The Whitby Murders (A Yorkshire Murder Mystery), J. Ellis [free ebook novel TXT] 📗

in anything untoward, then you must report it immediately to Inspector Granger. Understood?’ He sighed. ‘That’s it; I’ve said it.’

‘Yes, sir, and don’t worry. You’re doing the right thing by covering yourself like this but I’m sure that nothing of that nature will come up. I’d stake anything on the fact that Louise is completely innocent.’

‘Yes, I’m sure you’re right,’ replied Oldroyd, unable to contemplate any other outcome.

That evening, Oldroyd and Deborah were relaxing with a bottle of wine in Oldroyd’s flat. Dusk had seemed to fall rapidly and Oldroyd got a sense of approaching winter as he looked out at the twilight early evening sky. A crow flapped past, a black outline against the darkening sky. It made him shiver.

‘The clocks will be going back next week,’ he observed in a rather glum tone of voice. ‘It’s going to get dark really early in the evening.’

‘Well, no need to be melancholy about it. It’s nice and cosy in here. Winter has its own charms.’

‘Yes.’ He drank some wine.

‘Are you okay?’

‘Not really.’ He told her about the conversation with Andy and Steph about Louise. ‘Of course I don’t suspect her, but I can’t leave her out, and I can’t really tell her she’s being investigated. It makes me feel awful, supervising an investigation into my own daughter.’

‘You must have known something like this would happen when you agreed to help that inspector over there. It must be very unusual for any police officer to be associated with a case in which a close relative is involved.’

‘Of course it is. It’s only happened because of my senior position. Also that I know Granger and she wanted me to help, plus Walker was understanding. I’m beginning to wish it hadn’t happened this way. Maybe I would have been better staying out of it.’

‘In the end, you didn’t have a choice, though. No parent is going to ignore a call from their daughter like that.’

Oldroyd looked thoughtfully into his glass. ‘I suppose not. It just feels such a betrayal that I’m having to get Steph to investigate her surreptitiously while also checking if she’s okay.’

‘She’s not stupid, though. She must realise that she’s part of that group of friends which is being looked into.’

‘Maybe. I don’t know and I can’t talk to her about it. At this point that would be really compromising. All she knows is that, like her, I’m not satisfied with aspects of this case and I’m continuing to work with Inspector Granger.’

‘Is that why she’s staying up here and not going back to London?’

‘Yes. She wants to be on hand if anything happens. She’ll be fine at Julia’s for a while. I think she’s going to look up some of her Leeds friends.’

‘Well, never mind. I’ll be there to keep up your morale.’

‘Yes, it will make a big difference. I’ve planned some interesting activities, but I’m not telling you about them.’

‘Good! I like surprises. It’s great to be having a little holiday late in the year like this. I’ve managed to rearrange my sessions with clients for a few days.’

Deborah was travelling back to Whitby with Oldroyd the following day and staying with him. A hotel had been booked.

‘Good. I’ve still got to work with Granger, but I’ll manage some time in between.’

‘That’s fine. But just remember, Jim, you can’t be right every time. If nothing crops up soon you’ll have to accept that the case is simpler than you imagined. Don’t make it into an ego thing.’

‘No, I won’t,’ replied Oldroyd, but he still felt in his bones that there was more to discover.

Andy and Steph lived in an apartment in a converted warehouse overlooking the River Aire in Leeds. They liked living in the vibrant centre of the city and were enjoying a drink in a hipster bar near the Corn Exchange.

‘That was very brave of you this afternoon to confront the boss with the possibility of his daughter being a suspect,’ said Steph.

‘Well, I thought we needed to get it into the open and it would come better from me as I haven’t really been involved up to now,’ replied Andy.

‘You did the right thing. I know it’s hard, but he appreciates being challenged when there’s a good reason. I did it during that Redmire Hall case, and he thanked me afterwards. He doesn’t want “yes” men and women. He wants people who think for themselves and speak out.’

‘Good,’ said Andy laughing. ‘I’ll have scored a few points today then.’

‘You will.’

Andy took a swig from his bottle of lager. ‘So the boss doesn’t think that you’ve got to the bottom of the case then?’ he continued.

‘No, and normally I’d follow him, given how amazing we know he can be.’ Steph sipped her glass of white wine.

‘What’s different this time?’

Steph frowned and twirled her wine glass. ‘I think he’s been influenced too much by his daughter. She was the one that got him involved and she won’t accept what seems to me the clear evidence that this bloke Holgate stabbed his girlfriend, ran off, lay low for a while and then killed himself. I know he behaved very strangely when he was in hiding, but the guilt and trauma of what he’d done must have affected his mind.’

‘Do you think I’ll be wasting my time, then? Investigating these people in London?’

‘I’d probably say yes, but at the end of the day you wouldn’t bet against the boss, would you?’

Andy shook his head. ‘You’d have to be very brave to do that. But nobody’s infallible and sometimes your judgement can be clouded by personal connections.’

‘Exactly. But all we can do is what we’re told and see what happens. At some point that inspector at Whitby will call a halt to things. She seems very sharp. She’s worked with the boss before. I think she’s humouring him because she admires him. Like us. But there will come a time when she realises the investigation is going nowhere.’

‘It gives me a chance