Chapter Four Sandra
After giving his statement to the police Inspector, he was allowed to leave. He couldn’t go home and he couldn’t go back to Samantha’s house with the police still present. He decided to visit Sandra. He let himself in with the spare key that Sandra had given him. He called out and a muffled answer of ‘Who’s that!’ ‘It’s me, Guy!’
‘Come on up.’
Guy bounded up the stairs and opened the bedroom door and Sandra was sitting up in bed with a lump of cotton wool wadding on her head.
‘What happened to you?’ Guy said.
‘I had an accident in the kitchen, I hit my head on a cupboard door that I had forgotten I had opened – but what I don’t understand, how did I get to my bedroom?’ Sandra shrugged her shoulders, ‘I don’t suppose you put me to bed?’ ‘No!’ said Guy, ‘I wish I had, but I had to go to the office first and I forgot about the time lock on all the doors and I got locked in the office all night. I’ve just come from the police station, apparently my wife’s sister has disappeared and they wanted to know if I knew where.’
Sandra said ‘Do you know where she is?’
‘I really haven’t a clue.’ It was the only true statement that Guy made, he just didn’t know where on earth she had got to.
‘I’m sorry about your wife, Guy. Stairs are dangerous places if you lose your footing and now your wife’s sister has disappeared, it must be worrying.’ ‘Yes!’ said Guy in a none too convincing manner. Guy had explained on the off-set of their meeting that he and Sue were parting as their marriage was not working which was hardly the truth at the time.
Sandra patted the bed-clothes and Guy needed no other encouragement as he stripped down to his underpants and got into bed. He snuggled up to her, undoing the folds of her negligee until bare flesh was in sight and placing his hand on her stomach and caressing her. Their lips met and they both sank into oblivion of sexual desire.
* * *
Robert Gregg waited in his car just round the corner of the house he was surveying, when another car drew up and Guy Arnold got out. He went and knocked on the door and Sue’s Sister let Guy in. Robert waited a good half hour. He wanted Guy to have a good time, it would be his last with Samantha and unfortunately for Samantha she had to go. He undid the lock of the kitchen with his special gadget and tiptoed into the hall and climbing the stairs he looked into the bedroom and saw Samantha, her knees each side of Guy’s thighs, was thrusting herself as hard as she could and he saw the ripple her body made as she came to the end and listening to Guy’s protestations of mercy for her to stop would soon be obeyed. Robert crept away from the bedroom and placed the thin wire across the stairs and waited awhile. Then going to the lounge he knocked over a table that had a bowl of fruit on it. He wondered whether Samantha would hear the noise downstairs above the din of Guy’s screaming.
A naked Samantha came down the stairs, tripped and let out a fearful scream and crashed to the bottom of the stairs. The wide staring eyes told Robert that the deed had been done. Robert wondered why Guy hadn’t come out of the bedroom to find out what had happened to his lover. His idea was to smack Guy on the head with something heavy to implicate him as the killer. It was simple really – they had an argument and he killed her. Robert hadn’t realised that Guy was tied to the bed until he peeped through the hinges of the bedroom door. Revert to plan A, the original plan he had made. Sue had to disappear and Samantha had to take her place. With lots of make-up and a wig, it was feasible. Whether Guy would see through the deception was going to be a chance that Robert had to take.
Chapter Five Another killing
Robert Gregg had a problem. How was he going to get a dead naked girl out of the house? He sat in an arm-chair to think about it. Eventually he got up and dressed her firstly in her knickers, bra and a slip, then an overcoat. It was a struggle and he was quite exhausted by the time he had placed socks and boots and crammed a weather hat on her head. He placed her on one of the dining room chairs and tied her left leg to his right leg with wide tape he found in the kitchen. Placing his left arm under the cover of the raincoat, he hauled her out of the chair and with a slow step walked out the house. Anyone passing would have thought that the person with the man had been drinking and he was taking that person home. With the car keys in his mouth he was able to unlock the car and drop her in the back seat and as he stooped down he cut the tape without hesitating and bundled her feet inside the car. By this time he was practically on his bended knees, puffing and blowing. ‘God! That was hard work.’ There was no one in sight to see this unusual spectacle, but if Robert had he not gone to all that trouble, there would probably have been someone lurking in the background. He drove to Sue’s house and parked on her drive and going to the boot, got out the plaid car blanket and covered up the body. He then let himself into Sue’s house.
