‘She undertook to remain chaste until she was married.’
Kay’s eyebrows shot upwards. ‘Is it legally binding?’
He shook his head. ‘That’s not the point. It’s binding in our Lord’s eyes.’
‘Oh.’
His hand shook as he reached out and traced his fingers down the glass pane, and then he sniffed. ‘Her bedroom’s this way. Your lot finished a few hours ago.’
He led the way along a carpeted landing, and then stopped at the last door on the right. ‘This is Sophie’s.’
‘Thank you,’ said Kay. She paused at the threshold while Matthew switched on the lights.
Spotlights in the ceiling cast a muted tone until he turned the dimmer switch, illuminating the space in a harsher light.
She frowned. ‘The curtains are drawn – why?’
Anger flashed across his face. ‘Bloody reporters. One of the caterers helping to clear up this morning saw a camera flash from up in the woods behind the house. Probably trying to get a photograph of your colleagues while they were working in here. We’ve had to close all the curtains on this side of the house.’
‘I’ll have a word once I’m back at the station. See if I can put a stop to that.’
‘Thank you.’ He hovered in the hallway. ‘Look, if you don’t mind, I might wait downstairs for you. All this—’ He gestured at Sophie’s things. ‘It’s just too much.’
‘I understand. I won’t be long.’
Whittaker nodded, and disappeared.
Kay moved into the centre of the room and turned in a circle, her eyes roaming the single bed, built-in wardrobes and nightstand.
Harriet’s team had worked methodically but with empathy; the room had been tidied as best as possible once they’d completed their systematic search, yet it was plain to see that this was no longer the bedroom of a teenager.
It held the atmosphere of a life now extinct; something intangible that left a whisper on the air of a moment stopped in time, forever frozen in memories.
Kay checked over her shoulder, and then pulled on protective gloves and began to go through the drawers of the nightstand.
She didn’t doubt Harriet’s ability, nor that of her team, but she did want to better understand Sophie, to get an idea of what the girl’s life had been like before it was taken so violently from her.
Two paperback books, both non-fiction, were shoved into the top drawer together with an eReader and a packet of headache tablets. A couple of hair elastics and a nail file were pushed to the back.
Sophie had kept an assortment of old CDs in the lower drawer, and Kay ran her eyes over the titles before pushing them to one side. A box of tissues took up the rest of the space, but she found no diary and neither had Harriet’s team.
Sophie had been a keeper of secrets, that much was already evident.
Kay turned her attention to the built-in wardrobe that took up the length of one side of the bedroom, but apart from a selection of clothes hanging in order of length and a variety of shoes, she found nothing to suggest that Sophie was involved with anyone else apart from the young man she had recently been betrothed to, or Peter Evans.
A murmur of voices reached her from the bottom of the staircase and she realised Barnes had returned with Diane and was talking to Matthew.
She sighed, and stepped out of the room. Descending the stairs, she pocketed her gloves as three faces turned to her.
‘Thank you for your time this morning,’ she said to Diane and Matthew. ‘We’ll be in touch as soon as we have something to report. In the meantime, Hazel will be on hand for anything you need, so please don’t hesitate to let her know.’
‘Thank you, Detective,’ said Matthew, and showed them to the door. He wiped at his eyes. ‘I can’t believe she’s gone.’
Diane shivered, and pulled her cardigan around her sides. ‘The Lord knows how on earth Josh is coping. He’ll be heartbroken.’
Eight
‘What do you think?’
They’d travelled away from the Whittakers’ house in silence until Barnes accelerated up the ramp onto the motorway and weaved around a slow-moving car in the left-hand lane.
‘Diane Whittaker definitely didn’t know Sophie was still seeing Peter Evans, much less planning to run away with him. I asked her how long Sophie had had her own passport, and she only got it six months ago for an art school trip to the Loire Valley in May. Sponsored, apparently, so the parents didn’t have to pay.’
‘They never holidayed abroad?’
