by Anita Waller
‘Group hug, I think,’ Doris said with a smile. They held each other, savouring the moment.
‘So where is he, our handsome DI?’
‘At work. He says people are still defrauding other people so he has to stay and do his job. Fair enough,’ Kat said with a laugh. ‘But on Sunday, if you’re both free, we’d like to take you two and Mum and Dad out for a meal to celebrate. Thursday today, Mouse, so you’ve three days to get better.’
‘Don’t worry about that, if there’s a meal on offer, I’ll be fighting fit.’
Doris held Kat’s hand and inspected the ring. ‘It’s beautiful, Kat. Many congratulations, my love, may you have much happiness with our Carl. Coffee to celebrate?’ And she moved across to begin their Thursday.
Chapter Fourteen
Mouse looked at the monitor, then turned to her second screen and clicked on Google. She brought up the document stored in OneDrive, and stared at the two names.
Michael George Fairfax born in Inverness, and Michael Ian Fairfax born in Scarborough. The two babies born on the right day and with the right names, but different middle names.
It had taken an hour to find out that Helen Fairfax had married and become Helen North, but that it hadn’t lasted – divorced three years later – and she had reverted to Fairfax.
Helen’s town of birth was Holmesfield, a suburb on the very borders of Sheffield and the Peak District, according to her birth certificate.
The little boy born in Scarborough suddenly seemed to be a fair possibility, although Helen Fairfax had clearly not kept her promise to use Ewan for the middle name. Ian was as close as it could get though, if you felt you needed to salve your conscience…
Mouse laid her head back and rubbed her forehead. Although she felt much better than she had, she didn’t feel up to searching and having to be careful not to be seen searching.
She updated their files with the information she could add to it, then closed her eyes for a second.
Doris opened Mouse’s office door. ‘Mouse, Tessa’s here. Do you… oh!’
Mouse jumped, stared around in panic, then rubbed her eyes. ‘I fell asleep! I had a nanny nap. Am I suddenly an old woman?’
Doris smiled at her granddaughter, who was frantically trying to gather her senses. ‘Stop panicking, Mouse. You’re not old, you’re ill. Are we in here, or Kat’s office?’
‘Has Kat got coffee?’
‘Probably. Kat’s never without coffee.’
‘We’ll go in there.’ Mouse stood and felt pain in what seemed to be all of her body. ‘Don’t let me fall asleep in a chair again, will you?’ she said ruefully, rubbing her arms and legs in an attempt at getting her circulation moving again.
Tessa and Hannah were in reception, and both looked at Mouse sympathetically. ‘You look rough,’ Tessa said.
‘Thanks. Cheer a girl up, will you… It’s no consolation that I feel as bad as I look, but honestly, you should have seen me yesterday. Today, this is perfection.’
‘Coffee’s poured out,’ Kat called from her larger office.
Even in Kat’s office, it was overfull with five people sitting around the one desk. ‘Everything okay?’ Kat asked. ‘How’s Amanda Williamson’s case progressing?’
‘It’s progressed,’ Tessa said. ‘I’ve had confirmation this morning that the semen trace was a DNA match with Jacob Thorne, so we’re officially not looking for anyone else in connection with that murder. My DCI went to notify Thorne’s family this morning. I can’t imagine how they must be feeling. I’ve been to tell Zoe Williamson, but I think she felt relief that she has some sort of closure. We’re releasing Mandy’s body this afternoon, so Zoe can lay her to rest properly, and spend the rest of her life coming to terms with it, probably.’
‘How would she feel if I went to see her, do you think?’ Kat asked.
‘I’m sure she would welcome it,’ Tessa said. ‘You’ve a very calm and soothing touch, Kat, and I suspect she needs that at the moment. I don’t know this for certain, but I think she’s a regular churchgoer, as well as Mandy.’
‘Then I’ll ring her, I’ll not turn up on her doorstep.’
‘Good,’ Tessa said. ‘We’re progressing in an odd sort of way with the Orla French murder. We know who the father of the baby is, but I’m a hundred per cent sure he’s not her killer. He has an alibi that nobody could break.’
