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

want to be drawn into a discussion of male violence against women.

‘What makes you so sure that Holgate killed her then?’

Gifford looked surprised. ‘Isn’t that what happened? It’s been all over the press. Holgate stabbed her in that escape room or whatever it was, ran off and then killed himself a couple of days later. It’s Shakespearean, the difference between appearance and reality; brutal killers are often full of charm. We dealt with that issue in our last play. It was very well received by the critics. It’s very important that these issues are—’

‘I’m sure it is,’ said Andy, deliberately cutting her off in full flow. ‘The fact is we’re not sure that what the evidence suggests is actually what happened. We’re looking for other people who might have had a motive to do either of them harm. Did Andrea have any enemies to your knowledge?’

‘No. Everyone loved her. I don’t know why anyone would want to harm her, but that’s often the story with domestic violence: good women, women who have helped others, get badly treated by the very people who should be caring for them. It’s a huge problem. Do you know women are more likely to be killed by a man they know than anyone else?’

Andy still refused to be drawn. ‘Were you aware that Andrea had any financial problems?’ he asked.

Gifford looked suspicious. ‘No. It’s true that none of us make a great deal of money out of what we do – that’s not our motivation – but I think Andrea had some kind of legacy, didn’t she, from an aunt?’

‘That’s right, she inherited a flat in Leeds, but we also have evidence that she was involved in some scam with her uncle concerning false jewellery.’

‘Andrea? I find that hard to believe. Are you sure there wasn’t any coercion involved?’

‘Not that we’re aware of.’

‘Sounds to me like she was trapped in something to do with a male relative. That’s very common too: girls and young women being exploited and abused within the family. If not that then she was probably driven to it by the need to survive here in London where women earn considerably less than men.’

Andy glanced at Jenkins and saw to his amusement that the sergeant was looking alarmed and intimidated by this woman and her strongly expressed views.

Gifford paused and shook her head. There was sadness and regret in her voice. ‘I wish she’d talked to us about it if her money situation was so bad and I know why she didn’t. She wouldn’t have wanted to worry us and she was very committed to the company. She wouldn’t have wanted to leave us for something better paid.’

‘Right,’ said Andy.

Gifford stood up. ‘Look, I’ve got a rehearsal soon. Is there anything else?’

‘No, that’s fine, thank you.’

She escorted them back to the exit. Her mood was now sombre. ‘The awful irony of it all hasn’t escaped us,’ she said as the detectives were leaving. ‘Here she was, performing plays about the way women are treated in society and then she becomes a victim herself. It’s shocking and it hurts us a lot.’

Louise was having troubling thoughts. Ever since she’d met her friends in Leeds the previous night, something had been preying on her mind. She sat alone in the house in Chapel Allerton turning the problem over. She got up and looked out of the window at the tiny back garden, which her mother had made into a lovely little sanctuary with flowers in ceramic pots and attractive garden furniture. It was looking rather bedraggled now in late October.

She sighed. There was only one thing to do which was to tackle what was bothering her. She got her phone and sent a photograph to her friend Aisha with the text:

Good to see you last night. Is this the person you saw at Andrea’s flat?

The message came back quickly:

Hi! Yes pretty sure. Great to see you too.

She texted back: Thanks, then went into the lounge and sat down. She thought for a moment and then sent another text to a different person:

Need to talk about something bothering me. A picture missing from Andrea’s flat. You might be able to help.

She waited a while in silence and then a message came back.

Nice to hear from you, hope you’re okay. Going to be in Leeds on Saturday. Be busy but we could meet up.

She replied: Yes. can pick you up, but the answer she received suggested they meet at a certain time and place. She put down the phone and thought again. Then she called Steph.

‘Hi.’

‘Hi, how are you?’ Steph was at work at Harrogate HQ, looking through reports.

‘I’m okay, thanks, but I need your help. You know when we went to Andrea’s flat with Dad?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did he leave a key for the flat with you? I need to go over there to look for one or two things. I’ve remembered that I lent her some books and I’d like to get them back.’

‘Yes, he did leave a key, but I don’t know if I should lend it to you as the flat is still technically part of the investigation.’

‘I promise I’ll look after it and I won’t stay long. I won’t touch anything; I’ll just get my books.’

‘Are you just going round there by yourself?’

There was a slight pause before Louise answered. ‘Yes.’

Steph thought for a moment. ‘Okay then, I’ll drop it in to you on my way home tonight.’

‘That’s great. See you later.’ The conversation ended and Louise put her phone down on the coffee table. She wasn’t going to tell the truth about what she was intending to do. This was a problem she wanted to sort out herself.

In the afternoon Andy and DC Jenkins arrived at the offices of Reality Media Productions, where Dominic Holgate had worked.

‘Well, this is just about our last chance,’ said Andy wearily. ‘We’ve followed up on nearly everybody on the list my boss gave me, but nothing’s really turned up.