‘Morning. Would you like to come in?’
‘Thanks.’
Kay admired the art deco ceilings as she moved into the cool space of the building. The original panelling had been retained too, with the cashiers’ windows set to one side, four in total.
A secured door at the end of room displayed a “Staff Only” sign, warning of dire consequences if any member of the public tried to pass.
She checked her watch.
‘Nine on the dot.’
‘How long do you think Lady Griffith will keep us waiting?’
‘God knows.’
The member of staff who had ushered them through the front door returned, a quizzical look crossing her features.
‘Can I help you with something?’
Kay fished out her warrant card. ‘We’re waiting for someone to join us.’
‘Oh.’ Flustered, the staff member went to walk away, then rocked back on her heel. ‘Would you like tea or coffee while you’re waiting?’
‘That’d be great, thanks.’
Half an hour later, the two coffees dispatched, Kay was beginning to wonder where the hell the Whittakers had got to, when Gavin murmured under his breath.
‘About bloody time.’
Diane and Matthew Whittaker walked towards them, Diane a little ahead of her husband as if she wanted to reach the detectives first.
‘Detective Hunter, sorry to keep you waiting,’ she said. ‘Have you been here long?’
Kay’s eyes rested upon the empty coffee cups before she raised an eyebrow. ‘Shall we get on with it?’
She caught the attention of the staff member who had provided the hot drinks and asked her to fetch the manager.
‘Is everything okay?’
‘Yes. Please tell him that Lady Griffith needs to speak to him.’
Kay turned on her heel and faced Sophie’s mother. ‘I’m presuming we’ll be taken to a private room to open the safe deposit box?’
‘Y-yes. That’s normally what happens.’ She forced a smile. ‘Couldn’t have one’s private things in view of the staff, after all.’
The secure door at the end of the room opened, and a short man with carefully coiffed black hair hurried towards them, his expression a mix of delight and terror.
He wrung his hands as he approached.
‘Lady Griffith, Mr Whittaker. Terrible news about Sophie. Terrible.’
‘Thank you, Mr Parsons.’ Diane introduced Kay and Gavin. ‘We’d like to open Sophie’s safe deposit box, please.’
‘Of course. You have the key?’
‘I do,’ said Kay.
‘As the counter-signatory to the safe deposit box, Lady Griffith, I must ask if you’re happy for the detectives and your husband to accompany you?’
Diane opened her mouth to speak, but Kay held up her hand.
‘She is.’
Diane clamped her mouth shut, glared at her, and then seemed to recover. ‘Of course, that’s fine.’
‘Well, if you’d like to follow me.’
He led them through the secure door, which opened out into a carpeted corridor with three offices leading off from it, before swiping his access card and holding a second secure door open while they filed through.
He gestured to a table and six chairs. ‘If you’d like to wait here, I’ll retrieve the box for you.’
An awkward silence filled the room when he disappeared, and Kay let it do so. She had no wish to make unnecessary conversation, and it was sometimes better to simply observe other people rather than try to draw them out with words.
Matthew Whittaker appeared confused, as if he didn’t know why his wife had summoned him to their bank, whereas Diane wore a defiant look upon her face and twisted the wedding band on her finger.
Relief washed over her features as the bank manager reappeared, a long black metal box in his hands.
He elbowed the door shut and then set the box upon the table, and stood there, apparently unsure whether to defer to Kay or to Diane.
Kay saved him the bother.
‘We’ll let you know when we’re finished, Mr Parsons.’
He bowed his head slightly, and Kay realised it was more in deference to Diane than her.
She waited until he’d disappeared from the room, before reaching into her jacket pocket and extracting three pairs of gloves, holding one set out to Diane and passing the other to Matthew.
He wiggled his fingers into them, his face pale. ‘I didn’t know she had anything to hide.’
Kay paused, the key in her hand. ‘You didn’t know about this safe deposit box?’
He shook his head, and glanced at his wife. ‘They didn’t tell me.’
