One to Watch

by Rachel Amphlett

  ‘She said she thought Duncan was the father.’

  ‘The priest?’

  Mrs Shepparton’s shocked outburst echoed the thought that ricocheted in Kay’s head.

  ‘Do you mean Duncan Saddleworth?’

  ‘Yes.’ The girl’s voice trembled. ‘I knew Sophie fancied him – she said when we’d passed him in the town one afternoon that he was good looking. “One to watch”, she said.’ Eva snorted. ‘I didn’t think for one minute she meant she was going to have sex with him as well.’

  She shook her head, and then burst into tears.

  Kay waited while the girl’s mother pulled her into a hug and settled her down before picking up her pen once more.

  ‘After she told you who the father was, what else did Sophie say?’

  Eva shook her head. ‘Nothing. Her mum appeared on the terrace wanting to know where Mrs Jamieson was. We were frightened, I can tell you – we thought she’d overheard us, but she didn’t say anything. The housekeeper came along a few seconds later anyway, and they both disappeared. By then, Sophie had clammed up. She didn’t tell me anything else.’

  And didn’t get a chance to, thought Kay.

  ‘Eva, you’ve been a great help today.’ She raised herself from the kitchen stool and signalled to Barnes through the window to return.

  As Mrs Shepparton showed them to the front door, Kay lowered her voice.

  ‘How’s your daughter coping in the circumstances?’

  The woman’s lips pursed. ‘As best she can. You find out who did that to her best friend, Detective. That’ll help her. She wants to see Sophie’s killer caught.’

  ‘So do we.’

  Forty-Seven

  Kay leaned against the car door and took a moment to breathe in the fresh morning air.

  Duncan Saddleworth’s car had been parked to the side of the church, and she’d spotted two of the women who had been tending to the flower arrangements the first time she’d been to the church, although they hadn’t seen her. They’d walked out the doors, busy chattering while carrying brooms before disappearing around the corner of the building.

  She’d parked away from the place of worship, along the lane and at an angle that she could see the main doors to the building as well as a smaller door that she presumed led from the vestry where she’d spoken with Saddleworth at the beginning of the investigation.

  ‘How do you want to do this, Sarge?’

  Carys locked the vehicle and wandered round to join her, her neck craning up at the bell tower that cast a shadow over the front apron of the church grounds.

  ‘We’ll ask him down to the station. He hasn’t been interviewed formally yet, and I’d rather not have to repeat myself.’

  ‘Sounds good. Ours or his?’

  Kay cast her eyes over the blue hatchback at the side of the church. ‘He can meet us there. I don’t get the impression he’s going to do a runner. Not when we know where he lives, and where he works.’

  ‘Do you think he killed her?’

  ‘I don’t think so, no. I do want to get to the bottom of whatever Sophie was playing at, though.’

  ‘You think her blackmailing the three of them was what got her killed?’

  ‘Not sure.’ She pushed off the car. ‘One way to find out.’

  She strode towards the church as the doors opened once more, and Duncan Saddleworth appeared, a harried expression on his face.

  His shoulders slumped when he noticed the two detectives approaching.

  ‘DS Hunter.’

  ‘Morning, Mr Saddleworth.’

  He held up the briefcase in his hand and gestured towards his car. ‘I was about to go home and do my paperwork there. Did you want something?’

  ‘Actually, we’d like you to come to the police station.’

  ‘What? Why?’

  ‘We’ve obtained some more evidence in relation to the murder of Sophie Whittaker.’ Kay lowered her voice at the sight of the two women reappearing, their eyes agog at the presence of the police. ‘We’d like to speak with you as a matter of some urgency. Away from prying eyes – and eavesdroppers.’

  Duncan glanced over his shoulder at the two cleaners, who scurried through the doors to the church, guilty expressions on their faces.

  He sighed. ‘That’s not a bad idea, Detective.’

  * * *

  Duncan took the steaming cup of coffee from Carys, and then set it on the table between them while Kay pressed the “record” button and recited the formal caution for the interview to begin.

