Dying to Meet You

by Patricia Scott

  Connell nodded his head slowly. ‘It is.’

  ‘You visited Geraldine Temple’s flat on the East hill twice before her death on the 2nd July. Was she a friend or an acquaintance?’

  ‘Neither. I told DS Handley that I went there on Mr Kaufman’s business. Ms Temple was an old friend of his and he liked to keep a friendly eye on her.’

  ‘Geraldine Temple was his one time mistress who committed suicide last month.’

  Connell shrugged. ‘Like I said Mr Kaufman knew her from way back. I work for him.’

  ‘DS Handley - you were seen hanging about outside her flat on the seafront.’

  ‘Whoever said that is a fucking liar.’

  ‘Handley said herself that she thought she’d seen you in a shelter opposite her flat under the street lighting on two different occasions. Shortly before her death.’

  Connell grimaced and shook his head. ‘Never - she must have needed her eyes testing.’

  ‘And on the night DS Handley was killed you said you had cut your hand with a knife on the bar counter slicing a lemon and went to A&E to have it stitched.’

  ‘That’s right, I did. You can ask Triage in Casualty. Waited a full two hours before I was seen. A messy business. It bled quite a bit. My boss and the manager can bear evidence on that score. It was a particularly busy night.’

  Connell grinned and held out his left hand.

  ‘Connell shows plaster on healed wound on left hand. That still gives you time to pay Handley a visit.’

  He leaned back in the chair with folded arms across his chest. ‘Like I said I had a long wait in A&E before I was seen to.’ He shrugged.

  ‘You were on the Club premises when Jude Van Hoet was killed.’

  ‘I was working late. We were busy.’

  ‘When did you last see Jude Van Hoet on the night she was killed?’

  ‘Not certain. I think she went upstairs before we closed at two a.m. I’d left before Erik Kaufman came over and called you lot out.’

  ‘You were not working when Ellie Cooper went on her blind date with the unknown man. How did you spend your time that evening?’

  ‘I got some fresh air for a change and took a long walk along the sea front. I’m stuck in the Casino most evenings. So I make the most of my evenings off.’

  ‘You had no date with a woman that evening, Mr Connell? I would have thought that you would have done considering your reputation as a womaniser.’

  He leaned back in the chair and grinned. ‘Yeah. I’ve got nothing to hide. I spent some time on the pier. Yeah, I chatted to the woman running the Bingo stall and I tried my hand on the rifle range. Couldn’t shoot so well because of my duff hand.’

  Farmer pushed Ellie Cooper’s photograph across the table. ‘Connell is now looking at Ellie Cooper’s photograph. Do you recognize this girl?

  ‘Yeah…’ he shrugged. ‘I think I did see this girl on the night in question. She was hanging around the amusement arcade on the pier. Looked nervous. She was near a machine that reads your fortune in your hand. I thought at first she might want company. Well you do, don’t you when you see a girl on her own. She was wearing a pink rose pinned to her dress.’ He shook his head. ‘Now I come to think of it she looked only a kid. ’ He creased his eyes thoughtfully. ‘Her dress was blue I think. Matched her blue eyes, yeah. And I was just about to chat her up when some girls came up to her. Girls she knew. Friends of hers by the look of ‘em. Stayed chatting for a minute or so. Then she moved off - she must have met that bloke she expected to see because I didn’t see her again.

  ‘If that was the poor kid that was killed I feel real bad about it.’ He paused. ‘I only wish I’d spoken to her now.’ He grinned. ‘She could have done worse. I might have kept the bastard away from her, yeah? Saved her life.’ He was thoughtful for second or so. ‘A bit young for me though.’

  ‘You didn’t see anyone else approach her? Other than those girls?’

  ‘Nah, look the place was pretty crowded out. It’s always popular with the visitors and teenagers. You can miss someone there easily amongst that lot. He must have chosen it as a meeting place because of that.’

  The officers glanced at one another.

  ‘Like you said she would have been a bit young for you, Mr Connell, wouldn’t she? How old are you? Twenty eight/ twenty nine or thereabouts?’

