THE BEEKEEPER a gripping crime mystery with a dark twist

by Stewart Giles

  “Can I stop you there?” DC Brown broke in. “Surely you can’t think there’s some connection between a wedding that took place forty years ago and what’s happened in the past week? There must have been loads of people at the wedding.”

  “Let her finish,” James said.

  “I do think there’s a connection. There were only four people at the wedding. Alice and Stanley Green, Milly Lancaster and Dennis Albarn.”

  “And three of them were murdered in the past seven days,” Carrick said. “Where’s this Alice Green now?”

  “She’s staying at my house. After everything that’s happened I thought she’d be safer there than at home. I figured she might be next.”

  “Good thinking,” James told her. “I’d say that gives us more than enough to be going on with, wouldn’t you?”

  “Have you questioned this Alice Green?” asked Carrick.

  “Of course. She was one of the first people we spoke to. She’s as upset as everybody else about all of this. Probably more so, as she’s just lost her husband and her best friend. She’s putting on a brave face but she’s hurting inside.”

  “Bring her in again,” James said.

  “What for? Don’t you think she’s been through enough?”

  “We’re not going to attach electrodes to her and shock a confession out of her. I just want to get some more background on this wedding. Maybe there was someone there she didn’t know about. She’s the only one left from the wedding party. She may know something without even realising it. She could be the next victim for all we know. It’s in everybody’s best interest that we talk to her.”

  “Sorry. You’re right. It’s just … I’ve become quite close to her over the past week. She’s a nice old lady. She keeps bees in her back garden.”

  “My dad used to keep bees,” Brown said.

  James glared at him. “Right. Jane, you and Harriet can speak to the beekeeper. She’ll probably be more comfortable talking to female officers.”

  “Are we going to bring her down to the station?” Taylor was still uncomfortable at the thought of dragging Alice into an interview room.

  “Yes. I want every interview recorded. That’s the way it’s going to be. Paul, I want you to go through all the forensics and autopsy reports with a fine toothcomb. I want to know if anything jumps out at you. Similarities in the causes of death and the like. Phil, you speak to everybody who knew the deceased. Friends, family, former work colleagues. Find out what made them tick. Take that tall PC with you.”

  “Thomas White,” Taylor said.

  “That’s him. He seems to have his head screwed on. I’m going to do a bit of strategizing.” He looked at the team. “I think I made the right choice here. We’ll meet in the Unicorn at seven sharp to go over what we find out.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  “Have you worked with DCI James for long?” Taylor asked DI Jane Carrick. They were driving to her house.

  “Three years, and there’s never been a dull moment. He’s a bit of a stickler but he’s a good boss and his record speaks for itself,” Carrick replied.

  “I still don’t feel comfortable with this first name thing. It doesn’t feel right. You’re a DI, not a work buddy.”

  “I’ll make you a deal. When this is all over, if you ever find yourself in Exeter, you’ll bloody well address me as ma’am, but until then, I’m Jane. Deal?”

  “Deal. And this is my house here … Jane.”

  Carrick gazed at it. “It’s huge. I’m moving to Trotterdown. You guys obviously make a lot more money than us lowly Exeter plods do.”

  “It’s a very long story.”

  Alice’s van wasn’t where it had been parked that morning. “It looks like she’s gone out,” Taylor said, “I’ll go in and see what’s going on.”

  “I’m coming with you. After everything that’s happened we can’t be too careful.”

  Taylor felt sick as they went in. What if something had happened to the old lady while I was meant to be looking after her? What if she’s lying dead on the floor? Then she caught sight of the note on the kitchen fridge.

  “She’s gone home. She said she needed to be at home for the bees and the jackdaw.”

  “Jackdaw?”

  “A pet. She’s lived in the same place for over thirty years. I suppose it must be hard to leave.”

  “We still need to speak to her.”

  *

  They found Alice in her back garden tending to the bees. She smiled at Taylor and looked DI Carrick up and down.

