To Make a Killing by K.A. Kendall

room.
     
    “The Colonel has forgotten to finish his drink.” smiled Hayes looking knowingly at Keane’s glass on the table.
     
    Keane took up his glass, savoured the last mouthful, and looked over to Hayes. “Well, we do have an obligation to protect and defend the general public in anyway we can, and that includes the Colonel’s liver!”
     
    “I hope this will do”, said the Colonel as he re-entered the room, and handed the crow bar to Keane who promptly handed it to Hayes.
     
    “Thank you, Colonel . . . for everything. We’ll return the crow bar, once we’ve finished upstairs.”
     
    Jenkins and the forensic team were waiting to meet them outside the Colonel’s flat. “I can’t get in touch with him, sir” said Jenkins
     
    “Well then, we have no choice but to give some credence to the notion of police brutality. Up we go.” Everyone followed Keane and Hayes up the stairs.
     
    “What did the students have to say?” Keane asked Hayes.
     
    “Apparently, they’re never home, though they did have a party last weekend. They say they didn’t notice the French tenant, and could hardly remember what she looked like.”
     
    Keane paused outside the Eastmans’ flat, and spoke to Hayes and Jenkins. “The Colonel says he saw two men who could have been visiting her, separately. Each man left the building with large boxes. The first one was apparently Russell and the second appeared for the first time on Wednesday evening. Jenkins, can you interview the Eastmans while we are ‘breaking and entering’ upstairs? Oh, and get an extra car out here. We’re going to have to ferry the Eastmans back to the station with the Colonel.”
     
    “Yes, sir.”
     
    Once outside the second floor flat, Keane gave the nod to Hayes, who forced the door open in seconds. Again the forensic team moved in and Keane waited outside with Hayes. A short while later they were waved in.
     
    “There are no apparent signs of violence, but the place has been cleaned up thoroughly” said Jones.
     
    In fact there were no visible signs that anyone had been living there just days ago. It was spick and spam and ready for the next tenant to move in. Keane and Hayes scoured the flat, but could find not a shred of evidence. Keane walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver. There was a signal, and although he wasn’t optimistic Keane asked Hayes to remember to check the phone records with BT.
     
    “Superintendent Keane?” called Jones. Keane walked over to see Jones pointing to a patch of the carpet under where the sofa had been. Jones crouched down to the floor and Keane followed suit. “Can you see there has been a stain here at some time?” Keane could just make out a slight discolouration. “I can’t say yet whether that stain is from blood or not, but my guess is it’s more likely to be from red wine. Can you see there are one or two tiny shards of coloured glass at the base of the shag?”
     
    Keane gently pressed the shag to one side and saw what Jones had described. “Excellent.” praised Keane. He looked around the flat again. Every surface that could be bare was bare. “I think we’ll get out of your hair now” concluded Keane. He left the flat together with Hayes, walked down the stairs and saw Jenkins exiting the Eastmans’ flat.
     
    “Any luck, sir?” asked Jenkins, though she could already see the answer from their expression.
     
    “No, nothing worth mentioning.” answered Keane.
     
    “Licked clean” added Hayes for dramatic effect.
     
    “The Eastmans also remember having seen Russell in the building, though they don’t remember seeing him carrying anything, and they haven’t seen any second man. And of course they have had no contact whatsoever with Marie Passant, but that is mainly due to the fact that they were on holiday from the 4th to 16th of this month.”
     
    “Alright. Have the cavalry arrived?”
     
    “Yes, sir.”
     
    “Right, let’s get this organized. Hayes you