Witchmoor Edge

by Mike Crowson

  * * *

  Lucy Turner took the lead in questioning Rosie O'Connor, mostly because she had been present when Millicent had taken her first statement. DS Gibbs simply watched and listened with a steady attention to detail.

  "You never told us you were still in touch with Hunter right up to the time of his murder," Lucy observed.

  "We didn't really discuss it," Rosie said. She showed a little more animation than before, but not a lot. "I didn't make a secret of it. At least, I didn't mean to."

  "What was the stuff you had for him?"

  "A couple of books he wanted back and some Cannabis he left with me."

  "You got drugs for him?" Lucy asked. "I thought it was him that supplied you?"

  "It was, mostly. I did get Cannabis sometimes, because I knew a bloke who sold it. This wasn't mine, though and I didn't buy it. Simon left it in my flat."

  "Why did you say managed to get the stuff then," Lucy asked. "It sounds as if this was a special effort."

  "Did I say that?" said Rosie, rather disinterestedly. "I meant managed to find the stuff. Anyway, It was what he asked me to get."

  "How did he ask you?"

  "He wrote."

  "Have you still got the letter?" Lucy asked.

  "I've probably got it somewhere," Rosie said. "I haven't cleared up much in the last couple of weeks."

  "When was this?"

  "I guess it was just after the row," Rosie said. "A couple of weeks ago. I didn't do anything about it so he rang me up."

  "And you hunted these things out for him, even after what he’d done to you?"

  "I had nothing else to do and anyway I didn't rush to do it."

  Lucy was sceptical. She caught Gibbs's eye and thought that he was sceptical as well, but wasn't sure whether he was doubting it was cannabis or doubting it was Hunter's. Doubting both probably.

  "And where was the usual place?" she asked.

  "We used to meet quite often in the the ‘Bulldog’ at Burley Woodhead," Rosie said.

  "And that's where you meant?"

  "It's where I meant and where Simon would have understood."

  "And did you meet there?"

  "I went there as arranged. That was why I left the cycle race early. I waited for more than hour, but Simon didn't come."

  "I thought you dropped out because you weren't fit enough for a road race," Lucy reminded her. "That's what you told DI Hampshire."

  Rosie smiled wanly and a little ruefully.

  "Gloria talked me into joining the road race. I couldn't keep up I'd been so long out of it. I had lunch with her in Ilkley and had nice time to ride to Burley Woodhead. When Simon didn't come I rode down to Menston and caught the train home, like I told her in the first place."

  "Why didn't you say that the first time we talked to you,"

  Rosie just shrugged. "Nothing happened. Nobody came. There was no point in drawing attention to myself when there was no need."

  "Why did you write to Hunter after what he'd done to you?"

  Rosie shrugged again. "Some people, mostly women I guess, though not exclusively, seem to slip into the role of victim," she said. "I don't know why I let him humiliate me then come back for more. I'm not proud of it, you know. That's another reason I didn't say anything to your inspector."

  "You say you were regulars at the Bulldog?"

  "Yes."

  "So, if we show your picture to the bar staff, they'll know you?"

  "Yes."

  Lucy weighed her up. She seemed to have no hesitation about what was, in effect, an alibi. Perhaps Rosie was bluffing.

  Lucy paused the tape and got to her feet, signalling Tony Gibbs to follower her into the corridor. "D'you think she's bluffing?" Lucy asked him.

  "She tells it like she's telling the truth," Gibbs admitted. "Still, we'll have to check out the story. It should be easy enough. Just call in the pub with a photo and see if they know her and whether she was there last Saturday."

  "And if so, what time," added Lucy. "Okay, do you want to have a go at her while I drive to Burley Woodhead, or would you like to have the drive out?"

  "I think it might be better if you were to keep on at her," Gibbs said, a little doubtfully. "I don't actually think there's much to be gained until we check out the story anyway."

  "Let's see if she has a photo handy," said Lucy, and they went back into the interview room.