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

coffees over. The warm drinks and the bustling atmosphere lifted their gloom a little.

Jack took in a deep breath. ‘Do we have to stay round here for much longer? To be honest, it’s giving me the creeps. It’s a shame because it’s such a nice little place but I don’t think I’ll be coming back to Whitby in a hurry.’

‘I assume the police will give us the go-ahead to leave soon,’ said Ben.

‘Yeah,’ said Mark, turning to Maggie, ‘I think we should get back to London. You need to get a bit of distance from all this now. There’s nothing more you can do. The terrible truth is they’re both dead and you can’t change it.’

Maggie winced. ‘It sounds so brutal when you say it like that.’

‘What’s the alternative? Stick around here getting more and more depressed? It’s all over and you have to move on.’

Maggie turned on her partner. ‘It’s easy for you to say; you weren’t really close to them.’ She was close to tears again. ‘It’s bloody hard losing two people like that who you knew for a long time.’ She put her head in her hands. Mark put his arm over her shoulder.

‘I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have said it like that. I was being insensitive.’

‘Mark’s right, though, Maggie,’ said Ben. ‘We need to go and we’ve no choice anyway. The booking on the apartment expires tomorrow, so we have to leave on Tuesday morning. Out by eleven.’

Maggie nodded and wiped her eyes with a tissue. ‘So we all head back to London then?’

‘It’s for the best,’ said Jack.

‘What about Louise? I’m not leaving before she comes back. I need to talk to her. We both knew Dom and Andrea for years.’

‘Isn’t she coming back tomorrow? That’s Monday. We’ll still be here.’

Maggie closed her eyes and shook her head. ‘Yes of course. Oh, I’m so bloody shook up and confused! I don’t even know what day it is.’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Mark reassuringly. ‘It’s only to be expected.’

‘You two look completely knackered as well,’ said Maggie, looking at Ben and Jack, who had gone silent and appeared to be nearly falling asleep.

‘I stayed out too late last night,’ replied Ben, yawning. ‘I found a pub with live music and they had an extension until one o’clock; must be because of the Goth Weekend. Where did you get to?’ Jack and Ben had gone out the previous night and left Mark and Maggie together in the apartment.

‘Oh, that place wasn’t my scene,’ said Jack. ‘I found a club in some cellar behind a pub in that old street – Church Street, isn’t it? It’s all a bit hazy.’

‘Church Street?’ said Maggie. ‘Did you hear or see anything of what happened with Dom? The police said he went to a pub down there and fired some shots.’

‘Naw. I was inside and the music was pretty loud. They were blasting out the goth stuff: Dark Wave, Banshees. I don’t think I would have heard anything.’

‘No.’

‘Hey, I’ll tell you who I did see though,’ said Ben. ‘I almost forgot. That bloke who was playing Dracula at the escape room. He was walking towards the swing bridge. I recognised him out of his vampire stuff and I think he recognised me, but he looked away and just went on.’

‘You go over that bridge to get to Church Street,’ said Maggie thoughtfully. ‘Maybe he had something to do with it.’

‘With what?’ said Jack.

‘Dom’s death.’

‘How?’

‘I dunno. He was in the escape room when it all happened.’

‘So what? Look, stop trying to make something out of nothing. Dom killed Andrea and then he killed himself. It’s absolutely terrible but it’s all finished with. I’m not surprised that bloke didn’t want to talk to Ben after what happened; he must be as traumatised as the rest of us.’ Jack was sounding very exasperated.

Maggie didn’t reply.

The waitress brought their food, and for a few minutes they made a lacklustre attempt to eat.

‘I think I’m going to head back,’ said Ben when he’d finished eating. He got some money out of his wallet. ‘Here’s my share of the bill. I need to lie down for a while.’

‘Me too,’ added Jack, who similarly produced some cash.

‘What do you want to do?’ said Mark to Maggie. ‘Do you fancy a walk up through the park? It’s still fine. I think the fresh air will do you good.’

Maggie agreed. They paid the bill and left.

As she and Mark walked slowly back up the hill and turned into Pannett Park up some steep steps, Maggie reflected sadly on how such an exciting weekend had turned so horrible and tragic. When they reached the centre of the park they saw a children’s playground and she couldn’t prevent herself from being overwhelmed by sadness again. She and Andrea had talked a number of times about whether they would have a family one day and Andrea was keen. She’d said she liked children. Now it would never happen.

‘It’s strange how so much can be wiped out so quickly,’ she said. ‘Andrea had so much living to do. And so did Dom.’

‘Yes. Now we know how people feel after car accidents and stuff when someone dies suddenly and nobody was expecting it.’

‘I suppose so.’

A woman with two kids went past them. The kids were dressed in mini goth costumes and had skeleton masks. Maggie found it chilling.

‘Oh, look at that! It’s awful; they’re only children,’ she said.

Mark laughed. ‘They’re only having fun. You know what kids are like; they want to get in on the act with the goth thing. Or maybe they’re rehearsing for next week. It’s Halloween on Friday.’

Maggie shuddered. ‘So it is. I used to enjoy that when I was a kid. Not anymore.’

‘Someday you will, especially if you have kids of your own.’

Maggie tried to look ahead and imagine how she might feel about everything years into the future, but she found it impossible.

Three

When thou from hence away art past,

Every nighte and alle,

To Whinny muir