Barnes shook his head and indicated left, taking a slip road off to the north of the town and moving into the lane that would put them in the right road to get back to the station. ‘I got the impression they couldn’t afford to.’
‘With a house like that?’ Kay rubbed at her eye. ‘I guess stately homes take a lot of money to maintain.’
‘Well, that place definitely needs some work.’
‘Yeah. Some of it looked a bit worse for wear, didn’t it?’
‘Diane Whittaker told me they were expecting some sort of grant or payment from a foundation or something to come through shortly, to help kick off some renovations.’
‘Hopefully they’ll get it. It must cost a fortune to keep up with the work on a place like that. By the time you’d worked your way through it, it’d be time to start all over again.’
‘Did you find anything in Sophie’s room?’
‘No – and Harriet and her team are still compiling their report. Sophie’s bedroom was quite sparse, actually. I always remember my bedroom being a bit of a tip when I was a teenager.’
‘Yeah, mine too.’
‘It was strange – there weren’t even any posters on the walls.’
‘Antique wallpaper, maybe.’
Kay narrowed her eyes at him.
‘Okay, so the house isn’t a museum – yet,’ he grinned. ‘What did you think you’d find?’
‘I thought there might have been a diary or some love letters or something hidden away that we’d missed during the formal searches, but there was nothing.’ She peered out the window as they drew up to a set of traffic lights and watched as a young mother pushed a toddler on an oversized toy car along the pavement, while the child laughed and threw his head back with delight.
‘Any thoughts on motive yet?’
‘Jealousy, maybe?’
‘So, he kills her.’
‘But then why wait for us to come and pick him up?’ Kay shook her head as the lights turned green and Barnes pressed the accelerator. ‘Doesn’t make sense. He had a passport on him, and was packed and ready to go – so, why didn’t he?’
‘Shock?’
Kay wrinkled her nose. ‘Bit of a long shot.’ She rested her hand on the clip to her seatbelt as Barnes turned into the police station car park. ‘Listen, take a look into Matthew Whittaker’s business. Find out if there’s anything going on there we should be aware of. Same with the house and the funding for the renovations.’
‘Anything in particular I should look for?’
‘Something that doesn’t fit. You know how it can be. We might not know what it is until we see it.’
He killed the engine and pulled on the handbrake before turning to her. ‘There also might be nothing there.’
Her mouth twitched. ‘Guess there’s only one way to find out.’
‘And what are you doing while I’m pushing paperwork?’
‘I’ll grab Carys and head out to the Hamiltons. Find out how much Josh knew about Sophie’s relationship with Peter.’
Barnes raised an eyebrow as he opened his door.
‘Now that’s going to be an interesting conversation.’
Nine
‘Nice place you have here, Mr Hamilton.’
Kay strode across the driveway towards an expensive-looking four door saloon car, Carys at her side.
Blake finished arranging the suitcases in the back of the vehicle, shut the lid and turned before placing his hands on his hips. He squinted at the sun reflecting off
the water.
‘Yeah, it’s a nice spot. Of course, we had to pull the old place down.’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘Whole building was rotten. Took about a year to get the plans for this agreed by the local council, but they saw sense in the end.’
‘How long have you been here?’
‘About three years. I wanted somewhere easy to commute to the office in the city, and Courtney wanted to be in the English countryside.’ He spread his hands expansively and gestured to the house. ‘This is perfect.’
‘It’s certainly a very nice house.’
Blake smiled, and then his eyes fell. ‘Any other time, I’d love to give you a guided tour, but as you can see, we’re on our way out.’
‘We?’
‘Myself and Josh.’ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. ‘He only started back at university a few weeks ago, but given the circumstances, we’ve spoken to his lecturers and agreed with them he’ll spend the rest of the semester back at home. He can study online and go back in the New Year.’
‘Which university?’
‘Brunel.’
‘I was wondering if we might have a word with Josh, actually.’
A pained expression crossed the other man’s face. ‘We really need to be off,’ he said. ‘Traffic’s a bitch in the city late afternoon.’
