Adrian stepped closer. ‘Gordon Lawrence is currently the subject of an investigation being conducted into a drugs ring based in London. I’m wading through a whole pile of paperwork picking up the links, but when I heard about the fire…’ He shrugged and narrowed his eyes as he gazed beyond Roger at the burnt out shell of Kimble Hall.
Roger blew out a quiet breath, raised his hand to scratch the side of his nose and then shook his head. ‘Well, I can’t necessarily help with the drugs connection and if you’re after physical evidence from within the house then you’re buggered.’ He squinted at the building. ‘We have site mapping, but there’s nothing left in there but ash. The fire crew,’ he gave Charlie a nod of acknowledgement, ‘have secured the building to the best of their ability and SOCO are all over it. Initial findings haven’t changed from last night. Five bodies. Six members of the family missing. Voice flat and morose, Roger pointed at the house with his pen. ‘That’s not to say there isn’t another body in there. Again, with the site mapping it seems the first floor has partially collapsed into the ground floor. And, unfortunately, that’s created a forensic nightmare.’
Jenna clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. ‘What about the bodies? How quick do you think we can get an ID on them?’
Roger’s cheeks puffed out as he blew out a hefty sigh. ‘There isn't a whole hell of a lot left of them. They’ll probably have to rely on ID from the teeth. Unfortunately, a lot of the forensic evidence has been burnt beyond recognition or flooded by the amount of water that’s had to be used to put the fire out. What we can see on initial inspection is hot spots. The fire was deliberate. Arson. We know an accelerant was used. The heat was so intense. The lads went in yesterday to recover the bodies.’ He puffed out his cheeks. ‘But they were so hot, when they tried to pick one of them up,’ he made a scooping motion with his arms and then opened them wide, ‘It melted the bag and fell through.’
Jenna chose to ignore Ryan’s quickly smothered gag as her own stomach pitched. She’d already heard. It didn’t make it any easier. Even the highly experienced Charlie tightened his mouth. A dead body, no matter what state it was in, never hardened you to death.
Roger ran his fingers through his short hair. ‘SOCO made the decision that they’d be better left in situ.’
Surprise flickered through her. ‘They’re still in there?’
‘They are. It’s not unusual. Arson made it a crime scene, the bodies made it a murder scene. The firearms make it even more sinister.’
Interested, Jenna tipped her head to one side. ‘They’ve found more?’
Roger nodded and circled his pen to point at the left side of the house. ‘Three more firearms found throughout the premises. Each of them in relative proximity to the bodies.’ His face tightened with grimness.
Jenna grimaced.
Mason nodded. ‘Aggravated burglary gone wrong?’
Jenna shrugged. ‘A lot of firearms dumped. Seems a little odd to me.’
‘How about a connection to the drugs ring?’ Adrian tucked his hands into his pockets. ‘Maybe they sent someone to deal with him.’
‘Still, why leave the firearms by the bodies?’
‘Symbolic?’ Ryan nudged his way into the ring of people. ‘I killed this person with this gun, this one with another. It meant something.’
Jenna frowned. A good theory, but… ‘That’s personal.’ And the ugliness of what circled in her mind clenched at her stomach.
‘SOCO say the firearms were used. There are several bullets and cartridges, which again have been left in place. Our lead forensics, Jim Downey…’ Roger’s gaze flickered to Ryan as the connection was made. The family resemblance easy enough to spot once you knew. ‘…Believes there’s a bullet embedded in one of the victim’s skulls. He’ll verify this once the body has been taken to the morgue.’
Roger tapped the pen to his lips while he thought. ‘Going back to the site mapping, it appears the family could well have been in bed. And while the intensity of the fire has burnt everything beyond recognition, the fact that they were actually lying down on combustible material would have made it hotter, would have made them burn faster in those areas.’
Not wanting to flinch at the image Roger managed to conjure up in her mind, Jenna trailed her gaze across to Ryan whose pale face had turned florid. She wondered if he’d faint, or worse still throw up. He’d done it before, it all depended on what drink he’d had before they came out of the station.
Oblivious to her response, Roger continued to use his pen as a small wand, waving it periodically to indicate different parts of the fire. ‘One of the bodies still has form.’ He tapped the pen against the clipboard he held. ‘That would be the photographs sent over last night.’
‘Grim.’
Roger tilted his head to look at Mason. ‘The entire situation is grim, I’m afraid.’
And sad, Jenna wanted to say, desperately sad, but she kept her words to herself.
‘It appears that this particular person wasn’t in bed at the time of the fire but on the landing outside one of the bedrooms.’ He tracked his pen along the right side of the building. ‘It could be they were on the first-floor landing, and this is just a hypothesis at the moment, but I’d say they were overwhelmed by smoke and fell on to what appears to be fibres of a woollen carpet.’
Confused, Jenna squinted at Roger, but it was Ryan who got in there with his question. ‘What difference would that make?’
Roger jiggled his shoulders and indicated for Charlie to answer.
‘Wool is a natural fire retardant because of its higher nitrogen and water content. It takes a lot longer to burn because it needs more oxygen in the air. Once it does burn, it doesn’t drip, melt or stick to the skin.’
‘But you’re saying it did burn.’
‘Yep.’ Charlie nodded. ‘But not to the extent of the victims which appeared to be lying on combustible material, i.e. their beds, which would have heated up around them. It would be like a melting pot.’
‘But wool doesn’t have the same effect?’
‘No, it’s the most flame-retardant material you can get, naturally.’ Roger waved his little wand again. ‘So, the body lying in this part of the building, on the woollen rug, or carpet, or runner, although not identifiable, has not been incinerated to the extent of the other bodies. It will make it easier to identify.’
Sickened by the vivid images flashing through her mind, Jenna turned away to gather herself as the rest of them fell silent.
She raked a gaze over the site. An eerie stillness settled over the area with only the sounds of muffled voices from the crew inside the building playing vaguely in the background as they made their way through.
Roger chewed his lip while he studied his notes.
She had her theory with no supporting evidence, but she had the experts to hand. ‘So, who do we think set the fire? Is this someone from within the family? Gordon Lawrence perhaps? I thought he may have slaughtered his entire family and then killed himself, but we’re a body short. So, did he kill them all and walk away?’
Evilness pervaded to give her a dark shiver.