Christmas Killing

by Chrissie Loveday

  ‘Yes, indeed. You didn’t notice the bit of green material hanging out of the locker?’

  ‘No, I didn’t. Don’t know why I didn’t. Considering I saw it so clearly today. Do you think she was there yesterday?’

  ‘We don’t know yet. Did you notice anyone hanging round? You know, waiting for her or just looking suspicious?’

  ‘No. Nothing. I’m sorry. Not much use, am I?’ The old man suddenly looked much older as he realised how little help he’d been. ‘Sorry, did you want a cup of tea?’

  ‘No, you’re all right thanks.’

  ‘Good job really. I haven’t got much milk left. I shall have to go and buy some. Meant to get it on my way home but with one thing or another ...’

  ‘No worries. We’ll leave you to it. Thanks for your time. You’ll be back at work tomorrow?’

  ‘I certainly hope so. They’ll have to find someone else to do the elf act. Shame really. She was very good. Julie her name was, I think.’

  ‘Okay. Thanks again. We’ll see ourselves out.’ They left him muttering his usual phrase of terrible business and who’d want to kill an elf.

  ‘He’s right you know. Who’d want to kill an elf?’ said the Chief Inspector.

  Chapter Two

  ‘She was strangled,’ said the pathologist. ‘Bruising round her throat and she’s got a large contusion on the back of her head. Looks as if that was post mortem actually. Immediately after her death. Possibly caused by being shut in the locker. You know,’ he gesticulated with hands to indicate the door shutting against her head, ‘the door slamming to make it shut.’

  ‘About what time was she killed?’ asked Detective Chief Inspector Jones.

  ‘About four, four-thirty as far as I can tell. I’ll produce a report later on today.’

  ‘Okay, thanks for giving us the heads up. See you Rob.’ He was anxious to get away from the smells of the post mortem room. Never pleasant at all. It was a mixture of a peculiar disinfectant and meat that had been hung for a while. ‘There must have been someone hanging around, waiting for his chance.’

  ‘Could have been a woman, sir. Don’t let’s discount that.’

  ‘We need to look into the girl’s background. I take it she wasn’t married?’

  ‘No, sir. She had a boyfriend. He seemed very cut up this morning when one of our WPCs went to interview him. They weren’t seeing each other last evening so it came as a big shock to him.’

  ‘I think we need to go and see him. Where does he hang out? And I need to see her parents. I’m assuming she lived with them?’

  ‘No sir.’ Ted looked at his notebook. ‘No, she lives in a flat with two other girls. They thought she’d stayed over with her boyfriend and didn’t worry about her being missing. They also work at the store so I suppose they all know about it by now.’

  ‘Right. Has someone been round to her parents?’

  ‘They live in Manchester. The local lads went to see them and break the news. They’re on their way down now to identify the body.’

  ‘Poor damned sods. What a shock for them. Is she, was she an only child?’

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘Very sad. As the old boy kept saying, who’d want to kill an elf? Okay Ted, let’s get on our way. I assume you have the boyfriend’s address in your little black book.’

  ‘Yes sir. Fulbrook Drive. Over the other side of town. He does live with his parents. He’s called Kevin Riley. Bit of a dodgy one, according to his record. Been done for joy riding and knocking off car radios. Not sure why. They’re not exactly expensive these days.’

  ‘Probably because he can.’

  The two officers drove to Kevin’s home and stopped outside. It was a terraced house and looked in dire need of a coat of paint.

  ‘Hope we’ve still got wheels left when we come out. Looks that sort of place,’ Ray spoke slightly bitterly.

  ‘Mrs Riley?’ he asked the woman who answered the door.

  ‘Yer. Who are you?’

  ‘Detective Chief Inspector Jones and this is Detective Sergeant Wilkes. We’d like a word with your son Kevin.’

  ‘Yer well, he don’t want to talk to anyone. He’s very upset.’

  ‘I do understand. But we have to speak to him.’

  ‘’S’or right Ma,’ said the rather spotty youth who came to stand behind his mother. ‘I’ll listen to what they’ve got to say.’

  ‘All right. Well take it easy. You’d best come inside,’ she replied.

