The Whitby Murders (A Yorkshire Murder Mystery) J. Ellis (distant reading TXT) 📖

‘It was more than a bit, to be honest, and the thing is,’ said Ben, ‘we all know what we saw. There’s no getting away from it. I wish we could.’

‘That’s what my dad and the detective sergeant said. They think I’m emotional about it because of the shock and I’m not seeing things clearly. They could be right, I know.’

‘Oh, I don’t know what to make of it all,’ said Maggie with a big sigh. ‘But I don’t want to leave here until they find him.’

‘Why?’ asked Jack.

‘I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right somehow. Mark should be here soon. I’ll feel better then.’

‘What about you?’ Jack asked Ben.

‘I’m going to stick around too. I want to see how Louise’s dad gets on; see if there are any complications; I can’t see any myself.’

‘Right. Well, I suppose I’ll stick around to keep you company. I was supposed to be here all this weekend anyway. I’m the only one who hasn’t had a chance to dress up yet.’ Jack drained his glass. ‘Your round, Ben.’

Louise was looking at her phone. ‘I’ve got a text from dad. I’m going back to meet him at the Airbnb. He says he’s found something.’

‘So, I think it’s time you told me about everyone involved in this, including the bloke who arrived today.’

‘Jack?’

‘Yes, everyone.’

‘Why? Do you suspect someone of something?’

‘Not at the moment, but if Steph and I are going to look into this we need to know everything. It’s often some detail which you think is unimportant that turns out to be crucial.’

It was early evening and Oldroyd, Steph and Louise were back in the living room at the Airbnb. Oldroyd had brought some takeaway vegetarian curries. Louise’s friends had stayed in the pub and were going to eat out later. Oldroyd had told his daughter about the sarcophagus trick and that he now felt that there were things worth exploring. He sat and munched a samosa as he listened to Louise. Steph was eating a bowl of butternut squash curry with rice.

‘Okay. I’ll start with Dominic and Andrea. I knew Andrea – her surname’s Barnes – at college in Leeds years ago, but I met her again in London when I was working in the refuge. She was going out with Jack Ryerson at that point but she left him for Dom who was a drama type like her. She’d done drama at one of the drama schools and she was working with a women’s theatre group, which did plays about abused women and stuff like that. She was still working for them as far as I know. They came to perform at the refuge. Dom didn’t do drama like her but he was interested in theatre and was in student productions and stuff at uni. He was working for some kind of media company. I think he still does that kind of work. It was always a bit of a fiery relationship, as we’ve told everybody, but I’m sure they cared about each other. I’ve known them as a couple for a while.’

‘What did they argue about?’

‘Oh, anything and everything. They were both very extravert confident types who liked their own way. They always made it up though. One of the worst rows they had was about Andrea’s inheritance. She had an aunt who died and left her a lovely flat in Leeds. It’s in one of those early Victorian stone buildings out in Far Headingley near the Cottage Road cinema. Andrea loved the place partly because she had so many fond memories of visiting her aunt. Anyway, she was keen to move up from London and live there but Dominic’s a Londoner and he wouldn’t consider it; didn’t want to give up his job and come up north.’

‘So what happened?’

‘They couldn’t agree. The aunt left the flat fully furnished. It’s beautiful; I’ve seen it. I used to go with Andrea to see her aunt in the old days. It’s just there empty most of the time at the moment. Andrea comes up for weekends sometimes to see her old Leeds friends. I think she was going to rent it out soon unless she could persuade Dom to change his mind. Meanwhile they live in Tower Hamlets somewhere.’

‘And what about Ben?’

‘Ben Morton; he’s an artist and lecturer. He studied Fine Art in London somewhere. He’s a friend of Dominic’s; that’s how he came into our group. He does a bit of teaching to supplement his artwork I think. He’s a few years older than the rest of us.’

‘How did Dominic get to know him?’

‘I’m not sure. I think they may have shared a house together when they were students or at least when Dominic was.’

She stopped to eat a bit of her curry but didn’t have much appetite.

‘Go on,’ said Oldroyd, filling himself a bowl of spinach and potato curry and breaking off a piece of naan bread.

‘You’ve met Maggie Hinton before. She came up to Harrogate once and stayed with us. She was at Oxford with me and then we both went to work at the refuge. She’s travelled in Thailand and Australia for a while. Now she’s working in a coffee shop and still trying to work out her next move I think.’

‘Not unlike a lot of people of your generation.’

‘No. Last there’s Jack Ryerson. As I said there’s a bit of history there: him and Andrea were an item a while ago. But it all ended amicably and he stayed in our friendship group. I don’t know where Andrea originally met him but he works for a publishing company in London.’

‘I see. Why has he only got here today?’

‘He said he had work to do or a meeting or something so he had to miss yesterday. I suppose I ought to mention Mark. He’s Maggie’s boyfriend and he’s going to arrive soon; tomorrow, I think. He’s not really part of our group but he comes along to stuff with her