Rough Justice

Chapter 5

5

The narrow road and tightly-packed Victorian houses gave Brunel Road a rather claustrophobic feel. It was the same as a number of roads in this area of Mildenheath, built before anyone could possibly have known how the motor car would impact on everyone’s lives.

There were no driveways in sight and the tall, narrow houses had barely five-feet of front garden, meaning that around three houses were packed into the space that just one new home would occupy nowadays. As a result, getting parked anywhere nearby was something of a nightmare for Culverhouse.

The house itself had been sealed off at the front wall with police tape, a young constable standing guard just outside the boundaries of the property and another on the front door to the house. A number of neighbours were standing out in their front gardens, peering across to see what was going on.

Wendy walked ahead of Culverhouse, showed the officers her ID and entered the house, making her way through to the living room, where most of the action seemed to be taking place. Janet Grey, the pathologist, was already on the scene and was removing a pair of synthetic gloves as the pair entered.

‘Seems there’s someone keen to keep you in business,’ the pathologist said. ‘You’ve certainly got plenty to work on, anyway. Where do you want me to start?’

‘Who found the body?’ Wendy asked.

‘Dog walker, believe it or not. She’s being comforted back at home. Walked her dog past around nine forty-five and saw the front door half open with the hall light on. When she came back about half an hour later it was still open so she knocked and called inside.’

‘There’s your thanks for being a helpful neighbour, eh? Got any ID on our stiff?’ Culverhouse asked, aiming his question at a uniformed officer stood over Janet Grey’s shoulder.

‘A Mr Jeff Brelsford, it seems. He’s the sole occupier, anyway, according to the neighbours. Their descriptions of him seem to match as well.’

‘Right. Which injury was the cause of death?’

‘Probably the laceration to the throat,’ the pathologist said. ‘Fairly deep and nasty. Definitely forceful and deliberate. We’re looking at someone who was pretty angry. Gone right through the trachea. I’d say from the blood splashes on his clothing he’s probably coughed his own blood back up through the hole in his neck.’

‘You know how to turn a man on, Dr Grey,’ Culverhouse replied.

‘The blood loss from the — well, the amputation — probably wouldn’t have helped either.’

‘I thought amputations were only limbs?’ he asked.

‘Doesn’t make much difference to him. Would’ve bloody hurt either way. Of course, it’s not for me to tell you how to do your job but I’d be wondering why the killer did that. You don’t normally see gratuitous stuff like that without a reason. If you wanted him dead, you’d just kill him wouldn’t you?’

‘Depends what you wanted him dead for,’ Wendy replied.

‘Exactly. That’d be my first port of call.’

‘So what, we’re looking for a jilted ex-lover? Her father, perhaps?’ Culverhouse asked.

‘Perhaps. Oh, and someone with access to a Taser, too.’

‘Was it definitely a Taser?’ Culverhouse said.

‘I’d say so personally, but we can’t exactly narrow it down to a make and model like you can with gunshots. The lab monkeys might be able to identify it from the prong marks or determine a voltage from the burn pattern, but it’s too early to say. Should at least be able to tell us whether or not it was police issue.’

‘Police issue?’ Culverhouse spluttered.

‘Well, yeah. How many other people do you know who can just walk about with Tasers? Not exactly something you can just get from your local branch of Asda, is it?’

‘No, but neither are guns and we’ve got no bloody shortage of them on the streets.’

‘First steps, guv?’ Wendy asked, keen to move the conversation on.

‘Speak to the neighbours. We need to find out if anyone heard or saw anything. You can’t just walk up to someone’s front door and shoot them in the bollocks with a Taser without anyone noticing. Besides which, someone must’ve heard something. He’d’ve been kicking and screaming like no-one’s business.’

‘Ah, not necessarily,’ Dr Grey interrupted. ‘There’s a pretty juicy knock to the back of the head, here. I’d say he hit his head going down after the Taser shot. Not something that could be planned, but still handy for the killer. Probably knocked him out for long enough for the killer to subdue him properly.’

‘No signs of robbery at all? Nothing taken?’ Culverhouse asked the uniformed officer.

‘None, sir. Everything’s pretty neat and tidy, actually. Wallet on the side in the kitchen with cash in it, TV and stuff still left here. Then again, if the killer came on foot, which I imagine he must’ve done around here, then there wouldn’t be much chance for him to be taking stuff away with him.’

‘Which means his primary intention presumably wasn’t to rob the place,’ Culverhouse said.

‘They were my first thoughts, sir, I must admit,’ the officer said.

Culverhouse looked at him benevolently for a few moments; a look Wendy hadn’t seen from him in a long, long time.

‘You’ll go a long way, son,’ he said, before turning to look back at the corpse of Jeff Brelsford. ‘Right, Knight. Looks like I’ve got an incident room to set up. I’ll leave you to speak with the neighbours.’

As Wendy left Jeff Brelsford’s house and stood outside to survey the scene, a man from the house opposite crossed the road to speak to her.

‘You are a detective?’ he asked. Wendy sensed a strong Eastern European lilt to his voice. ‘My name is Marius, I live across road. I think I saw who killed him.’