A Body in the Bookshop

by Helen Cox

  Grace nodded. ‘Michelle left about half an hour ago, just after half seven. We’re safe from her gorgon glare, for today at least.’

  ‘I’m sorry there aren’t quite enough seats, I didn’t realize we would be receiving so many of you,’ said Kitt. ‘Any of you fancy a cuppa? Kettle’s just boiled.’

  The visitors shook their heads and murmured their refusals but Grace went over and helped herself to a cup. Meanwhile, Halloran turned to the office door to make sure it was closed before looking back at the assembly of faces.

  ‘Now, I think you’re well aware of our policy on involving civilians in police work but something has just come to light that’s thrown us into unusual circumstances,’ he said. ‘This is Detective Chief Superintendent Noah Percival.’ Halloran indicated the older man. Though Evie had never met Percival, she had heard Halloran and Charley mention his name once or twice. He was, she understood, their ultimate superior at the station, or at least he would be until his retirement when Ricci was due to take over. His presence meant that whatever the new twist on the case was, it must be deeply serious. The superintendent, who had mid-length grey hair and a beard to match, nodded his head. Like Halloran, Percival was tall and broad and, looking between them, Evie fancied that Halloran would look a lot like Percival did in about thirty years from now. Given Halloran’s dedication, he would probably have worked his way up the police ladder to such an important position too.

  ‘And this,’ Halloran added, ‘is Detective Sergeant Miles Redmond.’

  ‘’Ow do,’ said Redmond. By the cut of him, Evie guessed DS Redmond to be somewhere in his early thirties. He had a thick crop of blond hair but the frown lines across his forehead suggested he had a few years behind him.

  Evie noticed Banks had been watching her looking at Redmond and she averted her eyes back to her teacup. Though Redmond was easy enough on the eye, she didn’t want Banks to get the wrong idea.

  ‘Thank you all for meeting us here under such mysterious circumstances,’ Percival said. ‘I apologize for the cloak and dagger routine and for meeting here rather than down at the station but I think when you hear what I have to say it will soon become clear why things had to be done this way.’ He paused and cleared his throat. ‘There have been some further developments on the Bootham Bar Books case. I think DI Halloran has probably made it known to you that the police are not in the habit of sharing information with civilians but, as it stands, you have proven more trustworthy than some of our own officers.’

  Evie exchanged a look with Kitt. Given the slight widening of the librarian’s eyes, it seemed she knew little more about what this was all about than herself and Grace.

  ‘I need to know,’ Percival continued, ‘that the details I’m going to share with you will under no circumstances be passed on to any other party, including the press. If you don’t think you can keep that promise, now is the time to leave.’

  Evie, Kitt and Grace all remained seated and stared expectantly at the chief superintendent. Though Evie knew she wasn’t the best at keeping secrets as she often got overexcited or saw an opportunity for a joke and let something slip in the process, she was certain that when it came to something this important she would find a way to keep her peace.

  ‘What I’m about to say, I don’t say lightly and it may be that I am completely wrong about the situation. That’s what I’d like to believe, but the truth is I have my suspicions that we can’t trust one or more of the officers who are working at York Police Station just now.’

  ‘You have evidence to suggest an officer is somehow mixed up in this case?’ said Kitt.

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ Percival said, with a slow shake of his head. ‘My suspicions were first aroused when Redmond, here, discovered yesterday that one of Alim Buruk’s credit cards had been used to make a purchase in Helmsley.’

  Grace frowned. ‘Did he buy something suspicious? Something linked with the robbery?’

  ‘We’ll get to that,’ said Redmond. ‘But that weren’t what roused suspicion. The card were used after Buruk died in t’ hospital.’

  Evie shuddered. Was it not bad enough that someone had murdered Alim without tampering with his life after the fact? She could hardly believe there were people in the world who acted with such cruelty and indifference. But her eyes had been opened in the last couple of months, and this particular situation was growing darker and darker.

  ‘You think the killer stole Alim’s credit card?’ said Kitt.

  ‘We don’t know exactly,’ said Halloran. ‘But the two incidents are linked. We knew from looking at Buruk’s financial records in more detail after his death that the card was missing from his personal effects. We thought Buruk, or perhaps Mrs Buruk, had stashed it somewhere because it was linked to their criminal activity. Now it seems the disappearance of his credit card is linked with his death.’

