‘Daryl,’ Rachel snapped. ‘You can’t honestly believe that my mother was capable of—’
‘It’s what your brother said they were told,’ he said, edging back towards the door. ‘I assume these officers know what they’re doing. They know—’
‘And I know my mother,’ she screamed and then waved her hand towards the door. ‘Just go look after the precious business.’
‘I promise I’ll be back as soon—’
‘Just go,’ she snapped, turning away from him.
He turned his attention their way. ‘Is there anything else I can help you with?’ he asked, as though finishing a customer service phone call.
‘No, we’ll talk more once the pathologist releases the bodies.’
She saw Rachel positively blanch at that word.
‘And then you can arrange the burial,’ Bryant added.
Daryl frowned. ‘Are post-mortems necessary?’ he asked. ‘Surely it’s obvious how they all died.’
‘Standard procedure in these circumstances. It won’t delay the process for too long.’
He nodded, then turned towards his wife. ‘Just an hour or two, love – just to settle the troops.’
‘Just go,’ she said, turning away from him and folding her arms.
Kim waited until the front door closed behind him before continuing.
‘Arrangements have been made to identify the victims; unfortunately, your brother wasn’t able to bring himself to consider—’
‘Of course he wasn’t,’ Rachel sneered. ‘Zach can barely wipe his own arse. Gavin offered to do it, didn’t he?’ she asked as her eyes softened just a little.
Kim nodded.
Rachel stared at the door, as though realising her own husband had made no such offer before rushing off to work.
‘I swear, Zach wouldn’t be able to remember his own name if Gavin didn’t remind him every day. He doesn’t bloody deserve him.’
Kim wondered at the animosity between the twins, but family dynamics was not her forte or her responsibility.
‘You do know that even if you showed me footage of my mother committing the act I wouldn’t believe you.’
‘We understand that your mother had a difficult anniversary coming up?’
‘Yeah, same anniversary that came every year.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re not claiming that’s the motivation for all this?’
‘It may be a contributing factor,’ Kim said. ‘Your mother’s mental health was—’
‘Jesus Christ,’ she said, throwing herself into a chair. ‘She suffered with depression. Had done for years. Millions of people suffer with it, but they don’t just murder their entire household.’
‘And sometimes they do,’ Kim offered.
Rachel shook her head. ‘There’s nothing you can say to convince me. My mum had way too much to live for. My dad had finally retired. They had plans, and that’s not even mentioning Jonathan.’
That wasn’t a name they’d heard come out of anyone’s lips.
‘Who is Jonathan?’
‘Jonathan is a seven-year-old boy that my parents fell in love with, a foster child they were due to take in next week. Does that sound like someone who’s considering murdering their husband and children?’