So that was what it was really about — Sarah and Freddie. “Sounds like she’s having a good time. Freddie is a lot of fun. She won’t come to any harm. It’s quiz night at the Fox. If I wasn’t so tired, I might have joined them.”
“That’s not the point. Andrew Denham has set his cap at her. He’s not bothered that she’s a divorcee with children, and he’s got money. Why can’t she see sense?”
“Get real, Ma! Sarah can please herself about who she takes up with. She’s a big girl. Denham is an old-fashioned fool. Sarah’s not for him.”
“Olivia rang today. She asked about you.” His mother changed the subject.
Olivia Meadows was a young woman that Evelyn Brindle had her eye on as a prospective wife for her son. Matt pulled a face. In his opinion, Olivia was alright in very small doses. But like his mother, she was a snob.
“She’s a lovely young woman, and very different from that other one you were so fond of.”
“I’ve told you before, Ma, don’t meddle.”
“It wasn’t me who chased her off, Matthew. But I can’t say I was sorry when she went.”
“I don’t blame you for what happened, Ma. It was my choice to finish with Melissa. But you have to let it be. Both Sarah and I will choose our own partners. If you carry on trying to pair us off, you’ll antagonise us and make yourself ill.”
“You are not getting any younger. And you’re injured. The Meadows family are going to the house in Dorset for a few weeks. Olivia asked if you wanted to join them.”
The tone had changed. Evelyn Brindle had put on her best ‘wheedling’ voice. “Cut out the nonsense, Ma. There’s no way I’m going to spend time with that family. Besides, I’ve got work.”
She became brittle again. “Mid-thirties and no woman in your life. I worry about the future, Matthew. I’m not getting any younger. I’d like to see you with an heir in place. You need to settle down, get your priorities right.”
His mother left him and went up to bed. By now, Matt had lost his appetite. His mother was never going to change. But her attitude infuriated him.
* * *
Joel Dawson left Bella’s house and went to the local supermarket. He pulled into the car park just as Robert drove in behind him. Joel marched up to him. “At times like this Bella needs her friends around her, not people like you. You’re continually pestering her. Try leaving her be. She needs to rest.”
“What do you mean — people like me? I don’t know what you think my role is, but I’m simply advising her, nothing more. Certainly not pestering, as you put it. And I won’t be charging a fee either.”
“She’s not for you,” Dawson added. “If you really want to help, get the police to up their game. That boy should have been found by now.”
“I totally agree, but everything is not what it seems with the lovely Ms Richards. If you really knew her, you’d know that much.”
Joel stared at Robert. “I know enough. You forget, I’ve known Bella longer than you, and we’re friends. She trusts me.”
“Then you will know that one of her dodgy little secrets could well be at the bottom of all this.”
Joel glowered at him. Bella had hinted at a secret past, and it appeared that Robert knew a great deal more than he did. “You can’t take that risk. Get the boy found. Speak to the police. She is going out of her mind with worry.”
Robert stared back. “You watch her, don’t you? I bet you’re not averse to stalking. A pretty lady like Bella, a loner like you. You’re weird, d’you know that? Bella isn’t safe, and I’m going to warn her.”
“You know nothing about our relationship. Bella likes me. We’re friends. I don’t want you interfering. If you do, I’ll get my own back!”
“I hope that’s not a threat, Mr Dawson. If it is, I shall be forced to tell the police what you are up to.”
Chapter 22
Day 14
Caroline Sheldon lived a few doors along from Marjory Bentley on a side street off Huddersfield Road in Marsden. Matt called there on his way to the station. He was surprised to see the house up for sale. Nonetheless, he banged on the front door.
“Looking for Caroline?” an elderly man called to him from an open window next door. “She’s gone. Got a job miles away. She’s been gone ages. Estate agent is handling the sale and showing folk round.”
Matt flashed his badge at the man. “Did she tell you where she was going? I wanted to talk to her.”
