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

He shut the door, sat down at his desk again and picked up a brooch containing a particularly macabre spider design in black jet. He toyed with this, thought for a while and then reached for his phone and called a number. He sat back as he spoke and continued to fondle the spider brooch as if it had a calming effect on him.

‘I’ve just had the police here asking questions about Andrea . . . Yes, I’ve been expecting it, but let’s just stay calm . . . Yes . . . if they track you down then just tell them what we agreed . . . Look, they’ve got absolutely nothing on us so don’t worry . . . Yes, I’ve no doubt they’ll be looking into my past, but I’ll handle that . . . Yes, I’m sure. Okay . . . Bye.’

He put his phone back into his pocket and placed the brooch back on his desk. His face was still grim. He didn’t like the look of that Chief Inspector; the man seemed far too sharp. He would make a formidable opponent.

When Oldroyd and Steph arrived back at the flat, there were cases in the hallway. It seemed that everyone was ready to leave. Jack was loading his stuff into a nippy-looking sports car parked outside the apartment. When he saw Oldroyd and Steph, he stopped what he was doing and came over to them.

‘Hi. I’m off soon, and so’s everybody else . . . I think.’ He turned to Oldroyd and Steph. ‘I just wanted to say thank you to you both for coming over and, you know, helping with things. I know you’re involved because of Louise, but I’m sure you’ve been a great help to the police here.’

Oldroyd nodded.

‘Thanks,’ said Steph.

‘It’s a pity,’ continued Jack, ‘that there wasn’t more for you to do. It’s pretty clear-cut really, isn’t it? Dom had some kind of blow up or breakdown or whatever you want to call it, lost it with Andrea and then killed himself.’

Steph nodded.

‘It certainly looks that way,’ said Oldroyd.

‘I was lucky that I wasn’t here so I didn’t have to go through it all.’ He shook his head. ‘To think that I was annoyed that I couldn’t get here in time for the escape room. It’s going to take the others a long time to recover, especially Ben. He’s really not been himself since it happened, but neither have any of us really.’

‘I’m sure you’re right. Anyway, we’ll just go in and see the others. Are you going straight back to London?’

‘Yes.’

In the lounge, Louise was talking to Maggie and Mark. They all looked up at the detectives as they came in.

‘Hello, Mr Oldroyd,’ said Maggie. ‘Have a seat. Mark’s got something to tell you before we leave.’

Mark looked uncomfortable. ‘I’m not sure how relevant this is, but Louise said you should know. The fact is, Dom cheated when he was a student. He plagiarised essays including some of mine. We were on the same course.’

‘I see,’ said Oldroyd as he sat down. ‘You’ve done the right thing. Any information in a case like this is useful and maybe more important than you think. Do you know of any other victims other than you?’

‘No, but I think there must have been some because he was suspended for a while and I think he was threatened with expulsion so he must have offended more than once. It’s such a big deal in the academic world, any kind of cheating like that.’

‘Yes, and it must have been a bad experience for you. The fact that he involved you in something like that must have made you angry,’ said Oldroyd, looking at Mark very directly.

Mark could see where this was going. ‘Yes, but I had no desire to hurt him. I just let the authorities deal with it. He apologised in the end. It was quite a while ago now and we decided to forget about it when I met him again through Maggie.’

‘Okay. I will report this back to Inspector Granger who’s in charge of the investigation, but you’re still free to go.’

At this, everyone stood up and made to leave. It was an emotional moment after all they’d been through. As they departed, singly and in pairs, Louise and Maggie hugged each other and shed some tears. Jack zoomed off in his sports car, and Mark and Maggie in Mark’s old Citroen. Ben was the last to leave. He was walking to the station and going on the train to visit his parents in Manchester.

‘Don’t stay around too long,’ he said to Louise. ‘We need to keep checking on each other.’

Louise smiled at him. She liked the fact that he was so sensitive.

As she gave Ben a hug, Oldroyd glanced at her, wondering what exactly her feelings for Ben were, but he didn’t say anything. He offered to give Ben a lift to the station but he refused, saying he wanted the exercise.

‘God, it feels really weird in here now everyone’s gone,’ said Louise as she, Steph and Oldroyd sat back in the lounge.

‘Why don’t you pack your stuff, love? It’s time we were getting back. Are you sure you want to stick around like this and stay with your mother in Leeds?’

‘Yes, Dad, at least for a while. I want to see this through. There’s more to find out yet, I’m convinced of it.’ She went off to her room.

‘I think she’s right,’ said Oldroyd as soon as she’d left. ‘But I don’t think we’re going to find the answer here. My plan is to pursue them all down to London and see what emerges from a thorough investigation into each one of them.’

‘You think one or more of them is involved, sir?’ replied Steph. ‘I must say, it seems unlikely to me. They all seem such nice young people.’

Oldroyd smiled. ‘Yes, I know how you feel and Inspector Granger probably agrees with you, but there’s something too easy about it all to me. Now, when I said that we’ll pursue them, I actually meant that Andy will, though he doesn’t know