Diane flapped her hand. ‘You didn’t need to know. I simply wanted to ensure Sophie had somewhere to keep her heirlooms.’ She shot a thin smile at Kay. ‘We don’t have those ugly “safe” things in the house. It’d spoil the decor, for a start.’
‘Put your gloves on please, Lady Griffith.’
Bewildered, the woman stared at the gloves in her grasp. ‘W-why?’
‘We need to preserve the contents of this for evidence. Our CSI won’t be pleased if we contaminate everything with our own fingerprints.’
Gavin withdrew his notebook and a pack of plastic bags from his jacket and set them down on the table, ready to record everything and label it accordingly.
Kay twisted the key in the lock and lifted the lid off the box.
Forty-Five
Diane Whittaker gasped.
Bank notes – fifties, twenties and tens, had been bundled together and secured with elastic bands before being stacked in neat rows that ran the length of the box.
‘How much is there?’ Gavin murmured, his eyes wide.
Kay picked up a bundle and flipped through it, then dropped her gaze to the remaining notes. ‘Thousands.’
‘What’s it all doing there?’ said Diane. ‘What’s going on?’
Kay kept her suspicions to herself for the time being, and instead lifted each bundle before sliding them across the table to Gavin. ‘Log it by denomination.’
‘Sarge.’
As Kay pulled out each bundle of notes, she began to understand what Sophie Whittaker had really been using the secret box for.
‘You never thought to order a new spare key to check the contents of this?’ she said to Diane.
‘Never! These are my daughter’s private things.’
‘If I hadn’t mentioned that Sophie might have somewhere she could hide secrets, would you have brought this to our attention?’
‘Detective, I know you have a job to do, but I find your questioning insulting.’
‘Just answer the question, Diane,’ said Matthew.
Kay met his eyes and sent a silent “thanks” in his direction.
Whether the marriage was failing before Sophie’s death, or had manifested itself within the past weeks, she had no idea. However, it was evident all was not well within Lady Griffith’s household.
‘Well, of course I would!’ Diane’s eyes shot from her husband’s to Kay. ‘Yes, I would have told you.’
Kay turned her attention back to the box. Underneath the bank notes, she found the jewellery Diane had alluded to. Each piece had its own velvet box, and when she opened them, the ceiling lights glinted off sapphires, rubies and other precious stones.
Kay removed each one and passed them to Gavin. ‘Log these as well.’
‘But—’
‘You’ll get a receipt for it all, Lady Griffith, don’t worry. Do you recognise all of these items?’
‘They were my late mother’s.’ Diane waved her hand dismissively and turned away.
Kay cleared her throat and pointed at the open boxes before repeating her question. ‘Do you recognise all these items? Are there any here that didn’t belong to your mother?’
Diane clenched her jaw, then dropped her gaze and ran her eyes over the jewellery. A small gasp escaped her lips, and she pointed a shaking hand at one piece.
> ‘I haven’t seen that before.’
Kay picked up a light blue-coloured box and plucked out the simple diamond ring that had been nestled within its lining. Compared to the other pieces, it appeared newer and less worn.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive.’ Diane’s top lip curled. ‘My mother would have never worn a diamond of such low grade.’
‘Note that, Gavin.’
‘Sarge.’
A piece of patterned cloth had been laid beneath the jewellery boxes and as Kay passed those across to Gavin, she realised it was a tea towel. Lifting the last jewellery box out, she tugged at the cloth and peered underneath.
‘Bingo,’ she murmured.
She dumped the tea towel on the table and plucked out the pad of writing paper, a glue stick and an exercise book and held them up to Diane.
‘Ever seen these before?’
‘No. What’s going on?’
Kay held the notebook up to the light, but could see no indentations on the pages. She rolled the tube of glue towards Gavin.
‘Pop that in an evidence bag and put in a request for Harriet to test it for any fingerprints against what was used on the blackmail notes.’
‘Will do.’