  She’d draped her jacket over the back of her chair, silently cursing the temperamental air conditioning that was evidently going to start going on the blink as the summer began, and opened up the folder in front of her.

  ‘When did you first start receiving the letters from the blackmailer, Mr Saddleworth?’

  He rocked back in his seat, stunned. ‘How do you know about that?’

  ‘Please answer the question.’

  He ran a hand over his mouth, and then leaned forward and cradled the coffee mug between his hands, his gaze downcast.

  ‘It started about two months ago, maybe a bit longer.’

  ‘Were you aware that there were others being blackmailed?’

  He nodded.

  ‘I’ll need to know who.’

  ‘Blake Hamilton.’

  ‘Anyone else?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘Mr Saddleworth—’

  ‘Call me Duncan.’

  ‘Thank you. Duncan – we were alerted to your being blackmailed by a Mr Felix Ashgrove, a resident of Tonbridge.’

  A gasp escaped his lips. ‘Felix?’

  ‘Can you confirm you know him?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What was your relationship to Mr Ashgrove?’

  His Adam’s apple bobbed, before he blushed. ‘We – we had a bit of a fling while I was studying at Oxford.’

  ‘When was the last time you saw him?’

  ‘Late Nineties.’

  ‘But you’ve spoken to him recently?’

  Saddleworth lowered his eyes. ‘Yes. He told you?’

  ‘He saw your face on the news report about Sophie’s funeral, and telephoned us. Is Blake Hamilton the reason you went to Connecticut after you finished your volunteer stint?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did you know he was married at the time?’

  ‘Yes.’ His lifted his head, his face miserable. ‘It only happened once after we left Oxford. He’d already gone months before I left for South America. His leaving was partly the reason I made the decision I had to get on with my life. Then I heard a rumour he was in Bridgeport, so I went there. It only happened the once, Detective – you have to believe me. It was when I first arrived in the USA. After that, it never happened again and we never spoke of it. Neither of us could afford the damage to our reputations.’

  ‘Do you know who was blackmailing you?’

  ‘I thought I did.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Sophie Whittaker.’

  ‘Why?’

  He shrugged. ‘I can only imagine she found an old picture I kept from our Oxford days in my desk drawer in the vestry. It shows the three of us together at a party – I was kissing Blake. I always keep it locked – you’ve seen what the cleaners are like. One day, around the time she first started asking about the purity pledge, I had to take a phone call and I left her in the vestry on her own. When I got back, she had a smug look on her face. I knew something was wrong, but it wasn’t until she’d left that I realised I’d left the key in the lock. Nothing was missing, but after I received the first letter, I realised what she’d done.’

  ‘Did you kill Sophie Whittaker?’

  His eyes widened. ‘No!’

  ‘We’ve gone through the statements taken on the night of her murder, Duncan. You were nowhere to be found after the ceremony.’

  ‘That’s because I made my excuses and left. I had to be up early for the next day’s service.’


  Kay nodded to Carys, who slid across the notebook they’d found in the safe deposit box.

  ‘We found out about a safe deposit box held in Sophie’s name. The entries in this notebook suggest that Sophie was blackmailing all of you on a regular basis, yet you were the only one to pay up.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I can only presume that the thought of being blackmailed didn’t bother Blake Hamilton. Felix Ashgrove certainly wasn’t worried about his reputation. Why did you pay?’

  ‘I was scared.’ He ran a shaking hand over his face. ‘There was… there was a minor indiscretion a year or so ago and, if anything else happened, I would’ve been kicked out of my church.’ His eyes became pleading. ‘I have nowhere else to go, Detective.’

  ‘What sort of “minor indiscretion”, Mr Saddleworth?’

  He blushed. ‘I had a relationship with a younger member of my congregation. Female.’

  ‘Was she under age?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Have there been any other indiscretions like that?’

  ‘Only one,’ he mumbled.

  ‘Who?’

