The Murder House

by Michael Wood

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

  ‘The place is falling apart. There’s a DI who is on the verge of having a stroke, plain-clothed officers walking around like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders and prisoners able to leave without detection whenever they feel like it.’

  Valerie pulled out a chair and sat down. ‘I’ve been told all about this Keith Lumb character. Is he seriously a suspect for the Mercer killings?’

  Matilda sighed. ‘He’s starting to look more and more likely.’

  ‘Any clues on where he might be?’

  ‘No. I’m going to see his sister later today. She doesn’t live far from the Mercers. Fingers crossed she knows where he is.’

  ‘And if she doesn’t?’

  ‘If she doesn’t, I’ll put out an appeal for anyone who’s seen him to get in touch.’

  ‘If he is the killer, and the press find out we had him in custody and allowed him to escape, they’ll hang us out to dry,’ Valerie said, scratching her head.

  Where is this ‘us’ coming from?

  ‘You need to do something about Barnsley then. Throw a bit of money at the place.’

  ‘There isn’t any money,’ Valerie almost snapped. ‘I’m already dreading the bill coming in from the forensic services over the number of samples you’re sending them from this Mercer case.’

  ‘Jesus!’ Matilda said in frustration. ‘You can’t expect me to solve murders without spending any money,’ she said, raising her voice.

  ‘I’m aware of that, DCI Darke, but budgets are being cut right, left and centre.’

  Matilda rolled her eyes. ‘It’s funny how central government can always find money when they want to. Big Ben needs repairing, oh look, here’s forty million down the back of the sofa we didn’t realize we had,’ she said. ‘I refuse to cut corners, cut staff, and stop sending detectives on interviews in the name of cost cutting. If we do that, we’ll end up like Barnsley,’ Matilda said loud enough for everyone out in the HMET suite to hear her.

  Valerie took a deep breath. ‘I’m not asking you to cut corners. I’m worried about the state of this force.’

  ‘Then you need to give Kate Stephenson at The Star a call, because someone already has and she knows we had our chief suspect in custody.’

  ‘Shit. All right, leave Kate and Barnsley to me. I’ll sort them out. In the meantime, I want you to find Keith Lumb and get him back in custody.’ She headed for the door then stopped, turning back to Matilda. ‘And try to cut down on overtime.’

  ‘Fine,’ Matilda smirked. ‘My staff will be strictly nine till five, Monday to Friday, with an hour for lunch. Let’s hope murderers and rapists have a similar working timetable.’

  Valerie opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind. She left the office and headed out of the suite, not making eye contact with any of the other officers.

  ‘You handled that well,’ Christian said from the doorway.

  Matilda rolled her eyes. ‘Do you get the feeling this department is going to be made a scapegoat when this all hits the fan?’

  ‘Shall we be terribly British and do what we’re supposed to do in a crisis and have a cup of tea?’ He smiled.

  ‘Go on then. But only use one bag. Remember, we’re on a budget.’

  Pongo was waiting in the car park at the back of the police station. One of the handlers was giving him some exercise. As soon as he saw Rachel leave the building he charged straight for her. For such a small dog, he had great power, as he almost dragged the handler with him.

  Rachel dropped to her knees and allowed the young Dalmatian to jump all over her and lick her face. She looked genuinely happy to be reunited with her best friend again.

  Rory squatted next to her and began stroking the puppy. ‘He’s a beautiful dog.’

  She didn’t reply. It was as if Rory wasn’t there. She was excited to be with something familiar again.

  ‘He smells funny,’ she eventually said.

  ‘We had to wash him.’

  ‘Oh.’ Her face dropped when she remembered why they’d had to wash him. ‘I opened my bedroom door,’ she said, still fussing with the dog.

  ‘Did you? When?’

  ‘When Daddy told me not to. I opened my door to look out.’

  ‘What did you see?’

  ‘Granddaddy was on his knees and the man was holding him by his hair. He was stabbing and stabbing at his neck.’

  ‘That must have been very upsetting,’ Rory said. He looked up to the social worker who was standing behind him. She nodded to show she was listening.