  The two policemen followed her into a room which defied description. There was a baby lying on the floor on a rather tatty blanket. He or she was gurgling happily amidst papers, beer cans and empty pizza boxes. Another little girl was standing sucking her thumb and holding up her skirt to reveal that she wasn’t wearing any knickers. Mrs Riley lit a roll-up.

  ‘Is there somewhere we can talk?’ asked Ray, somewhat hopelessly.

  ‘There’s the back kitchen. But that’s a mess.’

  Like this room was pristine, thought Ted. He looked at his boss who was wondering what to do. He was slightly shocked at the state of this house but he shouldn’t be really. It was in an almost slum area of the City of Brixeter.

  ‘We’ll go to the kitchen. Perhaps outside at the back?’ he suggested.

  ‘Bit too cold for that,’ muttered Kevin. ‘It’s through ’ere.’

  They followed him through a scruffy door into the small kitchen. They could hear his mother telling her daughter to put her skirt down. A good move.

  The back kitchen was filthy. The sink was full of dirty dishes and saucepans sat on the draining board looking as if they hadn’t be washed in weeks. The floor was covered in bits of food that dripped from a bucket and gradually spread over a large area surrounding it. He drew in his breath and began the interview.

  ‘I’m sorry about Julie. You know she’s been murdered?’

  ‘So the plod said when she came round this mornin’. ‘Ow did she go then?’

  ‘She was strangled.’

  ‘I don’t understand. How could she be? Where was she done in?’

  ‘We’re sorry for your loss,’ began Ray. ‘Can you tell us when you last saw Julie?’

  ‘Last weekend. Sunday I think. Well I know it was. We went to the flicks. Saw summat with a lot of fightin’. Dead good it were.’

  ‘So you haven’t seen Julie for four days?’

  ‘What day is it today?’

  ‘Thursday.’

  He counted on his fingers.

  ‘Yer. Four days. We were goin’ out on Friday. That’s termorra. Dunno what I’ll do wivout ‘er. Have to go out wiv the lads instead, won’t I?’

  ‘Have you been to the store where she works?’

  ‘Nah. It’s too posh for the likes of me. Everyfink costs twice as much as anyfink I’d buy.’

  The Detective Chief Inspector couldn’t help but wonder what Julie ever saw in this youth. He was everything he’d have thought she’d hate.

  ‘So, you’ve never seen her at work?’

  ‘Nah. Like I said.’

  ‘Do you know what she actually does, did at work?’

  ‘Sells stuff to rich folks wot can afford it.’

  ‘Did you know she played the role of an elf over the Christmas period?’

  ‘Oh yes. She did say summat about that now I thinks of it.’

  ‘Did anyone else tell you about her murder?’ asked Ted suddenly.

  ‘’Er friend told me. She rang me. She works there too, in the big shop.’

  ‘You don’t seem particularly upset by her death,’ Ted continued.

  ‘Course I was sorry. But it’s not as if we was engaged nor nuffink. Friends. That what we was. ‘Er friend was nice too. Might give ‘er a call one day.’

  ‘I see. Well, thanks very much for your time. We’ll be in touch later if there’s anything else we need to talk to you about.’ Ray was anxious to get into the fresh air and felt somewhat sickened by the atmosphere in the place. They went back into the other room. ‘Goodby
e then. Mrs Riley. Kevin. We’ll be in touch.’

  ‘My lad dint do nuffink. He was ‘ere all day wiv me. You get that?’

  ‘We certainly do. Thank you.’

  The two officers left the house and both took a deep breath of air.

  ‘Blimey gov, that was a place to be avoided. Did you see the state of that kitchen? Not that the living room was much better. Poor kids brought up in that place.’

  ‘Probably better than many places and I bet there’s a good deal of loyalty there. I really don’t see what our Julie saw in him, though. She seemed to be a much better class of person, if you know what I mean.’

  ‘Snobbery to one side, I suppose so. Are we going to see her flatmates next?’

  ‘I suppose so. Don’t know about you but I haven’t had any lunch. Let’s look for somewhere that does food for starving coppers.’

  ‘There’s a pizza place down near the station. Not far out of our way. Then we can go to the flat. The other two girls should be finishing work by then.’