“She never said a word. I got up one morning and the house was being cleared. She did leave me a note, said she’d be in touch, but that never happened.”
“Is there anyone around who is likely to know?”
“I’ve no idea who Caroline’s friends were. She was the quiet type. It always amazed me that there were no boyfriends. Lovely she was, long legs and blonde hair. She worked at that big builders’ merchants on the Marsden Industrial Park. Someone there might know where she went.”
“Did you know Marjory Bentley?”
“Bloody shame what happened to her. Shot she was, but then you’ll know that. All she was doing was minding Caroline’s dog. I always reckoned she must have disturbed a burglar when she was bringing the dog back that night.”
Matt said nothing. Better the elderly man didn’t know. He went back to his car and rang Lily at the station.
“I’m off to the industrial park in Marsden. Caroline Sheldon is no longer at the address on the dog tag. She worked for a builders merchants at the park. I’m hoping someone can tell me where she went.”
“Want me to meet you there?”
“No, I won’t be long. Have another look through the results that have come in. See if there’s anything useful.”
Marsden Industrial Park was a sprawling area containing both retail and industrial units. The builders merchants the neighbour had referred to — Riley’s — was a huge place.
Matt parked his car, and immediately a loud voice boomed at him. “What’re you doing here?”
“Freddie! Might ask you the same thing.”
Freddie grinned. “Well, I’m working for you. Can’t build without bricks and mortar, you know.”
“Do you use this place often?”
“I know that tone — it’s the cop voice. I come here all the time. Good value and great choice, but even better, it’s local.”
“Did you know Caroline Sheldon? She used to work here.”
“Not really. Stuck-up bitch, she was. Had a run-in with her once about an invoice. She worked in the office and hardly ever ventured out into the warehouse. She’s left now. I don’t think she’s missed.”
“Thanks, Freddie. Might see you later if you’re still at the house when I get back.”
“Won’t be, mate. I’m taking Sarah out to dinner. Your mother has reluctantly agreed to babysit.”
“Good luck with that. Ma is a past master at scuppering people’s plans. Just mind your step.”
The warehouse owner and manager, Kevin Riley, remembered Caroline very well. He told Matt that she’d left in a hurry. One week she seemed happy enough, and the next she’d got a job in Glasgow. Left straight away, with no real explanation.
“I was sorry to see her go. She was very good at her job, though I know she wasn’t liked. She was too abrasive for most folk. Not surprising that no one’s heard from her since.”
“Do you know anyone she was close to?”
“That woman who minded the dog. Bad do, what happened there. Murdered, and what was done to that poor dog doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“Anyone else?”
“Kept herself to herself, did Caroline. But there was a bloke. I remember him because I was surprised. In all the years she’d worked here, I don’t recall Caroline having anyone in her life until he turned up. Don’t misunderstand me. She was a looker alright, but difficult to get close to — picky and prickly.” Riley laughed. “This bloke regularly picked her up from work, and took her out to eat. Doug, his name was. She met him while she was doing jury serv
ice in Huddersfield. She told me that he worked at Broadbent’s, the paper mill up on yonder hill.” He nodded.
“Do you have a surname?”
He shook his head.
“Do you know where Caroline’s new job was?” Matt asked.
“She took herself off to Glasgow. A firm called McIntosh Plumbing. Apparently she’d bought into the business. Said she had big plans.”
* * *
“Who is he and what the hell have you done to him, Cora? The kid is emaciated!” Cora’s sister, Mary, took one look at Oliver Richards and her heart went out to him. He hadn’t had a wash in all the time he’d been here. His fine blond hair was dirty and plastered to his head. “Hark at that cough an’ all. Where have you been keeping him? In that bloody cellar of ours?”
“You weren’t ’ere. Went swanning off on holiday, didn’t you? He asked me to keep the lad for a while. Said he’d pay well. He don’t need no mollycoddling, Mary. I made ’im a bed up in the cellar. Give ’im a scrap of food and some water every so often. He won’t give you any trouble.”
