The Life and Death of Lily

By Veronica Scott

High class call girl Lily Campbell is found dead in her apartment in an inner city suburb of Melbourne, and almost next door to the St Kilda Road police station.
Detectives, Vern Hoffman and Georgia McLennon, are put in charge of the investigation of her murder and, after finding Lily's diary, they learn about her life before and after becoming a prostitute.
Politicians, underworld members and corrupt police have all been Lily's clients. These important people are publicly embarrassed by revelations they paid Lily for sex. It becomes a massive investigation for the detectives to interview, check alibis and eliminate each suspect, as well as their wives, from the investigation. Drugs, blackmail, hidden secrets and bondage are all found to be intertwined in Lily's life.
Lily's father is murdered, her mother is left in a coma and Detective Georgia McLennon is kidnapped.
Vern Hoffman's demons about his wife and daughters' hit and run deaths some time before compound the investigation. He belives underworld member, Matthew Isley, was responsible and is determined to have him convicted of something, anything to make sure society is protected from his evil.
Detective McLennon also becomes embroiled in the personal lives of the characters in a way she never expected and which could impact negatively on the outcome of the investigation and the ultimate trial.
A twist in the murder will bring a surprising conclusion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Veronica Scott
• Release date: Aug 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9780646925127

Veronica Scott

Veronica has, over the years, moved from her birthplace in Melbourne, to Adelaide and then to Perth Western Australia. Her WW2 veteran father left when she was three years old and, at the same time, her mother was hospitalised for three years with tuberculosis. Fortunantely her maternal grandparents were able to look after her, however, the early years were a lonely time allowing a vivid imagination to develop.Due to marriage and children, the writing adventure was postponed until in her forties when she studied and began her first fiction novel "Indonesian Betrayal", although this book took many years to complete due to a marriage breakdown, breast cancer and long working hours.Now semi-retired "The Life and Death of Lily" has taken less time to finish and, hopefully, a third novel "Abandoned in Vietnam" will be published in 2018.Veronica continues to live with her third husband and two dogs in Perth. Her children Elena, Paul, son-in-law Jason and little grandson live close by.A former member of the Army Reserve, she is now a member of the Returned Services League, Legacy, Women's Royal Australian Army Corps Association in Western Australia, WRAACs Reunited, Women's Veterans Network and affiliate member of the Rats of Tobruk, together with being a member of the Australian Society of Authors, Fellowship of Australian Writers in Western Australia and Clan Hope of Craighall.Veronica researches, writes, edits and proofreads her novels. Signed paperback copies of her novels can be purchased via her website: www.veronicascottkillner.com

Book preview

Chapter 1

‘Who found the body?’

‘The woman over there, she’s the mother. She’s obviously upset. Couldn’t we leave the interview until another day? Looking at her I don’t think she’s in any condition to be questioned.’

‘No, we’ve got to get it over with. We can’t put it off. There could be something she knows and, if she thinks about it too long, she could get confused or forget important information which could help us. I wish we could leave it too Georgia,’ Vern said, as he looked at the elderly woman sitting in an armchair in the living room, sobbing into a tissue and being comforted by a uniformed policewoman.

Georgia drew in her breath as she looked at her colleague. After five years, she had seen and admired how he performed as a detective in the homicide squad. Vern Hoffman was a tough cop. He had to be to cope with the horrendous murders, which were becoming more frequent. She watched him walk slowly up to the elderly woman and squat down in front of her. He was tall, over six feet, compared to Georgia’s five and half and, even squatting down, he was level with the woman’s face. In the last couple of years his hair had turned grey and was thinning on top, but he was still attractive, too attractive Georgia thought, as she turned to speak to the pathologist, who had finished his preliminary examination of the body on the bedroom floor and was ready to leave.

‘She must have been dead for a couple of days by the smell,’ Georgia said, studying the bedroom and trying to see around the forensics team and the photographer taking his usual photos and video; where and how the body was lying, which could not be moved until everything was completed. She pressed her gloved hand over her nose while looking at the body lying on the once cream carpet, but which was now soaked in the victim’s blood.

‘Can’t say I like it but am used to it. It’s all part of the job,’ the pathologist replied, as he pushed past Georgia and out of the bedroom.

‘Do you have any ideas, Charles?’ She asked.

‘Some, it looks like she was strangled and also sbed repeatedly in the stomach, but I’ll know definitely which came first and, which caused her death, after the autopsy. If the strangulation was first it may have been the cause of her death and she may have lost consciousness before she was sbed, otherwise she would have had a painful and horrendous death. I need to determine the timeline between the two, but I’m not making any guesses. When you catch the murderer or murderers it’ll all be crucial in court.’

