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

latter arrived; the other, now empty, had been Dominic and Andrea’s room. Louise couldn’t bring herself to climb the stairs and see how Ben was, in part because she didn’t want to go near the vacant room. She suddenly realised that she was cold and turned the heating on. The gentle thrum of the boiler and the water going through the pipes was somehow reassuring.

She turned on the television with the volume down low and switched to the news. She was pleased that, when the item came up, there were still few details being presented and that the story only seemed to be on the local news. She knew that the profile of the case would become more prominent when the police investigation really got under way. She and the others would have to brace themselves for more intensive questioning and the media people would descend on the town. She hoped her dad could get over quickly because she was worried about how that investigation would go. She badly needed to talk to him about it.

Her phone pinged. She was pleased to get a message from him saying he was on his way. He was also bringing Steph, that nice detective sergeant she’d met a few times before. That was good.

Then the phoned pinged again. She looked at the name that came up and her stomach lurched. It was a text from Dominic.

Oldroyd said little on the journey from Harrogate over to Whitby. For once his attention wasn’t on the attractions and curiosities of the Yorkshire landscape. He texted Louise to ask if she’d contacted her mother and received an affirmative answer. He then rang his partner Deborah, a clinical psychologist, to briefly explain what had happened and that he might be away for a few days. She was her usual understanding self and said she would call him in the evening.

It was only when they’d passed the natural amphitheatre of the Hole of Horcum and the RAF station on Fylingdales Moor that he started to notice his surroundings. He pointed to the strange pyramid of the current radar system.

‘Do you remember the golf ball radomes that used to be there?’ he said to Steph.

‘Yes, sir. I remember passing them whenever we came to Whitby for the day on the coach when I was a small kid. We used to be glad to see them because it meant we weren’t that far away and we’d soon be on the beach. If it wasn’t chucking it down, that is.’ She laughed. ‘Happy days. My mum didn’t have much money after my dad left us, but she always made sure we enjoyed ourselves.’

‘You always do your best for your kids whatever the circumstances.’ He was starting to think gloomy thoughts again, but he caught a glimpse of the sea, which raised his spirits a little. He too remembered coming to Whitby when Louise and her brother Robert were small, to play on the beach and eat fish and chips. How odd to be coming back to the town now in these circumstances. But his daughter needed him, and he was glad to be there for her.

At the Airbnb, they were greeted by a clearly relieved but subdued Louise. She gave Oldroyd a big hug, saying, ‘Oh, Dad!’ but nothing more.

Oldroyd was shocked by how pale and drawn her face was. Her eyes were red; she had clearly been crying. She turned to Steph and hugged her too and then led them into the sitting room, which was still empty. Louise had heard noises from the bedrooms but neither Maggie nor Ben had appeared, even though it was nearly midday. Steph sat on the sofa next to Louise and Oldroyd sat in an armchair opposite. Louise looked bewildered, as if she didn’t know what to say. She held up her phone.

‘I’ve had a text from him. I still can’t believe he did it.’

‘From who?’

‘From Dominic. He says he’s sorry, but I know him. He . . .’ She burst into tears.

‘Okay, love. Take it steady. Go back to the beginning and tell us what happened.’

Between sobs, Louise went yet again through the events of the previous afternoon. She calmed down as she talked.

‘So you saw him stab her?’ asked her father at the end of her account.

‘I saw the knife in his hand as he lunged at her. And then she screamed and the blade was sticking out of her chest. There was blood.’ She shut her eyes.

‘And there was absolutely no doubt that it was him?’

‘No, we were together the whole time. Nobody could have been pretending to be him or anything. I’ve thought of that. And if it wasn’t him where did Dominic go? It was definitely him when we went into that place.’

‘Right.’ Oldroyd sighed and glanced at Steph. ‘In that case it’s hard to see round the facts, love.’

‘I know, but trust me, Dad, I’ve been over it a thousand times. It’s driving me mad but something’s not right. For a start, I just can’t believe that Dominic would kill anyone, let alone Andrea. He’s not like that. He did care about her.’

‘What do you think the average murderer is like? Most are ordinary people whose feelings get out of control: anger, jealousy and so on, and then they do something out of character. That seems to be what happened here. There was probably something going on that you didn’t know about.’

‘He wouldn’t do it; I know it.’

‘You say they argued quite a lot.’

‘Yes, but they always made up. I told the detective. There was never any violence. No one ever thought anything like this would happen.’

Oldroyd frowned and shook his head. ‘But he’d brought a knife with him, which seems to indicate that he’d planned what he was going to do.’

‘No, Dad, no!’ Louise was getting increasingly agitated and her voice was getting louder.

‘And what about this text you’ve had? You say he’s sorry for what he did. Let’s have a look.’

Louise handed him her phone. Oldroyd