  He lifted his gaze, his eyes miserable. ‘Sophie Whittaker.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘I didn’t mean to.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘About four months ago. She stayed late one Saturday night – supposedly to ask me about her purity pledge. She seduced me, Detective.’

  ‘Did it happen again?’

  ‘No – only the once. I-I realised she was probably using me. For one of such a young age, she certainly had a reputation.’

  Kay fought down her anger, and instead wrote a note on the inside of the folder. If Duncan Saddleworth slept with Sophie Whittaker four months ago, then he definitely wasn’t the father of her child, despite what Sophie thought.

  Kay’s mind went back to what Carys had mentioned in passing weeks ago – that girls who took a purity pledge were often ignorant about safe sex or any other family planning issues. It simply wasn’t spoken about within those closed church communities.

  ‘How did you manage to afford to keep up with the blackmail payments? I can’t imagine the church pays that much of a salary?’

  Saddleworth tapped his fingers on the desk for a moment, and then slouched in his chair. ‘You might as well know. Blake Hamilton paid me to make sure Sophie’s purity pledge ceremony and engagement to Josh went ahead. He was worried she’d change her mind.’

  ‘How much?’

  ‘Enough that I didn’t have to worry about meeting the blackmailer’s demands.’

  ‘How much money did you pay in response to the letters?’

  ‘Up to the night Sophie died, nine thousand six hundred pounds.’

  Kay caught Carys’s eye. The sum tallied with what they’d found in the safe deposit box.

  ‘I paid another fifteen hundred pounds nine days ago.’

  Kay frowned. ‘Nine days ago?’

  ‘Yes.’ His top lip curled. ‘You see, Detective, I thought it was Sophie Whittaker blackmailing me because she found out about Blake Hamilton and Felix Ashgrove. I thought it was because she seduced me. Evidently, I was wrong. I’m still being blackmailed.’

  ‘Do you have the letter?’

  In response, he reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a crumpled envelope before sliding it across the table.

  Carys caught Kay’s eyes and slipped a pair of gloves on before picking up the envelope and extracting the page from within.

  Again, the note had been constructed from words cut out from printed out newspaper articles, demanding money in exchange for secrecy about Duncan’s affairs.

  ‘Is this the letter that arrived after Sophie’s death?’

  He nodded, his eyes full of misery. ‘Yes.’

  ‘We’ll need to hang on to this, Mr Saddleworth.’ Kay reached over to the recording machine, her finger hovering over the “stop” button.

  ‘Interview terminated.’

  Forty-Eight

  ‘Are you going to ask him to come down to the station?’

  Barnes peered through the windscreen as Blake Hamilton’s house came into view, and flipped the indicator stalk on the steering column.

  ‘No. I don’t think there’s any need for that. It wouldn’t go down well with Larch, for a start.’

  Kay fidgeted in her seat until she could reach the notebook in her bag and flipped through the pages once more. ‘What I do want to find out is if Hamilton’s been receiving letters since Sophie died, like Duncan Saddleworth has.’ She paused on the last page of the notebook to include Sophie’s handwriting. ‘Whoever it is didn’t know about Sophie’s record keeping habits. She was meticulous.’

  ‘So, someone found out about the blackmailing and when Sophie died, decided it’d be a good way to make some money.’

  ‘Yeah. When we’re finished here, can you go and speak to Peter Evans again? I’ve got a feeling we still haven’t had the whole story from him. Take it easy – he’s likely trying to protect Sophie’s reputation. I think he really did love her.’

  ‘Will do. What are you thinking?’

  Kay tapped her thumb against the side of the notebook. ‘One of them isn’t telling us everything.’ She sighed. ‘It’s like they’ve all got secrets, and we’re only chipping away at the surface. I mean, why would Duncan Saddleworth be the only one to pay her? Having a gay relationship when he was at university doesn’t seem a strong enough reason. There’s got to be something else going on.’

  Barnes grunted in response, then braked outside the house and climbed from the car, reaching into the backseat for his jacket before shrugging it over his shoulders.

