Kill You Again

Chapter Three

Lockwood led her down the stairs, through a long carpeted corridor and turned left into the kitchen. Ayesha was used to big houses, as she grew up in one and almost all her childhood friends had large homes too, but Lockwood admired everything with wide eyes.

They entered the kitchen, and Lockwood gave a low whistle, "This kitchen is bigger than my whole flat."

"Welcome to wonderland, Alice." Ayesha whispered as she walked towards the long table in the middle of the kitchen, where James Perera's nephew was seated, sobbing into his folded arms. A cup of tea sat untouched on top of the table, and a woman in a floral dress was stroking the nephew's dark hair tenderly.

Ayesha cleared her throat and they both looked up at her,

"Detective Ayesha Raman, and this is my partner Detective Joe Lockwood. I need to have a word with you, Mr Perera."

The nephew looked up, his face tear streaked and red, "Please, call me Logan. Anything you need, I'll do my best to help you out. Just please find whoever did this to my uncle." His voice was deep and hoarse from the crying. He spoke deliberately, putting an emphasis on every word. It was the kind of old world style of speaking that you didn't hear anymore.

Ayesha nodded and sat down opposite him. Lockwood took the seat next to her and gestured for the woman in the floral dress to sit down. He smiled at the woman, his blue eyes sparkling, and Ayesha caught a glimpse of the attractive man that she always forgot he was. It was easy to forget that Lockwood was extremely handsome- he was always downplaying his looks and kidding around.

"We'll need to speak to you too, Mrs?"

The woman blushed and stumbled a little as she took her seat next to Logan.

"Miss," she corrected him in a soft voice, "Miss Lacy Hansen." Miss Hansen was very short and very thin, and she had the demeanour of a woman who still followed the old school manners. Her skin was pale and wrinkled, and Ayesha placed her in her late forties or early fifties.

"What relation did you have with Dr Perera, Miss Hansen?"

She looked taken aback at Ayesha's direct question, but replied in that same soft tone, "I work here- I clean this house on the weekdays."

Lockwood leaned forward, "Does anyone else work here, Miss Hansen?"
"Oh, please call me Lacy, Detective. Yes, there are two others- Mary, the cook and George- he works in the garden, mostly."

Ayesha was amused by the fact that Miss Hansen hadn't extended the courtesy of first name basis to her. She wasn't surprised though. Lockwood charmed almost every woman he met. She sat back and let him speak to Miss Hansen, pretending to take in the kitchen.

"Lacy, could you please go and get the others for me? If they aren't here, call them and tell them that we need to speak to them- you can use my phone. Wait for us in the lounge, please."

Miss Hansen stood up at once, "They're both here, Detective. I'll get them now."

When Miss Hansen had walked out of the kitchen, Ayesha turned to Logan Perera. His tears were dried up and he was picking at the skin on his fingers.

'Logan, tell us what happened when you got here this morning. Don't leave anything out, even if you think it's stupid."

He nodded and cleared his throat. "I got a lift here this morning with my friend- he was on his way to university. I was going to go out with friends this afternoon, so my uncle was going to lend me one of his cars. When I got off, the gates were locked, and nobody was here. Lacy and the others only get here by nine o' clock-"