  ‘You know exactly how old I am. Twenty eight and what age was she? Seventeen?’

  ‘Your record, Mr Connell, also tells us that you were put into care as a baby. You were adopted.’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘But you lost your adoptive mother soon afterwards. She was killed in a hit and run accident and you went back into care again. Moved through ten foster homes in all. In other words, you had a difficult childhood, Mr Connell.’

  He stared out Farmer sullenly and said, ‘No comment.’

  ‘No different from lots of children, Mr Connell.’

  ‘Yeah, okay I did. Have a rough deal.’ He leaned over the table. ‘That’s right. Sure I did. I’ve made no secret of it. But you can’t hold me responsible for that, can you? And you can’t pin these murders on me either. I don’t get my kicks killing my girlfriends.’ He leant back in his chair and grinned at them. ‘I’m not the bastard you want. You’d better hurry up and find him before he kills any more young women here in Harling.’

  Thirty-Four

  What Angela had mentioned had set Mel wondering if Geraldine’s death had been the root cause of the deaths that followed. First of all, why Linda? Was it because like Geraldine Temple she was a Cancer star sign or was it simply because she knew something she shouldn’t that concerned the older woman’s death? Did she work out that it wasn’t a suicide?

  Had Geraldine been an irritating burr in the Kaufman’s life style? Freddie could have seized on her weakness and her illness to get rid of her. But somehow this didn’t fit in with Freddie’s character. He surely would have dealt with her as soon as she’d presented a problem. He wouldn’t have waited so long.

  Mel wondered if Brian Calder might be able to give her some ideas. When she got him on the phone he was as surprised as she’d expected him to be.

  ‘Look. I know this might sound strange to you, especially as the case is closed, but could you tell me what conclusions you came to personally when you and Linda had to deal with Geraldine Temple’s suicide, DC Calder? Are you quite sure that a letter wasn’t overlooked? Could someone have been there before you came perhaps and removed it? Who actually found her and reported her death to you?’

  ‘Are you trying to make a story out of it for your paper, Ms Goring? It was her neighbour next door who has a key. She was worried because Ms Temple was quieter than normal she said. Didn’t put on the morning radio news as usual. She checked on her, found her and phoned us.’

  ‘Did the neighbour know about the young man who called on her? A stranger I was told rang her doorbell the day before. There was an argument between them I understand.’

  ‘She didn’t mention it. And there is nothing more I can really say about it. She was a lonely woman, a heavy drinker, took drugs for the pain and was terminally ill. End of story.’

  ‘Well, perhaps, thanks anyway.’

  Thirty-Five

  Erik Kaufman tended to his orchids but he was seeing his darling Jude’s face in every flower. He had the funeral to arrange and face now that the inquest was over. There had been another killing. A young girl, a teenager this time. If Freddie had had Jude killed would he have been responsible for her as well? It simply didn’t add up.

  He also had Geraldine Temple on his mind. He recalled the attractive woman that Geraldine had once been. His lovely Gerry who had lighted up his life till the accident when they had both been injured and their lives so bitterly blighted ten years ago. He remembered that she had accused Freddie of instigating the damage to the oil feed. He’d thought she was crazy with pain and fear, her face and neck had been badly scarred by the flying glass and her left leg damaged which p
ut paid to her theatre career.

  He had tried to make up for it although he couldn’t stop her from getting hooked on drugs and booze. Now Jude had gone too and he wanted to hit back. And Freddie was the nearest person he felt he could blame.

  Possibly the cops had Freddie in their sights already. They were going to find who killed their police officer and must know that there had been plenty of agro between Freddie and Linda Handley. She had tried to question one of the young women, a Croatian girl, he’d brought into the country illegally, when she got away out on the streets. Wanted her to speak out in court against his brother.

  Their lawyer had sorted it and the Croatian girl had in the end refused to speak but DS Handley had made a big fuss and Freddie was forced to be more careful. That was only three weeks ago.

  Freddie was a loose cannon. He could bring all the Kaufman businesses into disrepute. Eric felt now that he had to give the police something to keep them sweet. He could stand losing the business but he didn’t want to be forever reminded of Jude’s death which he knew he would be every time he saw Freddie in the future.