  Kay tucked the notebook back into her bag and joined him as he stalked across the gravel towards the front door.

  Blake Hamilton’s face broke into a sneer when he opened it and found the two detectives on his doorstep.

  ‘This is becoming tiresome, Detective Hunter.’

  ‘We won’t keep you long, Mr Hamilton. We’ve had some developments in our investigation we’d like to speak with you about.’ She smiled. ‘We can either do that here, or at the police station. Your choice.’

  He stepped back and held the door open. ‘Come in.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘My wife isn’t in. She’s taken Josh out for the day. Shopping, or something.’ He led the way through to the vast living area, but stopped short of offering them a seat.

  ‘I won’t take up too much of your time, Mr Hamilton.’ Kay withdrew Sophie’s notebook from her bag. ‘I’d like to ask you about the blackmail letters you’ve been receiving for the past two months.’

  Blake took a step back, his face flushing. ‘How the hell do you know about that?’

  ‘Have you any idea who was blackmailing you?’

  ‘I had my suspicions.’

  ‘Were you aware of anyone else being blackmailed at the same time?’

  ‘I presume the only reason you’re here is because Duncan Saddleworth told you I was also being blackmailed.’

  ‘That’s correct. There was also a third man being blackmailed. Did you know Felix Ashgrove?’

  ‘Christ, a long time ago. He was a guy that Duncan was involved with in Oxford. Haven’t heard his name mentioned in years.’ He pointed to the notebook in the plastic bag in Kay’s hand. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘We were informed about a safe deposit box yesterday that was previously overlooked. This notebook was inside it, together with a lot of money. And notepaper that Duncan Saddleworth confirms matches that of the letters he had been receiving until recently. This notebook contains a record of letters sent to you, Felix, and Duncan.’

  ‘You never said who it was, Detective. The blackmailer?’

  ‘Sophie Whittaker.’

  He snorted, an explosive sound that ended in a bitter laugh. ‘Wow, and I thought her mother was a conniving bitch.’

  ‘The problem is, Mr Hamilton, that although the entries in this notebook finish the day before Sophie was k
illed, the letters to Mr Saddleworth haven’t stopped. Were you aware of this?’

  He bowed his head. ‘Duncan did mention to me that he’d received another letter. He seemed convinced that when Sophie died the letters would stop, too.’ He raised his gaze to hers. ‘I have no idea who is blackmailing Duncan now.’

  ‘You’ve not received any other letters?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘What did you do with the ones you received before Sophie died?’

  ‘I destroyed them. I had no intention of paying up, but neither did I want my wife finding out.’

  ‘Why did you pay Saddleworth to ensure the purity pledge went ahead?’

  Hamilton had the decency to blush, although he recovered quickly. ‘I viewed it as a business investment,’ he said. ‘I knew Duncan needed the money. The arrangement suited us both well.’

  Kay’s eyes narrowed. ‘And what if Sophie decided she didn’t want to go ahead?’

  ‘Well, she didn’t, did she? She took the pledge.’ His lips thinned. ‘I’d appreciate it, Detective, if this conversation was kept between us. Courtney doesn’t know about me and Duncan. I’d prefer to keep it that way.’

  ‘If this conversation has no bearing on the murder of Sophie Whittaker, then I’ll consider it. I’m not making promises though.’

  ‘Thank you, Detective. I owe you.’

  Forty-Nine

  As Kay left the police station and headed towards the river, she pulled out her mobile phone and scrolled through the contact list before hitting the call button.

  Peter Evans answered before the third ring, his voice weary.

  ‘Detective Hunter.’

  Kay didn’t pause for niceties. ‘Did you give Sophie Whittaker a ring?’

  ‘Yes. She refused to wear it though. She said she had to keep it a secret.’

  ‘Can you describe it for me?’

  ‘It was a gold band with a single diamond. It took me four weeks to save up for it. I even worked some overtime. I know she was probably used to more expensive jewellery, but it was everything I could afford. I wanted her to have it now, and we were going to get married in France.’