  ‘So you’re not sure if his card was stolen by a police officer?’ asked Grace.

  Percival paused. ‘I’m sorry. It’s difficult for me to talk about this. One of my own . . .’

  ‘Makes yer sick,’ said Redmond.

  ‘It does that, lad,’ said Percival. ‘It does that. I believe some of you have met Superintendent Ricci, who is due to take over from me when I retire next week?’

  Kitt and Evie nodded and Grace, who had not met Ricci, looked outraged at this omission.

  ‘Ricci lives in Helmsley,’ Percival said, each word with weight.

  Evie, Kitt and Grace looked between each other.

  ‘Is that enough to arouse suspicion?’ asked Evie.

  ‘Not on its own, but when me, Wilkinson and Ricci visited Buruk, we excused ourselves for a few minutes to talk to one of the nurses, find out if Buruk had said anything in passing that might help us with the case. When we came back, the curtain was drawn around Alim’s bed and Ricci was with Buruk on the other side of it, alone.’

  ‘Did you ask her why she had drawn the curtain?’ asked Kitt.

  ‘I didn’t have to,’ said Percival. ‘She volunteered the fact that she had drawn the curtain to see if a bit of privacy helped Buruk feel more willing to cooperate and offer up some information.’

  ‘That . . . seems plausible enough,’ said Kitt.

  ‘I agree, and at the time I didn’t question it any further but I couldn’t help but notice that there was something odd about the way she was acting.’ Percival narrowed his eyes, remembering. ‘She seemed . . . on edge. After thirty years in the force, I’ve become an expert in spotting a person who’s lying to me. She was hiding something, there’s no doubt about that.’

  ‘So you think Ricci tampered with Alim’s IV, and stole his credit card?’ asked Kitt.

  ‘I think she’s too bloody clever to steal his credit card,’ said Percival. ‘But I think there’s a chance that she took that opportunity to tamper with his IV because it would be very difficult to prove exactly who did that. Added to that, she’s a police officer. Nobody would suspect her of doing anything untoward and she could have abused that trust for her own ends if she wanted to.’

  ‘But if she’d go to those lengths, what makes you think she wouldn’t take his credit card too?’ asked Kitt.

  ‘First, we think she’s too clever to do all the dirty work herself. Second, stolen credit cards have a habit of turning up in people’s places of residence and work. They are unto themselves pieces of evidence that have to be disposed of. Third, she needed a patsy. She had to make sure Buruk was dead and couldn’t tell any tales on her so she handled that bit herself, relying on her good standing to save her. But she likely found someone else to take the credit card so she had someone to pin this on if it went south.’

  ‘An accomplice,’ said Grace.

  ‘She’s sharp, this one. Wrong ’uns better watch out.’ said Redmond, who coupled his remark with a snorty little laugh. Grace offered Redmond an over-polite smile in response.


  ‘And you think the patsy stole the credit card and made the purchase?’ said Evie.

  ‘We think it’s likely,’ said Percival.

  ‘Do you think her accomplice is a police officer?’ asked Kitt.

  Percival shook his head. ‘I think she’d choose someone with a record, someone she could convince us was behind it all, or manipulate into taking the rap. And if any of this is true, there’ll be a media circus. It’ll ruin the reputation of York Police Station for months to come. A reputation I’ve worked hard to build.’

  ‘What was the credit card used to buy?’ asked Grace. ‘Anything incriminating?’

  Redmond nodded. ‘You might say that.’

  ‘That’s another reason why we don’t think Ricci would be stupid enough to use the credit card herself,’ said Charley.

  ‘’Cording tut’ shopkeeper, it was used to buy ropes, shovels, and thick plastic bags.’

  ‘Oh, that’s not good,’ said Evie.

  ‘The kind of shopping list you have if you want to bury something,’ said Grace.

  ‘Like a body,’ said Banks.

  ‘Whose body?’ said Kitt. ‘Buruk was just left in his hospital bed, wasn’t he?’

  ‘Donald Oakes,’ Halloran said, his voice gentle.

