The kitchen was spotlessly clean. To Astrid’s eyes and the rumble in her stomach, it appeared as if nothing had been prepared or eaten there for a long time. Evie opened the fridge and peered inside.
‘There’s half a bottle of milk and some unappetising looking cheese; little for your growing hunger, my friend.’
‘How do you know I’m hungry?’
Evie grinned at her. ‘Electroshock therapy may fry the brain, but it also heightens human hearing. The rumbling in your guts has been like exploding rockets in my mind ever since we left my former home.’
Astrid shook her head. ‘We’ll get something to eat later, but before we go further into the house, do you want to explain about the key in your hand?’
Evie picked up an apple and bit into it. Her eyes narrowed and her lips trembled. She went to the sink and spat the food into it before returning her gaze to Astrid.
‘What’s to tell? Adam gave it to me after our parents died. He knew if I ever returned, it wouldn’t be through the front door where the neighbours might see me. And the security code to the house has never changed.’
‘And you’ve kept this key in your room all this time?’
‘I have.’
‘And nobody else could access it without your knowledge?’
Evie pondered the question. ‘You think someone could have taken it or copied it behind my back, and then used it to bring those girls here.’ She scratched at her chin. ‘I suppose it’s possible, but it would have had to be a copy. There wouldn’t have been enough time to get it back to my room. None of it seems probable.’
‘Don’t say that to anyone. The fact it’s a possibility is something your brother’s lawyer can use.’
Evie nodded. ‘Okay.’ She slipped the key into her pocket. ‘I know he’s innocent, but what makes you so sure, Astrid Snow?’
Astrid glanced around the kitchen. ‘I’ve sat opposite many killers, and most protest their innocence, even when there’s overwhelming evidence to contradict their claims. I guess I’ve learnt how to tell when they’re lying or not. And I believe your brother is telling the truth.’
Do I? Or am I only doing this for George?
Evie put her hand on the door leading out of the kitchen. ‘When this is over, I look forward to hearing your stories of your life before this. And all about Uncle George.’
She pulled the handle and led them into the corridor. Even in the dark, Astrid saw the faded wallpaper peeling from the wall where it met the ceiling.
‘It doesn’t appear as if your brother spent much time looking after this house.’
Evie shivered as she went. ‘Both of us hate this place. I’d be surprised if he lived much here at all.’
‘Where’s the basement?’
‘Just through here.’ Evie led them down the passageway and to an entrance at the far right. She had her hand on the door when Astrid stopped her from going any further.
‘You don’t have to do this. You can leave it to me.’
Evie flexed her shoulders. ‘There’s nothing down there now. I’ll be okay.’ She turned the handle and stepped inside. She puffed out her cheeks and looked at Astrid. ‘Will there be a chalk outline where they found the bodies?’ Her voice trembled as she spoke.
Astrid put a hand on hers. ‘The police haven’t done that for years. They use photography and video to record the crime scene. They’ll have taken everything they need from the basement. We won’t be disturbing anything, but let me go first.’
Evie didn’t object and moved to one side. ‘The light is on your left.’
Astrid flicked the switch. The bulb flickered into life, and she saw the well-worn steps leading down. She wasn’t sure if what she’d told Evie was right, didn’t know if the police were through with their investigation in the house. She’d seen plenty of investigators who would have taken the bodies in the basement and Adam Church’s DNA on them as watertight proof of guilt. But Evie’s key would put a spanner in the works of the prosecution case if handled by a half-decent defence attorney. But none of that would tell her, or anyone else, who killed those two poor girls.
She held on to a handrail as she moved down, tiny bits of it sticking to her fingers. The further she went, the more it smelt of death. Evie coughed, but they continued. There were about thirty steps in all, and Astrid stopped halfway down.
‘Is there something wrong?’ Evie’s breathing was heavy behind her.
‘No. I just want to get an overview of the basement before we hit the bottom.’
She scanned every part, gazing over the discarded sofa at the far end, the stacks of dusty magazines in the middle of the room, and the bits of metal and plastic scattered over the workbenches. Old records, mainly albums with a few singles, littered another bench.
Evie’s voice trembled. ‘Do you know where they found the girls?’
‘I don’t, but seeing the recent movement in the dust, I’d say it was over there.’
Evie followed the trail across the floor and Astrid’s outstretched finger to the sofa. ‘Oh.’
Astrid smiled. ‘Just watch where you step, and you’ll be okay.’ She continued to the end, peering over the concrete and finding nothing of interest.
Evie joined her at the bottom. ‘How did the killer get the girls here without them struggling or running away?’
Astrid had already considered that and several other questions. ‘More important than that, why did they leave the bodies here? Why not somewhere else? And how did they enter and exit with everything locked?’
‘Do you think they had my key?’
‘No, I don’t, but it’s a possibility. You said it yourself: someone couldn’t have used it, and then got it back in time so you wouldn’t notice it missing.’
‘They could have duplicated it.’
‘True, but when and how long ago did that happen? If it was a copy, it rules out any spontaneous random killing; it’s something planned meticulously. Which leads to the next obvious question.’
‘Why here and why my brother?’
Astrid nodded and walked to the sofa. She focused on the furniture, letting her mind, no matter how painful it was, picture how the girls ended up in their last resting place.
Evie stood next to her and repeated her questions. ‘So why here and why my brother?’
‘I don’t know yet.’ And that was still bugging her. ‘We need to answer a few other questions first.’
‘Like how did the killer get the girls here without any fuss or noise?’
‘Precisely. What do you think?’
Evie scratched at the freckles on her arm, her nose twitching like a rabbit. ‘The killer might have drugged them.’
‘They could have, but it would show up in the toxicology report from the autopsy. And if you’re right, it would lead to another important question.’
‘How was it administered?’
‘Perhaps the killer put it into their food or drink. But if that happened upstairs or outside, they would have had to carry them into the basement, down those rickety steps, and probably in the dark.’
Evie continued to rub at her arm. ‘No, I don’t like the drug theory. There are too many things that could have gone wrong, and I get the impression our killer is someone who doesn’t leave anything to chance. No, it has to be something else.’
‘I agree with you. Forcing the sisters here at gunpoint would have been so much easier, don’t you think?’
‘Absolutely. And almost every adult around here owns at least one firearm.’ She stared at Astrid through wide eyes. ‘Do we know how the girls disappeared?’
‘Only what was in the news. About four hours before the bodies were discovered, witnesses saw them entering the woods out the back.’
Evie moved towards the sofa, looking as if she’d sit on it until she apparently remembered who had been on it last.
‘But that seems very random. How would the killer know the girls would be there?’
‘Do you want to know what my educated guess is?’
‘Of course.’
‘At some point in the next couple of days, we’ll find out, either from Adam’s lawyer, the police, or the media, that those girls played in those woods all the time, but their parents didn’t know, because if they did, they probably would have stopped them.’
‘But that means someone did know and they’re either our killer, or they know who did it.’
‘Elementary, Evie. And finding out who knew will lead us to the culprit, but there’s still one thing bothering me.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘I know about being framed for murder and, in my case, the killings only happened to lead to something else. I have a hunch our killer wasn’t only targeting your brother; it hasn’t ended here.’
Evie lifted her hand to her chest and the tremble returned to her voice. ‘You believe they might come after me?’
Astrid walked over to the records and wiped the dust from the top one. A gospel choir stared at her from the cover.
‘I think, from this point on, you need to stick with me.’