Shrine to Murder Read Online Free

stab only, but the weapon was savagely moved around in the wound post-mortem.’
    Angel frowned. He pursed his lips. The murder was certainly executed callously, and was likely to have been carried out by a particularly chilling creature, who would have had quantities of blood on his person…his hands and wrists, possibly his arms, certainly on his shirt or coat or T-shirt, and maybe even on his shoes.
    Angel sighed thoughtfully. If only he had a suspect. He could have raced off for a warrant, and if the suspect had been guilty, he would certainly have found DNA in the form of the deceased’s blood somewhere on him or on a garment in his possession. He had been through that exercise many times over recent years. This time, it wasn’t to be that easy.
    ‘ Any other injuries, Mac?’ he asked.
    ‘ Bruising round the mouth and throat.’
    ‘ No doubt to stop him calling out?’
    ‘ Probably.’
    ‘ Fingers, fingernails, hands. Did he try to defend himself?’
    ‘ No. No signs of any retaliation. The murder could have been over in a few seconds.’
    ‘ Hmm. Hmm. You said there was something else…an interesting feature?’
    ‘ Aye, I did,’ Mac said. He crossed the bedroom floor to a great rosewood dressing table in an alcove at the foot of the other bed. There was a large swivel mirror on the top of it. ‘Look at this,’ he said, and he slightly changed the angle of the mirror.
    Angel watched him. It caught the light. And his attention. He saw large crudely daubed letters in red on the glass.
    ‘ The message,’ Mac said, ‘whatever it means, is painted in blood, what I assume to be the victim’s blood. It is a direct message from the killer. I think it says “V to go”.’
    Angel blinked. The back of his hand and arm turned to gooseflesh. He advanced towards the dressing table and read it for himself.
    ‘ V to go?’ he said. ‘Yes, but what does it mean?’
    ‘ V to go?’ Mac said. ‘V must be short for something or somebody? Like Violet, Vera, Victoria, Victor, Valerie, or Virginia? Virginia or somebody to go where?’
    ‘ Is it a place?’ Angel said. ‘To go? What’s that mean?’
    ‘ Valhalla. A burial place for a great man?’
    Angel rubbed his chin. ‘Valhalla? I’ll ask the daughter. Is there anything else?’
    Mac shook his head. ‘Not here. Might be when I get him on the slab.’
    A man in white appeared in the doorway. It was DS Taylor, head of SOCO. ‘Excuse me, sir, there’s a couple of people in the drawing room asking for you. I think they want to leave.’
    Angel wrinkled his nose. ‘All right, Don. I’m just going down.’ He pointed at the mirror.
    ‘ You seen this?’
    ‘ Yes, sir. Can’t make any sense of it,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘V to go. It’s spooky.’
    Angel wasn’t pleased. He knew it was eerie, but he didn’t enjoy a policeman saying so. ‘Have you any idea what these letters were made with?’
    ‘ A smudge of cloth, sir, I should think. It could be achieved by putting a blood-soaked handkerchief, towel or any bit of rag around a finger and making the letters like chalking on a blackboard.’
    He nodded. ‘Are there discarded garments or towels or anything?’
    ‘ No, sir.’
    ‘ I suppose he cleaned himself up in the bathroom?’
    ‘ Yes, sir. There’s a trail of drops of blood, presumably from his hands. But he didn’t use a towel. Must have wiped his hands down his own clothes or brought his own towel.’
    ‘ Or taken one that was here with him,’ Angel said.
    Taylor looked as if he hadn’t thought of it.
    Angel said: ‘Have you found anything to swab for DNA?’
    ‘ No, sir. And he was too smart to leave any prints on the taps, switches or doorknobs.’
    Angel wrinkled his nose. ‘We’ve a murderer who is forensically aware.’
    ‘ Looks like it.’
    ‘ The worst kind,’ Angel said, pulling a face.
    ‘ It is looking like he came up by ladder through the window in here, sir, committed the murder, wrote that stuff on the mirror,