  Thirty-Six

  Farmer stood beside Peterson and the other police officers by Linda Handley’s grave side. It was held not that far away from Geraldine Temple’s grave and the Vicar Hugh Temple was officiating.

  The wreaths of flowers were many and bright and beautiful. Linda had been so popular and had helped in a local youth club and with the homeless. How could anyone have wanted to kill her?

  ‘Don’t like funerals - Ellie Cooper’s will be next I suppose,’ Farmer commented joining up with Mel walking back down the path to the cars. ‘I expect Kaufman will be seeing to Jude Van Hoet’s. I still can’t believe that all this has happened so quickly. Only just over a week or so.’

  ‘Are you still thinking that they’re responsible for Geraldine’s death?’

  ‘I don’t think that Freddie Kaufman is responsible for these Cancer star sign deaths. Even though he might have had a real motive for Linda’s killing. He believed she was interfering in the Kaufman’s sex trade not long ago.’ He turned his head to study her determined profile. ‘And are you still determined to go ahead with this crazy idea to draw out the killer by wearing that pendant. I’m not going to let you do it without trying to change your mind.’

  They had reached the police car where Calder stood talking to Trask and Peterson. ‘Can I cadge a lift?’ he said quickly to her. ‘I want to talk some more.’

  It sounded urgent. ‘Okay, my car’s down there.’

  ‘Lunch? My treat?’

  ‘Bribery will get you nowhere. ’

  He grinned. ‘As if I would. Mel—’ He tightened his lips, it was not going to come out right. ‘Will you listen to me for Christ’s sake? You’re putting yourself in real danger here. If we had an inkling of the killer’s identity we’d know what move to make next. But we don’t. This is such a bloody awful time with everything and everyone trying to make sense of it. There’s so much going on this week with the Carnival celebrations coming up. Our killer could get away with another murder. And you are crazy to offer an open invitation to him.’

  She giggled. ‘You sound like my father, Nick Farmer.’

  ‘Yeah. Okay and I feel like putting you over my knee and spanking you,’ he said. ‘Then I’d sweep you up in my arms and never let you go till I persuaded you to drop this damn foolish, dangerous idea of yours.’

  She laughed. ‘Really! And what if I tell you that I feel much more than that. I’d like to kiss your lips till you stop lecturing me. And return them with equal fervour. Now, how about that?’

  He chuckled. ‘You’re direct I must say. I never knew anyone quite like you before. But I’d like to try you out.’

  ‘Vice versa. But…’ She checked her watch and shook her head. ‘It’s a shame but I have to get back and I’m sure that you do too. I promise that I will let you know what I’m doing. Before I do it.’

  He caught hold of her hand and squeezed it tight in his. ‘You’d better do just that.’

  ‘I’m not going anywhere tonight. I shall be at home with Jack once I finish work. But I do expect to hear from the Virgo man because I put in my own advert this week.’

  ‘You did what?’

  ‘It reads ‘A LOVING CANCER WOMAN LOOKING FOR A CARING VIRGO MAN’. Let’s see if he’ll answer it and take the bait.’

  He swore under his breath. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before? If you get an answer don’t make any dumb moves on it without telling me. Do you hear?’ he said releasing her hand reluctantly.

  ‘I shan’t.’

  ‘I hope you mean it. I’m crazy about you, woman,’ he said catching her hand again and kissing it.

  She smiled. ‘Gee - I never thought to melt the stony heart of DI Farmer. I must be dreaming,’ she said with an uncertain shaky laugh. ‘Don’t go too soft on me will you. I’ll need you as my knight errant if I get into danger.’

  He groaned loudly. ‘Thanks for reminding me. By the way we brought Connell in for questioning. Linda spoke to him originally in the Casino. But she got nothing from him.’

  ‘So where’s Connell now?’

  ‘We had to let him go. We didn’t have enough on him. Although he seems to fit with his past history of suspected sexual harassment. And he admits seeing Ellie Cooper on the pier but never spoke to her personally. Or so he says.’