  The Detective Chief Inspector agreed and they went off towards the station. It had seemed a long day and was still nowhere near being finished. Refreshed by their pizzas the two officers went to the girls’ flat.

  ‘This looks a bit of all right,’ Ray said as they rang the doorbell. ‘Bit different to young Kevin’s place.’ Ted nodded his agreement. ‘What’s the name of these two then?’ he asked his colleague.

  ‘Marie Stookes and Daphne Hargreaves, replied the ever efficient Detective Sergeant, as the door opened.

  ‘Good evening. Miss Stookes or are you Miss Hargreaves?’

  ‘I’m Marie. Marie Stookes.’

  Detective Chief Inspector Jones and this is detective Sergeant Wilkes. We need a word or two about your recent loss.’

  ‘Oh yes of course. Come in please. Awful business isn’t it?’

  ‘Certainly is. You’re Miss Hargreaves I take it?’ he asked the other girl who had appeared.

  ‘Hallo, yes.’ He repeated his own identity check. She was obviously rather more upset and had red eyes from crying, he assumed.

  ‘I won’t keep you for long. What can you tell me about your flatmate, Julie?’

  ‘She was lovely. She actually owned this flat. Well, her parents bought it for her when she decided to move down here. We were lucky enough to come and share it. We paid rent of course, to her parents and shared the bills for the place. Have they been told, her parents I mean?’ She started to cry again. ‘I really can’t believe it. Julie is never coming back here. Do you know who did it?’

  ‘We’re working on it,’ said Ted. ‘Can you tell us about her boyfriend?’

  ‘We hated him. He’s a real bad lot. But Julie seemed to love him. Maybe it was part of the bit of rough syndrome. She used to stay with him quite a bit. That’s why we weren’t particularly worried about her staying out last night.’

  ‘Where did they stay?’

  ‘I suppose at his place. She never told us much about his home.’

  ‘I’m not surprised,’ Ted burst out. ‘I don’t somehow think she’d stay in his home.’

  ‘P’raps they stayed at his brother’s place. He’s got an older brother lives in King Street.’

  ‘I think you’re right Marie,’ Daphne said. ‘I’ve got a feeling she didn’t get on with his mum. She won’t be getting on with anyone now, will she?’ More tears streamed down her face.

  ‘Tell me about her work in the shop. Where did she work when she wasn’t being an elf?’

  ‘We all worked together in handbags and scarves and so on. She loved doing the Christmas stuff. She loved anything Christmassy didn’t she?’ Marie announced.

  ‘And she won’t ever enjoy another Christmas,’ Daphne sobbed.

  ‘Come on love, it’s no use crying all the time. It won’t bring her back,’ Marie said. ‘Do you know how she died?’ she continued.

  Ray took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure he should give anything away but decided she could be told.

  ‘She was strangled.’

  ‘God that’s awful. They said she was put in her locker?’

  ‘Yes, she was.’

  ‘Couldn’t have been the chap who was playing Santa Claus, could it?’

  ‘I don’t think so. We can’t be certain of anything yet. Her parents are on their way down to identify her. In fact, they may be here already. I don’t know if they might come round to see you.’

  ‘Yes, well they may want to come and stay here. Heavens. What will happen to us? Will they want to sell this place?’ More tears fell from Daphne. Marie was holding it together much better.

  ‘We’ll have to wait and see. Let’s hope they don’t need to sell it so we don’t have to worry about finding somewhere else to live,’ she replied. ‘It would be hard to find anywhere as nice as this for a similar rent.’

  ‘So you don’t know of anyone else she knew? Anyone she might be seeing outside work?’

  ‘Not really. She usually spent her weekends with Kevin. Well, Saturday nights at least. He sometimes stayed here but not all that often. Actually, we didn’t get on all that well. He sort of sneered at us for working in a posh shop,’ Marie told them.

  ‘It isn’t even that posh,’ agreed Daphne. ‘I didn’t like him at all but Julie seemed to. As it’s her place, we couldn’t really say anything could we?’

  The two officers silently agreed with the two girls. Kevin was definitely someone they needed to check on again. He came from a rather mixed background as far as they could tell. He could possibly be a candidate to consider. They chatted for a while longer but nothing important came out.

