“OK.” Lesley rubbed her eyes. A familiar pain was brewing at the back of her neck. “Ms Spiers, can you tell me if there were any tensions between Patrick and Archie? Or between you and Archie?”
Crystal frowned at her. “Me and Archie have been mates for years. We had a bit of a fling, before his daughter was born. Just for a couple of months. We were friends, Detective. No tension.”
“No disagreements about the way the dig project was being managed? No arguments about funding?”
Crystal leaned back. “No. Nothing.”
“Very well. And what about Archie and Patrick?”
“They… well they managed to rub along OK. Patrick clearly resented Archie, with him being older but less senior. But they had an amicable working relationship, I guess.”
“No tensions over Laila?”
“Archie wasn’t that sort of man.”
“And Patrick?”
Crystal looked away. “He was a bit jealous at first. But he soon saw sense. A kid like Laila would never have gone for him.”
“You call her a kid.”
“She was nineteen. She’d dropped out of university. She pretended she was twenty-three and a graduate. I was the only one who knew.”
“Laila was lying about her age?”
“It wasn’t that big a deal. She was still an adult.”
“Was there anything else she was lying about?”
Lesley thought of Dennis and his mistrust of the young woman. She imagined his face when she told him about this.
“Not that I know of.”
“OK.” Lesley checked her watch: mid-afternoon, already. “We’ll need to do a full search of this cottage, with your consent.”
“Of course.”
“Thank you.” Lesley stood up. She wanted to process what Crystal had told her before they moved on to Patrick.
Chapter Forty-Three
The four detectives sat in Lesley’s car in the West Street car park, Lesley and Mike in the front, Dennis and Johnny behind them. Dennis had pulled a face when Lesley had told him to get in the back. But she and Mike had already been waiting, having finished their interview with Crystal before Dennis and Johnny returned from the door-to-door.
“So,” she said. “Anybody see Laila before she went up to the hills?”
“Nobody,” said Dennis. “We knocked on all the doors along West Street, as well as the houses around the path leading up to the Downs.”
“And I went into the pubs,” said Johnny.
Mike laughed. “Bet you enjoyed that, mate.”
Johnny gave him a flick on the back of the neck. Mike put a hand up to it and winced, but said nothing.
Lesley ignored them.
“So nobody in the whole village saw her?” she asked Dennis. “Makes no sense. She left that house at about nine o’clock. It would’ve been light. She would’ve been clearly visible.”
“And she stood out,” said Johnny. “With that blonde hair.”
Lesley nodded. She wasn’t exactly easy to miss.
Dennis shrugged. “Well, I guess if she’d had an argument with Patrick… I mean, she was heading up onto the hills when it was getting dark. It’s not sensible, for a woman to do that on her own.”
Lesley clenched a fist. “She had an argument with Patrick, at least that’s what Crystal told us.”
Dennis raised an eyebrow. “What about?”
“Crystal heard her tell him to get out. Raised voices.”
“So she had an argument with Patrick, stormed out of the house and ran up onto Rollington Hill,” said Dennis. “Do you think she was planning to hurt herself?”
“She didn’t take anything with her,” replied Lesley.
“We don’t know that,” interrupted Johnny. “The killer might have removed whatever she was carrying.”
Lesley wasn’t so sure. “We’ve got no evidence that she took anything with her.”
“She went because she wanted time to herself,” said Mike.
Lesley frowned. “Somebody knew she was up there. That somebody followed her.”
“You think someone saw her go past their house?” suggested Dennis.
“Possibly,” replied Lesley. “But both Crystal and Patrick knew she’d gone out. And Patrick left fifteen minutes after her.”
“He was going to the pub, boss,” said Mike.
“That’s what he claimed. We need to check the Greyhound again, Johnny.”
“I didn’t ask about him. I was just looking for Laila.”
“That’s fine. But I do need you to go back there and ask them if Patrick was in last night and if so, what time.”