  ‘Donald?’ Kitt said. ‘But his body washed up in the Humber.’

  ‘Maybe that wasn’t the original plan?’ said Halloran. ‘Maybe something went wrong. So they changed their plan. Ditched the body in the river.’

  ‘And . . . you think because Ricci was the only person to be alone with Buruk at this stage, she is the one behind all this?’ Kitt said slowly, visibly trying to digest the idea.

  Percival nodded. ‘I don’t want to think it. I wish to God we’d found something else on Holt. He’s shady enough. I mean, carrying on with that young girl, orchestrating a robbery – not to mention Buruk’s beating to frame Banks here. When he walked through the doors of the nick, I thought it was case closed.’

  ‘But you can’t find anything that links him to the murders?’ said Kitt.

  ‘We believe Donald Oakes was murdered between six and eight the evening before last,’ said Charley. ‘And Holt has an alibi for those times.’

  ‘What about the shopkeepers who sold the goods to whoever it was using Alim’s credit card? Did you get a description?’

  Redmond cleared his throat. ‘The lady who owned t’ shop said that she remembered that customer very well. It was a gent in his fifties with long brown hair, a long beard and moustache. He were wearing a baseball cap, she couldn’t remember the logo on it but it was dark blue in colour. She said he were also wearing sunglasses even though it was dark outside by the time he got tut’ shop.’

  ‘So we can’t rule out Jake or Elwood,’ Evie said, without thinking. A Mexican wave of disapproving looks rippled around the room at her flippancy but stopped when it hit Charley, who had a small but unmissable smile on her lips.

  ‘Anyway,’ she continued, enjoying the warmth building inside at the sight of Charley’s smile, ‘that doesn’t sound a lot how I remember Superintendent Ricci looking.’

  ‘Long hair, sunglasses, a cap and a moustache?’ said Kitt. ‘Sounds more like a silly disguise to me.’

  ‘I suppose it could have been a disguise of some sort,’ said Percival. ‘But disguised or not I think it’s likely that this individual, as yet unidentified, could be her accomplice. Certainly, during the canvassing we did at the hospital, none of the patients, medical professionals or administrative staff said they had seen anyone matching that description near Alim’s room. Or even that area of the hospital.’

  ‘In fact,’ said Halloran, ‘according to the statements we’ve gathered, Alim didn’t receive any visitors between Ricci and his mother.’

  ‘According to Alim’s girlfriend, we shouldn’t be ruling out his mother,’ said Grace.

  ‘Are you talking about Cammie?’ asked Charley.

  ‘That’s the one,’ said Kitt.

  ‘She has mentioned her suspicion of his mother, and we have looked into it but we’ve got nothing on her. She’s slippery. The best we can do is keep an eye on her bank and phone records in case she makes a mistake.’

  ‘It is also possible that someone visited Alim and nobody noticed,’ said Halloran.

  ‘I doubt it,’ said Evie. ‘The man in the bed next to Alim’s was a bit too nosy for someone to get in and out without him seeing them.’

  Percival’s lips tightened. ‘My blood ran cold when I realized that Ricci was the only person besides his mother to be alone with the victim during the time frame in which he could have been poisoned. On top of that, she doesn’t have an alibi for the night Donald was killed.’

  ‘You asked her for her alibi?’ said Kitt. ‘So she knows you suspect her?’

  Percival shook his head. ‘No, no, no. I had to be smarter than that about it. I asked her what she had been up to on her night off – which coincides with the night Mr Oakes was killed.’

  ‘What did she say?’ asked Grace.

  ‘She said she had spent the night at home, alone.’

  ‘The circumstantial evidence does seem to be racking up here,’ said Kitt.

  ‘I agree. Added to that is the fact that she was openly hostile towards Banks on a number of occasions. Nothing too aggressive, mostly making it clear to Banks who was in charge – but it seemed like overkill because Banks is not one to challenge our ranks.’

  ‘Little goodie two-shoes, that’s me,’ Charley said with a slight glimmer in her eye.

  Halloran snorted. ‘I’m not sure if I would quite go that far, Banks. Your behaviour at the staff Christmas party last year was not necessarily that becoming.’

