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

and trauma of being attacked added to what you’ve already been through. Maybe your mum should take you to the doctor’s. I assume you’re going to stay here for a while?’

‘I’ve no choice at the moment. I’m not capable of doing anything.’

‘Don’t worry about it. Just take it a day at a time. Your mum will look after you. I’ll be over to see you and when you’re a bit better you can come over to see me and Deborah.’

‘That would be nice. Maggie and Mark are going to come up at some point. Mum says they can sleep in the loft bedroom.’

‘Good.’

‘Everyone’s been so kind, but . . .’

‘But what?’

‘I feel everything’s shattered. I’ve lost three friends and one of them was a ruthless murderer. I feel like I can never build my life up again and trust people. How can I trust people after Ben? I don’t feel I know anyone anymore. I’m always going to be on my guard.’

Oldroyd nodded. ‘I understand that, but gradually you will regain some faith in people. Remember most people are good; you were exceptionally unlucky to encounter a person like Morton. You’ve got some good friends.’

She sighed. ‘I suppose so. Will I have to go to court? That would be awful.’

‘Maybe. From the way he cooperated with us and confessed to everything, it looks as if he might plead guilty. If he does, I don’t think you would have to appear. There might be some dispute between him and Elaine Pesku about the extent to which she was forced into being his accomplice, but I can’t see you being a relevant witness to that. Anyway, let’s not think about that; we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

She nodded. ‘Thanks for coming, Dad.’

He leaned over and kissed her on the head. ‘Bye for now. See you again soon.’

‘Bye.’ She closed her eyes as he left the room as quietly as he could.

Julia was sitting with a mug of coffee, her elbows propped up on the kitchen table. Oldroyd sat down opposite her.

‘How is she?’ murmured Julia.

‘Okay. Just exhausted. I said you might take her to the doctor’s; she would benefit from a course of sleeping tablets.’

‘Yes.’ Julia yawned. ‘I’m not sleeping well myself. It’s a good job I’ve got some compassionate leave from the college.’

‘That’s excellent. She knows you’ll look after her and she’ll recover. It looks bad at the moment, but underneath it she’s a strong character. She’ll bounce back.’

‘Yes, but it will take time.’

‘It will.’

Julia gave him a wan smile. ‘Thank that sergeant of yours again, won’t you? She saved our daughter’s life.’ Her face crumpled for a moment as she faced the enormity of what could have happened.

‘I will, don’t worry. I’ve got a brilliant team working with me. I’m very lucky.’

She shook her head and looked at him. ‘I don’t know how you can do this work. I never could understand it and that was always a problem.’

Oldroyd wasn’t sure how to respond to this reference to their old marital difficulties.

Julia continued. ‘But now, what can I say? If you hadn’t got to the bottom of what was going on, not only would two killers have walked free, but our daughter would have started a relationship with a murderer. That’s too awful to contemplate.’ She smiled at him again. ‘So thanks, Jim.’

A tear fell down her face. Oldroyd leaned over, put his hand on hers and kissed her lightly on the head. He wasn’t far from tears himself.

Alice Granger got back home from work in the late afternoon, feeling satisfied that the case was wound up but very tired. The house was unusually quiet. She found Lesley writing an essay at the kitchen table on her laptop. Granger nearly rubbed her eyes and did a double take, but it was true: she was working.

‘Hi,’ she said. ‘Where’s Ian?’

‘At Graham’s; they’re gaming I think.’

‘Okay,’ Granger sighed. ‘What do you fancy for tea?’

Lesley looked up. ‘I’ll make it, Mum. You have a rest. I saw some mince; I’ll make spag bol.’

Granger sat down at the table partly with the shock. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked.

‘Me? Fine. Sorry I can’t talk much. I’ve got to finish this essay; it’s already late. I’ve got to hand it in tomorrow or I’m in deep trouble.’

‘Right. I’ll let you get on with it then.’ Lesley looked up and smiled.

‘I know you’re thinking “what’s got in to her?”’

‘I am a bit.’

Lesley sat back in her chair and sighed. ‘I dunno. I’ve started to feel different somehow after what happened last Saturday.’

‘How?’

‘I was shocked. When that figure – you say it was a woman dressed up?’

‘It was.’

‘When she fired those shots. It made me realise we were all playing around at horror – all that dressing up and stuff – but when something bad actually happens, it’s not fun at all, it’s nasty. I saw terror on people’s faces and Mandy was crying. Then I called you to come and get me out of it.’

‘Well, that was the right thing to do.’

‘Maybe, but it all reminded me that I’m not as grown-up as I think I am.’ She looked at her mother with admiration. ‘And you deal with that kind of stuff all the time. I never understood until now. I think you’re amazing. And now I’m going to be a bit more sensible.’

Granger smiled at her. ‘Thanks for the compliment and that’ll be really good, for you I mean. If you work hard you’ll do well and get to uni and I think you’ll have a great time there.’

‘Yeah. There’s just one thing, Mum.’

‘What’s that?’

‘This essay is really late so I wondered if you’d write a note saying I’ve been upset since last Saturday and not able to work properly.’

Granger shook her head. She got up and gave her daughter a hug.

‘Of course,’ she said and left Lesley to get on with her work. Maybe things were looking up as Oldroyd had said they would. And anyway, after