‘Is any of this helpful?’ I asked.
Juliet stepped back from the wall of evidence, David’s report pinned above Melanie’s selfie. ‘Not right now.’
I leant my elbows on the desk and pushed my fingers into my hair. ‘When are we getting the results from Melanie’s body?’
‘I don’t know.’ Juliet huffed as she sat down. ‘I’ve been hassling anyone I can think of, but they all come back with the same line. “There is a high priority case that’s taking precedence.” And you know they’re going to be hopeless over the weekend.’
I dug my nails into my scalp. I shouldn’t feel mad that not everyone had Juliet’s messed up work-life balance and if there was more evidence to build a case against Krystal’s parents, I was glad of it. ‘We know the murderer has size 11 feet.’
‘Like every one of our suspects?’
I released my hair and stood up. ‘This case is ridiculous.’ I walked over to the wall of evidence. Lime green twine wrapped around so many of the pins that it was hard to work out the connections. ‘Let’s talk it out.’
Juliet’s chair squeaked as she came to stand beside me. ‘Start at the beginning. What were Melanie’s movements that day?’
‘She went to school,’ I recited information sprawled across the wall. ‘She was unhappy because of the way Jordan had treated her and the messages he was sending. She made plans with Leo, lied to Ida about where she was going, and took a bus to the Dunlow Estate. That’s when her timeline becomes unclear.’
‘If we believe Leo, then at this point he called Melanie,’ Juliet took over. ‘There’s a record of a call on her phone. He says he told Melanie he didn’t want to meet up anymore.’ Juliet stared at the notes I’d taken during our second interview with Leo. ‘Despite this rebuff, Melanie then entered the estate, stayed in the forest for hours or met up with someone else, and was shot near midnight.’
‘Or Leo did meet up with Melanie and they had sex.’ I pointed at the question mark I’d stuck next to his changed statement. ‘But then what happened? He flew into a rage and killed her? Jordan crept onto the estate, grabbed a gun, and chased her through the forest with an unknown dog? Terence, annoyed Melanie knew something about him, returned home secretly and killed her? Or asked someone else to do it?’
Juliet shook her head. ‘Too much speculation. Let’s stick to what we know.’
‘Fine.’ I walked closer to the board to look at the map of the Dunlow Estate. ‘We were able to track Melanie’s flight from the dog and her killer, and she ran this way.’ I traced her route away from the manor. ‘So presumably she met someone at or near the house and was running towards the road.’
‘She then climbed a tree and was shot three times in the back,’ Juliet added. ‘She fell out of the tree, perhaps already dead, and was mauled by the dog.’
‘Let’s think about our suspects.’ I took a breath. ‘Leo lied to us. He’d been meeting up with Melanie for months before she was killed. He says he arranged to meet her but changed his mind. No one can confirm or deny that he was in the den above the garage when Melanie was murdered.’
‘What do you think of him?’ Juliet sat on the edge of her desk.
‘I don’t think it was him.’ I looked at the photo of Leo in his smart school uniform and thick glasses. ‘His shock when we told him someone had been killed seemed genuine, and the messages he sent Melanie afterwards suggest he didn’t know what was going on.’
‘You don’t think he’s a good enough liar?’
I shook my head. ‘We’ve seen him lie. He couldn’t fake shock like that.’
‘Right. So we don’t think it’s likely Leo has told us everything, but we don’t think he killed Melanie.’ Juliet nodded at Terence’s picture. ‘What about the brother?’
‘Another liar. He told everyone he was at a wedding, but he was somewhere different doing who knows what.’
‘I’ve been pestering Benedict Hogan, but even if he confirms Terence was with him, we still have no idea what they were doing together.’
‘He’s got a secret.’ I walked over to the other side of the board. ‘What would he do to keep it from his father?’
‘Terence’s DNA was all over the guns. It wasn’t just Dunlow using them.’
‘But according to the report, none of the guns were used to murder Melanie.’ I pointed at the picture of a younger Karl. ‘Then we’ve got the groundskeeper. He reported the bodies, which would be a monumentally stupid move since he could have kept them hidden for a long time if he’d wanted too.’
‘Unless he knew we wouldn’t find anything incriminating on either body,’ Juliet said.
I grimaced. ‘I don’t see him as a killer. What motive would he have had to murder her?’
Juliet dipped her head to the side, her eyes on the other side of the wall. ‘You said we don’t know how far Terence would go to protect his privacy. Maybe he was away that night but he asked his brother to lure Melanie onto the grounds and had Karl prepped to kill her.’
‘That’s a stretch.’ I perched on the desk next to her. ‘The messages sent to Leo indicate that it was Melanie’s idea to come onto the estate.’
‘How do we know the seed wasn’t planted by Leo during one of their singing sessions?’ Juliet asked. ‘Terence, Leo and Karl all benefit from being close to Dunlow. What if Terence’s secret is so explosive that it would expel them all from Dunlow’s good graces? Sacrificing one life would seem like a fair trade to maintain the comfort of three.’
I pressed my lips together. It could be true. It at least fit with the impression of Terence I’d gotten so far.
Despite the many connections across the wall, so much was missing. Juliet’s theory wove into all the gaps, pulled together motives and opportunities. It didn’t matter that it didn’t feel quite right, that such a neat connection between many of the suspects struck me as wrong. We just needed evidence to support it, and we could catch them all.
‘Let’s not forget Jordan.’ I gestured over at his picture. ‘How is he involved in all of this?’
‘He has a history of violence towards the victim, and we know how often that leads to fatality.’ Juliet’s face was expressionless. ‘He lied to us too, about the beatings. His alibi is as terrible as the rest, but do you really think he could have left that creaky house without his parents noticing? Every movement upstairs was obvious downstairs.’
‘You’re right.’ I walked to my seat and thumped down. ‘There’s also the question of how he would have got hold of a gun. The store was locked and the only missing gun is accounted for.’ I wiggled my mouse, hoping an email had arrived in the last five minutes that would clear all of this up. No such luck.
‘We haven’t mentioned Dunlow.’ Juliet leant on her desk, staring at the wall of evidence.
‘He’s the same as the others. He has no alibi and is totally unconcerned about it.’
Juliet grabbed our mugs. ‘I’m going to make coffee.’
‘Before you go.’ I tipped my head to the side. ‘Do we have enough to ask for a warrant to search the Dunlow Estate? We have to do something.’
Juliet raised an eyebrow. ‘You know what, I reckon we do.’
‘It’s not likely one of them was stupid enough to hide the gun under their bed or leave blood-stained boots in the attic, but we might find something.’
‘And we’ll piss off Dunlow,’ Juliet said as she walked out of the office. ‘Give him something to actually frown about.’