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

megaphone, but there was no sign that she was showing a willingness to surrender.

‘She’s a tough character,’ observed Oldroyd. ‘I wonder what she fears most: facing judgement here or the possibility of being deported back to Romania?’

‘Probably both,’ replied Granger. ‘Oh, looks like we’re going to get some action.’

Two officers were preparing to fire tear gas into the interior of the yacht. One clung to the side of the vessel, positioned to smash a window, while another aimed the tear-gas gun. The officer with the megaphone was talking constantly to distract the target inside.

Suddenly the officer clinging to the side of the boat smashed the window with a metal pickaxe. There was a crack, and the tear gas canister flew in through the hole. Gas billowed through the broken window.

There was the sound of coughing from inside the cabin, and then a figure recognisable as Elaine Pesku appeared on deck before diving into the water without even trying to take a shot from her handgun. Two officers dived in after her. She made it across to the other side of the harbour, and out of the water.

She was running down the road when the officers caught up with her and brought her down.

‘That was a plucky effort,’ said Oldroyd. ‘She doesn’t give in easily, but now the game’s up we’ll see what she has to say for herself.’

On the way back he checked his phone for messages, but there was nothing yet. He tried to call, but there was no answer from either Louise or Steph.

Oldroyd looked into the cold blue eyes and blank face of Irina Albescu, who was known in the case as Elaine Pesku. It was the tough, inscrutable face of a hardened criminal, which Oldroyd had seen many times before. There was no point trying to break her down; they had to appeal somehow to her self-interest. He was sitting with Granger in the interview room at Whitby police station. On the other side of the table were Pesku and a duty solicitor. Pesku had insisted on her rights.

‘Okay,’ began Oldroyd. ‘Let’s get to the main points. You’re here because you were part of the plan to murder Andrea Barnes and Dominic Holgate. You were also involved in the murder of Hugh Preston and you personally shot Holgate with the gun you used to fire at police officers when you were avoiding arrest at Whitby Marina. So it’s a pretty serious list of charges. Do you wish to say anything at this point?’ Oldroyd could see that Pesku was calculating her next move. She looked to her solicitor, who advised her that she didn’t need to say anything.

However, she turned back to Oldroyd. ‘You can’t prove I shot Holgate. I wasn’t in the room where Barnes was stabbed.’

‘Oh, I think we can. We’ve retrieved the gun from where you dropped it into the water and I think we’ll find it’s the same one that killed Holgate, which was why we couldn’t find it near his body. And if you weren’t guilty of any of this, why were you so desperate to escape from us?’

‘I got scared you make me go back to Romania. I’m sorry I fired gun.’

‘I can understand that,’ said Granger, ‘given your criminal record over there, but we think that Hugh Preston told you about the trick sarcophagus and so he had to be got rid of. We’ve also found some hairs on the hood that the figure who was supposedly Holgate was wearing when he went crazy outside the pub on Church Street. They’re long hairs and we think they’ll match yours. You impersonated Holgate that night. You had to do it because he was already dead. You then dressed Holgate’s body, wherever you’d been storing it, in the clothing you were wearing and dumped it in the harbour.’

‘We’re in the process of arresting Ben Morton,’ added Oldroyd. ‘So it will be interesting to hear what he has to say about all this and your part in it.’

Elaine frowned and looked away. Oldroyd sensed there was more calculation going on. Eventually she turned back sharply to face Granger and Oldroyd. She appeared to have made a decision.

‘Okay, I tell you everything. It was Ben’s idea and he forced me to take part. He said he would tell authorities about me and I would be sent back to Romania. I didn’t want to do it. I am very sorry.’

Oldroyd smiled. Her declaration of relative innocence and her remorse were not credible, but at last they were going to get a detailed account of what happened.

Oldroyd and Granger had just finished interviewing Pesku when Oldroyd’s phone rang. It was Steph.

‘You go on to the office,’ he said to Granger. ‘I’ll just take this.’ Granger went off down the corridor.

‘Sir, there’s been a major incident here in Leeds. I want to stress to you that everybody is okay, including Louise.’

Despite this reassurance, Oldroyd felt the anxiety hit his stomach. ‘What the hell’s been going on?’

Steph began to explain.

When Oldroyd didn’t arrive at the office, Granger went to the door to look for him. She saw him in the corridor slumped over and holding on to a radiator.

She ran down to him. ‘Sir, what’s happened?’ She helped him into the office, sat him down and made a drink of hot tea. It was some time before she could get the story out of him. She’d never seen him so shocked and fragile. Haltingly, he explained what had happened in Leeds.

‘So they’ve got Morton . . . but Louise . . . my daughter. He nearly killed her.’ He covered his face with his hands.

‘My God, sir, that’s terrible.’

‘I was here and couldn’t do anything to help. I had no idea she’d actually arranged to meet him at the flat.’

‘Look, sir, it’s probably better that you didn’t know until it was over. Steph sounds to have done a fantastic job. And Louise is okay, remember that.’

‘Yes, yes. It’s just the thought of what could have