Page 42 of Twisted Lies

‘Yeah, boss – it was Penn who caught it.’

The woman would never take credit for anyone else’s work.

Kim switched the phone to loudspeaker so Bryant could hear. They were about to start a detailed search of the upstairs of the Phippses’ home. The lower level had yielded nothing.

‘So the van belongs to a business called Matrix Enterprises.’

Kim stopped walking halfway up the stairs.

‘The same company that was paying the family’s rent for the first six months,’ Kim added, revealing what they’d learned from the landlord.

Bryant turned her way to frown at the coincidence.

‘Okay, get on it, Stace, I want to know everything about this company.’

‘Got it, boss,’ she said, ending the call.

‘Okay, Bryant, you take the master and I’ll take the boys’ room,’ she said as they reached the top of the stairs.

Following Mitch’s words at the crime scene, her theory that something important must have been left behind in the family’s hurry to leave had so far proven fruitless. Every cupboard and drawer had been opened and, although there was stuff, there was nothing that would offer any clues to their whereabouts or their secrets.

Mitch had been briefed to attend once he’d finished at the warehouse; however, if he found nothing to indicate a crime, they would have no choice but to hand the property back to the owner, who had assured Kim he would store the Phippses’ remaining possessions for a period of three months.

There has to be something, she told herself as she closed the boys’ bedroom door behind her.

In the corner, next to the wardrobe, was a pile of dirty clothes, most of it school uniform. Shirts, trousers and two blazers. The family had no intention of coming back.

She began the search in a methodical order, as she had with the other rooms, but there was a sense of sadness in this particular space. Like the other spaces, it bore all the signs of a hasty exit. Books and board games had been abandoned. She imagined the two young boys grabbing only their treasured possessions, making decisions on what to leave behind. Whatever the family’s story, this had been their home for the last five years. They had made memories here. Had the boys known why they were being ripped from their home? Had they been frightened? Had they been fearing for their lives while throwing their most treasured possessions together?

She shook the thoughts away as she opened one drawer after another. The only way she could help them now was to find out who had killed their father.

Her heart sank as she searched the last drawer in the dresser. There was nothing.

As she had with all other rooms, she followed the process of walls, ceiling, floor.

There was no hatch on the ceiling, which left only the floor.

She dropped down between the two beds and lay flat on her stomach.

The door opened as she began to scan the space underneath the beds.

‘Bad timing for a nap, guv,’ Bryant quipped.

‘You got anything?’ she asked, ignoring his joke.

‘Absolutely nothing,’ he said, removing his latex gloves. ‘It’s almost like they were always ready for this. Like it had happened before or that they knew exactly what to grab.’

‘Yeah, agreed,’ Kim said, changing her position on the floor and laying her head down to get a better look.

‘And they left absolutely nothing that will help— Ooh, hang on, what’s this?’ she said, stretching her right arm under the bed.

Her fingers closed around a single piece of folded paper, about to disappear between the floorboards.

She stood and opened it, feeling the disappointment settle like lead in her stomach.

‘It’s nothing,’ she said, passing the paper to her colleague. ‘Just a kid’s doodlings.’

Bryant looked at the piece of paper that held the name ‘Tommy Phipps’ written over and over again, filling the page.