‘I understand that, Mr Hamilton, but I’m in the middle of a murder investigation.’
He frowned. ‘You’ve got your suspect, haven’t you?’
‘We do, and we’ll continue with that side of our inquiry. In the meantime, I’d like to speak to Josh, please – I’d like to learn more about Sophie Whittaker.’
Blake sighed. ‘Look, you can have a quick word, but we can’t hang around.’
Kay plastered a smile on her face. ‘That’s fine. We’ll go through some preliminary questions now, and come back tomorrow.’
‘Right, um – okay.’
Kay and Carys followed him through the front door and into an expansive hallway, an iron and marble staircase sweeping up through an atrium to the upper level of the house while doorways led off to different rooms on the lower floor.
Baking aromas wafted through from a door beyond the staircase, and Kay was struck by the sense of normality compared to the Whittakers’ house.
It was also evident that, by contrast, Blake Hamilton’s business was doing well – his house retained a polished sheen whereas the ancestral home of Diane Whittaker had appeared to be falling apart.
Shabby chic, Crossways Hall was not.
She jumped as Blake yelled up the stairs.
‘Josh – get a move on.’
The gangly form of the teenager appeared at the top of the stairs, a sports bag slung over his shoulder, sunglasses pushed up on top of his blond spiky hair.
He slouched his way across the landing before descending the stairs, and stopped dead when he caught sight of Kay and Carys.
‘Come on,’ said Blake. ‘The police want a quick word with you before we go.’
‘Everything okay?’
Kay turned at the sound of Courtney Hamilton’s voice. ‘Morning, Mrs Hamilton.’
‘What’s going on?’
The woman’s eyes were wide as she dried her hands on a towel.
‘We wanted to ask Josh some questions about Sophie Whittaker,’ said Kay, ‘but I understand Mr Hamilton wants to get him up to the university as soon as possible. We won’t keep you long – we can come back tomorrow.’
‘Oh. Okay. I’ll leave you to it.’
She disappeared back into what Kay presumed was the kitchen, humming under her breath.
‘Right, so – what did you want to ask Josh?’ said Blake, and placed an arm around his son’s shoulders as he joined them in the hallway.
Kay realised he wasn’t going to back down on his assertion that he would be leaving imminently, and decided she didn’t have time for subtlety.
‘Josh, can you take me through the events of last night, in your own words?’
Blake Hamilton let out a loud sigh. ‘Honestly, Detective, we really don’t have time for this. Josh already provided a statement to one of the police guys last night.’
She ignored him, and nodded to Carys who had her notebook and pen ready. ‘Josh?’
The teenager shrugged. ‘We got to the Whittakers’ house about six o’clock I suppose. The people from our church group were the only ones invited – we wanted to keep it a private ceremony. We walked around for a bit and talked with everyone, and then our pastor, Duncan, got everyone together in the marquee so Sophie could take her pledge. After that, I presented her with an engagement ring.’
Kay nodded, but said nothing and waited for him to continue.
Another shrug. ‘After the ceremony had finished, we sat down for the formal meal, and then the staff cleared the tables away and the disco started.’
‘What time was that?’
‘About half eight, I think.’
‘What did you do after the meal?’
‘Mingled. Had a few beers.’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘One of the older women tried to get me to dance, but no way.’
‘When was the last time you saw Sophie?’
His brow creased. ‘About nine-fifteen, I guess.’ He scratched his cheek. ‘Yeah. About nine-fifteen. She was on the terrace talking to her mother, and I wandered over. I don’t know what they were talking about, but Diane looked pretty pissed off about something. She seemed to get over it pretty fast though, and then left me and Sophie to it.’
‘What did you talk about?’
‘Oh, this and that, y’know.’
‘Could you elaborate, please?’
‘Hang on.’ Blake held up a hand. ‘What sort of question is that?’
‘I’m trying to ascertain what your son and Sophie Whittaker spoke about,’ said Kay. ‘It might help us to gauge what her state of mind was at the time.’