‘So you’re excluding rather than involving?’
‘We are. However, before I go any further with that, who’s taken away the real DS Carl Heaton and sent us a new one? For a start he’s turned up as DI Heaton, but there’s something else. He’s bouncing all over the place, cracking jokes, singing… singing! It’s just not him. So what have you done with our Carl, and why have you sent us a substitute?’
Kat felt the blush begin to deepen, and she placed her left hand in the middle of the table.
Hannah and Tessa stood as one, and leaned over to inspect the ring. Equally as one, they said, ‘Wow.’
‘Last night,’ Kat said. ‘After he’d told me of his promotion.’
‘Congratulations, Kat, That’s wonderful,’ Tessa said. ‘I’m so pleased for both of you.’
‘Right that’s enough of the mush,’ Doris said. She didn’t want any semi-romantic talk heading in her direction, and thought it expedient to fixate on the crime scene in Derbyshire. ‘Let’s go back to Orla French.’
‘There’s not a lot to go back to,’ Tessa frowned. ‘It seems that Orla wanted to take her first sexual lessons with her stepfather because she trusted him, and she was planning on having sex with someone at church. Unfortunately for us, she didn’t say who it was. And I honestly think Andy Harrison’s penis was governing everything, he wouldn’t have even thought to ask her who she was planning on seducing. So, in a way we have a suspect, we simply don’t know who he is. Tomorrow we go to church. And if we don’t get answers in the morning, we’ll go back on Sunday when all the congregation is there. If necessary we’ll lock the doors until we’ve spoken to each and every one of them.’
‘Were there any defence marks on her? Did she fight back?’ Doris looked troubled, imagining how scared the young girl would have been.
‘It seems not. She was knocked unconscious before she was strangled. She was definitely dead before she went into the water, but we’ve no way of knowing if that was the location where she died, or if she was killed elsewhere and then brought in a vehicle to be dumped in the water. It was running very fast because of the rain, so she could have been dumped higher up. She was wedged between the bank and the bridge.’
‘Man or woman? Any feelings on the matter?’ Kat asked.
‘Not really. She was a very slim girl, nothing about her, so it could easily have been either. Strangulation isn’t usually a method chosen by women to kill people, though. It’s actually quite hard work subduing somebody enough to strangle them, but she was whacked on the head with something to knock her out, so that tells us it could be either sex. She would be easy to strangle if she wasn’t moving.’
‘It could be a very angry woman,’ Kat responded. ‘I wonder if this man at church is married…’
Marsden beamed. ‘Now this is why I like to come here. One of you always sets me off on a different tangent. One thing’s for sure, I have to find out who this man is. I hope somebody in that congregation has seen something, or is uncomfortable about something.’
Mouse closed down for the day, a thoughtful expression on her face. She needed to have a conversation with Ewan, find out exactly what he could remember about Helen’s early years, before jumping in with both feet. If they ever needed to contact Helen, they didn’t want her pre-warned. The element of surprise was important in most cases. If Ewan could help, it would be to their advantage.
She would ring, make an appointment either at his home, or ask him to drop by for a general chat.
She waved Kat and Doris off, then trudged upstairs to her own flat. It felt cold so she switched on the heating, boiled some water, a
nd made herself a hot lemon. She hated the taste but they did seem to be making her feel better, so she suffered the tang of the lemon mixed with the strange flavour of the medication and sat on the settee with a fleece blanket wrapped snugly around her, watching the news.
While cuddling the fleece, she rang Ewan, explained she needed to chat to him as she hadn’t really met him and needed his take on one or two things, and he said he would call into the office the next day. She thanked him, said she hoped she wouldn’t infect him, and disconnected the call.
Within five minutes she was asleep and didn’t wake up until midnight. Her stomach felt empty and she knew she wouldn’t sleep without food inside her.
Two slices of toast made her feel better and she went to bed, her mind awake enough to wander off in several different directions. She sorted out the world in about half an hour, and slept the rest of the night without waking.
