She looked back at the house and couldn’t see any CCTV cameras or alarm boxes.

‘Whoever broke in must be fit and agile to climb over that wall,’ Jessica remarked.

‘Can you take some soil and plant samples from the footprint and crushed plant, Taff?’

‘Already done. Bagged and tagged and in the van,’ Taff said.

‘I’m going to have a look from the Homer Road side,’ Jessica said, opening the gate and walking to the opposite side of the road.

It was now clear how the intruder had got over the wall.

The house in Homer Road, which backed onto the De Klerks’ garden, had a four-foot brick wall at the front, which abutted the De Klerks’ wall, with an eight-foot metal gate attached to it, which she assumed led to the neighbour’s side alley and rear of their house.

She looked around, although the house opposite had CCTV at the rear, it was pointed away from the De Klerks’ garden gate.

Jessica returned to the garden and spoke with Taff, who was pouring fast-setting plaster on the footmark.

‘I don’t think it was as difficult as we first thought for the intruder to get over the wall.

By standing on the neighbour’s wall, he could use their gate to pull himself up and then drop down into the De Klerks’ garden. ’

‘OK, I’ll get the telescopic ladder from the van and examine the top of the metal gate for fingerprints and footmarks,’ Taff said.

‘Great. I need to make some more notes. I’ll be in the kitchen. Give me a shout if you need any help.’

Taff went and got the ladder. Returning to the back of the house, he extended it and ensured the locking mechanism was engaged.

He propped it up against the wall and took one step when it began to slide slightly on the pavement.

He called to Diane, who was by the van, and she came and held the ladder steady for him.

‘The walls are crumbly on top. No good for foot marks,’ he said. ‘There are some glove marks on top of the neighbour’s gate, though. I’ll do some tape lifts for any fibres.’

‘What do you think you’re doing? I’m calling the police!’ An elderly woman holding a broom shouted at them. Diane let go of the ladder to show the woman her MSCAN ID. ‘Don’t come near me, or I’ll hit you with my broom,’ the woman said, gripping the broom tighter.

Suddenly, the ladder started to slip away from the wall. ‘Hold it steady!’ Taff shouted to Diane, then climbed down gingerly. ‘There’s been a burglary. We’re the forensics team,’ Taff said, holding his own ID out. ‘We think someone may have used your wall to enter the De Klerk’s garden.’

‘If I’d seen them, they’d have got a good whack with this,’ she said, holding up the broom.

Diane smiled. ‘We’re sorry to have disturbed you. We should have asked for your permission to examine the gate.’

‘It’s all right, I understand you’ve got a job to do . . . do you want a cup of tea?’ she asked, lowering the broom at last.

‘Thanks for the offer, but we have to finish our work,’ Diane replied.

‘Could you do me a favour?’ the woman asked.

‘What would it be?’ Taff said.

‘Tell that arsehole Mr De Klerk to stop parking his big car outside my house. It blocks the light from my living room. I’ve told him three times to move it, but he just ignores me and walks off.

You know they’ve only just moved in; we had builders and contractors here for months digging up their basement for a cinema, throwing their money around like confetti.

I swear, if he keeps parking that Range Rover in front of my living room, I’ll shove this broom handle right up his backside. ’

‘We’ll see what we can do, ma’am,’ Taff assured her, trying to keep a straight face.

‘Doesn’t look like Mr De Klerk has too many fans in the neighbourhood,’ Diane remarked.

‘I’ll say, Taff agreed, stepping onto the ladder again. ‘Right, this time put your foot on the bottom rung and keep a tight grip on it. The last thing I want to do is break my neck on our first job together!’