‘Thanks, Charles,’ and she turned from the bedroom to watch Vern still questioning the mother in the lounge room. It’s so sad about his ex-wife and children, she thought. Not many people knew that he had separated from Cindy just days before she and the girls were killed in a hit and run. They never stood a chance. The driver or the vehicle has never been found even though there were witnesses. Georgia walked out onto the balcony and looked down at the busy street below. Her thoughts returned to the present and the murder which had happened so close to the police station.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Vern asked, as he walked out to her.

‘Nothing much; she was a beautiful woman, had a wonderful figure and must have been worth a bit. This apartment would have cost a lot, whether she rented or owned it,’ she replied.

‘Let’s have a look around,’ he said, as he pulled on his rubber gloves. ‘As you said it’s better to leave the mother alone for the moment. Should have listened to you, but then I’m not good at taking advice from females.’

Georgia gave him a quick glance, as they wandered around the apartment, observing what was being examined, but touching nothing.

They looked into the kitchen where a consle was standing.

‘Where’re your gloves?’ Vern shouted at him.

‘Sorry, I forgot.’

‘Forgot, that’s the weakest excuse I’ve heard. Get them on and quickly. What’s your name?’

‘Sawyer, Peter Sawyer.’

‘Well, Sawyer, you’d better read the Homicide Scene Manual again and remember it.’

‘Never heard of that; is there one?’

‘No there isn’t but there should be for cops like you,’ Vern answered.

‘Did you touch anything?’ Georgia asked, feeling a little sorry for him, but realising he should have been more careful.

‘Not really, only a few things on the bench.’

‘Oh great, the kitchen’s been contaminated. Go tell the forensics team what you did so they can check your prints later and eliminate you,’ Vern ordered. ‘By the way, were you the first one on the scene?’

‘Yes I was.’

‘Typical,’ Vern replied, as he walked towards the bedroom. ‘The bed doesn’t look like it’s been slept in and everything’s ultra tidy and clean. Wonder if she had a maid. Does this building have a doorman and what did she do for a living?’ Vern commented, as he looked at the mirrors on the ceiling above the bed.

‘They don’t have a doorman and the mother told one of the consles that her daughter did all the cleaning herself. She apparently worked in real estate, but she doesn’t know the name of the company. Said she only contacted her daughter by mobile and they usually met for lunch each week when her daughter was in town.’

‘Didn’t say where she travelled to I suppose and how often.’

‘She didn’t seem to know. She said she was given strict instructions by her daughter never to come here, but when Lily didn’t turn up for lunch two days ago and couldn’t be contacted on her mobile, the mother was worried. She had a feeling that something was wrong, as her daughter had never done that before. She always phoned her mother if she couldn’t keep their lunch date,’ Georgia said, as she dialled to access the messages on the landline. ‘Qantas left a message confirming her business class booking to Sydney tomorrow.’

‘Whatever real estate she was selling it must be pretty good commission for a girl her age. She can’t be more than twenty-five. Let’s get a copy of her phone account, bank records etc,’ Vern said, as he walked into the room which had obviously served as the dead woman’s office. ‘Also get a computer expert to check this,’ Vern said, indicating the laptop. I want a printout of emails, what sites she’s been visiting and anything-else they can find.’

‘Sure,’ Georgia answered, as she indicated to a member of the forensics team to pickup the laptop and then she joined Vern who was carefully going through the papers lying on the desk.

‘She seemed very organized, so why are these papers scattered over the desk. Judging from the bedroom, I would have thought if she was working in here and was interrupted by someone that these papers would’ve been in neat piles, so someone-else must have gone through them. Hope it wasn’t Sawyer,’ he sarcastically said. ‘We need to get all these dusted for prints. Get that organized too,’ Vern ordered as, with his gloves on, he held each sheet of paper by the corner. ‘There’s nothing here about real estate. In fact these are only copies of emails she’s sent to companies and universities about the cost of courses; looks like she was thinking of studying; not here in Melbourne, but in London.’

‘It’s strange that whoever killed her didn’t take the laptop. They had the time to shuffle through the papers on the desk, but not the time to unplug the laptop and take it with them,’ Georgia stated.

‘They may have wiped the hard drive clean and thought that was enough, but the IT guys should be able to restore anything wiped off. It’s amazing how many clever people think they’ve got rid of things just by deleting them.’

