Stop Dead (DI Geraldine Steel)

questions.’
    ‘Yes. That’s OK. I’ve been expecting you,’ he mumbled.
    Geraldine detected a whiff of alcohol on his breath as he spoke.

     
    ‘I’ve been trying not to think about it, but I just can’t get it out of my head. How can I, knowing what’s out there? To be honest, I didn’t sleep at all last night, what with the shock and being on my own and all. They have taken it away, haven’t they – should I say him?’
    ‘The body’s been taken to the morgue, Mr Apsley, but the forensic tent will stay there and the area of the lock ups will be cordoned off while it’s examined by forensic officers.’
    ‘How long will all that take? Only my wife’s coming home this evening and she’ll need to put the car in the garage.’
    ‘As long as it takes for the forensic team to complete their search. I’m afraid I can’t say how long that will be.’

     
    Keith stood aside to let the two women in. Entering a neat narrow hallway Geraldine’s eyes were caught by a smear of blood on the light carpet. Noticing the direction of her gaze he started forward.
    ‘It’s not how it looks,’ he stammered.
    ‘How does it look?’
    ‘You think it’s blood, don’t you? Well, I think so too. That’s why I suspected something was wrong in the first place, but he never came here. I didn’t know him. It was my shoe, the blood was on my shoe –’
    Keith was babbling nervously.
    ‘Perhaps you’d like to sit down and start at the beginning, Mr Apsley.’
    ‘Yes, of course. Come on in. Let’s go in the living room.’

     
    ‘We’ll get that checked forensically,’ Sam said, pausing and looking down at the stain.
    ‘There’s no need. I know where it came from. It’s from that car. I trod in it, you see. Look.’
    He darted forward, picked up a trainer and held it upside down.
    ‘See?’
    He waved the shoe at them before turning to lead them into a small square sitting room, furnished in pine and light blue. Plonking himself down on a chair, he launched into a rambling account of his discovery of the body.

     
    ‘My wife’s sister just had a baby, so Jenny’s gone over there. I’m here on my own. Yesterday morning one of my neighbours knocks on the door making a fuss about a car parked outside my garage, blocking his garage. That was the first I knew about it.’
    ‘What time was it when your neighbour called on you?’
    ‘Early, about seven maybe. I’d just started breakfast.’
    He gave them his neighbour’s details and returned to his narrative, describing how he had gone to the lock ups to take a look at the car.

     
    ‘You didn’t report this until after seven yesterday evening, nearly twelve hours later,’ Geraldine pointed out.
    ‘I know, but I had no idea there was anyone inside. I didn’t take a close look at it at first, I just clocked it was there and went to work. I hoped it would be gone by the time I got home but it was still there in the evening so I went up for a closer look and saw there was someone in the driver’s seat. That’s when I trod in the blood. At first I thought it was some kind of oil although it wasn’t leaking from the engine –’
    He broke off with a puzzled frown.
    ‘I couldn’t see much. I thought he was asleep, only he didn’t move, even when I shouted at him. I called out and banged on the window but he still didn’t move. So then I thought he must be drunk. I didn’t realise I’d trodden in anything until I came in and saw the mess on the carpet.’

     
    ‘You tried to clean it up.’
    Sam’s comment sounded like an accusation.
    ‘Yes, I know. I didn’t want Jenny to see it. She’s always on at me to take my shoes off in the house. We’ve got this cream carpet in the hall. I told her it wasn’t the best idea, but she insisted it would be all right. And it was, until this. We’ve had it for two years.’
    ‘So you tried to remove the blood stain from your carpet,’ Sam interrupted Keith’s panicked babbling.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Didn’t you wonder where it came from?’
    ‘I thought it was oil.’
    ‘Oil?’
    ‘I just assumed because it looked black to begin with, but when I started rubbing it with water it turned red and that’s when I knew.’
    He raised stricken eyes to Geraldine.
    ‘Thank you. We might ask you to come to the police station to answer a few more questions but that’s all for now, Mr Apsley.’

     
    He accompanied them to the door.
    ‘Inspector, can you tell me the best way to get rid of blood stains? I