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

Bilton and have a walk in the Nidd Gorge before the light goes. That’ll do you good.’

Despite his weariness, Oldroyd agreed: he rarely refused a walk in the countryside.

Back in Whitby, Ben was lying on his bed. It had been such an exhausting few days and he felt very tired even though it was only mid-afternoon. He wanted to get away and back to London but knew that was impossible until things had settled down. He couldn’t leave the others to deal with the aftermath of the terrible things that had happened and the police were still around and asking questions. Maybe in another few days things might be different, but of course they could never be the same again. When things like this happened it often broke up friendship groups because some people didn’t want to be reminded of what had they’d been through. There was a gentle tap on the door.

‘Ben?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Can I come in?’ It was Jack.

‘Okay.’

Jack came in. ‘Sorry. Were you asleep?’ He sat on a chair by the bed.

‘No, just dozing.’

‘I feel a bit in the way down there with those two.’ He smiled.

‘Well, they should go to their room if they want to get it on,’ said Ben.

‘I suppose so. I just came to check on you. You must have had the most traumatic time of all attending to Andrea after she’d been stabbed.’

‘It was pretty bad. Actually, I’d rather not talk about it. I’m trying not to dwell on the memories.’ Ben passed a hand over his face.

‘I don’t blame you. I had a lucky escape.’ Jack shifted in his chair. ‘What do you think about Louise’s dad getting involved? It’s a bit sort of weird, isn’t it?’

Ben yawned. ‘Dunno. I can see why she’d want him to come over. He’s a top detective or something, isn’t he?’

‘I suppose.’

‘If he helps to find Dom and get everything sorted out, it’ll be good.’

‘Yeah. Maybe. It just feels like he’s on top of us all the time.’

‘Chill out. What have you got to be scared of anyway?’ laughed Ben.

Jack looked uneasy for a moment. ‘No, nothing. It’s just, I’d rather the police were at the police station and not here.’

‘Well, it won’t be for long. Something has to happen soon. Dom will give himself up or they’ll find him. Then we can all get away from here. Anyway, I’m going to have a kip for a while if you don’t mind. I’m absolutely knackered.’

‘Fine. See you later.’

Jack went back downstairs still feeling very uneasy about the police and their investigation.

Downstairs, Maggie and Mark were sprawled on the sofa together. Mark was nervous. There was something he needed to tell her.

‘God, I’m so lethargic,’ groaned Maggie. ‘It’s an effort just to get up from here.’

‘It’s the shock; it’s exhausted you.’

‘Yeah, seeing what happened. I still can’t believe it. Dominic’s just not like that.’

Mark paused before replying and looked down at Maggie’s face. She had her eyes shut. ‘No, but there are things about him that you don’t know about.’

Maggie opened her eyes and looked up sharply. ‘What things?’

‘Well, he got into serious trouble at uni for plagiarism.’

‘What! I never knew that.’

‘No. I didn’t want to say anything because you’re all friends with him, but he’s not a paragon of virtue. He copied someone’s essay and passed it off as his. It got the other person into trouble too before Dom admitted that he was the one who’d copied.’

‘Bloody hell! That’s a rotten trick.’

‘Yes, and the thing is, that person was me.’

Maggie recoiled. ‘No! I didn’t even know you were on the same course as him.’

‘Yeah, Business Studies at St Thomas’s. The thing is, he never did any work; spent all his time messing around in student plays. He was on the wrong course really. Anyway, he was always behind and looking for short cuts. I didn’t know him that well, but I was always ready to help someone out. I sent him an essay to look at and he copied the whole thing and submitted it. It didn’t take them long to realise they had two identical essays. The worst thing was, I had to establish that he’d copied from me and not the other way round, though to be fair he owned up fairly quickly.’

‘Why’ve you never told me about this before?’

‘Because it’s all in the past. When our paths crossed again through you and Andrea, I spoke to him and we decided to let it lie for the sake of the group. It’s several years ago now since it happened, but I still don’t think he’s a person you can trust.’

‘Wow. That doesn’t mean that he’s violent though, does it?’

‘No, but I wonder what situation he might have got himself into which might have made him desperate?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Say he’s in financial trouble and Andrea refused to help him. He could have got very angry with her.’

‘But that’s all speculation! We don’t know anything for sure. Maybe you should tell this to the police.’

‘They’ll find out soon enough and they can come to their own conclusions. It doesn’t really change anything; maybe it just begins to explain how he might have been capable of doing what he did.’

‘I think that’s making a lot of—’ She stopped because two things happened abruptly. Jack came back into the room and her phone pinged.

‘How is he?’ asked Mark.

‘Fine, I think . . .’

‘Oh my God it’s him again, Dom!’ blurted Maggie, sounding nearly hysterical. ‘No! I can’t bear it!’ She threw the phone on the floor and herself onto the sofa, sobbing.

Mark picked up the phone and read:

I cant go on. Goodbye. Dom

Deborah and Oldroyd were picking their way down the muddy paths into the Nidd Gorge beyond Bilton. The light was fading and creating shadows among the trees while leaves fell noiselessly to the ground.

‘I must say dusk in the woods is spooky at this time of year,’ said Deborah.

‘Well, I don’t mind about that. Give me a