central heating boiler. The front curtains were tightly drawn. The Mount looked abandoned.
Mrs Palk pulled up minutes later, in a blue Mazda. She climbed out, smartly dressed in a fur-trimmed black anorak, tight black jeans and Ugg boots. Alice followed her, still in the same shabby clothes she had been wearing the night before. She still looked pale but perfectly composed and avoided meeting Talith’s eyes. From her coat pocket she drew a Yale key on a small chain and silently unlocked the door.
Behind her Talith sucked in a deep, apprehensive breath, a little ashamed of the fact that he was so nervous at entering. There had been something so morbid, so ghoulish about the remains of the tiny child, and a woman who nursed it as though it was a live infant baby had upset him. It took him back to a moment he preferred to forget, a time when he was eight years old and he and his dad (who was a great fan of Hammer Horror movies) had watched a black and white Boris Karloff film, The Mummy . Though it had been an old film and he could see now that the special effects had been clumsy and Boris Karloff’s movement jerky and unrealistic, it had scared the pants off him at the time. Even now he felt silly thinking it had so terrified him but his dad had been a film buff and had laughed when his son had spent at least half of the movie cowering behind the settee. Talith still felt ashamed of himself.
And he felt exactly the same now, entering this House of Horror. Except that he was a detective sergeant now and could not cower behind the sofa any more. He must face up to this.
He shook himself, but it was still there, that icy finger creeping up the spine.
What else would he find? How many more dead babies?
The hall felt chilly and smelt very slightly musty.
He must take charge. ‘Do you want to show us where you found the ummm baby, Mrs Sedgewick?’
She nodded towards the staircase ahead. ‘Upstairs. We’re thinking of using the loft for an extra bedroom and bathroom. I thought I’d better take a look up there.’ She gave a half smile, both vague and vacant. ‘I wasn’t sure how feasible – or pleasant – it would be as the water tanks are all up there.’ Another smile. ‘I thought it might be noisy – and a bit cold. And I wasn’t sure how the windows would work.’ She could have been showing someone over the house and trying to put them off, Talith thought, not pointing where she had discovered a baby’s rotten corpse. He took charge. ‘Let’s take a look, shall we?’
He glanced into the rooms as they passed. They were, as he had expected, luxuriant and well-ordered. There were cream carpets, coordinated curtains, smart, polished antique furniture. And yet it felt little used. It was very tidy and impersonal. Apart from comfortable wealth there was no clue as to the Sedgewick’s characters and interests. Talith wondered whether Alice did her own cleaning. Probably not, he decided. She was more likely to have a ‘daily’. He followed her up a wide, mahogany staircase with a narrow strip of dark red carpet anchored by brass stair rods and then towards an extending loft ladder on the landing. Acantha drew up in the rear, saying nothing, but she kept a suspicious eye on the white-suited forensic team ahead of her, as they clambered, noisily bouncing up the ladder. Perhaps she too, was apprehensive at what they would find at the top.
‘How long have you lived here?’ Talith asked the question conversationally but Alice Sedgewick wasn’t fooled. ‘Only five years,’ she said deliberately, turning around and reading his eyes.
His next comment was equally polite but probing. ‘It’s a very big house for a couple whose children have flown the nest.’
Alice turned around again with that perceptive and unsettling stare. ‘My husband likes big houses,’ she said, adding to herself, ‘even though he isn’t here that much.’ There was resentment in her tone and Talith wondered whether she shared her
Mrs Palk pulled up minutes later, in a blue Mazda. She climbed out, smartly dressed in a fur-trimmed black anorak, tight black jeans and Ugg boots. Alice followed her, still in the same shabby clothes she had been wearing the night before. She still looked pale but perfectly composed and avoided meeting Talith’s eyes. From her coat pocket she drew a Yale key on a small chain and silently unlocked the door.
Behind her Talith sucked in a deep, apprehensive breath, a little ashamed of the fact that he was so nervous at entering. There had been something so morbid, so ghoulish about the remains of the tiny child, and a woman who nursed it as though it was a live infant baby had upset him. It took him back to a moment he preferred to forget, a time when he was eight years old and he and his dad (who was a great fan of Hammer Horror movies) had watched a black and white Boris Karloff film, The Mummy . Though it had been an old film and he could see now that the special effects had been clumsy and Boris Karloff’s movement jerky and unrealistic, it had scared the pants off him at the time. Even now he felt silly thinking it had so terrified him but his dad had been a film buff and had laughed when his son had spent at least half of the movie cowering behind the settee. Talith still felt ashamed of himself.
And he felt exactly the same now, entering this House of Horror. Except that he was a detective sergeant now and could not cower behind the sofa any more. He must face up to this.
He shook himself, but it was still there, that icy finger creeping up the spine.
What else would he find? How many more dead babies?
The hall felt chilly and smelt very slightly musty.
He must take charge. ‘Do you want to show us where you found the ummm baby, Mrs Sedgewick?’
She nodded towards the staircase ahead. ‘Upstairs. We’re thinking of using the loft for an extra bedroom and bathroom. I thought I’d better take a look up there.’ She gave a half smile, both vague and vacant. ‘I wasn’t sure how feasible – or pleasant – it would be as the water tanks are all up there.’ Another smile. ‘I thought it might be noisy – and a bit cold. And I wasn’t sure how the windows would work.’ She could have been showing someone over the house and trying to put them off, Talith thought, not pointing where she had discovered a baby’s rotten corpse. He took charge. ‘Let’s take a look, shall we?’
He glanced into the rooms as they passed. They were, as he had expected, luxuriant and well-ordered. There were cream carpets, coordinated curtains, smart, polished antique furniture. And yet it felt little used. It was very tidy and impersonal. Apart from comfortable wealth there was no clue as to the Sedgewick’s characters and interests. Talith wondered whether Alice did her own cleaning. Probably not, he decided. She was more likely to have a ‘daily’. He followed her up a wide, mahogany staircase with a narrow strip of dark red carpet anchored by brass stair rods and then towards an extending loft ladder on the landing. Acantha drew up in the rear, saying nothing, but she kept a suspicious eye on the white-suited forensic team ahead of her, as they clambered, noisily bouncing up the ladder. Perhaps she too, was apprehensive at what they would find at the top.
‘How long have you lived here?’ Talith asked the question conversationally but Alice Sedgewick wasn’t fooled. ‘Only five years,’ she said deliberately, turning around and reading his eyes.
His next comment was equally polite but probing. ‘It’s a very big house for a couple whose children have flown the nest.’
Alice turned around again with that perceptive and unsettling stare. ‘My husband likes big houses,’ she said, adding to herself, ‘even though he isn’t here that much.’ There was resentment in her tone and Talith wondered whether she shared her
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