A Room Full of Killers by Michael Wood (spanish books to read .TXT) 📕

‘Thanks. I don’t mind if I do,’ Sian opened her drawer and took out a fun-size Twix. She quickly replaced it for a full-size Twix.

‘In Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express,’ Kesinka began, ‘a man is murdered on a train. He’s stabbed twelve times, and the killer is twelve different people who all take it in turns to stab him. They all want their revenge on him. They all stab him but nobody knows who actually strikes the fateful wound.’

Not another crime fiction fan.

‘So what are you saying then, Kes?’ Aaron asked. ‘Twelve people from Starling House took Ryan Asher to the recreation room and took their vengeance out on him?’

‘No. I’m saying maybe someone doesn’t agree with his sentence and believes he should have been sentenced to death.’

Thomas Hartley was reading Agatha Christie.

‘But we don’t have the death sentence in this country. We haven’t done for years. And, no offence to Ryan’s victims, but there have been far more disturbing killers to kill if someone wants to make a case for the death penalty to be restored,’ Christian Brady said.

Was Thomas Hartley being manipulative? He brought up Agatha Christie. Was he saying he knew more of Ryan Asher’s death than he was letting on?

‘I’m not suggesting it’s someone wanting to bring back the death penalty,’ Kesinka said. ‘Maybe the killer thinks Ryan Asher should pay for his crimes with his own life. The killer is acting as the jury. Twelve stab wounds. One each.’

Matilda forced herself back to reality. ‘So, is this a one-off crime by someone closely affected by Ryan’s crime or is this the beginning of a lengthy campaign targeting killers?’

The room fell silent. While serial killer cases were considered great stories from a press point of view, and the public loved reading about them, the police did not enjoy investigating them. The fear, the horror, the disturbing scenes they had to endure at the hands of a sadistic killer was not one they relished.

‘Personally, I think it’s a one-off,’ Rory said with confidence. ‘If it was a serial, why start with Ryan when he’s only just arrived at Starling House? Why not kill one of the others weeks ago and start there?’

‘I agree with Rory, and I never thought I’d hear myself say that,’ said Sian.

‘Christian, you spent the afternoon with the security guy, didn’t you?’

‘Gavin Ryecroft? Yes, I did. He’s a nice bloke. Knows his stuff. He took me through the entire system and spoke very passionately about it. There are locks and alarms on all external doors, which all have backups should they fail, not that they ever do. The codes to the keypads are changed on a two-weekly basis on different days, and all staff and inmates are searched on a regular basis at random intervals. All new staff are vetted many times before they even reach the interview stage.’

‘So what happened with the CCTV on Monday night?’

‘Gavin Ryecroft was on annual leave. There is a deputy but he’s off on long-term sick. The other staff know the basics about the cameras and all have the codes for alarms but, as nothing major has happened since Starling House opened in ’97, nobody was expecting anything to go wrong.’

‘What does Gavin think went wrong on Monday night?’

‘He has no idea. He’s checked and double-checked the CCTV camera in question and can’t find a fault. He didn’t want to admit it but he seems to think it may have been deliberately tampered with.’

‘And as the boys were all safely locked up in their rooms logic would suggest a member of staff tampered with the camera,’ Matilda said.

‘Gavin didn’t want to admit as much but, reading between the lines, he seems to think so. Also, while Gavin was showing me around, there were a couple of staff members talking in one of the rooms. When we entered, they stopped and quickly left. It could be something and nothing but I just get the feeling they’re not telling us everything.’

‘I’ve had that feeling too, Christian. Have all the staff been interviewed?’

‘Yes,’ said Sian. She dug around on her desk for her file. ‘The ones on duty have been at Starling House for at least three years, the longest for five. They all have a clean record, haven’t taken advantage of sick days, never been late, or had a mark against them.’

‘Nobody is squeaky clean. There has to be something.’

‘Say this is personal,’ Rory began. ‘Say a member of staff is the killer and had a personal reason for killing Ryan. There wouldn’t necessarily be a black mark against their employment record. We need to look at where Ryan came from to find the killer.’

‘Well, you’ve been reading into the pasts of the killers, Rory, haven’t you dug something up?’ Aaron sniggered.

‘But none of the staff at Starling House come from Norwich. None of them have a personal connection to Ryan Asher. We would have noticed it yesterday,’ Sian said.

‘What if the killer paid a member of staff at Starling House to let them in to kill Ryan,’ Kesinka said, almost thinking out loud.

‘Blackmail?’

‘It’s possible.’

‘It’s too risky,’ Matilda injected. ‘The killer has staged this to tell us Ryan Asher should have been put to death for his crimes. The less people involved the better. The killer wouldn’t have wanted to involve anyone else.’

‘So then it has to be a member of staff,’ Christian added.

‘Does anyone get the feeling we’re going around in circles here?’ Rory said. ‘Sian, throw us a KitKat, will you?’

‘Aaron, yesterday Scott called me and said when he first knocked on Julia Palmer’s door and told her he and Faith were from South Yorkshire Police she thought it was something to do with her ex-husband, Brian Palmer. Apparently, he’s now living in Barnsley. Track him down and get an alibi from him for Monday night.’

‘Will do.’

‘Sian, you and Rory go back to Starling House and quiz the staff more. Start off with a friendly chat, then try and