“I walked down the stairs and looked around when I heard something in the kitchen, I moved closer to the kitchen which was full of dark shadows. Then I saw a man standing in the kitchen. His knife reflected the light of the moon and I pointed my gun at him. I told him to put down the knife. But he tried to get away. He fled towards the door and escaped to the back of the garden, where he tried to climb over the wall. I called out that I would shoot if he didn’t stop. He didn’t and I fired a shot at him. I think that I shot him, because he fell to the ground and had trouble getting up again. Somehow, he managed to disappear between the trees. I didn’t follow him, ‘cos out there it’s totally dark, you can’t see a hand in front of your eyes.” 

“I turned on all the lights in the house and we waited here for the police to arrive, we were so scared.” Jenny said tears still flowing from her eyes.

Chapter 27

Traces

Brass was scribbling in his notebook.

“Is there anything, anything at all, that could bring us closer to identifying the perp?”

“No, I just saw his silhouette when he was standing in the kitchen. It was to dark to make anything out. Nothing at all…” Her voice broke off.

“Did he say anything to you?”

“No, not a word. That’s all I know, there is nothing more.” Joan said, devastated that there wasn’t more to tell.

“Don’t worry, you helped us a great deal. Especially if he’s shot, we will find traces and maybe be able to find him through his DNA. For now, you’ll get protection, do you have a place where you can go while we process this house and the garden for possible evidence?”

“I guess that we can stay at my parents house. I don’t think that they kick us out when they hear what has happened.” Jenny answered Catherine’s question.

“Yeah, that or we get the whole ‘told you so’ lecture. Her parents don’t agree with the way that we live our lives.” Joan added bitterly.