  “Morning, dear,” she said to Taylor. “I’m sorry, I had to come home. The bees need looking after and the jackdaw gets lonely. I left you a note.”

  “I saw it. This is DI Jane Carrick from Exeter.”

  “Exeter?” Alice stared at Carrick. “You need to eat more, love. You need a bit more flesh on your bones. I can whip up a slice of bread with some honey on it, if you like. The honey’s been a bit funny lately, but I think it’s still all right to eat.”

  “I’m fine. How many bees do you have?” Carrick said.

  “Just the six hives at the moment. I’m thinking of getting some more. I sell the honey at the market in Berryton. I’ve got a licence, you know.”

  “I’m sure you have, but that’s not why we’re here. Can we have a word with you down at the station? It shouldn’t take long,” Taylor said.

  “Is this about Milly?”

  “In a way,” Taylor said. “I’ll drop you back at home afterwards.”

  “I’d rather go in the van. I need to pick up a few things in town anyway. I’ve run out of port.”

  *

  Thirty minutes later, Alice, Taylor and DI Carrick sat in the interview room at the station in Trotterdown.

  “Am I a suspect?” Alice said when Carrick turned on the recording device.

  “No, it’s the DCI’s orders. He wants every interview logged for future reference. He’s very meticulous.”

  “Would you like a cup of tea?” Taylor sat down opposite Alice.

  “No, thank you. What’s this all about?”

  “We’d like you to think back,” Carrick said, “back to your wedding day. I know it’s a long time ago but I need you to think.”

  “It was before you two were born. What do you want to know?”

  “We think what’s happened in the past week may have something to do with your wedding.”

  “What do you mean? How could it?”

  “Who was at the wedding that day?” Taylor asked.

  “Me, Stanley, Milly and Dennis. I’ve told you all of this before.”

  “I know. It’s just for the tape.”

  “There were just the four of us.”

  “And three of them have been killed in the space of a week,” Carrick said. “Are you sure there wasn’t somebody else there that day?”

  “Just the clerk. We were married in a small registry office in Plymouth. It was a low-key affair. We didn’t want anything flashy.”

  “And there’s nothing else you can think of that would explain what’s happened recently? Anything that struck you as suspicious at the time?”

  “No. Like I said, it was very low key. Stanley and Dennis Albarn got slaughtered afterwards but that was par for the course. It wasn’t much of a wedding night, I can tell you that.”

  “Can you think of anybody who might have wanted to hurt Stanley, Dennis and Milly?” Taylor said.

  “I wanted to kill Stanley and Dennis plenty of times myself, but poor Milly? She wouldn’t hurt a fly. I suppose I shouldn’t have said that on the tape, should I?”

  “It’s all right, Alice,” Taylor told her. “You’re not a suspect here. We’re exploring a number of avenues at the moment and this wedding is the best we’ve come up with so far. It’s all we’ve got to go on.”

  “Nothing happened. We said ‘I do’ and that was it.”

  “OK,” Carrick said, “where did you go after the wedding? Did you have some kind of a reception?”

&
nbsp; “We went to this dive in Plymouth. It was Stanley who organised it. He and Dennis got legless. We left at around ten and went home.”

  “In Plymouth?” Taylor said.

  “That’s right. We had a small flat above a baker’s shop. We moved to Polgarrow a few years later.”

  Carrick paused the machine. “Thank you for your time.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more, but I still can’t see how our wedding has anything to do with what happened to Stanley, Milly and Dennis.”

  Carrick turned the machine on.

  “When was the last time you saw your husband?”

  “Ten years ago. More or less.”

  “Ten years? That’s a long time. Where did he go?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care. Stanley has been out of my life for years. I’m not even sure I feel much about his death.”

  “That’s understandable,” Taylor said.

  “I’ve got used to being on my own. I like it that way. I’ve got my bees. They’re all I need.”

  “Alice, you told me that Stanley phoned you on Wednesday night.”

  “That’s right.”