“So now you’re going away, leaving ’im to me. How long will you be gone, Cora?”
“A week, but I’ll see how it goes. You’ll cope. Just don’t take ’im out. He’s been in the papers.”
“I don’t like this, Cora. Someone might come looking.”
“No one is coming all the way up ’ere. You’ll get told what to do wi’ ’im in a day or two. And don’t go getting too fond, ’cause it won’t be pretty.”
Mary didn’t argue. Once Cora was out of the way, she’d sort the lad. The first thing she’d do was warm him up, then give him a long, hot bath. He could do with some different clothes too.
Mary watched her sister drive away, and put a comforting arm around the boy. She had a kind smile. “Let’s get you fed and comfortable. Cora’s not got an ounce of mothering in her. What do we do about that cough, eh? Do you take medicine for it?”
Oliver Richards nodded. “I have asthma,” he wheezed. “I need my inhaler.”
“And our Cora never got one for you? Shame on her!”
Mary was angry with her sister. The kid was nothing but a pawn in some game her and that madman were playing. She’d no idea what the boy’s fate would be, but she decided to make his time with her as comfortable as she could. To that end, Mary made up a bed on the sofa in front of the sitting room fire. The room was warm, a far cry from the damp cellar he’d been in for the last week. She put the television on, and got him some juice.
He began to cry. “I want my mummy.”
“Don’t worry, little man. It’ll be alright. I’ll sort something for that cough.” She stroked his head.
“My mummy will wonder where I am.”
“You mustn’t fret. You’re not in any trouble.”
Mary’s kind words seemed to do the trick, and he began to relax. For the first time in days, the little lad was comfortable. His eyes were closing. Very soon he’d be asleep.
There was a church jumble sale on in the village this afternoon. Mary would nip out. She’d get him something from the chemist for that cough and something to wear from the jumble sale. She’d lock the doors, and there was no phone. She’d only be gone an hour at the most.
* * *
The jumble sale was in the church hall in Meltham. There was plenty of kids’ clothing and toys, all of it dirt cheap. Mary picked out a selection for the boy to wear, plus a bagful of toys and games to keep him amused.
Her visit to the chemist did not turn out so well. Mary got into an argument with the pharmacist, who refused to provide her with an inhaler without a doctor’s prescription. In the end, she had to settle for a bottle of cough linctus.
* * *
When Matt walked in, Lily looked up with a big smile on her face. “I’ve been doing some digging, sir. Working on a hunch, I looked at the birth and marriage records again. Guess what I found?”
“Go on, surprise me.” He grinned back at her.
“We know that ‘Bella Richards’ is not her real name. We now have someone in the morgue that we believe was close to her — Agnes Harvey. So I looked up the surname ‘Harvey’ and struck lucky. One Isabelle Harvey got married in south Manchester six years ago. Guess who to?”
“You think Isabelle is our Bella?”
“Yes I do, it’s a shortened version of the name.”
“Go on then, who did she marry?”
“Ron Chalker!”
Matt was stunned. If Lily was right, then he could well understand what Bella was doing in witness protection. From what he recalled of the case, Chalker’s wife had testified against him. “What makes you so sure you’ve got the right woman?”
“Because a year later, Isabelle Chalker gave birth to a son — Oliver.”
So Bella was hiding from Ronnie Chalker. But was it him who’d taken their son? What was needed now was some straight talking.
“We will go and talk to her. Too much time has passed and there’s still nothing on the boy. We need to break this case. Bella knows something. She made a prison visit, and we don’t need a crystal ball to tell us who she saw.”
Chapter 23
“Tip-off.” DS Ian Beckwith stuck his head round Matt’s office door. “We sent word round to all the local GPs and pharmacies regarding Oliver Richards’s condition. Apparently a woman was in the chemist in Meltham earlier today giving them a hard time because they wouldn’t sell her an inhaler. They know this woman, and she does not have a chest condition. What d’you think?”