‘Blackmail notes?’ Voice shaking, Diane looked from Matthew to Kay, her eyes wide. ‘What’s going on?’
‘We’ve had our suspicions that Sophie was blackmailing people. Each person received letters demanding money in exchange for the blackmailer’s silence on a regular basis. The letters comprised words cut from newspapers or printed out articles that were then glued to notepaper. The same as this. This notebook contains a record of each letter sent, the amount of money received, and her victims.’
‘Who are they?’
‘I’m not at liberty to say. As you’ll appreciate, the people she targeted would rather keep that private.’ Kay closed the notebook and passed it to Gavin.
Diane covered her mouth with a trembling hand. ‘How could she?’
‘It takes all sorts, Lady Griffith.’
‘Does – does anyone else know it was her?’
‘I’ll be speaking to her victims as soon as we’re finished here to confirm our suspicions were correct.’
She didn’t say that she’d also be speaking to Sharp about re-interviewing Blake Hamilton and Duncan Saddleworth, given that both now had a clear motive for killing Sophie.
Diane was pacing the room, wringing her hands. ‘Oh my Lord. We have to keep this secret, Detective. We can’t let anyone find out. My family’s reputation—’
‘Lady Griffith, I’m in the middle of an investigation to find out who killed your daughter. We will be speaking to everyone we’ve interviewed to date to find out if they knew about her little scheme.’
‘You can’t. I’ll never be able to show my face in public again!’
‘Is that more important than finding your daughter’s killer?’
The woman fell silent, her mouth working as her eyes darted to the notebook in Gavin’s hand. ‘Give it to me.’
‘That’s not going to happen, Lady Griffith.’ Kay gestured to the contents of the box. ‘This is all going to be lodged as evidence.’
She reached out and pressed a button set into the surface of the table, a soft ringing sounding in the corridor outside.
Within moments, the bank manager appeared, his face hopeful.
Kay pointed at the empty box. ‘We’ll be taking the contents with us, Mr Parsons. In the circumstances, I’d suggest you arrange for Lady Griffith to close the account so she no longer has to pay for this service.’
‘I’ll wait in the car,’ said Matthew, and stormed from the room.
Flustered, the bank manager hurried after him, promising to bring the necessary forms for Diane to sign on his return, and Kay busied herself helping Gavin log and bag up the jewellery, notebook and cash.
When he returned, the bank manager placed the forms on the table and handed Diane a fountain pen, indicating where she should sign.
Grumbling under her breath, she snatched it from his hand and scrawled her signature across the bottom of the page, her hand curling round on itself at an awkward angle as she signed one form after the other.
‘My husband normally deals with this sort of thing.’
‘I’m afraid that as you opened the account with your daughter, we require your signature to close it,’ said Parsons. ‘I do apologise.’
The formalities complete, he led them back along the corridor and out into the bank’s main room, the cashiers now busy with a steady stream of customers who filed through the doors.
‘If that’s all, Detective?’
Kay nodded. ‘Thank you, Lady Griffith. We’ll be in touch.’
‘I’ve no doubt you will be.’ Diane glared at Gavin and jabbed her finger at him. ‘Just you make sure all that jewellery is returned intact. I know exactly what my late mother gifted to my daughter.’
She spun on her heel and stalked from the bank without a backward glance.
‘Bloody charming,’ said Gavin.
Forty-Six
Kay stood to one side on a bare brick doorstep while Barnes rang the bell and peered through the frosted glass of the front door.
‘They should be in,’ he said. ‘I phoned her mother to let her know you wanted to talk to Eva.’
After going through the statement Eva Shepparton had given to Barnes and Gavin, and the subsequent events since the discovery Sophie Whittaker had been pregnant when she’d been murdered, Kay wanted to speak to the teenager herself.
Barnes had said at the time he’d felt the girl was hiding something from them, and Kay was inclined to agree.
She knew she was missing something, something that tied everything together, but she couldn’t fathom what, and it bothered her.