  Thirty-Seven

  Mel’s date was put into the evening paper. One amongst many in the Astrological date line. Sylvie who had volunteered to help Mel was ready to man her phone to answer if the Virgo man got in touch.

  ‘You must phone me to let me know what he says to you and take down everything verbatim. You will not be seeing him, Sylvie. You are not to give him your name. Promise me you will just listen and say you will meet him when he’s given you all the necessary details we need. You are young and sound it,’ she said patting her on the shoulder. ‘But I’m the one who is meeting him so I need to be forewarned. Take note of everything he says and tell me what he sounds like.’

  Sylvie blinked and nodded. ‘Of course. I’ll do everything you’ve said.’

  ‘Okay then. We’ll talk again if and when you hear anything from the Virgo man. Thanks.’

  *

  That evening Mel got strong vibes that she was being watched. She looked out of her window several times and noticed someone was sitting in the driver’s seat in the escort parked just across the road. She waiting a few minutes then looked out through the front window again and knew definitely that there was someone in the car under the lighted street lamp. Had she got a stalker? Or was it the man she was trying to flush out?

  In the end she couldn’t stand it any longer and walked out of the house across the road to the car and banged hard on the window. The man inside rolled it down.

  ‘Nick Farmer! You bastard! Haven’t you got anything else to do other than to send me up shit-street?’

  She didn’t know else how to cover up the immense relief that she felt at seeing him grinning back at her. She nearly collapsed with relief.

  ‘Can you do with a beer? If you fancy one come on in the house.’

  ‘I could do with a coffee, thanks.’

  ‘Sorry if I’ve spoilt your evening,’ he said looking round the kitchen appreciatively.

  ‘Why are you doing this to me, Farmer?’

  He grinned generously. ‘Several reasons. If you don’t know the main reason you’re not the instinctive investigator that I thought you were. Did you or did you not tell me you intended to date this Virgo man, Mel Goring?’

  She put on the kettle and turned round to face him her hands held on her hips. ‘So? Haven’t you got enough to do?’

  ‘I can’t concentrate on the case in hand while I think of you putting yourself into the front line,’ he said pulling out a kitchen chair and discovering a large furry, tawny mass curled up on it. ‘Hey! Is this your fill in for a watch dog?’

  ‘No - it’s Beazy, my Maine coon cat.
One of the last presents Colin was able to give me.’

  ‘It’s more like a floor mop.’ He chuckled. ‘I bet you my cat Squib could match yours for size. Would you mind switching on the TV please?’

  ‘Why? Are you bored with my company already?’

  ‘It’s time for Crimewatch. Our Chief, Peterson, is appearing on it to ask for help on our latest case. She’s asking if anyone remembers seeing Ellie Cooper on the Harling Pier. We’ve videoed a reconstruction with one of her friends Janet playing her role.’

  ‘Wow! I wish her luck then. Here you are. It looks like we’re just in time to catch it.’

  They watched the reconstruction taking place on the still sunny pier. Mel watching it felt her tummy squeeze in tight. Was the killer watching too?

  Peterson said to the watching TV audience, ‘We know that Ellie Cooper was meeting someone on a blind date. Did anyone see this young girl in the company of a man that evening? Or any time later in the vicinity of the Victoria Park? If so please come forward.’

  Afterwards Mel said quietly, ‘How much alike were the two girls? Did they manage to match up the dresses?’

  ‘Both blondes. This girl lived next door to Ellie, knew her from school as well and volunteered to help because she’d met Ellie that evening on the pier and saw the dress she was wearing. The shop in town where she purchased it came forward with a matching dress. And the flower in her hair. Must have been hard for her, poor kid.’

  ‘Do you think this might put him off from attacking another victim?’

  Nick shook his head. ‘I doubt it. Whatever is driving him to do it will still persist. It’s in his head.’ He took his mug of coffee from her. ‘Jack is in bed, is he?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes - his Gramps took charge of him today. And they built a super huge sandcastle on the beach. Our photographer Bill took a photo of it for our paper before the tide took it over. So our Jack has had a very busy day. Fell asleep as I towelled him down after his bath. You can come and see him if you want to?’