Johnny opened his door. “I’ll head back over there.”
Lesley nodded. “Dennis. I want you to come with me to the house, we’ve still got to interview Patrick.”
“We can hear his side of the story.”
Lesley sighed. “I thought you’d see it like that.”
“Well, it is her word against his. She claims he argued with Laila. She claims he assaulted her. She claims he went out to the pub straight after Laila left the house. But she’s the only other person who was there. Maybe she’s the one who went out straight after Laila. Maybe she followed her up to Rollington Hill.”
Lesley pushed back her irritation. Dennis seemed to think the sun shone out of Patrick Donnelly’s arse, or maybe it was just he didn’t like Crystal.
“I’m not going to come to any conclusions,” she said. “Let’s just interview Patrick, see what he says, find out how much of it matches what Crystal told us.”
“Makes sense to me.”
“What d’you want me to do?” asked Mike.
“We still don’t know where those sleeping pills came from. They’re all denying that anybody in the house even took sleeping pills. But if Archie was drugged, somebody drugged him. And there’s a chance those pills were on a prescription for one of the archaeologists.”
“You want me to ring around the GPs?” asked Mike.
“Not just yet,” said Lesley. “Is there a pharmacy in Corfe Castle?”
“The only one is at the surgery on West Street.”
“Jeez. Everything’s on West Street in this place.”
“It’s not a big village, boss.”
“No. OK, then. Two birds with one stone. Go in there, find out if there was a prescription for sleeping pills at that address. If it wasn’t made out by one of their doctors, they might have dispensed them.”
“Boss.” Mike opened his car door. “Anything else?”
“When you and Johnny are done in the village, go back up to the crime scene. Find out what’s happening with Laila’s body. I want to be sure that she’s been moved. That poor girl up there on the hills just feels wrong.”
“Shall we speak to the CSIs as well?” asked Johnny. “Find out if there are any updates?”
“No,” said Lesley. “I suggest you ignore them.”
She turned to see Johnny’s frown. “Yes, Johnny. Get an update. Call me if there’s anything significant. Go!”
Johnny and Mike left the car.
Lesley watched them, shaking her head. “Come on then Dennis. Time to interview your mate Patrick Donnelly.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Patrick had replaced Crystal in the cottage’s living room. He sat upright at the end of the sofa closest to the door, picking dirt out of his fingernails.
He turned as he saw the detectives enter, his gaze cold on Lesley, then warming as he spotted Dennis.
“My turn in the hot seat, eh?”
“Thanks for talking to us.” Dennis said. “We know you’re all busy.”
Stop it, Lesley thought. She put a hand on Tina’s arm. Tina retreated to the kitchen doorway once again.
Lesley took the seat next to Patrick, leaving the threadbare armchair for Dennis. She turned to Patrick and gave him a brief smile.
“Can you tell us about your relationship with Laila Ford?”
“Blimey.” He wiped his forehead, t
hen checked his hand. His fingers were grubby. “You don’t mess around, do you?”
She smiled, waiting for an answer to her question.
“Alright then… let me see. Well, she joined the dig team five weeks ago. Crystal recruited her, not sure where. Archaeology graduate, we were told. Hadn’t managed to get herself a proper job, so Crystal took her on. I’m not sure if she was a volunteer, or if Crystal was paying her. Either way, the girl never showed any sign of having money.”
“That’s all very helpful,” said Lesley. “But we’d really like to know about your relationship with Laila. Did you get along? Did you work well together? I gather the two of you worked in the same tent.”
“The little one. The one where we’ve found bugger all so far.”
Dennis shifted in his seat. Maybe the rose-tinted spectacles would drop a little, Lesley thought.
“You’re not happy about working in that tent?” she asked.
“The other trench, the one where – you know – that’s the big one. Crystal reckons it’s the great hall of a second building. Another, castle even. I’m sceptical. But if it pays my wages…”
“Were you and Laila assigned to work together from the start?”
