Three Little Maids

by Patricia Scott

  ‘Phew!’ Kent made a face. And took a long appreciative draught of his beer.

  ‘You only have to ask Turner’s wife Carole what she can tell you all about Sylvia. How she selfishly prevented her daughter from having any men friends or fun at all. There was one young man and a tentative engagement. Sylvia soon squashed any marriage plans for her daughter. So please do be careful. You’re treading on eggshells with her, Jon. Francis is a nice woman. I can’t see her as a marriage breaker though.’

  ‘Nuff said.’ He nodded. ‘I promise I’ll be careful.’

  ‘Wait! Just a moment. Don’t bring me into it. Whatever you do. You can say you’re making a guess at it. As Aiden Ludlam didn’t name her. And you’re keeping it highly confidential.’

  He chuckled. ‘I hope that she is the only one he’s been sleeping with...’

  She shook her head laughing. ‘You can’t be serious.’

  ‘What if there’s someone else who admits to having an affair with him? It’s possible with his kind of Casanova. He gets used to the women in the congregation swooning over him.’

  ‘No, I don’t think he’s that daft. He wouldn’t want to lose his calling in the chapel or his position as Headmaster and good name in the town. And his wealth comes from his wife remember. He must be concerned about that. Although he is thinking about Frances’s reputation. So that least speaks well of him. But a cheat he is - definitely.’

  Jon relaxing with a can of beer in his hand fell silent for a moment. Viviane observing his features by the light from the garden lantern overhead noticed that they seemed keener and tauter than a few days before. The stress of his job had to pitch in somewhere. His long nose seemed more prominent. She wondered what he was really thinking. It wasn’t likely he would give away to her his true feelings about his days’ work.

  ‘So next question. Rather important. What about the wife? Do you know Mrs Ludlam well, Viviane?’

  ‘Gwynith? No, not really. She is pretty adept at keeping her private life private. Her father, Shelley Rayburn, was the Headmaster at the school that Aiden now runs. And so far Aiden has always kept her in the fashion that she has been used to...’

  She took another sip of wine. ‘She supports him admirably at the chapel. I think she’s secretly pleased that he has the attention and adoration of the women chapel goers. He’s always presented a picture of a good father and family man. Well liked in most circles.

  ‘And now he has admitted to having a liaison with the chapel organist. This case is stirring up quite a bit of sludge in the lives of nearly all the men connected with the chapel, isn’t it? None of which would have been exposed if the girls had not been murdered. It makes you think.’

  ‘Yes it does.’ He rubbed his nose with forefinger and thumb thoughtfully for a moment, swung his feet over to the ground and said; ‘Time to call it a day. Thanks for the beer and your help, Viviane. You’re a friend in need. And boy - do I need one just now.’

  ‘Cheer up, Jon. Now that the Carnival week is over perhaps some of the strain will go from the town. But there will be the extra attention from the media. I think you’ve worked hard on the case so far. You couldn’t do any more than you have done so far.’

  ‘But I’m still hardly the wiser. We need some leads and some extra luck. Before the killer intends to strikes again...’

  42

  ‘Good morning, Miss Leach. May we have a quiet word with you please?’ Kent asked when he walked into the Carey’s office with Turner. It was empty except for the secretary. ‘It’s regarding Mr. Ludlam. And his alibis for the Thursday evening and the two Saturday evenings.’

  She didn’t seem surprised. ‘Yes, Inspector. He has already made me aware of it. Although he said he didn’t give my name. But I was expecting you.’

  ‘And - -Miss Leach?’

  She viewed them calmly. ‘It wouldn’t take you too long to figure out that I live in Foxglove Grove. And I can confirm that he was in my company during those times he was questioned about.’

  ‘Thank you. If Turner can take down the dates and times. We shan’t keep you long, Miss Leach.’

  ‘On Thursday night we both attended rehearsals for the Mikado at the theatre. It was quite late when we finished. Roger Welbeck can confirm that. He’s rehearsing too.’

  ‘And he stayed with you till what time?’