And so Thursday ended; slight progress on many fronts for all investigators, and the beginnings of a newly invigorated Mouse for Friday morning.
Chapter Fifteen
The church was a warm, welcoming place; as soon as they entered they were greeted by a tall lady, possibly in her sixties, who glanced at Tessa’s ID and immediately offered to go and get the vicar from the vicarage.
‘Is it about Orla’s murder?’ she asked, her face serious, intense.
‘It is. Did you know her?’
‘I did. Quite well, actually. I run the choir, and both Orla and Emily, her friend, are members. It’s hit all of us quite hard, we will miss her. At first we thought it was an accident, but it seems that she was killed. That, of course, makes it a thousand times worse.’ She held out her hand. ‘My name is Annabel Knight – Mrs – and if I can do anything to help…’
‘Thank you, Mrs Knight. We understand Orla was seeing someone at church, a fairly new relationship. Would you know who it was?’
‘Seeing someone? A boyfriend?’ Annabel hesitated, and it was obvious. ‘Not that I’m aware of, but she was a very pretty girl. I don’t think it’s anyone here though.’
‘No young men showing a special interest in her?’ Hannah asked.
The older woman laughed, a little uncomfortably. ‘No, it’s not that, it’s more that there are only old men. I think the youngest male member of our church is the vicar, and he’s thirty-five. The oldest male here is Tommy Landers and he was ninety a few months ago. All the other men are somewhere between those two ages. Young lads don’t seem interested in church happenings, not these days.’
Tessa gave a brief smile. ‘Thank you. Do you think you could get the vicar for us, please? Or would it be easier for us to go to the vicarage?’
‘I’ll go get him. His wife Ruby is quite ill, and she’s really going through it at the moment. I’ll send him to you, and I’ll sit with Ruby until he comes back.’ Annabel nodded as if agreeing with herself.
‘She’s seriously ill?’ Tessa asked.
‘She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis shortly after they married, ten years ago. It seems to be quite aggressive, and it’s particularly bad at the moment. I’ll nip across to the vicarage, and send Steve over here.’
Annabel left by a side door, and Tessa and Hannah strolled around the church, reading plaques on the wall, the floor, even on the pulpit. They were the only people remaining by the time Steve Barksworth joined them. He walked up to them, held out his hand and introduced himself.
‘I guessed you would visit at some point,’ he said. ‘Orla was a very active member of our church, did loads in the community as well. She will be much missed by a lot of people in addition to her immediate family. I called to see Marnie and Andy this morning. Andy wasn’t there, but Marnie looks ill. I’ll ask Annabel to call tomorrow, Marnie may respond to a woman more.’
Tessa doubted that Marnie would respond to anyone. So Andy Harrison wasn’t at home… Tessa hoped he’d left word at the police station of where he was staying.
Tessa felt a little guilty that she could see both sides of the issue – Andy Harrison hadn’t chased Orla, Orla had chased him. Marnie had reacted in a way that maybe any woman would react, she had withdrawn from her husband.
Tessa didn’t believe it was permanent; she thought they would eventually talk, and she thought Marnie would see the situation as it should be seen. They needed to find this man Orla was intent on seducing, put the whole thing into perspective.
‘Reverend Barksworth,’ Tessa began.
‘Please, call me Steve. You make me feel old giving me my full title.’
‘Okay, Steve, thank you. We won’t keep you long. I understand your wife is unwell.’
He dipped his head, then looked at her. ‘Indeed she is, but she would want me to help you if I can.’
‘We believe Orla was seeing someone from the church. Do you know who it was?’
He paused before speaking. ‘As far as I know, it wasn’t someone from the church. I thought she had met up with Emily Carr’s brother… Paul, I think he’s called, but he doesn’t attend church.’
‘No,’ Tessa pushed him. ‘It wasn’t Paul, this was definitely somebody from church. She told her stepfather, but didn’t say who he was.’
