Page 74 of Vengeance is Mine

‘You’ve spoken to them all?’ He pulled out his chair and sat down.

‘It didn’t take long. Talk about trying to get blood out of a stone. Not one of them heard or saw anything.’

‘Really?’

‘Considering the violence of the attack and the level of destruction in the living room, it would be unlikely nobody heard any signs of a disturbance – furniture breaking, cries of pain, et cetera – but they all claim to have had the TV turned up loud or been asleep.’

‘That’s bollocks.’

‘That’s exactly what I said. Well, I didn’t, but you know what I mean.’

Terry released a heavy sigh. He chewed on his bottom lip, his sign that he was deep in thought. ‘Have forensics finished?’

‘Yes. There are several different sets of fingerprints. Obviously Dominic’s, and we’re guessing his daughter’s, but there are others. Let’s hope they’re on our system and there’s a match.’

‘We could do with another chat with the daughter. She’ll have known him better than anyone. She’ll know who his friends were, if he had any. Also, try and get hold of Dominic’s solicitor; find out how much his compensation was and when he received it. I remember reading about it in the papers last year. There was talk of a seven-figure sum, but he was living in a semi in a crappy area. What happened to the money?’

‘Will do,’ she said, making a note. ‘Before I forget, a jacket was found in the house that doesn’t belong to Dominic.’

‘How do you know?’

‘It’s a size small, and Dominic would have been a large, judging by his build.’

‘Could it belong to his daughter?’

‘There’s no way she’s a small. Besides, it’s a man’s jacket.’

‘A friend could have left it.’

‘Could have.’

‘You don’t think so?’

‘It’s the middle of winter. It’s bloody freezing. Would you go round to a friend’s house and go home without your coat on?’

‘True. Okay, get it off to forensics, see if they can find a hair on it or something.’

‘Speaking of hairs, they also found a single, long, black hair on the floor by Dominic’s body.’

‘And Dawn has brown hair.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Okay. Well, at least we’ve got something to go on.’

‘We’ve had the press on the phone.’

‘I’m shocked.’ He grinned.

‘What do you want me to say?’

‘Nothing. We’ll issue a press release later today, just giving the basic facts. Apart from that, we say nothing.’

‘This is going to be a big deal.’

‘I’m aware,’ he said, running his fingers through his hair. ‘But I don’t want this turning into a circus. I don’t want the press raking everything up from twenty years ago again.’

‘You know they’re going to,’ Kyra said, trying to sound sympathetic.