Ten Guilty Men (A DCI Morton Crime Novel Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

more bedrooms, five bathrooms and a converted attic yet to be searched, the Forensics Department would be busy for weeks.
    Most of the house was so messy that it was impossible to tell if anything was missing or out of place. A few shelves looked oddly empty, but whether that was from items gone missing or a lack of possessions, Morton couldn’t tell. Pizza boxes, which Morton recognised as belonging to a local Italian restaurant, Trattoria Da Mondo , seemed to be everywhere. It must have been Ellis’ favourite takeaway.
    Despite the mess, the extravagant decor shone through. The entranceway was the most decadent example of Ellis DeLange’s lifestyle. Twin staircases rose to either side of the hall, a sweeping cascade of marble and oak.
    The swimming pool came a close second, but although many of the house’s original features were impressive, a closer inspection revealed that all the other rooms were perfectly ordinary. Morton thought they could have been picked up and dropped into almost any two-up two-down in the country without appearing out of place.
    Imitation furniture, costume jewellery and high street clothing suggested that Ellis wasn’t living quite the life she wanted her home to portray.
    The mess continued upstairs except in the master bedroom, which was an oasis of cleanliness. A sleigh bed dominated the room, with an oak armoire next to it atop which sat a number of birthday cards which were displayed facing towards the bed. A few bore the message ‘Happy 30th Birthday!’ but it was the largest card that caught Morton’s eye; it read ‘Happy Birthday, Big Sis!’
    Morton opened the card, scanned the handwritten message. A name, scrawled in tiny lettering in such a way that made it look as if the author’s hand had never left the page, was at the bottom: Brianna . Morton nodded appreciatively. That took care of identifying next of kin.
    Morton surveyed a series of photographs in a collage covering the longest wall. Three women recurred throughout. In the centre was Ellis, petite and curvaceous. The woman on the right was Ellis’ likeness, but taller and thinner. The third, on the left-hand side, was about Ellis’ height, but much less careworn.
    Morton peeled one of the photographs off the collage; it came away easily. He flipped it over. A blob of dried-out Blu-tack had been used to stick the photograph to the wall. Below the Blu-tack someone had scrawled in pencil, ‘L -> R: Brianna; Ellis; Gabriella, NYE 2012’ .
    The three women had been photographed in various combinations throughout: Brianna and Ellis, Ellis and Gabriella, all three together. Oddly, there were none of Gabriella and Brianna alone. Perhaps, Morton mused, Ellis was so narcissistic that she preferred to display only photos that included her. It certainly appeared that way. None of the photos failed to feature Ellis.
    One other figure seemed to be included in many of the photos, a man that Morton thought looked vaguely familiar. He was tall and rugged, and he appeared in the largest photograph with his arm draped casually around a much younger Ellis DeLange. She was smiling broadly and looked much more fresh-faced than in her more recent photos. Again, Morton took the photo down from the wall and flipped it over. The same swirly handwriting had pencilled ‘ Me + Kal, my 25th birthday ’ in looping cursive. The ‘i’ in birthday was dotted with a tiny heart, as if written by a schoolgirl.
    The photograph was only five years old, but the difference between the happy girl in the photo and the thirty-year-old now in the morgue couldn’t be more chalk and cheese. Morton snapped a quick photo on his phone of the three girls and the man called Kal, then felt his stomach rumble. No wonder. It was getting on for three o’clock already. There was just about time to grab a quick sandwich before going to meet the coroner – if the autopsy began at the time promised, which was never guaranteed with Dr Larry Chiswick.

Chapter 4: Date