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

answered by a very pale young woman with grey hair and numerous face piercings. Her eyes looked vacant and her manner was slow as if she were under the influence of some substance or other. Hampton put that to one side; he was here on different business. He showed his identity.

‘Detective Constable Hampton, Whitby police. I understand that Elaine Pesku lives here?’

It was some time before the girl responded. ‘Yeah, but I think she’s out.’

‘Can you check please? It’s important that I speak to her.’

‘Is it about that murder where she works?’

‘Yes.’

‘That was the darkness at work, mate. What do you expect with all these goths around summoning up evil spirits? When they’re here, we go out in white and chant our positive spells to counter them. Have you seen us by the harbour? No point looking for humans; it’s the spirit world. If you like we can hold a meeting with the white spirit goddess for you and find out what happened.’

‘Thank you,’ replied Hampton, with some impatience. ‘But can you just see if she’s in?’

The young woman looked disappointed but turned back into the house.

‘Are you looking for me?’ The voice came from behind Hampton. He turned to see the tall figure of Elaine Pesku. She was carrying a bag of shopping. She looked at Hampton. ‘You the police officer who came that day? I’ve already told police everything I know.’

‘I have some more questions. Can we go inside?’

‘I prefer here. My room is . . . not very tidy.’

‘Okay.’ Hampton referred to his notes and began the interview. ‘You told me on the day of the murder that your employer, Mr Hugh Preston, had an office in Sheffield. We’ve made extensive enquiries and cannot find any trace of it or him.’

She shrugged. ‘That’s what he told me.’

‘Have you had any contact with him since the day of the murder?’

‘No.’

‘Isn’t that surprising given what happened at his escape room?’

She shrugged again. ‘I do not know where he is. Escape room is closed and I am looking for other job.’

‘How often did he visit you at the escape room?’

‘Not often; now and again.’

Hampton looked at her. Her terse replies and inscrutable demeanour gave nothing away. ‘Did you know that there was a trick sarcophagus in that storeroom that was going to be converted to be part of the escape game?’

‘What is sarcophagus?’

‘It’s that large Egyptian coffin thing that is built into the wall.’

‘How is it a trick?’

‘The thing swivels round and there is another section at the back.’

‘No. Mr Preston say nothing about that.’

Hampton had no more prepared questions about the case but he’d started to think about her.

‘How long have you been in this country?’

For the first time he saw a worried look pass across her face. ‘Three years. I have all my papers, if you want to see. I will fetch them.’

She went inside the house and returned with documents that confirmed she was Romanian, and an EU citizen.

‘How long have you been in Whitby?’

‘Since May. I come up from London for this job for summer.’

‘And where were you before that?’

‘In London, student.’

‘Did you know anybody in Whitby before you came up here?’

‘No, I apply for job advertised online. Mr Preston like the fact I come from Romania. He say it makes everything in the escape room more authentic.’

‘I see. Did you see anything suspicious when that party arrived?’

‘No, they were just ordinary group of people; they seemed to be having fun.’

Hampton realised he was not going to get any more out of her at the moment.

‘Okay, we’ll leave it there but don’t leave Whitby for the time being. We may want to speak to you again.’

She said nothing and went back into the house.

Hampton left feeling suspicious. He didn’t believe she was telling him everything she knew.

In Annette Brown’s office, Jack Ryerson faced Andy and Jenkins across a desk. He had a supercilious smile on his face as if in contempt for the whole proceedings. ‘It didn’t take you lot very long to pursue us to London, sergeant. I take it I’m not the only one you’ve come down here to question. Why can’t you leave it alone? Dominic stabbed Andrea and then shot himself. Period.’

Andy ignored this. ‘We understand that you were once in a relationship with the murdered woman, Andrea Barnes.’

‘Yes,’ replied Ryerson and continued with mock melodrama. ‘But it was a long time ago and, no, I didn’t harbour horrendous jealousy of her and Dominic that drove me to plan their gruesome murder.’

‘How did you feel about them?’

‘God! You’re as bad as the others. I was getting some stick from Maggie about this. What can I say? I wished them well. It was all over between me and Andrea.’

Andy regarded him sceptically. He didn’t like Ryerson’s contemptuous tone, as if he thought this was all very tiresome. ‘You told us that the reason you missed the visit to the escape room last Wednesday was because you were held back at work here and couldn’t get away until late. Your boss has just confirmed that that wasn’t true. You didn’t come into work at all that day so where were you?’

Ryerson smiled and shrugged. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, sergeant, but I wasn’t orchestrating a murder. I was visiting a female friend, if you must know. It’s something I want to keep quiet about because she has a husband. There would be some unpleasantness if he found out.’

‘We will need her to verify that you were with her on Wednesday at the crucial times.’

‘She’ll be happy to cooperate. And I’m sure you’ll be discreet about it.’ He winked at Andy, who found his nonchalance rather repulsive. ‘I’m also sure you’ll agree that saying I was at work is a very poor alibi if I was involved in a murder. So easy to disprove. I just said that to cover myself with my friends and, of course, I never expected that any more questions would be asked.’

‘I see.’ Andy, almost reluctantly, had to agree but he hated the