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She approached and opened the first.
‘Hmm…’ she said to herself, surprised to see his clothing washed, ironed, sorted and hung. There were no expensive designer labels, but all the items appeared to be in better condition than the ones he’d been wearing. A curious observation that probably meant nothing.
‘No family that the neighbour knows about,’ Bryant said, startling her.
She waited for more.
‘He lived here when she moved in five years ago. Not really seen any visitors. Says he’s been on benefits for years. Not a lot else, but she didn’t talk to him if she could avoid it.’
‘Why’s that?’ Kim asked, moving to the master bedroom.
‘He gave her the creeps.’
‘Is that it?’
Bryant nodded.
At the minute, Paul Brooks appeared to have been one of life’s invisibles. He made no impact at work as he had no job, and had no great effect on his neighbours either. He collected his money, kept his home clean and was just treading water through life. Or he had been until someone else had had other ideas.
Like the other room, his bedroom was tidy with an old-fashioned eiderdown on top of the double bed.
A television occupied the opposite wall with more wardrobes either side of it and three drawers beneath.
The man sure liked his clothes, Kim thought as she pulled open the wardrobe door.
‘Oh,’ she said as she found herself looking at shelves that weren’t filled with clothes.
‘Same this side,’ Bryant said, opening the other door.
Both wardrobes were filled top to bottom with videos and DVDs.
Kim’s gaze fell on some of the titles as Bryant opened the drawers beneath the TV. It had to be one of the biggest collections of pornographic material she’d ever seen.
‘Oh well, each to their—’ She stopped speaking as her gaze continued across the titles. Phrases like ‘She had it coming’ and ‘Let her have it’ were some of the tamer ones, but others were full-on revolting.
‘Kick her in the tits,’ Bryant said disgustedly.
‘Looks like this guy liked his porn with a good measure of violence thrown in,’ Kim observed.
‘Against women,’ Bryant added as her phone began to ring.
It was the station main number.
‘Stone,’ she answered.
‘I’ve got a couple of guys here,’ Jack, the duty sergeant, said.
‘Get a couple more and you got yourself a boy band.’
‘They both want to talk to you, and it’s getting a bit busy in here.’
‘Sudden crime wave, Jack?’
‘Nah, sexual assault just come in. So if you could see your way to emptying my reception area, I’d appreciate it.’
‘You sure they both want me?’ she asked.
‘Oh yeah, the one guy is saying he murdered someone, and the other guy says he knows both of the men who died. Definitely sounds like they want you.’