He shook his head. “She was with Archie, at first. I was with Crystal and a bunch o’ kids, in the proper tent. That trench is bloody magnificent, you know.”
A tut from Dennis. Lesley suppressed a chuckle. “Why did Archie move?”
“Crystal thought it was too cosy. What with them shagging, and that.”
Lesley longed to turn and see Dennis’s reaction. She kept her focus on their interviewee. “Did you and Laila work well together?”
“She was lazy, and inexperienced. It was me that did all the work.”
“So you resented her.”
“Just cos I didn’t like the lass, doesn’t mean I killed her.”
“Mr Donnelly, did you—”
“Call me Patrick. Paddy, if you want to be really friendly.” He gave her a wink.
“Patrick. Was there an incident between you and Laila shortly after she joined the team?”
“Incident?”
“Did you sexually assault her?”
His eyes widened in surprise. “What rubbish! I told her she was pretty, that’s all. Can a fella not pay a compliment to a young woman these days?”
Patrick peered around Lesley at Dennis, expecting agreement. He got none.
“So you deny that you assaulted her,” Lesley said.
“This is Crystal, isn’t it? She’s never liked me. Come on, let’s hear it. What other tall tales has she told about me?”
“Patrick, can you describe any interaction you had with Laila yesterday evening?”
“You’re making out like I killed her.”
“We’re trying to establish what she did and who she spoke to in the hours before her death.”
His face crumpled. “Poor wee girl. So young…” He composed himself and looked into Lesley’s eyes. “She came home first from the dig site. Tired, can’t blame her after finding Archie like that. I was next, it was my turn to cook dinner. Pork chops. He licked his lips. “Not for Laila though, she had some vegan thing.”
“Did you all eat dinner together?”
“Yeah. Crystal turned up just in time. About seven. We ate, I listened to the cricket, then I went out to the pub.”
Lesley heard Dennis draw a breath. “Where was Laila when you left the house?” he asked.
A shrug. “No idea. In her room, I guess. She’s been hiding there a lot lately.” He shook his head, his brow creased. “Poor kid.”
“What time did you return home from the pub?” Lesley asked.
“Which pub?” Dennis added.
“The Greyhound, mate, like always. I stayed till closing time, got back about half eleven.”
All of this tallied with Crystal’s account. “Who was here when you arrived home?” Lesley asked.
“Not sure about Laila. I assumed she was in bed. Crystal was in, cos I heard her going out about ten minutes later.”
“Crystal went out?” Dennis asked.
Patrick turned to him. “I was in the kitchen, making meself a cup o’ hot milk. Helps me sleep. I saw someone cross the living room, heard the front door open and close.”
“You’re sure it was Crystal?” said Lesley.
“When I went to the stairs, her bedroom door was open. Room was empty. You’ve seen how cramped this place is, nowhere else she could have been.”
“Did you hear her return?” Dennis asked.
“Sorry, mate. I was asleep before me head hit the pillow.”
He looked between the two detectives. “That’s the kind of information you’re after, is it? I’d hate to think I’d got her into trouble.”
Chapter Forty-Five
The landlord was confident that Patrick had been in the pub the previous night.
“Yeah, mate,” he told Johnny. “He was here. Came in, oh, about quarter past nine, half past nine, something like that. Left at closing time. He’s always one of the last out. Likes his Guinness.”
“Was he here the whole time or did he leave at all?”
“I couldn’t tell you. Too busy serving other punters. But he did have three pints in total. So, I guess that means he was probably here all that time.”
“Thanks,” said Johnny. He turned away from the bar to find a young woman with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail standing in front of him.
“Are you investigating Laila’s murder?” she asked.
“I am,” he replied. He got out his ID. “DC Chiles. Who are you?”
“Karen Dawes. I’m her friend.”
“OK. Should we grab a table?”
She nodded. He led her to a spot in a quiet corner. As she sat down, he noticed her hands shaking against the table.
