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

‘Don’t give up, Sarge, I’m sure we’ll find out something useful,’ said Jenkins in his cheery manner.

After going through the usual rituals at reception, they were shown into a large air-conditioned open-plan office full of workstations and huge indoor plants with their green leaves snaking up the walls. They walked through and into a small private office separated from the general area with glass partitions. A bald-headed man dressed in a black waistcoat and white shirt greeted them. Jenkins’s eyes were drawn enviously to his impressive hipster beard and glasses as he reflected on his own inability to grow a decent beard.

‘Hi. Paul Matthews, Director of Innovation.’ He shook hands briskly with the detectives. ‘Please sit down. How can I help?’

Andy explained the purpose of their visit.

‘We had someone here from the Met,’ Matthews replied, echoing Gifford at the Women’s Theatre Cooperative. ‘I can only repeat what I said then. We all got on well with Dom and he was an excellent member of the team. He was friendly, creative and a good team worker.’

‘Was he ever angry with people or threatened violence? Did you ever see him with knives or guns?’

‘No, certainly not. The only problem with Dom was that deep down you felt his heart wasn’t in the job. He’d done a business degree and had some problems. We took him on based on his personality and obvious intelligence. He could do the job very well but his real love was the theatre. He would have loved to have become an actor. He was a great mimic and used to have us in stitches.’ Matthews smiled. ‘He loved his practical jokes too. He’d give you some coffee and there would be a frog moulded into the bottom of the mug, or he’d be slumped at his desk and there would be a realistic-looking knife sticking out of his back. That was the only knife I ever saw him with: a joke one.’

It wasn’t a joke one that killed Andrea Barnes, thought Andy. ‘Did he have any enemies?’ he asked.

‘Dom? Not that I know of and, before you ask, I did meet his girlfriend, Andrea, and they seemed to get on fine. It came as a great shock to us when they both died.’

‘You say that as if you don’t believe the account you must have seen on the news that Holgate killed her and then committed suicide.’

Matthews smiled and shook his head. ‘Do you? It strikes me you don’t if you’re still investigating the case,’ he observed perceptively. ‘I don’t know the details. I can only say that for us who worked with him in this company the whole idea seems too monstrous to accept. We’ve obviously talked about it, and none of us can see Dom as a murderer and certainly not of his girlfriend.’

‘Did he ever seem depressed or moody? Someone who might be suicidal?’

‘Again no. He was always upbeat. The idea of him killing himself is also something we can’t get our heads round.’ He smiled at Andy and shook his head. ‘I really don’t envy you investigating this case, Sergeant. I’ll bet nothing makes sense.’

It seemed that Matthews was right, thought Andy as he and Jenkins left the office in silence after a relatively short interview and walked back to their car. No one, except Gifford, seemed to think it was credible that Holgate would murder Barnes and then kill himself. But, as far as he knew, no other explanation of what happened had yet been offered.

‘Still in the dark, Sarge?’ Jenkins sensed what he was thinking.

‘Pretty much,’ he replied. ‘Maybe the boss can make something from what we’ve learned, but I can’t.’

That evening, three of the remaining friends met after work near Old Spitalfields Market. Here there was a line of vans selling street food so they loaded up with burgers, burritos and pizza and found somewhere to sit. The crowds were not as dense as at lunchtime, when the area was a favourite venue for office workers. Jack, Mark and Maggie huddled together at an outdoor table just inside the market. The plan was to progress on to the cinema after eating.

‘It feels funny with just the three of us,’ observed Maggie, eating a slice of pizza. After a furious row with Mark after the visit from the police, she had finally forgiven him for not telling her the full truth about the plagiarism affair with Dominic.

‘Ben’s on his way,’ said Jack. ‘I had a text from him; he’s back in London.’

‘Good. It’s a pity Louise isn’t here.’ Maggie smiled. ‘I’m sure those two are about to get it on.’

‘Why do you think that?’

‘She was very concerned about him in Whitby.’

‘Weren’t we all?’ said Jack, eating a burrito.

‘Yeah, but there was something about the way she looked at him. Maybe it takes a woman to understand.’

‘Well, it wasn’t exactly the atmosphere up there for romance to flourish,’ said Mark. ‘Maybe things will happen when they’re both back here together. It’ll be nice to have something good to celebrate.’

‘Oh look, he’s here,’ said Maggie. She’d spotted Ben in the distance looking for them and waved at him. ‘He’s coming over.’

‘Hi,’ said Ben as he reached their table. The others greeted him. ‘I’ll just go and get something.’ He went off to the row of vans and returned with a burger and salad. He brought over an empty chair and squeezed in at the table. ‘It’s great to be back here, isn’t it? And great to see you all. When’s Louise coming down?’ He seemed much more upbeat now he was away from Whitby.

Maggie gave Mark a furtive glance and smiled.

‘Don’t know,’ said Jack. ‘She left it open. She seems to want to stay up there until her dad and the others have finished with the case. I still don’t know what she thinks they’re going to find.’ Jack didn’t mention that Andy and Jenkins had been to see him. It would have