  ‘Two am.’ Only a slight pink colouring in her cheeks, and her fingers twisting an elastic band on the desk as she spoke, betrayed the nerves that she kept admirably in control.

  ‘And on the following Saturday night; it would be the same time?’

  ‘And last Saturday night, Miss Leach?’

  ‘Aiden took his children to the park to watch the Firework display and I saw him there. And again, after taking the children home and putting them to bed. Gwynith had a bad migraine so he came over to my place.’

  ‘In Foxglove Grove.’

  ‘Yes. And parked his car down the road. He didn’t want to advertise his presence to the neighbours. But unfortunately his Mercedes attracted joy riders from the council estate. They stole the Major’s son’s car last year and trashed it That’s why he gets so angry. They create so much noise and mayhem in our quiet neighbourhood

  ‘And they took Aiden’s car. It left him in such a dreadful predicament.’ She shook her head. ‘He didn’t know what to do, Inspector. It was most embarrassing for the poor man. He told me afterwards that it had been taken.’

  ‘You didn’t know about it, Miss Leach?’

  ‘I was asleep.’ She blushed pinker still. ‘Well, we’d had some wine, you see. Aiden brought the bottle with him. He usually does. I’m not used to it. I really don’t drink that much.’ And for the first time she showed some embarrassment. ‘He heard the noise. And Major Colby shouting outside. And realised afterwards that it was his car that had been stolen.’

  ‘He told us he walked home.’

  ‘Yes. He didn’t think it was wise to order a taxi from my house. It would only invite gossip for me, he said. It took him forty minutes or so quick walking to get home. He lives on the West side of the town. He had to tell the insurance people where he left the car though. And he had to do it without Gwynith finding out.

  ‘He told her it was taken when he left the car out on the road while he was getting the children to bed. She has no reason to think he was lying. And now he’s been told it’s a complete write-off. And those wicked boys never get caught and punished.’

  She appeared more worried about the fate of the car than she was about her reputation. She had indeed become a liberated woman, Kent thought smiling to himself.

  ‘Yes, it’s a sorry business. Let’s hope the insurance company play ball. Thank you, Miss Leach. We shan’t need to trouble you again.’

  ‘I hope not, Inspector.’

  ‘Well, I’d never have expected that of Miss Leach,’ Turner said as they left Carey`s office. ‘She’s a nice woman. A pity she had to be involved especially when you have a neighbour like Major Colby. I bet he doesn’t miss much that’s going on in that area. He prides himself as a good neighbourhood watcher I expect.’

  ‘She certainly didn’t make a big scene out of it. Kept herself well in control, didn’t she?’

  ‘He must have been steaming mad, having to hoof it home, guv. It must have dampened down his romantic inclinations quite a bit. He’s lucky she was prepared to give him an alibi though.’

  43

  The Medical Examiner looked up from there his unenviable task with a look of disgust on his face as the two detectives joined him quietly. ‘Gentlemen there is no need for me to repeat myself. There is little difference between this victim and the other two. She is undernourished. Not an anorexic. But she obviously hasn’t had sufficient funds to eat properly, I suppose, as one of life’s dropouts. Still very young. She didn’t do drugs. No signs of needles in her arms. And was not a glue sniffer. And she was unlike the other two in one thing.’

  ‘How’s that?’

  ‘This girl
was a virgin, Inspector. Although it seems tasteless to dwell on this. It barely warrants thinking about, that she should have her life taken in what seems to be a motiveless crime. And she was choked to death with a pair of cotton panties. Not so up market as the two other girls. She wouldn’t have had sufficient funds to buy anything else,’ he said, and the tones of his voice were harsh. He’d not enjoyed the work he’d had to do that day.

  The two police officers listened. Both feeling the strain of the repetitive visits to the lab which had become a much disliked chore to them both. Turner spoke out after an uncomfortable silence. ‘Does that look like a ring was torn out from her nostril, sir? That dried blood round the nose?’

  ‘It does. And what is not quite so noticeable she’d also worn a stud in her tongue. It was ripped out while she was still alive, I would say.’

  ‘Christ!’ Turner’s easily read face quickly formed an unmistakable expression of horror. And he turned away for a second or so retching in his throat.