The forensics guys called out that they were leaving, together with the photographer, so Vern and Georgia could now enter the bedroom. Vern leant over the body, lifted each hand and examined the fingernails.

‘Nice manicure and she certainly wasn’t doing any manual work, her hands are soft and smooth. If she did her own housework, she either wore gloves or smothered them in cream afterwards.’

‘There’re rubber gloves on the kitchen bench,’ Georgia replied, but suddenly stopped speaking. ‘What’s that whimpering noise?’ She asked, as she walked around the bed. ‘Look at this Vern; isn’t she gorgeous. You’re beautiful,’ she said, as she coaxed a little dog out from under the bed. ‘You’re frightened little one. You’re shaking. What made you terrified? What did you see and hear? Wish you could talk and then you’d be able to tell us who killed your mistress.’

‘Suppose you’re going to adopt that thing?’

‘Don’t be nasty. Aren’t you the least bit attracted to her?’

‘Not really. It’s only a dog.’

Georgia ignored his comment. ‘You must be hungry and thirsty little one. I remember seeing a couple of empty bowls on the kitchen floor. Let’s find some water and food for you,’ Georgia said, as she picked-up the puppy and took her into the kitchen, where she quickly filled a bowl with water and watched as the puppy lapped it up. ‘Now for some food; there must be some in a cupboard. Here it is, now enjoy that little one.’

‘How long is this going to take?’ Vern impatiently asked.

‘Don’t be horrible, it won’t take long at the rate she’s eating. The mother’s still in the living room? I’ll see if she can take it,’ Georgia replied again ignoring Vern, as she went back to the distraught woman and handed the puppy over to the elderly lady.

‘Thank you, thank you very much, Lily loved her. She used to bring her in a little bag to lunch with us. I’ll look after her. It’s all I have left now.’

‘Have you any photos of your daughter? There don’t seem to be any here,’ Georgia asked?’

‘I have some put away at home. Lily didn’t want me to display them. She was self-conscious about her looks, you see.’

‘She was beautiful. She had no need to worry about what she looked like,’ Georgia returned, as she thought of how plain she was herself, with her light brown frizzy hair and freckly skin.

‘I know. She was never like that until she left home. She changed then. She insisted I put all the photos of her away. She did give me a key to this place, in case she lost hers, but I was never to come here. I don’t know what happened to change her from the lovely daughter I had. She was so different.’

‘How long did she live here?’

‘About two years, I think.’

‘Where did she live before that; with you?’

‘Um, not really; she left home about seven years ago, but until she bought this place, I don’t know where she was living, she wouldn’t say.’

‘You said you didn’t know the name of the company she worked for. Did she ever tell you anything at all about her work and do you know where she had her mortgage?’

‘No, she was very secretive about things and, I believe, she paid cash for this place. I always wondered where she would have got so much money from. She kept flying off somewhere and wouldn’t tell me where or anything about her trips,’ the mother answered, as tears rolled down her cheeks again. ‘She became a person I didn’t know.’

‘Let’s leave it at that. We can talk again tomorrow,’ Georgia said as she saw the tears. ‘There’s a police car waiting to take you home. Let me accompany you downstairs. I’ll carry the puppy for you. You’ve left your address with the police officer I believe, Mrs ...?’

‘Campbell, yes, he took it down.’

They stood side by side in silence as the lift took them to the ground floor where they left the building and then Georgia helped Mrs Campbell into the police car.

‘We’ll be in touch with you tomorrow, but if you remember anything please give me a call on this number.’ Georgia handed over her card, placed the little dog on Mrs Campbell’s knee, gave the puppy a pat on the head and closed the car door. She watched the vehicle pull into the traffic, do a u-turn and head away from the city down St Kilda Road. Your daughter seems to have been hiding a lot of things, she thought, as she returned to the apartment, where her boss was still looking through the dead girl’s desk.

‘This girl had secrets and a lot of them,’ he said, as Georgia entered the room.

‘The mother doesn’t know much, except that her daughter changed after she left home and stopped confiding in her. It’s strange that she made her mother hide any photos. You know there’s something familiar about Lily and her mother, as if I’ve met them somewhere before, but I can’t remember where.’

Vern stared at her for a second before speaking. ‘There wasn’t any forced entry, so she had to have known her killer,’ he said, as he looked around the room. ‘I’ll bet this girl wasn’t selling houses. My guess is she was selling her body and for a high price too. Maybe we’ve hauled her into the station at some time and that’s where you’ve seen her.’