Next morning over breakfast, Robert spun Sue a story that he had found out that Guy had paid someone to get rid of her and Sue would have to disappear. ‘I doubt it.’ Sue said. ‘Where would he get the money from?’
‘I don’t know.’ lied Robert, ‘it’s what I heard on the grapevine.’
‘Where shall I go?’
‘I’ll drive you to my flat, you’ll be safe there.’
‘I’ve got to pack first.’
‘Don’t pack everything – just enough for a two week change of clothing, we can always go shopping for more. Have you anything in your car that you want to take?’
‘Yes a couple of cases I had already packed as soon as Guy left the house. I was going to drive to Sandra’s house and dump them on her driveway. They contain Guy’s clothing.’ ‘Robert said, ‘Let me have the keys of your car and I’ll go and get them.’ She handed them over and went upstairs to pack. Robert took the cases out and then opened up the garage and backed his car as far as he could into the garage. It was a very tight squeeze between the wall of the garage and the car door as he wrestled with Samantha’s body which had got rather stiff over night. He had to apply pressure to bend her round at right angles to get her out and now she was in a sitting position, he placed her in Sue’s boot in a huddled position.
* * *
Sue got into Robert’s car and they drove off to his flat. A little later Robert returned to the house and got the body out of his car and into the house by the side door from the garage. He managed to straighten her out sufficiently to look as if she had fallen down the stairs. With a certain touch here and there with his expert daubing with paint, she looked like Sue. He put the central heating on and regulated the temperature to the high setting and stripped Samantha of all her clothes and chucked them in the boot of his car. He took the precaution of taking another case, full of nothing in case anybody was watching. It was exceptionally quiet. There was no-one watching and no-one was walking up and down the street. Robert’s audacious plan looked as though it was going to work.
* * *
It was the six o’clock news that said it all: Police were called round to a local Bakery and the body of a man was found in one of the commercial ovens. Inspector Wragg of New Scotland Yard was in attendance. It turned out to be a Jason Cole, one of the Directors of Real Steal & Co.
Robert switched off the television. It was not the news he was hoping for and that meant Samantha was still laying at the foot of the stairs undiscovered. Perhaps he had better make an anonymous phone call. He didn’t really want to do that, but it seemed to be the only way round the problem. Robert looked in his refrigerator and noticed he needed some eggs and bacon for tomorrow’s breakfast and made his excuses to Sue and went off.
He Came back with the shopping and placed everything where it should be.
Sue said, ‘You’ve been a long time?’
‘A lot of traffic tonight and also I bought some mushrooms to go with the bacon and eggs.’
* * *
‘Oh no not again!’ said Inspector Wragg. ‘What have we got here – a body at the foot of the stairs, with nothing on – I believe someone really wants me to believe she tripped down these stairs and broke her neck. Why is it so bloody hot in here?’ No-one answered. ‘She didn’t fall in this house.’
‘How can you tell sir?’ said Constable Dotrice one of the policemen who always accompanied the Inspector to a scene of all the heinous crimes.
‘I have my ways, constable.’
‘I wish you would tell me sir.’ Inspector Wragg ignoring the remark, found a handbag in the dining room and searching through it found a cheque book that stated it belonged to Sue Arnold. He took out the front door keys and tried to use them, only to find they didn’t work.
‘That’s funny!’ said the Inspector, ‘Although it supports my theories that she certainly didn’t fall in this house.’
Simon Crook the pathologist entered the house cautiously.
‘It’s alright Crook, there’s no blood!’