  ‘It was. I got some blood on my face. Granddaddy was crying. The man looked at me.’

  ‘Did you know who he was?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Do you think you’d recognize him if you saw him again?’

  ‘I don’t want to see him again,’ she cried. She grabbed Pongo who had stopped fussing and help him tight.

  ‘You won’t have to, Rachel. I promise you. If we found a photograph of this man and showed it to you, do you think you’d be able to say if it was the man you saw?’

  ‘His face was covered. I could only see his eyes.’

  ‘OK. Rachel, when you saw your Auntie Leah and Uncle Oliver at the hospital, why did you scream?’

  ‘I thought they were dead too,’ she sniffled.

  Rory sat back on his haunches and watched as Rachel returned to playing with Pongo. It broke his heart to see the torment she was going through. She had been incredibly brave, but soon, the loss of her father would hit home, and the tears and the nightmares would return.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  ‘Elizabeth Lumb?’ Matilda asked the pair of eyes peeking out at her from the small gap in the door.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘DCI Matilda Darke, South Yorkshire Police. Would it be possible to have a few words?’

  ‘Is this about my brother?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Oh. I don’t know where he is,’ she said, still not opening the door any wider.

  ‘Perhaps if we could come in and have a chat.’

  Elizabeth thought for a long while before giving in. Eventually, she ducked out of the small gap and opened the door wide to allow her visitors to enter.

  Elizabeth Lumb was a tall woman with slicked back dark hair which she wore in a ponytail. Her face was plain and without make-up. Her dress sense was comfortable yet dowdy; baggy beige linen trousers, thick woollen cardigan with a soft pink sweater beneath. Her shoulders were hunched as if trying to make herself smaller, almost apologizing for being close to six foot.

  The hallway was narrow and seemed cluttered due to picture frames of all different sizes taking up every available space on the walls. They all interlocked together perfectly like a game of Tetris but on a much grander scale. In the corner, an oversized coat stand took up a large amount of floor space, yet it had only one coat hanging from it. She showed Matilda and Scott into the living room which was an extension of the hallway. Pictures covered the walls, sideboards were cluttered with ugly ornaments, standard lamps with large shades, busy rugs and old-fashioned beige sofas gave the room an oppressive, sad feel to it.

  ‘Please take a seat.’

  Matilda and Scott sat, but they didn’t look comfortable. This wasn’t a house to be comfortable in.

  ‘Mrs Lumb—’

  ‘Miss,’ she interrupted.

  ‘Miss Lumb, when was the last time you saw your brother?’ Matilda asked.

  ‘It was a week or so ago, I think.’ Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. Her accent was local, but again, it seemed like something she was apologizing for. She looked as uncomfortable as her surroundings.

  ‘You told police in Barnsley that it was more than two weeks ago,’ Matilda said.

  ‘Did I? Oh.’ She looked away and bit her thumbnail as she thought. ‘No. It was about a week, I think.’

  ‘OK. Did he come to visit you or did you go to see him?’

  ‘He came here.
’

  ‘Was there a reason for his visit?’

  ‘Yes. He asked me to lend him some money.’

  ‘Did you?’

  ‘No. I don’t have much.’

  ‘Why did he need money?’

  ‘He said he needed to get away.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Did you ask?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Weren’t you bothered?’

  ‘My brother and I, we’re not close,’ she said quietly. ‘We’re very different people.’

  ‘Did you know your brother had been arrested for burglary and had escaped custody?’

  Elizabeth looked to the floor and sighed. ‘The detective mentioned it when he called. Keith didn’t go into details. I guessed there was something wrong. I assumed he was running away from something. Or someone.’

  ‘Do you know about his criminal past?’

  ‘Of course. That’s one of the reasons we’re not close. It broke Mummy and Daddy’s heart the way he was. They had many arguments about him.’

  ‘Are your parents still alive?’

  ‘Mummy is. My daddy died eight years ago. Throat cancer.’

  ‘I’m sorry. Is it possible Keith could have been in touch with your mumm … mother?’ Matilda asked.

  ‘No. I would have been told.’