‘Vern, you don’t know that. You’re only guessing, she could have been doing something legitimate, but whatever she was doing she’s paid the ultimate price for it and I don’t think I’ve seen her at the station. It’s unlikely her mother would have been with her and there’s something very familiar about both of them.’

‘I still say she was on the game. Who would have mirrors on the ceiling above the bed, except someone indulging in a lot of sex or a call girl? I bet she was a high class whore.’

‘If you think so, Vern,’ she replied as they left the apartment.

Chapter 2

‘Vern, we’ve got the victim’s phone records, but they’re not much help. It doesn’t look like she made any personal calls on the landline,’ Georgia said the next morning.

‘We didn’t find a mobile, did we? The mother mentioned she could only contact her daughter that way.’

‘That’s right. And we’re presuming she only had one mobile. Some people have two; one for business and one for personal. We don’t know how many she had. Whoever killed her must have taken them,’ Georgia replied.

‘They’re probably at the bottom of the river by now, but when we see the mother again make a note to get that mobile number,’ he said. ‘And then we’ll be able to get a copy of the account. If she had a second one it could be with the same carrier. I feel this case is going to be long and laborious.’

‘Wonder if they found what they were looking for in her office,’ Georgia asked. ‘Vern, I was thinking last night that she could have had a hold over someone; she may have known something and it got her killed. If she tried blackmail, the person or persons concerned could have gone to her apartment with the intent of getting rid of her because of what she knew. If their life and lifestyle were threatened, especially if they’re powerful and well-known in the community, it could have precipitated the murder.’

‘Come on, Georgia, you’re surmising. We don’t know anything about the girl yet, how she died, who her friends were, nothing.’

‘How is what I’m saying any different to you saying she could’ve been on the game and you don’t have any evidence of that, so why am I surmising and you’re not?’

‘She had big money coming from somewhere, so I bet I’m correct, but perhaps we both should stop guessing until we find out more,’ Vern replied glaring at her.

They stopped their discussion, as a young consle came up to them.

‘We found these bank statements filed neatly away.’

‘Good, let’s have a look. We’ll be interviewing the mother again and we’ll get her daughter’s mobile number, so we’ll need you to get a copy of the account.’ Vern said.

‘Let’s have it as soon as you can.’

‘Also, see if you can get hold of a white board. We need to get that started as soon as possible,’ Georgia added.

‘There’s a spare one downstairs. I’ll bring it up,’ the consle replied.

‘Look at this Vern. There’s regular deposits; large ones.’

‘And there are transfers of the same amount, the same day to another account. Get that consle onto tracing where the money came from and where it went to. If the deposits were made personally, have the bank’s CCTV checked. It could show who deposited the money. Let’s hope it’s someone other than the victim. At least then we’ll have a lead. There are a lot of purchases and airline tickets booked using this credit card. I’d like to go over her apartment again. I have the feeling there’s something we’ve missed. She could have kept a diary or there could be something-else which will help us. In fact she should have had a diary for her appointments, but I don’t remember one being found.’

‘Our murderer probably would have taken it or she kept it on the laptop,’ Georgia replied.

‘You could be right. Come on let’s have another look. I want to see the mother on the way. We have to get that mobile number and a photo or two of Lily. There’s not much happening here and we still have a murderer to catch. You can leave those bank statements with the guys downstairs on our way out. They can get on with checking the bank’s CCTV while we’re gone.’

Chapter 3

Vern pulled into the driveway of Lily’s mother’s house in Brighton. The weatherboard house was old and rundown with paint peeling off the walls and from around the windows. The gutters were rusted and beginning to fall off. The grass needed cutting and the bushes and other plants had died or had become overrun with weeds a long time ago. They carefully walked along the broken concrete path trying to avoid the plants leaning over it.

‘Not exactly a million dollar house is it, although it’s a million dollar suburb? You live near here don’t you Georgia?’

‘Yes in the street over that way, but mine is definitely not a million dollar house either, although it’s in better repair than this one and I have a man attending to the garden. I didn’t know you knew where I lived!’

‘I know lots of things. Just like to know where my partner lives. Never know when your car may not start and I can quickly pick you up,’ he added, as he noticed Georgia’s confused look.

‘I suppose,’ she answered, feeling a little disappointed that it was the only reason he knew.

‘Either Mrs Campbell doesn’t care, or she has no money for maintenance. She should be a rich lady now though with her daughter’s death, unless there are other beneficiaries of course. We need to find out if there was a will.’

