She exchanged a look with Sanderson. ‘He’s overwrought. Not surprising.’
Bert tightened his hold on Sanderson’s hand, causing the officer to wince. The old man still had a surprisingly strong grip.
Bert’s watery blue eyes locked with Sanderson’s. ‘You are not to go upstairs. Do you hear me? It’s private. Do not go upstairs!’ He paled dramatically and began gasping for breath.
Both paramedics sprang into action, and Sanderson pulled his hand away. He got to his feet and took a step back, giving them room to work. It wasn’t long before they had an oxygen mask over the old man’s face, and a few moments later, they wheeled him out of the house on a trolley.
PC Montgomery widened his eyes and blew out a breath, puffing out his cheeks. ‘Well, he wasn’t exactly pleased to see us.’
Sanderson shrugged. ‘He was probably delirious from lying here for so long.’
He was trying to convince himself, but he had to admit there was something about the old man’s reaction that set off alarm bells.
Montgomery grinned at him. ‘So what do we do now?’
Distracted, Sanderson frowned. ‘What do you mean? We secure the premises and then talk to Mrs Kennedy before writing up our report.’
‘Yes, of course, but before we do that we’re going to look upstairs, right?’
Sanderson’s gaze was drawn to the steep staircase. There was no reason for them to go up there. It was a domestic accident. They needed to secure the broken window, write their report and head back to the station.
‘Come on,’ PC Montgomery said. ‘It won’t take long. It’s worth a look. That old bloke really didn’t want us to go upstairs.’
He started to climb the stairs, his big heavy boots crushing the paisley carpet beneath his feet.
Sanderson objected. ‘This is someone’s home. You can’t just trample all over it without good reason.’
‘You stay there, then,’ Montgomery called over his shoulder. ‘I’m going upstairs to find what he didn’t want us to see.’
Sanderson hesitated at the foot of the stairs for a moment or two before huffing under his breath and following. The steps creaked beneath his feet as he walked past the peeling wallpaper, and he noticed that the handrail was a little loose.
He tugged on it but decided that couldn’t have been the cause of the accident. Poor old Bert must’ve just slipped. It was easy enough to do on these narrow steps, and at his age, the old man’s reactions weren’t quick enough to break his fall or save himself.
When he reached the hallway at the top of the stairs, he saw PC Montgomery staring at a padlocked door. He pointed at the lock. ‘Now tell me that old man isn’t hiding something.’
Sanderson shuffled around to get a better look at the door. It appeared to be the kind of padlock you’d see outside, on a garden shed. It was not the type of lock anyone would usually attach to an internal door.
He shrugged. ‘That’s it, then. I guess we’ll never know what he’s hiding.’
‘What do you mean, that’s it? We can’t go now, not without finding out what’s behind this door.’
‘It’s padlocked. We are not going to force the lock. We’ll include it in our report, and if the inspector thinks we need to find out what’s inside, then we’ll come back.’
PC Montgomery looked at him incredulously. He moved closer to the door, bending down to inspect the padlock. Then he laughed. ‘The silly old coot left the key in the bottom.’
He grinned broadly as he turned the key, removed the padlock and pushed open the door before Sanderson could object.
Although the curtains were drawn, the bedroom was surprisingly bright. The sun shone through the thin yellow curtains. Like the rest of the house, every surface was covered in a layer of dust. Sanderson stepped into the room. A neatly made single bed was pushed back against the wall, and a picture of a Spitfire was hung on the wall above the nightstand. He thought it looked like a normal spare bedroom and couldn’t understand why Bert had gone to the trouble of putting a padlock on the door.
The only odd thing in the room was a large, navy-blue suitcase sitting in the middle of the peach carpet. It was covered with dust and old cobwebs and looked as though it had recently been brought down from the loft. The rest of the room was dusty, but not as bad as the case.
PC Montgomery made a beeline for the case. ‘What have we got here, then?’ he muttered, grabbing the handle and attempting to pick it up. ‘Good grief! It weighs a ton.’
His eyes glinted with excitement as he unfastened the leather strap and reached for the zip.
‘You can’t open it,’ Sanderson said, well aware that PC Montgomery was paying him no attention.
‘Of course we have to open it! It’s our duty. There could be stolen goods inside, or weapons or . . . Jesus Christ!’
Montgomery squealed and dropped the suitcase on the floor, scurrying away from it.
‘What is it?’ Sanderson asked, starting to suspect he was the victim of a prank. Montgomery was well known as a practical joker at the station.
But if this was a joke, he was putting on a good act. His face was pale, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the suitcase.
‘There’s a body in that case.’
At that moment, the cat Montgomery had seen earlier walked up to him, rubbing against his leg and meowing loudly. Startled, Montgomery jumped.
Wide-eyed and looking a little green, he turned to Sanderson and said, ‘I’m calling the inspector.’
Sanderson watched him rush out of the room. If he hadn’t worked with Montgomery before, he probably would have fallen for the windup. He leaned down to stroke the cat. Poor thing was probably hungry. He made a mental note to check in the kitchen for cat food after he’d dealt with the current situation.
He turned back to the case. Montgomery had to be pulling his leg. He’d been called out to enter properties containing dead bodies on two previous occasions, and both times the whole property had been permeated by the most awful smell. The smell of death wasn’t something you forgot in a hurry.
The room smelled musty, but it didn’t smell of death. The thought gave Sanderson confidence. He straightened up and approached the case. The zip was open, but the lid of the case had fallen shut when Montgomery dropped it.
The cat meowed again.
‘All right, I’ll get you some food in a minute.’ He hesitated, then gritted his teeth. This was ridiculous. Montgomery had to be winding him up.
He glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see Montgomery smirking in the doorway, but there was no sign of him.
He looked at the cat. ‘It’s no big deal. I just have to check the case.’
The cat watched him with curious green eyes.
Sanderson took a deep breath and flung back the lid of the case.
Blood rushed in his ears, and his stomach churned as he stared down in disbelief at the contents of the case. Montgomery had been right. Curled up in the foetal position, decayed to just leathery skin and bones, was a human corpse.
CHAPTER TWO
DI Scott Morgan hung up the phone and stared down at his hastily written notes. A skeleton in a suitcase was certainly a first for him. He ripped the top sheet of paper from the pad and carried it out into the open-plan office area. His team looked up as he approached.