The Last Girl Read Online Free

can ask her.’ Godley changed his mind as he said it. ‘Actually, no, you can’t. She’s in no state to be confronted by someone like you.’
    ‘I don’t know what you mean.’ Derwent was grinning. He positively revelled in his reputation. He’d certainly earned it.
    ‘Well, if there wasn’t a break-in that just leaves two possibilities, doesn’t it?’ I said. ‘Either the killer was let into the house––’
    ‘Or he was here already,’ Derwent finished for me.
    ‘That’s all I’ve got.’ I looked at Godley. ‘What did I miss?’
    ‘What happened before the killer attacked them. And what happened afterwards.’
    ‘I haven’t been around the rest of the house yet.’
    ‘I know. I’m not asking you to guess.’ He raised his eyebrows at the others. ‘How did she do?’
    ‘Very well. For a police officer.’ Hanshaw was always more vinegar than honey. Kev was nodding too, though, and Godley smiled at me. I felt a warm glow that had nothing to do with the weather. At least I did until I caught Derwent’s eye and was reminded that the inspector didn’t like junior officers to be too clever. I quelled my instinct to look modest and gave him the same look back, my best attempt at cold steel.
So you thought you’d found a way to embarrass me, did you? Too bad I’m sharper than you thought I was. Next time, try harder. Or better yet, don’t try at all
.
    Godley got back to business. ‘Right. Give us the details, Glen. What did the killer use?’
    ‘The blade was large. Something like a machete or a professional kitchen knife. Not serrated. All Vita’s injuries are consistent with cutting, so the killer didn’t get too close to her and I don’t have much hope for DNA traces under her nails. She has defence wounds to both hands and wrists – severed tendons in a couple of places. Three or four of her injuries would have been enough to do for her and I don’t yet know which was the decisive one. She bled out into her chest cavity, which is why she had time to fight before she died.’
    ‘Who are we looking for?’
    ‘The killer wasn’t playing about. You’re looking for someone strong and probably tall. Right-handed. Violent, as you might have noticed yourselves. The first victim’s throat is cut to the spine. I don’t see that very often. But there’s no sexual component, unless you think the killer has a thing for cutting. He or she treated both of them differently, which may be significant, but then again it may not. Victim one was despatched efficiently and quickly. Victim two fought, which may account for her more numerous injuries.’
    ‘Or the killer might have wanted to take his time with Vita. Anything else?’
    ‘Not until after the PMs. I’ll do them tomorrow morning, first thing.’
    ‘I’ll be there.’ Godley always tried to attend the postmortems. I preferred to read the reports afterwards. It was much less distracting to read the cold, clinical description of what had happened to the victims than to see their internal organs in full, lurid detail.
    ‘I’m happy for the bodies to be moved now.’ Hanshaw was already gathering his belongings.
    ‘The lads have finished in here until the bodies come out. Then I’ll send them in again, make sure we haven’t missed anything underneath either of these poor ladies.’
    I hadn’t realised until Kev said it that the SOCOs had finished up while we’d been talking, slipping out of the room like paper-clad ghosts. He edged towards the door himself.
    ‘If we’re done here, I’m just going to check how they’re getting on upstairs.’
    ‘Good stuff, Kev. Let us know when you’re finished.’ Godley waited until they had left the room and we were alone with the bodies. ‘So?’
    ‘Laura didn’t stand up,’ I said quietly. ‘She didn’t even know she was in danger. She knew her killer or she wasn’t scared.’
    ‘You know him,’ Derwent threw at Godley. ‘What do you think of Philip Kennford?’
    ‘I think he