‘I’m sure she would rather have her daughter alive than the money Vern. Anyway, if she sold this place she would be rich. The land alone is worth a bit, but perhaps she just doesn’t care about money.’

‘There’re no cars here or any sign of visitors. Strange for someone who’s just lost a daughter; there are usually some people around to comfort the grief stricken, even if it’s only the neighbours.’

‘I wonder if the mother was telling us everything. She gave us the impression Lily was a dutiful and caring daughter, but was she? Or had she abandoned her family.’

‘The business Lily was in wouldn’t have encouraged family relationships and those girls are usually pretty hard when it comes to emotions. They have to be to survive in the business and Lily was certainly not just surviving she was prospering,’ Vern added.

‘If you can call being murdered prospering then I suppose so.’

‘The mother said Lily had lunch with her regularly and had given her a key, so she definitely had some sort of contact with her daughter,’ he added.

‘We didn’t see her with a key. You would have thought she’d drop it when she went into the apartment and saw her daughter lying there,’ Georgia said.

‘Or she could have been lying about having a key and found the apartment door unlocked. She could have entered the building when someone-else went in or out of the main doors. The doors take a few seconds to close and, once inside, there wasn’t anything to stop her from using the lift.

‘Wouldn’t it have looked suspicious if she entered the building like that?’

‘Not necessarily. It’s a big building. Whoever left or entered wouldn’t know every resident, especially as some would be renting their apartments. We’ll ask the mother for the key and see what she says. Someone’s there, I just saw the curtain at that front window move and I can hear that dog barking,’ Vern said.

‘We’d better not waste time then,’ Georgia replied, as she moved closer to the veranda and onto the crumbling wooden steps, noticing even more the deterioration of the house. As she lifted her hand to knock, the door was opened by Mrs Campbell holding Lily’s little dog.

‘Hello there, nice of you to call in,’ the elderly woman greeted them.

Georgia could see the woman had been crying. Her eyes were red and the skin around them puffy, but the cheery greeting they were given was confusing for the supposedly grieving woman.

‘Hello Mrs Campbell. May we come in?’ Georgia asked.

The woman hesitated, but then stood back to let them in as Vern caught up to Georgia.

‘You must excuse the state of the house. Haven’t done anything today, just been watching television, but not the news mind you. Can’t watch anything about Lily,’ she said, as she dabbed her eyes with a dirty, crumpled handkerchief and led the way into the lounge room.

Georgia quickly took in the mess on the couch and the floor. That’s not just happened in the last twenty-four hours, she thought. This woman hasn’t cleaned for weeks, as she moved a month old newspaper from an armchair.

‘Here, give me that,’ Mrs Campbell said, and threw the paper onto the pile on the coffee le.

‘How’re you coping?’ Vern asked. ‘Have any friends or relatives been to visit you? If they don’t know what’s happened we can contact them for you.’

‘That won’t be necessary. I don’t have anyone. My late husband saw to that. Everyone stopped calling because he was abusive to them. Don’t know where any of them are living now or if any of them are still alive. You see Lily was all I had and she would never visit me here. She was used to luxury and this place, she said, made her sick. It was my parents’ house and when they died Lily’s dad and I moved in here. He didn’t work much and I didn’t have any family to help.’

Georgia leant down to pat the little dog, which looked up at her with big, brown, sad eyes.

‘Mrs Campbell, we’ve come for some recent photos of Lily, her mobile number and to see if you’ve remembered anything which could help us find Lily’s killer,’ Vern interjected.

‘Of course, of course; I’ve written down the number and I found this photo of Lily. It’s very precious to me. Could I have it back when you’re finished with it?’

‘Certainly, Mrs Campbell, we’ll take a copy and have a consle return it to you later today. I promise we’ll keep it safe,’ Georgia said, as she looked at a very beautiful woman smiling for the camera. ‘Have you remembered anything-else which could help us?’

‘No, I’m sorry I don’t know or remember anything more.’

‘Did Lily give you anything for safekeeping; a package or a diary?’ Vern asked.

‘No, she didn’t, but then my memory isn’t very good these days. She may have and I’ve forgotten. When she left she took most of her things with her and I threw the rest out. As I said she never came to visit.’

‘How long ago did Lily move out?’ Vern asked.

‘I already told you that yesterday; about seven years ago. You see she had trouble with her father. He didn’t like her and would hit her. I understood that she had to leave for her own safety, but she didn’t say goodbye to us. She just left early one morning.’