Steve Barksworth frowned. ‘But we have no young men of Orla’s age who attend church. Could it have been a different church? Maybe it’s somebody who attends Hope, or Bradwell. They’re all within two or three miles of each other, so maybe you need to widen the net. I honestly can’t come up with anyone from here.’
‘We’ll check them out, of course. Did she attend either of those churches?’
‘Occasionally she went to Hope, and I know she went to Bradwell for instruction when she was confirmed, because they were running the course there for the area. So she did have links with them, but not as big an attachment as here.’
‘Okay, thank you, Steve. I’ll let you get back to your wife, and free up Mrs Knight to return here. We’ll see you Sunday.’
‘Sunday?’
‘Yes. Maybe you could tell your congregation during the notices that we will need to speak to all of them before they go home.’
He looked shocked, but then his face lit up with a smile. ‘Of course I can, but you can deal with Clarice Travers, not me. She scuttles out of this church so fast when the service is over, it’s like a high-speed train barrelling through. She has to get home to do her Ernie’s Sunday dinner, you see.’
Tessa laughed. ‘I’ll have a PC stationed on the door to stop her. Roughly how many attend, Steve?’
‘On a good day it’s around thirty to forty people, including the little ones. On a bad day when the weather’s rough it’s around ten.’
‘Okay, we’ll be here for about half past nine, we may get a chance to talk to some people before the service starts.’
‘No.’
‘No?’
‘Definitely not. When people arrive early, it’s because they need to, either to have a time of peace with God, or to ask for His help. You will not speak to anyone before the service. Afterwards it’s a time of socialising. We have coffee and cakes and biscuits in the church hall and then people will respond to you. I mean it, DI Marsden, leave your arrival until five minutes or so before the start of the ten o’clock service.’
Tessa swallowed. She should have listened to Kat more, she would have known the pre-service time was sacrosanct. Tessa had better check she wouldn’t be treading on any other toes on Sunday, before she actually arrived here. Kat would tell her.
Tessa shook hands with Steve, thanked him for his time and they walked back to the car.
‘Jumpy, wasn’t he?’ Hannah said.
‘And I walked straight into it, didn’t I?’ Tessa sighed.
‘Oh, don’t worry. Vicars don’t bear grudges. Behave yourself on Sunday and everything will be fine.’
‘Well, you’ll need to behave yourself as well.’
‘It’s my day off!’
‘Not now it isn’t. I’ll teach you to laugh at my mistakes, young woman. And
what’s more, you’ll be driving.’
Hannah put the car into gear, turned to Tessa and gave a mock salute. ‘Okay, boss, but don’t I always drive?’
Ewan arrived at the office and with Mouse standing by the side of Doris, he greeted them both with a circumspect ‘Good morning.’ When Mouse moved away, he winked at Doris and blew her a kiss.
She couldn’t stop the smile, didn’t particularly want to.
He followed Mouse through to her office, and they sat facing each other across the desk. She placed her voice recorder in the middle and asked his permission to use it.
‘Whatever,’ he said, and waved his arm to say go ahead.
‘Thank you, Ewan. I won’t keep you long. We’ve come across some information that may be helpful, and please don’t ask what it is. We don’t feed out titbits, we wait until we have concrete proof of something before disclosing true facts. What we do need to know is anything you can tell us about Helen’s early years. We know she was born in Holmesfield, but did she always live there?’
‘No, she didn’t. She lived on the coast until she was eleven, then came back to this area so she could go to the school her parents wanted for her.’
‘Where on the coast?’
‘Scarborough, I believe. Why?’
Mouse ignored his question. ‘Did she have relatives there?’
‘I’m reasonably sure she did, but you’re asking me to remember something from many years ago, you know. I think that’s why they moved from Holmesfield to Scarborough, I think Helen’s mother had a sister who lived there.’
‘Thank you. And can you think of anything else from her early years?’
He frowned, as if deep in thought. ‘I don’t think so. She said she couldn’t remember Holmesfield, she was only about two when they moved to Scarborough, and they were back in the Hope Valley by the time she was eleven. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more.’