  Charley rolled her eyes. ‘Ach, live by the book three hundred and sixty-four days of the year and they’ll hang you for the one day you drink too much mulled wine. Such injustice.’

  Percival shook his head. ‘But Ricci’s behaviour towards Banks was unusually brusque, to say the least. And I’m afraid there is one more damning clue to Ricci’s involvement. Possibly the most damning of them all.’

  ‘That sounds sinister,’ said Kitt.

  ‘It’s the mark Candice found on Donald’s hand,’ said Halloran.

  ‘Yes, a lower case letter “a”,’ said Kitt. ‘I’ve been wracking my brains about what that could relate to. I’ve done so many Google searches on it that it looks as though I might have been temporarily possessed by a Sesame Street character.’

  Evie giggled at that idea. She started squinting at her friend, trying to work out which Sesame Street character she most resembled. Was she Bert to Evie’s Ernie? Or perhaps, given her love for teaching others new things, she was more Count von Count?

  ‘Well, when we got the body back to the lab we discovered it wasn’t just an “a”. Donald actually had “32a” written across his hand.’

  ‘“32a”?’ said Kitt. ‘What could that relate to?’

  ‘An address,’ said Charley. ‘Superintendent Ricci lives at 32a Hambleton Avenue, in Helmsley.’

  Twenty-Six

  A silence fell over the group as everyone digested this ­information.

  ‘God,’ said Grace at last. ‘I just can’t believe this is ­happening.’

  ‘I do have one question,’ said Kitt.

  ‘I thought you might,’ said Halloran.

  Kitt raised her eyebrows at the inspector before speaking. ‘Why would Donald have Ricci’s door number written on his hand? How did he get it?’

  ‘Donald must have found out t’ address were somehow related to the burglary of his bookshop,’ said Redmond.

  ‘And when the person living at that address found out he was onto them, they . . . killed him?’ said Evie.

  ‘And the only real motive Ricci could have for killing Donald, and presumably Alim, is if she was behind Holt’s blackm
ail,’ said Kitt. ‘Is that the current theory?’

  ‘It’s one of many,’ said Percival. ‘Ever since Redmond reported to me that Ricci’s house number was written on Donald’s hand I’ve wondered if there is something at that address that either leads back to the blackmail, or these murders, or both. Of course, if we officially search the property the jig is up. Ricci knows we suspect her. But I’ve been trying to think of some way of getting invited round or even getting some of you invited round to her house for a closer look. Everything I’ve come up with so far seems much too obvious, though.’

  ‘Didn’t Holt provide a list of likely blackmailers?’ said Kitt. ‘Maybe one of them has a connection to Ricci.’

  ‘Mr Holt,’ said Percival, ‘who I believe you had a hand in apprehending—’

  ‘It was Grace’s detective work that led us to Holt,’ Kitt said, smiling at her assistant, who sat up a little straighter at the compliment.

  ‘We are grateful to you,’ said Percival. ‘But Mr Holt wasn’t able to shed any light whatsoever on the identity of this blackmailer. Even though he told us that he has already handed over half of the promised money to them.’

  ‘But if he’s met his blackmailer to hand over the money, he must know who they are,’ said Evie.

  ‘Unfortunately not,’ said Percival. ‘The blackmailer instructed him to drop the money off in a particular place at a particular time and told him if he hung around to find out the identity of who was extorting him, he would be killed.’

  ‘I say,’ said Evie. Percival and Redmond frowned at Evie’s expression but the rest of the room looked at her with a mixture of entertainment and weariness.

  ‘Er, yes, quite,’ said Percival. ‘In fact, Holt did provide us with a list of people who might want to blackmail him, but it didn’t narrow down the suspect list.’

  ‘He’s got a lot of enemies?’ said Grace.

  Percival nodded. ‘He’s been running a series of what he called investment opportunities over the past six months. Some properties, some start-up companies, almost all of them imploded and the investors lost their money. That’s without us even starting with people who might be annoyed about the affair he’s having should they find out. His wife, his three daughters, they’re all being looked into as well. The only thing Holt could tell us about his blackmailer was that they asked for the money to be left behind a gravestone in a church in Rosedale Abbey.’