‘And you didn’t go with her?’

‘No I didn’t know she was going that day. If I had gone too he would have found us. It was better she left on her own. He didn’t care that she’d gone. He would never have let me go. He wanted someone to look after him.’

‘Well, if you do find or remember anything give us a call,’ Vern said, as he walked towards the front door. ‘By the way, Mrs Campbell, do you still have the key to Lily’s apartment?’

‘No I left it there. I was too upset to remember to collect it.’

‘There was no key left there, Mrs Campbell, so we thought you might still have it.’

‘Sorry, I don’t, but I don’t really remember where I put it. I must have dropped it when I saw Lily lying there. What do you want my key for?’

‘Would just be easier for us to be able to enter the apartment again,’ he replied, as he noticed Mrs Campbell’s hands shaking.

As they were leaving, Georgia turned back to pat the little dog again.

‘What’s her name, Mrs Campbell?’

‘It’s Angel, see it’s on the disc.’ She showed Georgia the gold disc attached to the pink, diamante studded collar.

‘Look after her. She’s a beautiful dog.’

‘I will,’ Mrs Campbell replied, as she began to close the door behind them.

‘Just before we go, did Lily have a will?’ Vern asked.

‘I don’t know. She never mentioned one to me,’ and this time she quickly made sure she got the door closed.

‘You were a bit abrupt with her,’ Georgia said, as Vern reversed the vehicle out of the drive and onto the quiet street.

‘Did you see the condition of the place? Rubbish and mess everywhere and it would have been there for ages. There was an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts. We haven’t seen Mrs Campbell smoke and she didn’t smell as if she smokes, so there must be someone-else coming to the house or living there who does smoke. I reckon she lives with that mess all the time. She was anxious to get rid of us. There’s definitely something going on that she doesn’t want us to know about.’

‘I thought that too but, however she lives, she has still lost a daughter. How about Cindy’s parents? How do you think they felt when she and the girls died? I know they didn’t live in a mess like that, but Lily’s mother has feelings and would be having trouble coping. She was very clean herself, so it’s a concern as to why the house is like that and I also wondered who the cigarette butts belonged to.’

Vern glared at her before speaking. ‘Why did you mention Cindy like that?’

‘Sorry, probably wasn’t the most appropriate thing to say. I was only giving an example, so you might understand Mrs Campbell better.’

‘Anyway, she’s not telling us everything. She’s hiding something. She seems to be coping all right to me. She was very composed while we were there. I have the feeling she didn’t get on that well with her daughter and what about the key. Did you notice how her hands shook when I mentioned it? I don’t, for one minute, believe she had one. It definitely wasn’t left in the apartment after she was driven home.’

‘I know. We’ll have another look around for it. Perhaps it was missed earlier. It could have fallen behind something,’ Georgia replied.

‘And let’s check on the father. He could be the smoker who’s living there.’

‘Mrs Campbell said he had died. I’ll have someone look to see if he had a charge sheet.’

They drove on in silence until they reached Lily’s apartment building.

Chapter 4

‘Don’t suppose anyone would have seen anything the other night,’ Vern said staring from the balcony of the apartment at the Shrine of Remembrance on the top of the hill on the other side of the road.

‘This is a busy road. Who would have noticed someone leaving a building? Drivers wouldn’t be bothered who was about. They’ve their own lives and problems,’ Georgia replied.

‘The murderer would have been covered in blood; the frenzy he or she was in when they sbed Lily would have left their clothes in a mess. There could have been someone walking past who noticed.’

‘The other residents of the building are being interviewed and so far no-one saw or heard anything. We haven’t come across any night owls and it was a very dark cloudy night, so they would have had to be close to our murderer to notice anything. Most people around here would have heard about the murder, so if they saw anything they probably would have contacted us by now,’ she answered.

‘Have we done a doorknock?’

‘That’s getting underway today. They’re mostly businesses. There’s not much hope of anything turning up. Let’s get this search underway. There doesn’t seem to be much anywhere except her expensive clothing and makeup,’ Georgia said.

‘Seen anyone around?’ Vern asked the consle keeping vigil in the apartment.

‘No sir this floor has been quiet. Don’t think any of the residents want to be around where there’s been a murder,’ he replied.

‘Don’t blame them,’ Vern responded.

Georgia moved into the bedroom and stood looking around. This room’s too tidy. Did she ever live here, she thought, as she opened the wardrobe and ran her fingers over the silk, satin and fine woollen