Torchwood Long Time Dead by Unknown

of three? And killed herself while making the children's breakfast? That's the disturbing part. Why not wait until the house was her own? Why did she do it then?'
    'God knows. The youngest child came
    downstairs first and screamed. That's when the husband got out of the shower and found her. He's in shock. She'd been talking about what to cook for dinner only fifteen minutes earlier. And then,
    wham , she's killed herself.'
    'And they both remembered something.
    That's the key. They remembered something very suddenly. Did either of them have the radio on? TV? Anything that might have triggered a memory?'
    Andy Davidson scanned the various sheets

    of notes he and several constables had taken.
    'No. Definitely not in Rebecca Devlin's case, and probably not in Andrew Murray's. He can only have been in his flat for a few minutes before killing himself. His shift only finished half an hour earlier.'
    'And Murray doesn't have children, so it can't be connected to all that recent madness.' He looked over at his sergeant. 'The kids are all normal, I presume?'
    'Yep, all three bright and healthy.'
    'So it's not that.' Cutler's brain itched. There had to be a connection. 'I want you to check their schools - see if they went to the same ones - it's a long shot but who knows, maybe there's a link there. Also, I want to know if either of them have been caught in any kind of natural disaster, here or abroad - something that could cause post-traumatic stress. Oh, and check the family histories too. Maybe their parents knew each other. Maybe the thing they're remembering is something from their infancy. They're only a year apart. It's possible.'
    'Yes, sir.' Andy Davidson was dutifully scribbling it all down, and Cutler was once again grateful to have been given such a competent sergeant to work with. They might be clutching at straws, but Davidson knew that didn't need pointing out. And sometimes it was the straws that saved you.
    'The message. What do you make of it?' Cutler asked.
    'How do you mean?'

    'It's strange for final words. No apology. No love for those left behind. It's almost a message.'
    'Or some kind of warning. Or threat.'
    Threat?' Cutler asked.
    'Yeah, but I can't put my finger on why. They're like some kind of accusing finger. Whatever it is they remembered, it wasn't good.' A shadow passed across the sergeant's face and Cutler was surprised by it. What dark memories did he have?
    'Well, there's a link somewhere between them that we're not seeing. There's no way this could be a random coincidence. I don't care how many monkeys are typing in a room somewhere.'
    'Sir?'
    'Don't worry. Just a saying.' He stared at the smiling face of Rebecca Devlin. She had been a pretty woman with an open smile. Something triggered her that morning, just as it had for Andrew Murray. He sighed and his mind ran over their morning. Murray finishing work and heading home. Rebecca Devlin getting up and getting her family ready for the day.
    'Who died first?' he asked.
    'Rebecca Devlin. Andrew Murray was
    approximately an hour and a half after.'
    'And how did he get home from work?'
    'He walked.'
    Something was bugging him. Even if they
    couldn't figure out what the two had remembered, the trigger had to be somewhere. 'What had Rebecca Devlin done since getting up?'

    'Not a lot according to the husband. They talked in bed for a few minutes when the alarm went off
    - usual stuff, when he was getting home, what the kids had on. What to have for dinner. He got in the shower and she went downstairs to start getting breakfast ready.'
    'And downstairs? What did she do?'
    Well, there was cereal on the table, and bowls.
    And she'd put eggs on to boil. They were boiling over when her husband got to the kitchen.'
    'That's it?' There had to be something more.
    'Oh - and she put the rubbish out. The husband was upset by that because it was his job to do it and he knew she'd be mad at him because she hated doing it.'
    Cutler stared at his sergeant. 'So, she