  Kent standing beside him brought his long arms up into the air and growled under his breath. ‘What a bastard!’

  ‘Yes. It was forcibly taken as an afterthought during her dying moments, I would say. Hence the congealed blood in the mouth. Poor little girl. I have a god-daughter the same age. There seems to be an angry man here who hates these young women enough to plan their destruction most carefully.’

  ‘Good grief. It makes me feel like killing the bastard myself. If I could only get my own hands round the throat I’d give him a taste of his own medicine, guv. I’d-I’d rip his tongue out and worse,’ Turner said as they thankfully left the medical man to carry out the rest of his work uninterrupted.

  ‘I never reckoned you could harbour such violent thoughts, Turner, but you echo my sentiment entirely,’ Kent said quietly.

  44

  In the Incident Room there was an air of desperate activity. Computer screens alight with action as Kent walked in. He clapped his hands together sharply for attention.

  ‘Right then lads and lassies. Pay attention now. We can’t afford to miss any vital clues. What have we got to go on with - let’s see now.’

  Kent tapped the pictures of the three dead girls in turn as he spoke. ‘Maureen, Yvette and Jodie. Three young girls. School girls. All three killed in the same manner, in the same place, by the same man, we think.’

  ‘With the exception of Jodie, the other two were not virgins, guv.’

  Kent shook his head. ‘That means nothing, Gearing.’

  ‘They were moved afterwards. None were sexually assaulted. No sign of semen in any orifices on their bodies. The pervert gets his kicks in other ways obviously. Has an obsession with cleanliness. He’s not going to be picked up with DNA tests.’

  ‘Cunning bastard.’

  ‘Yes, Carter, he is.’

  ‘There’s no possibility is there, sir, that it could be a woman? Someone who hated pretty girls?’

  ‘That thought had crossed my mind, Carter. But I dismissed it. It’s not likely that young Maureen could be lured into a meeting with another woman. And there is the weight of the bodies to deal with. They were no lightweights after death. Remember that. So what suspects have we that fit the bill, and the possible motives? And would be likely to have the transport to remove the bodies?’

  ‘All the suspects would have transport. All have cars, sir.’

  ‘Except Raymond Perkins.’

  ‘Yes, Gearing. So we come to the motives then,’ Kent said writing down the details with chalk on the board as he spoke. ‘Mayor Tom Berkley had ample motive for killing Yvette. He was caught by the short and curlies doing what comes naturally to him.’ A light cheer went up round the room. And was quickly smothered by a frown from Turner. ‘And he was bled dry by blackmailer Cliff Jones. He has films to show for it. Berkley must have been besotted by the girl not to see that he was being caught on candid camera.’

  ‘Wouldn’t he be more likely to feel like killing Cliff Jones, guv? He obviously set Yvette up to it.’

  ‘Probably at first, Burton. But I don’t think Berkley has the guts to see it all through. The murderer hasn’t made a mistake yet. Berkley left a slimy trail behind him like a slug when he trashed Yvette’s room.’

  ‘He might have thought by removing Yvette he could silence Cliff once and for all.’

  ‘I doubt it, Burton. Then we have Maureen Carey. The first of the victims. Her diary reads like a prologue to Moll Flanders.’

  Loud baying sounds emitted from the male officers around the room followed by ‘Permission to read it, guv?’ from DC Gearing.

  ‘You can’t keep a good thing to yourself, sir. How about letting us females have a look in?’

  ‘I’m surprised at you, Sherwood. You wouldn’t appreciate it.’ Kent held up his hand and the noise ceased. ‘The strong overwhelming motive there is her sex life. A nymphomaniac in the making. She had more men sniffing around her probably than we are aware of as yet. Till we shake them out of the woodwork.

  ‘We know that Maureen made a strong play for Tom Berkley and his son Michael too. The kid wasn’t having any. He’d got more common than his old man. Roger Welbeck didn’t want his missus to know that Maureen tried it on with him.