  ‘Have you heard from Keith recently? Has he called you at all on the phone?’

  ‘No,’ she replied quickly.

  ‘We really need to get in touch with him rather urgently. Do you have any idea where he’d go?’

  ‘No.’ Again, she answered quickly.

  ‘Do you know any of his friends or where he hangs out?’

  ‘No. I don’t. I’m sorry,’ she said, her reply sounded sharp.

  Matilda allowed the silence to grow. ‘You haven’t asked why we’re looking for him.’

  ‘Well … I’m guessing it’s to do with the burglaries.’

  ‘Do you know a Clive and Serena Mercer?’

  ‘Yes. No. I mean, sorry, yes. Well, I don’t know them as such. I’ve met them. Serena, anyway.’

  Elizabeth seemed nervous. She struggled to make eye contact with Matilda or Scott. Her gaze flittered around the room as if looking for something that would save her from this interrogation.

  Matilda and Scott exchanged glances. ‘How did you know Serena?’ Scott asked.

  ‘She helps out at a charity I work with.’

  ‘What charity?’

  ‘It’s a homeless charity. Did you know that Sheffield is fifth in the UK for homelessness with 1.9 people per thousand without a home? It’s shocking. And people don’t seem to care anymore. We seem to have lost that sense of community and pride,’ she said, her most animated of the whole conversation.

  ‘What did Serena do at the charity?’

  ‘She donated money, helped with fundraising and she got some of the other doctors at the hospital involved to give homeless people check-ups and medical help.’

  ‘A valued member of the team,’ Scott said.

  ‘Absolutely.’ She smiled.

  ‘Have you heard about what has happened to Serena and her family?’

  ‘Yes. It was on the news last night. Shocking. Absolutely shocking. And on the day of her daughter’s wedding, too.’ She may have sounded shocked but there were no tears in her eyes, no hint of sadness on her face.

  ‘Did you attend the wedding?’ Scott asked.

  ‘No. I wasn’t invited. I sent a card. I doubt they knew who I was.’ She fiddled with the brooch on the lapel of her cardigan.

  ‘Did you know where the Mercers lived?’

  ‘Oh yes. It’s not far from here, actually. About a mile or so.’

  Matilda edged forward on the sofa. ‘Elizabeth, I need to ask you something very important. Do you think your brother may have had anything to do with Serena’s death?’

  ‘Oh no,’ she said without needing to think.

  ‘You sound sure. I thought you didn’t know him all that well.’

  ‘I don’t. But he’s not a killer. He’s a petty criminal. He breaks into houses. There’s no way he could kill someone, absolutely no way. We didn’t bring him up to be a killer.’

  ‘What shoe size is your brother?’

  ‘Shoe size?’ she asked, completely thrown by the question. ‘I’ve no idea. Oh, wait, I do. He’s a size ten’.

  ‘You’re sure.’

  ‘Yes. The same as my daddy.’

  ‘OK. Elizabeth, I’d like to show you a couple of photos. They’re items of clothing. I’m afraid they have blood on them.’

  ‘Oh. I’m sure not if I want to,’ she said, sitting further back in her seat.

  ‘Nobody is wearing the clothes, they’re just items on a table, that’s all.’

  ‘Why do you want me to see them?’

  ‘I want to see if you recognize them.’

  Matilda took three photographs out of her inside pocket and placed them on top of a magazine on the coffee table between the two of them. Gingerly, Elizabeth leaned forward, her arms firmly wrapped around her.

  ‘Take your time,’ Matilda instructed.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she said, looking from one to the other and back again.

  ‘Do those clothes belong to your brother?’

  ‘Oh ye …’ she stopped herself. ‘It’s difficult to say. They look like just ordinary clothes. There’s nothing special about them, is there?’

  ‘You do recognize them, don’t you?’

  ‘No. Now I come to look at them, no I don’t. I’m sorry,’ she said, pushing them away.

  ‘Fair enough,’ Matilda said, gathering up the pictures and putting them back in her pocket. ‘Would it be possible to speak to your mother?’