‘State of mind?’ Blake laughed. ‘I’ll tell you what her state of mind was. She was drunk, like everyone else.’ He patted Josh on the shoulder. ‘If that’s all, Detective, I’m going to get Josh to the university,’ said Blake. ‘Like I said, I don’t want to get stuck in traffic on the way.’
Kay clenched her jaw. ‘Thank you. I appreciate your time. We’ll be back tomorrow.’
The American nodded, then steered Josh towards the front door to the waiting car.
Kay and Carys stood on the front steps as it pulled away.
‘Would you like a coffee before you go?’
Kay turned to see Courtney in the hallway, her eyes hopeful. She glanced at Carys, then back. ‘Yes, that’d be nice, thanks – as long as it’s not putting you out of your way?’
‘Not at all. Come on through to the kitchen.’
They followed her along the hallway and through wide double doors into a space that Kay felt sure was twice the size of her garage.
Airy and light, the room showed the worktops glittering under the gleam from strategically-placed spotlights in the ceiling.
Courtney noticed her gaze. ‘Marble,’ she grinned. ‘Blake had it shipped from Italy especially for me.’ She ran her hand over the surface nearest to her. ‘It’s gorgeous, isn’t?’
‘Lovely,’ said Carys, and raised an eyebrow at Kay once the other woman’s back was turned.
A fresh aroma of vanilla and cinnamon filled the whole room and Kay hoped her stomach wouldn’t rumble loudly like it always did when she hadn’t eaten for longer than four hours.
‘Smells great in here,’ she said.
‘Oh, we usually have a housekeeper that does all the cooking for me,’ said Courtney, ‘but, y’know, baking helps to calm me, so I just asked her to get me the ingredients and leave me to it.’
She busied herself with making coffee, and then handed them the resulting brew in bone china mugs.
‘Josh must be devastated,’ said Kay.
‘Or relieved.’ The woman clamped her hand over her mouth, and blushed.
‘Relieved?’
‘Wel
l,’ said Courtney, and flapped her hand. ‘They’re both so young, really, aren’t they? I mean, were, I suppose.’ She fell silent for a moment, and then shook her head if to compose herself. ‘I’d rather Josh see the world before he settles down. He’s got plenty of time before he has to worry about getting married and taking over Blake’s business.’
‘Whose idea was the purity pledge ceremony?’ asked Carys.
Courtney’s eyebrows puckered, her smooth forehead refusing to crease. ‘Matthew’s, I think.’ She paused. ‘Or was it Sophie?’ She shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter. I know they both started talking about it after Blake mentioned it during one of our private church gatherings one evening.’
She turned, slipped heat-proof mitts over her hands, and opened the oven door, extracting two trays before turning them around and shoving them back inside.
‘The private worship gatherings – how did that start?’ said Kay, and tried to ignore the aroma of the cookies emerging from the oven.
Courtney closed the door and tweaked the timer before removing the mitts and returning to her bar stool. ‘Blake suggested it a couple of years ago, and Duncan agreed.’ She pursed her lips. ‘It’s okay mingling with others from the village, I suppose, but there are some things that we just like to keep from people that wouldn’t, well, they wouldn’t understand, y’know?’ She caught Kay’s stare, and forced a small smile. ‘Nothing out of the ordinary, I can assure you, but perhaps things they needn’t worry themselves with.’ Her nose lifted in the air a little. ‘We’re quite a way removed from their little problems and issues,’ she added, gesturing around the expansive kitchen.
Kay forced down the retort that rose to her lips. ‘So, are these private gatherings held on a regular basis?’
‘Oh, yes – every Tuesday night.’
‘Where?’
‘At the church. Duncan’s ever so accommodating,’ Courtney gushed. ‘He’s got such an open mind when it comes to how one should be allowed to celebrate one’s faith.’
Carys cleared her throat.
Kay glanced across the worktop at her, but the young detective had her head bowed over her notebook and refused to meet her eye. She was glad; she didn’t think she could keep a straight face if Carys chose to look up at that point.
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