  “But he was already dead by then. That means it was somebody pretending to be your husband. Do you have any idea who it might have been?”

  “I was a bit tipsy. I’d had quite a lot of port. It sounded like Stanley, but the line was bad. It could’ve been Dennis Albarn for all I know. He and Stanley had similar voices.”

  “Dennis Albarn?” Carrick said. “Why would he phone, pretending to be your husband, and arrange to meet?”

  “Maybe as a joke. Dennis never liked me, and the feeling was mutual.”

  “Albarn’s house blew up with him in it on Wednesday at half past nine,” said Taylor. “What time was the phone call?”

  “It was before the explosion. I know, I heard the blast.”

  “So Albarn could’ve phoned you?” Carrick said.

  “Let’s take a break,” Taylor suggested. “This is all getting confusing.”

  “I think we’re finished here anyway.” Carrick switched off the recording device. “Thank you, Alice. You can go now.”

  “Will you be OK on your own?” Taylor asked.

  “I’ll be all right.” Alice looked at Taylor. “I’ve got your number if I notice anything suspicious going on. I’ll make sure my doors are locked.”

  “I don’t think you need to worry,” Carrick said.

  When Alice had left the room, she turned to Taylor. “I’ve got an idea. It’s a bit of a wild stab in the dark, but it’s worth looking into. What if Dennis Albarn is behind all of this? What if he killed Stanley Green?”

  “Why? Why would he kill his best friend?”

  “Stranger things have happened. Maybe they had a drunken argument that got out of hand. Maybe Albarn saw red and killed Stanley Green. Milly Lancaster saw the whole thing and Albarn had to get rid of her to shut her up.”

  “What about the explosion?”

  “An accident? Maybe Albarn was overcome by guilt, he tried to gas himself but ended up dying in a much more spectacular fashion? Like I said, it’s just a wild stab in the dark.”

  “No, the more I think of it, the more it makes sense. Albarn can’t have been banking on the worst lightning storm in years to happen when he left the gas on. With a house full of flammable gas, it wouldn’t have taken much to set it off. Now all we have to do is try to link Albarn to Stanley Green and Milly Lancaster.”

  “And if we can, we’re left with one small problem. Dennis Albarn is dead. He’ll have got away with it.”

  “Hardly. He must have had a horrible death. What now?”

  “Let’s wait and see what DS Southern finds out from the forensic reports. I’m particularly interested in that fire.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  DS Paul Southern was sitting by himself in the canteen. It was fairly busy, but nobody had joined him. Taylor could sense the tension in the room when she and Carrick walked in. She did her best to ignore it, and sat down at Southern’s table.

  “Did you find anything?” Carrick asked.

  “I don’t know. I’ve pretty much figured out the timescale. The chain of events goes something like this. Stanley Green was killed first. Cause of death was a severe blow to the head that caused a fractured skull and splinters of bone into the brain, and he was cut in half afterwards. We can assume Milly Lancaster was next even though her body still hasn’t been found. Dennis Albarn was the last one.”

  “What about the fire report?” Taylor said. “Have you been through it?”

  “Of course. The gas was left on, that much is clear, and it does seem to have been set off by a direct lightning strike. Albarn wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

  “Do you think it was an accident?”

  “Yes. Just a dreadful set of coincidences. An old guy forgets to switch the gas off and a freak lightning flash hits the house. What are the chances? One in a million?”

  “I don’t buy it,” Carrick said. “I want to have a look at the report myself. We’ll need Albarn’s DNA too. I want to see if we can link him in any way to the deaths of Stanley Green and Milly Lancaster.”

  “You can’t be serious?”

  “Deadly serious.” She told him her theory and he thought about it for a moment.

  “You know what, you could actually be onto something there.”

  “Dennis Albarn’s phone,” Taylor said. “Was it found among the wreckage?”

  “Everything was destroyed. You saw the place. It must have been a hell of a blast.”

  “It was. I was just nearby when it happened.”