  ‘But she did. Maureen made sure of that. He had good reason for not wanting to lose her. A brave, lovely, woman well worth hanging onto. And he still feels guilty for causing the accident which crippled her. He wouldn’t want to bust up his marriage for a little trollop like Maureen. He might have been good and mad, angry enough to killing in a fit of temper. If pressed too hard.

  ‘So then there’s Aiden Ludlam. Let’s try putting him into the frame, shall we? He admits to cheating on his wife only when his car got pinched from a place it shouldn’t be. Outside Miss Frances’s Leach’s house. And his lady friend can give him an alibi for all three killings.’

  ‘Raymond Perkins, guv. He’s been associated with all three girls. Has he got alibis for all three killings?’

  ‘He was in the Nag’s Head before the first two took place,’ Turner said. ‘We have only his say so that he walked around the town in a moody when Maureen was killed. They’d been an item till she said she was seeing someone else. And the same goes for Saturday when Yvette met the same fate. He flirted with her over the bar counter. She did with all the men. I can’t see her going out with Raymond. She gave him the bum’s rush. He’s got no money for a start. And she was too keen on cashing in on Berkley. He could have been jealous.’

  ‘So what about Jodie, guv?’ Sherwood asked from the back of the room. ‘How well did he actually know her?’

  ‘She was a friend of a couple of days standing. He was actually with Jodie most of the evening before she was done away with. They were seen together at the firework show then he had a call of nature. She was nervous and according to him she just ‘buggered off.’

  ‘And as for transport we have discovered that according to Susan Flitch, Raymond used the Carey’s old van from the Funeral parlour to take Maureen out in. Carey allowed Raymond the use of it occasionally. I had a word with Jack Stewart, driver of the hearse, over a pint in the Nag’s Head. Carey has a soft spot for the boy,’ Turner chipped in. ‘Raymond has quite a presence at funeral with those pale soulful looks of his. And he had a talent for making the dear departed look good for their loved ones. So it seems Carey was encouraging and grooming the lad up the ladder in the funeral business.

  ‘So he could have been making use of the van on the nights Yvette and Jodie were killed. He could have strangled them in the back and then dumped them afterwards.’

  ‘Thank you, Turner.’

  ‘What about Carey, the undertaker?’

  ‘What about him, DC Gearing?’

  ‘Well, I’ve met him. He strikes me as a grim dour person. Maybe…’ The red-haired young detective looked earnestly around at the interested faces now turned towards her. ‘He might have been abusing his daughter. Maureen was very sexually aware, wasn’t she? He might have introduced her
to sex from an early age. And she could have threatened to expose him. How about that? It would have been curtains for him in this small town. For his business and his marriage.’

  Murmurs around the room didn’t disagree and with this encouragement she carried on. ‘So he could have picked out the other two victims to cover his tracks and his motive. He could have known about Berkley’s assignations and blackmail by Yvette, and Jodie’s homeless problems from Mrs Perkins, his wife’s cleaner. She picks up tit-bits of information like she does her varied health problems. She could well have gossiped about the girl and the need for a bed at the hostel. Perhaps he thought they were expendable.’

  ‘Thank you, Gearing. But I think you will find that his wife can give him an alibi for the night that Maureen was killed. And more than likely for the other nights too.’

  ‘His wife. Exactly! She would want to protect and cover up for him,’ Gearing retorted and sat with her arms folded.

  ‘Could be a sexual pervert getting his kicks at the seaside, away from town. Away from his usual haunts. He might have done something like this up North. And buggered off by now. And checking on single men on the razzle-dazzle down here is an impossibility with no DNA to go on. And like I said, he could have left by now,’ Detective Lilly said cheerfully accompanied by agonized groans around him.

  ‘Coming back to Raymond Perkins would then have had the necessary transport to move the bodies. Turner?’

  ‘Yes, guv. I noticed the old runabout in the undertaker’s yard in passing when we called in the other day. He would be able to drive it around during the day for Carey. He did errands for his boss in town. No one would notice if it had been moved at night. Susan Flitch said he took Maureen out in it. So he wouldn’t scare her if he picked her up in it. Maybe he offered Yvette a lift last thing from the pub that night. And Jodie, he could have caught up again with her on the way to the hostel.’