“You’ve got something you want to tell us?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Did you see her last night? Did she come to your house?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I haven’t seen her since… since the morning Archie died. Haven’t seen her since then. Poor Laila.”
He watched her. There wasn’t much you could say to a young woman who’d just lost her best friend.
“Have you got something you want to tell me?” he asked, trying to keep his tone gentle.
She looked around the pub, and then leaned towards him. Her breathing was shallow.
“That Patrick,” she said.
“Patrick Donnelly?”
She took a deep breath, glancing at the bar once again. “He’s bad news.”
“In what way?”
“He tried it on with her. He, well, he thought he could get her to sleep with him.”
“When did this happen?”
She wrinkled her nose. “About four weeks ago. No, a bit more than that. Three days after she came to the village. Me and Laila, we knew each other before uni. She hunted me down as soon as she got here, found me in the cafe. Not quite sure how she managed that. It was good to see her, though. But anyway, she told me there was this guy on the dig, lived in the same cottage as her. Kept looking at her funny. She reckoned he fancied her. He was ancient!” She grimaced. “Old enough to be her dad, her granddad even. She couldn’t stand him.”
“Did she do anything about it?” Johnny asked.
Karen shrugged. “I know she kept her distance from him as much as she could. That’s why she took to Archie. Archie spotted there was something off. She felt like he’d stop Patrick, like he’d protect her from him. That was before she and Archie became a thing.”
“So when did she and Archie become a thing?”
“About a week after she got here.”
Johnny looked at her. “That was quick.”
She laughed. “That was Laila.”
“So did anything happen between Laila and Patrick? Or was it just funny looks?”
She breathed in, her nostrils flaring. “She told me not to tell anyone.”
She’s dead, Johnny thought. It wasn’t like it mattered now. “This is confidential,” he said.
The woman’s voice was low. “She said he came into her room one night.”
“The room she shared with Archie?”
She shook her head. “No, she was sharing with Crystal at the beginning. The two of them had the downstairs bedroom. And the two guys had the two rooms upstairs. Crystal preferred it that way.” She leaned back and gripped the table. Her knuckles were white.
She looked at Johnny, her expression dark. “There was a morning when Crystal had gone out early, set something up at the dig site or something. Laila said there were no locks on the door. Patrick just came barging into her room. She was half naked, getting dressed. He grabbed her.”
“Grabbed her?” Johnny asked.
“Yeah, on her...” Karen looked down. She brushed her breast lightly.
“He grabbed her boob?”
“And more. He pinned her to the wall. Tried to pull her dressing gown off.”
“Then what?”
“Crystal got back. Patrick heard her coming through the front door, jumped off Laila like she was on fire. She shoved him out of the room, slammed the door behind him. Next day, she and Archie got together.”
“So you reckon she got into a relationship with Archie to keep herself safe from Patrick?”
“There was more to it than that. Eventually, anyway. She loved Archie. That’s what she told me. He was a good guy. Even if he was married.”
“She told you he was married?”
“Last week, Thursday. She’d just found out.”
“How did she feel about that?”
“How would you feel if you found out your boyfriend was married?”
Johnny smiled sadly at her. “Not brilliant, I guess.”
“She was distraught. Couldn’t stop crying. Laila was only nineteen, you know? She made out like she was twenty-three, told him she was a graduate. She’d dropped out of uni.”
Johnny nodded. The boss had said something about this.
“This is helpful, Karen, thanks. So, after Patrick assaulted her, did she make a complaint? Did she go to the police? Did she speak to Crystal?”
Karen shook her head. “Who are you going to believe? Nineteen-year-old Laila, just turned up in Corfe Castle, nobody knows her from Adam? Or Patrick Donnelly, old bloke, respected, known Crystal for years?” She looked down into her lap. “She didn’t tell anybody. She just stuck close to Archie and made sure she was never alone in that house with Patrick.”
The Corfe Castle Murders (Dorset Crime Book 1) Page 16