  “Why do you want his phone?”

  “He may have phoned Alice Green on Wednesday evening, shortly before the explosion. Alice deleted the number. She thought it was her husband, but he was already dead by then.”

  “We don’t need the phone, then. We just need to get hold of his service provider. All the calls will be logged.”

  Taylor could have kicked herself for not thinking of that herself. With everything that had happened, she had lost sight of standard procedure. Nevertheless, she had the feeling that they were starting to get somewhere. The new team from Exeter seemed to be the catalyst they desperately needed.

  They were joined by an exhausted-looking DC Brown. “I’m knackered,” he said. “We must have harassed half the population of Polgarrow today. Those old people really know how to chat.”

  “Did you find anything?” Carrick asked.

  “Stanley Green and Dennis Albarn were well-known characters. Well, more notorious, really, but more loveable rogues than anything worse. Everyone we spoke to said the same thing. Nobody could think of any reason why somebody would actually want to kill them.”

  “What about Milly Lancaster?”

  “That’s a strange one. Nobody had much to say about Milly Lancaster at all. She kept herself to herself, by all accounts. Alice Green was her only friend.”

  They sat in silence for a while. Taylor turned to look at one of the other tables. Two PCs she barely knew were scowling at her. “Is there something wrong?” she shouted over at them. The pair got up and left the canteen.

  “We’ve got two hours before the meeting with the DCI,” Carrick said. “I want forensics to go over everything again but I need to run it past James first. It’s been a long day for everyone, so I suggest we all go and freshen up a bit before we have to meet in the Unicorn at seven.”

  Taylor grabbed the opportunity to get home, even only for a short time. She found a jar of honey on the kitchen table. She was sure it hadn’t been there when she and Carrick had been there earlier.

  Alice still has my spare keys, she thought, making a mental note to pick them up when she had a chance. She opened the back door and went into the garden. The late afternoon sun was beating down on the distant sea. She’d never tire of this view. She would much rather have stayed here than go to the Unicorn. She knew full well that the pub wasn’t a place for the faint-
hearted on a Saturday night. The clientele could be rather rowdy and there always seemed to be trouble around closing time.

  Taylor’s phone rang.

  “Hello, Alice,” she said.

  “How did you know it was me?” Alice replied.

  “Caller ID. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just wanted to thank you for letting me stay at your house. And I’ve had a think about the phone call I received on Wednesday evening. I think you might be right and it could well have been Dennis Albarn. It’s such a shame I deleted the number.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We can find out if he phoned you anyway. All his calls will be logged with his service provider.”

  “Oh.”

  Taylor realised that for someone of Alice’s age, modern technology might be hard to fathom sometimes. She certainly sounded taken aback.

  She rallied pretty quickly and suggested she bring back Taylor’s keys later.

  “I’m afraid I have to go out.”

  “Oh yes? Tell me you’ve finally bitten the bullet and decided to go out on a date?”

  “No, we’ve got a case meeting at the Unicorn at seven. You can drop the keys off at the station tomorrow, if you like.”

  “Tomorrow’s Sunday. Don’t tell me they’ve got you working on a Sunday?”

  “I’m afraid criminals don’t work a five-day week. I’ll tell you what. I’ll fetch the keys the next time I’m in Polgarrow.”

  “That’s fine, dear. Enjoy the meeting,” Alice said and rang off.

  Taylor went upstairs and ran a shower. She made it as cold as she could handle, blasting freezing cold water onto her head. It revived her, and her mind started to race.

  Could Dennis Albarn have killed Stanley Green and Milly Lancaster? She thought. Was it really that simple? DI Carrick’s theory was becoming more and more credible, the more she thought about it.

  She got out of the shower and dried herself. She was wide awake and ready for the meeting. Unicorn or no Unicorn, they were going to get results, she was certain of it. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot and there were dark rings underneath them. Her skin was deathly pale. She remembered the £14,000. She had a couple of weeks’ holiday owed to her.