“I think we should pay her a visit. What’s her name?”
“Mary Turnbull. She lives with her sister up on the Holme Road. It’s that whitewashed house you see as you reach the top of Scapegoat Hill.”
“I know it, sir,” Lily called out. “I’ll drive if you want.”
They left the station and made for the road out towards Holmfirth. From there they would take the Woodhead Road and head for the village of Holme. The countryside was beautiful, but it would take a while to get there.
“If she lives in Holme, why go to Meltham for a chemist?” Matt asked.
Lily smiled. “It is a bit of a drive, isn’t it? Perhaps she had other stuff to do there. There is still a bank in Meltham. At the rate they’re closing, it brings people in from miles around.
“Whereabouts do you live, Lily?”
“I live in Marsden, in one of those cottages on the hillside above the canal. I was lucky, got it at a good price about five years ago. An elderly couple had it. They were moving into a sheltered flat.”
“What about your parents?”
“My father did one when I was a kid, so I never had much to do with him. He still turns up from time to time, but he’s a waste of space. Does nowt but cause trouble. My mum’s a bit flaky too. There has been a string of men, most of them wanting a roof over their heads more than anything else. When I was little, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. But they’re both dead now.”
“Is your mum still around?”
Lily gave him a sidelong glance. “Oh yes. You’re bound to bump into her sooner or later. Sadie Haines, the parish’s wild woman.”
“I’m sorry. I had no idea. You’ve had a difficult time.” Matt was shocked. Lily seemed so down to earth and, well, normal.
“It’s okay. I can take care of myself. I’ve had to for most of my life. What about you? Life on your country estate all sunshine and roses?”
Matt grinned. “With a mother like mine? Hardly!”
“She loves you, though. She cares, and that goes a long way. What about your dad?”
Matt looked sad for a moment. “I lost my dad when I was in my late twenties. It was a big change for both of us, and my ma has never got over it. It was a great pity. I wish I could have spent more time with him, but I was sent off to a private boarding school in Leeds when I was quite young. I was hardly ever at home.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry. You must think I’m a right nosey so and so.”
“I’m a bit like you on that score. I like my personal life to stay that way. But when you’re working with someone all the time, you can’t help finding out something about each other.”
The Holme Road snaked its way for miles through the hills and across the moors. Finally they drove through Holme village and reached the lane that climbed up Scapegoat Hill. They could see the cottage standing alone on the left.
“Looks almost derelict,” Matt noted. “They can’t have had any repairs done for years.”
Lily checked her phone and read a text from the station. “Two sisters live here, Cora and Mary Mason. Nothing known about either of them.”
Matt was edgy. Time and place had shifted, slightly out of kilter. He stared out at the old cottage, built of whitewashed stone. Sitting there in stark profile against the hillside, it looked just like that other house. That too had been out in the sticks, and just as ramshackle. Even the paintwork was the same colour, a dark rural green.
Lily glanced at him but made no comment. “I’ll go and knock, sir.” Matt hung back, his stomach doing somersaults. He tried to remind himself — This is not the same place,. All that is done with now.
“No answer, unless they are deliberately keeping quiet.”
“Perhaps she’s not back yet. I’ll go round the back.” But Matt hesitated still.
This was what he had been dreading. A panic attack just when he needed to stay on top. The boy could be here. Why else would Mary Mason want an inhaler so urgently? The pharmacist reckoned that neither she nor her sister had needed anything like that before. His instinct was at it again.
Lily called out to him. “I’ve had another text from the nick, sir. Apparently Mary Mason went to the church jumble sale in Meltham and bought a load of boy’s clothes and games. Looks like we’ve struck gold.”
The back door was locked. Matt joined Lily at the front. She was peering in through a grimy downstairs window.
His Third Victim Page 11
