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

frustrating. He would delay calling the boss until he had some idea of where Morton was. Presumably he wasn’t far away. They would be able to apprehend him before the day was out. That would earn him a lot of points with DCI Oldroyd.

Back in Whitby, DC Hampton and his team met at police HQ early before setting out on their second full day of searching for Elaine Pesku. Their patient enquiries going from house to house had yielded nothing, but Hampton had an idea. Now that the news had come through that she had a violent criminal record in Romania, they were joined by two officers armed with guns. There had been some reports from people who claimed to have seen her but these had come to nothing.

‘She’s had to spend the nights somewhere, and I don’t think it was outside like a homeless person; far too risky. She doesn’t know Whitby well, but she will have seen all the boats and yachts down in the harbour. At this time of year most of them are sealed up for winter and covered in tarpaulin. If she managed to get inside one of those it would give her some good shelter.’ He looked at his watch. ‘It’s still early, we might catch her before she moves on but we must be careful. According to Inspector Granger, she’s probably armed.’

The four detectives walked down to the harbour where they split up and began to carefully examine the craft there. It was a difficult task involving striding between boats tied together as they bobbed around in the water. It was early on another dull and cold day and there was nobody about. A few herring gulls sat on wooden posts and in the rigging of some of the tall yachts.

Hampton had brought a torch and was shining it under the tarpaulin of a large yacht when he saw one of the team on another boat gesticulating at him and pointing at the tarpaulin covering the deck. Hampton gestured to the detective to return to the harbour side. The others followed, and they met together speaking quietly.

‘The tarpaulin’s loose on that yacht. I went underneath it and the cabin door’s been prised open. Unless there’s been a thief at work, she could be in there.’

‘Okay, let’s have a look at it. We’ll group around the boat and I’ll call and tell her to come out.’ They made their way back to the yacht in question and took up positions. Hampton nodded at the others and then called out in a loud voice.

‘Elaine Pesku. We’re here to arrest you. The boat is surrounded by armed police officers. You cannot escape. Come out now with your hands in the air.’

The reply was the crack of a pistol firing and a bullet zinging past his head. He dived for cover into a neighbouring boat and saw that the others had done the same. Clearly she was not going to surrender without a fight. It looked like this would turn into a long siege.

At the house in Chapel Allerton, Louise didn’t wake up until 10.00 a.m., but for once she’d slept soundly. She picked up her phone but the battery was dead. She put it on charge and made some breakfast. Her mother had left a note to say she’d gone into Leeds. That was good. There would be nobody around to ask questions when she left to meet Ben at the flat.

Back in the office Oldroyd’s phone went again. It was Andy, whose tone was urgent.

‘Hello, sir. No joy here I’m afraid. We’ve been to Morton’s address, but there’s no sign of him. We did find a painting, which I think is the one that’s gone missing. There was some weird stuff here. He’s obviously some kind of vampire freak. There were a couple of knives, one fake, which I’ve secured. His housemates say he went out early this morning, but he didn’t say where he was going. One’s just called me back now to say he remembers overhearing Morton arranging to meet up with someone in Leeds today. We should alert Steph and the Leeds police. Sir?’

‘Right, Andy,’ Oldroyd managed to say before ending the call abruptly and frantically trying to contact Louise. There was no answer. After several failed attempts he called Steph instead. To his relief she answered straight away.

‘Steph, can you contact Louise immediately? It’s very urgent and there’s no answer on her phone. There’s been a big breakthrough in the case and we’re pretty sure Ben Morton is the murderer. I sent Andy round to arrest him, but he wasn’t at his flat and we have reason to think that he’s on his way to Leeds. If so, Louise could be in danger.’

Steph had rarely heard her boss so agitated. ‘Don’t worry, sir, I’m on to it now.’

She ended the call. Good job she’d made some preliminary arrangements.

‘Hi,’ said Ben, and he gave Louise a big smile. They were outside the flat in Headingley and he appeared out of the bushes at the side as if he’d been hiding in there. Ben had suggested that they meet here. He said there was something important he needed to show to her about the paintings. She’d texted to offer to give him a lift from the station but he’d refused, saying it was fine, he would make his own way there.

‘Hi,’ she replied. ‘Look, I’m sorry about this but something’s come up and I want to talk to you about it and I couldn’t do it on the phone.’

‘That’s fine. Let’s go inside, shall we?’ Ben was looking around as he spoke, appearing anxious to get inside. Louise unlocked the door and they went into the dark hallway and up the stairs. Ben looked around cautiously as if checking that anyone else was in the building. It was quiet with no sign of activity in the other