  ‘Why? Why do you want to talk to her?’ she asked, getting flustered.

  ‘In case Keith has tried to contact her.’

  ‘But he hasn’t. I would have been told.’

  ‘Maybe he told her not to tell you.’

  ‘He wouldn’t do that. Mummy’s in a home. She’s not well. She doesn’t need this stress.’

  ‘OK.’ Matilda put her hands up, trying to calm her down. She dug into her pocket for a card. ‘If Keith does call you, would you give me a ring, let me know?’

  ‘Well, yes.’ She smiled. ‘I don’t know why he would, though. I mean, there’s no reason for him to.’

  ‘Miss Lumb,’ Matilda said, an edge to her voice. ‘Your brother has escaped custody. He’s on the run. He’s wanted for a series of burglaries and we have strong evidence to suggest he was in Clive and Serena’s home on the night of their deaths. We need to speak to him.’

  ‘He was in their home?’ she asked, fiddling with the collar of her cardigan.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why? Why was he there? He didn’t know them. I know them. Serena’s my friend, not his.’ Her voice grew in volume and anger.

  ‘That’s what we need to talk to Keith about. Now, I’m on your side, here, Elizabeth. I don’t believe Keith had anything to do with their deaths.’ Matilda could feel Scott’s eyes burning into her. ‘But I do need to speak to him urgently.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘So you’ll call me?’

  ‘Of course. Yes.’

  ‘Right.’ Matilda stood up. ‘We’ll leave you in peace then.’

  She moved towards the door with Scott closely following.

  Elizabeth showed them out, closed the door behind them and secured it with bolts and a chain. From the hallway she went to the kitchen, opened the door and entered.

  ‘Well,’ she said. ‘What do you make of all that?’

  ‘Wow,’ Scott said, breaking the silence once they were in the car. ‘I have no idea what to make of Elizabeth Lumb.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ Matilda answered. ‘Strange house.’

  ‘Yes. All that furniture is really old-fashioned. I bet it’s stuff from her mother’s house when she moved into the home.’

  ‘Probably.’


  ‘Do you think her brother has been in touch?’

  ‘Definitely,’ Matilda said. ‘She seems like the kind of person for whom family is very important. She’s protecting her mother from us and she’ll protect her little brother from us, too.’

  ‘Who’s protecting her?’

  ‘She’ll do that herself,’ Matilda said, looking out of the window of her car and at the bland house she lived in on Trap Lane. ‘It looks so lifeless.’

  ‘Heavy atmosphere. So, where do we go from here?’ Scott asked.

  ‘We inform the public of who Keith Lumb is, that we want to speak to him, that he mustn’t be approached under any circumstances.’

  ‘If he sees that appeal, he’s bound to call his sister. Do you think she’ll call us?’

  ‘No. We’ll need to put surveillance on her.’

  ‘Masterson won’t like that.’

  Matilda turned back to Scott. ‘The day I start putting budget over people is the day I resign. I’m a detective, not an accountant.’ She started the engine.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  DIFFERENT NAME. SAME PROBLEMS

  By Danny Hanson

  Young Reporter of the Year, 2017

  South Yorkshire Police launched their Homicide and Major Enquiry Team late last year to great fanfare and back slapping. It was a turning point in the force which has been dogged by controversy in recent years. However, less than two months since the well-publicized launch and it’s safe to say the cracks are already beginning to show.

  Headed by DCI Matilda Darke, formerly in charge of the Murder Investigation Team, the new unit aimed to clear up more than twenty-five cold murder cases within the county as well as investigating current crimes.

  In the wake of PC Steve Harrison being unmasked as a serial killer last year, hidden from DCI Darke and her team in plain sight, ACC Valerie Masterson said the new unit would ‘leave no stone unturned, no avenue unexplored, no question unanswered and no case too big to tackle’.

  However, The Star has learned that a man wanted in relation to the brutal massacre of the Mercer family in Fulwood last week was in police custody a few days before and was allowed to escape to commit his crimes.

  An unnamed police source said South Yorkshire Police have no idea where this man is now and believe he could have fled the country.