Read Online Violent Exposure by Katherine Howell - Free Book Online Page A

plastic from deep in oneof the wounds.
    ‘Looks like duct tape,’ Ella said.
    ‘The knife may have been used to cut tape just before the killing,’ Sam said. ‘Or she was stabbed through it.’
    ‘But she wasn’t bound.’
    ‘That we know of,’ Dennis said.
    ‘I’ll look for traces,’ Sam said.
    ‘Maybe it was on somebody else.’
    ‘Or it could be incidental,’ Sam said. ‘Search the house, see if there’s tape like that anywhere. We’ll doan analysis later and find out for sure what it is.’
    She took up a scalpel and began to cut. Ella watched with a combination of awe and aversion. The doctor handled her tools with grace and dexterity, and to see what was inside us all was fascinating, but Ella could never forget that she had stood in this person’s house, looked at them smiling from photos, seen the place they slept, and talkedwith the people who loved them. It wasn’t easy to watch, but you never knew what else Sam might find.
    As it turned out, this time it was nothing.
    ‘Cause of death was laceration of the ascending aorta resulting in massive blood loss,’ Sam said, stripping off her gloves. ‘Manner of death is homicide and you have the weapon. Also, there’s no sign of adhesive on her skin to suggest she was boundby that tape.’
    The Crawfords’ nursery was near Moore Park, and the car park was busy despite the early hour.
    ‘I guess somebody was here to open up,’ Ella said.
    They walked in through the tall gates. The air smelled of wet soil. The staff wore bright green shirts and Dennis held out his badge to the nearest, a young man with black hair and a pierced nose and a nametag that said Damon . ‘Is theboss in?’
    Damon looked nervously from Dennis to Ella and back again. ‘The manager’s here, the owners aren’t.’
    ‘Manager’s name?’
    ‘Kerrie Rowley,’ Damon said. ‘Office is this way.’
    They followed him between shelves of pots and plant food and around displays of potted plants. A tall boy watered a row of palms, the spray shining in the sunlight, and Ella tried to remember when she’d last evenlooked at her roses.
    The office was a timber shed behind the shop. The door was ajar. Damon knocked.
    ‘Yep.’
    Damon said, ‘It’s the police.’
    The woman came to the door. She was trim and tanned and in her early fifties. She looked surprised. ‘Hi.’
    ‘Detectives Ella Marconi and Dennis Orchard,’ Ella said. ‘Can we have a word?’
    ‘Sure,’ Kerrie said. ‘Come in.’
    The shed was cramped with the threeof them standing in it. A desk with a computer took up one side, the wall above it pinned with rosters, a calendar and pictures of plants torn from magazines. An electric jug sat on top of a bar fridge in one corner. A bare lightbulb overhead was on. The air was cool and dusty and smelled of fertiliser.
    ‘Connor and Suzanne Crawford own this business, is that correct?’ Ella said.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Dothey work here every day?’
    Kerrie shook her head. ‘Maybe half the days of the week for Suzanne, from nine or ten till about four. Connor comes and goes on his own schedule. He does the accounts and bookkeeping, and works mostly from home.’
    ‘Do you expect them here today?’
    ‘Suzanne, yes. Actually I thought she would’ve been here already.’
    ‘When was the last time you saw them?’
    ‘Suzanne washere yesterday morning for a while then left about lunchtime. Connor was here for about an hour just before closing, doing paperwork. He left at the same time as I did, about quarter to six.’
    ‘How did he seem?’ Dennis asked.
    ‘Good,’ she said. ‘Something has happened to them, hasn’t it?’
    ‘Did you ever see them fight?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Has there ever been trouble with the business?’
    ‘We’ve had vandalsa few times, but that’s it.’
    ‘No financial problems that you’ve known about?’
    ‘I’m not sure they would tell me, but I’ve never overheard anything,’ she said, voice breaking. ‘Just tell