Simon Crook moved cautiously towards the body of the woman and pronounced ‘She’s been dead between 24 and 36 hours. I know it’s a wide range, but I’ll know more when she has been taken to the mortuary and I can give an exact time. Have you noticed, Inspector how hot it is in this house?’
‘Yes I have.’ said the Inspector.
‘That’s why I can’t get an exact reading of when she died.’ Simon said. Simon left the house followed by the corpse.
Donning white gloves again the Inspector and his cohorts started to search the premises. Constable Stone found another handbag. It wasn’t as full as the other bag. There were a set of keys with a label attached with initials S.D. ‘It could be keys for the side door!’ Constable Stone said. ‘I’ll go and try them.’
‘I doubt whether they will fit any lock in this house.’ said the Inspector. Constable Stone returned and said, ‘You are right Inspector, none of the keys fit the side door.’
‘Perhaps S.D. doesn’t stand for side door, maybe it’s the name of Samantha D, whatever her surname is. Empty the bag and see if we can sift through the contents and come up with the answer.’ There was nothing more in the bag. Inspector Wragg gave the rooms another look and he and his men left the house. He posted a policeman outside the front door and the whole area was taped off.
Inspector Wragg found the answer when he tapped in the address on his computer. He let out a single “Aha!” followed by ‘I was right – her name was Samantha Dodd.’ Inspector Wragg was doubly baffled – two sets of keys found in two handbags didn’t fit any of the doors in the house. It didn’t make sense unless they belonged to Sue Arnold’s house. He would check on this on his way to see Guy Arnold. Inspector Wragg was disappointed as he tried to open the front door of Sue and Guy’s house with the two sets of keys. Inspector Wragg thought, ‘Someone is being rather clever.’ Wragg was only certain that it was Samantha Dodd’s body and not Sue Arnold’s as first thought and he was determined to get to the bottom of this murder and capture the kill
* *
Inspector Wragg called on Guy at the address that Guy gave – he was living with Sandra Phelps. He informed Guy that the dead woman was not his wife, but the sister. After the initial shock, Guy calmed down and the Inspector told him he must go ahead with the funeral as if it was his wife inside that coffin. Inspector Wragg explained that he wanted to see who might turn up at the funeral. He was going to play a “cat and mouse game.” Had the Inspector known of Guy’s involvement with the supposed killing of his wife and had paid the killer to murder her, then it would have been an easy arrest. Inspector Wragg had his suspicions, but he had no proof to substantiate his theories and besides, the killer had changed his mind and murdered someone else. The Inspector had to ask himself a question, was he looking for one killer or two?
The Inspector had decided in his own mind that he was looking for two murderers. The domestic murder was too tame to be of the same ilk as the victim at the bakery who was found in a large over sized bread mixture that had been cooked in a kiln. The large loaf with head sticking out one end and feet out at the other was not a pretty sight. The head and feet were burnt to a crisp, but the bread part was nicely cooked.
* * *
I suppose as funerals go it was a good one and no stranger had turned up to attend. It was a cloudless day and the sun was very hot. Robert Gregg had to persuade Sue very strongly that she must not go to the funeral of her sister as it was supposed to be her in the coffin and not Samantha. The only one from the family that turned up was Guy, who was smartly dressed. He would have made an impression on the aunts, uncles, cousins and nieces had they turned up. But truly they hated the sight of him and thought he was an oily slimy git and how could Sue have married him against their wishes was beyond their belief. Had he not been there, everyone would have turned up. He had received many cards of condolences from them. Most had pretended to be on holiday abroad and wouldn’t be back in time for the funeral. Guy thought – had it been his funeral half the county would be in attendance. It was a good job that Guy was ignorant of the fact that his name was on the killer’s “hit list” who had killed off two members of Steal & Company and he was to be next, but some redeeming information had come to the killer’s attention and having viewed Guy from a distance at the funeral of his wife thought he had enough problems on his plate.