She roused herself from her thoughts as the front door was opened and a woman in her late forties peered out.
‘Mrs Shepparton?’
The woman’s face softened a little when she recognised Barnes. ‘Detective. Sorry to keep you waiting. Will you come in?’
‘Thanks. This is my colleague, Detective Sergeant Kay Hunter.’
‘Hello.’
The woman shook hands with Kay and then gestured towards the end of the hall. ‘I thought we’d chat in the kitchen, Detective Barnes. Do you want to go through?’
‘Thanks.’
Kay followed Barnes along a brightly decorated hallway, a staircase off to the left against the wall where the house adjoined the one next door. The front door slammed shut in their wake and Eva’s mother called over their shoulders.
‘I’ve just put the kettle on. Take a seat and I’ll sort you out with a hot drink. Detective Hunter, this is my daughter, Eva.’
As Kay entered the kitchen, her eyes fell upon the scrawny teenage girl sitting at the worktop, her brown eyes wide at the sight of the two police officers.
‘Hi, Eva. Do you remember me? Detective Ian Barnes.’
‘Hello.’
‘This is Detective Kay Hunter. She’s my boss. Would you mind answering a few questions for her?’ He held up his hands apologetically and glanced at Mrs Shepparton. ‘It’s about girl stuff, so if it’s all right with you, I might take my cup of tea and step out into the garden, if that’d make you more comfortable?’
‘Thanks, Ian,’ said Kay. She smiled at Eva. ‘It’s all right. I wasn’t here when he spoke to you last, so I just want to go over a few things in your original statement to clarify them – I’m hoping it might help me find out who’s responsible for Sophie’s murder. Okay?’
The girl peered over her shoulder at her mother, who gave her a reassuring nod, and then turned back to Kay and Barnes.
‘Okay.’
‘Great.’
Barnes took the mug of steaming tea from the girl’s mother and moved across the kitchen to the back door. ‘See you in a bit.’
Kay waited until the door closed behind him, then took the stool Mrs Shepparton indicated to her, no
dded her thanks, and opened up her notebook.
‘Eva, when my colleagues spoke to you, you indicated to them that Sophie was pregnant.’
‘She was, it’s the truth.’
‘We know. The thing is, we need to find out who else knew. Obviously, Sophie told you because you were a good friend to her and she could confide in you, but do you know if she told anyone else?’
Eva shook her head. ‘She’d only found out the day before. I think she was still in shock.’
‘Can you remember her exact words that day when she told you?’
The girl’s brow furrowed. ‘She said that she was scared, and I asked her why. I thought she was nervous about taking the purity pledge, but then she said she’d taken a pregnancy test the day before and it was positive. She said “they’ll kill me when they find out”, and I figured she meant her mum and dad because, like, they’d spent so much money on the ceremony and everything. I mean, I know her mum can be a silly old cow—’
‘Eva!’
Kay held up her hand to Eva’s mother and gestured to the teenager to continue.
‘Well,’ she said, and shrugged. ‘She is. But I told Sophie it didn’t matter – by then, she’d already told me she was planning to run away with Peter.’
‘You knew about that?’
The girl nodded, and then blushed. ‘I helped her move some of her clothes from Crossways Hall to his place.’
Kay paused and made a note on a clean page. Already, the girl had told her more than she’d ventured to Barnes and Gavin.
‘Do you know who the father was, Eva?’
Her eyes locked with Eva’s as the girl rocked back on her stool, her mouth open.
Kay waited.
Eventually, the teenager’s shoulders sagged.
‘It’s okay, darling, you can tell the detective,’ said Mrs Shepparton. She reached out and clasped her daughter’s hand in hers. ‘Just tell the truth. You want to help Sophie, don’t you?
A fat tear escaped Eva’s left eye and trickled down her cheek. She withdrew her hand from her mother’s and wiped at her face before a shudder wracked her body and she lifted her gaze to Kay.
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