  ‘Could we see her room please?’ asked Ray.

  ‘Of course. It’s down here.’ Marie walked along the corridor to a large, bright and cheerful room. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’

  The two officers looked round and opened drawers. They looked at various books and picked up ornaments.

  ‘Not a lot here to excite us. She seems to have been an uncomplicated sort of girl who lived a quiet life.’

  ‘Except at weekends. Do you really think Kevin could have done it?’ asked Ted.

  ‘Worth considering. We’ll keep looking anyway. I wonder, did she have a diary?’

  ‘I think there was one in her bag. That would have been in her locker.’

  ‘Okay. Well, I think we’re done here. Nothing of any significance.’

  ‘Could it have been a random killing? Someone who didn’t know her?’

  ‘You tell me,’ replied Ray. They went back to the living room.

  After they left, the two girls talked about the visit. It made it all more real and they were getting more and more concerned about their future.

  ‘We could get someone else to share with us, if we’re allowed to stay.’

  ‘We’d have to anyway. We can’t afford to pay much more can we?’ Marie, ever practical, told her. Daphne shook her head. Her friend continued, ‘Let’s just wait and see what her parents say. I expect they’ll be here sometime soon actually. I wonder if they’ll want to stay here.’

  ‘Maybe. I expect they’d find it a bit odd staying in their daughter’s room. Their murdered daughter.’ The tears began to flow again and Marie got up to leave her. She’d had enough of Daphne’s tears and wanted to do something with the rest of the evening. Of course she felt upset at the death of her friend but not to the point of floods of tears. At least they’d got over the visit from the police. The only fly in the ointment was the possible visit of Julie’s parents. She began to tidy up and make the place look presentable.

  ‘What are you doing?’ muttered Daphne through her latest batch of tears.

  ‘Tidying up. We don’t want them to see us living in a mess now do we?’

  ‘I suppose not.’ She wiped her eyes and got up and started clearing away various crockery that had been left around the room. She cried again as she picked up a mug that Julie had used yesterday morning before she went to work.

  ‘What’s up now?’ Marie as
ked impatiently.

  ‘She’ll never have another cup of tea. She used this mug yesterday and she’ll never use it again.’

  ‘Course she won’t. Oh come on. I’m sure you must have cried all the crying inside you. Come on. Get a grip and get the vacuum cleaner out when you’ve put that lot in the kitchen. I’ll get the polish and do the furniture.’

  ‘Isn’t that a bit excessive?’

  ‘I want the Bennetts to see how responsible we are. If they see we’re good tenants, we might just be able to stay here.’

  ‘I think you’re mad but I’ll get the vacuum out. They might not even come here. Depends how upset they are.’ Daphne was more sensitive than her friend.

  It was quite late in the evening when there was a knock at the door. Marie opened it to see the Bennetts on the doorstep.

  ‘Oh do come in. We’re so sorry.’

  ‘It is her,’ said Mrs Bennett slumping down. Her red eyes and slightly run mascara showed she had been crying. ‘We had to go and identify her poor little body. It was awful She was just lying there, looking as if she was asleep. She looked so small.’

  ‘Now then, love. Don’t keep going on about it,’ Mr Bennett told his wife. He had a lovely northern accent, unlike his daughter who was more Brixeter, like the two flatmates. ‘Could we have a cup of tea do you think? We stopped at the hotel but their tea was awful. Make it nice and strong, there’s a love.’

  ‘Course. Won’t be long.’ Marie shot into the kitchen and put the kettle on.

  ‘Can I offer our condolences?’ asked Daphne, her eyes welling up again. ‘Terrible business.

  ‘Thank you, love.’ Mrs Bennet was beginning to control herself. She was a small, neat woman, dressed nicely in a suit. ‘How did you hear?’

  ‘It was all over the shop. Everyone was talking about it.’

  ‘Did you have to work?’

  ‘Well yes. It’s such a busy time at the moment, what with Christmas and everything. We’re also having a pre-Christmas sale this year so that’ll mean extra work for all of us.’

  ‘Must have been hard for you love,’ Mr Bennett remarked. ‘Having to carry on like nowt had happened.’