The Moth Catcher (27 page)

Holly thought the information that Shirley had worked at Sittingwell was new. Another connection between her and the Redheads, though she would already have left the prison by the time Lizzie was convicted. ‘So she got the job at Hope?’

‘It was just a bunch of volunteers, before she took it on. She was approached by the trustees and asked if she’d consider doing it. It meant a massive cut in salary, but she was always up for a challenge, our Shirley.’

Jack Hewarth seemed to find some comfort talking about his former wife and Holly would have let him continue without interruption. This was the sort of information Vera loved to have. But Jonathan turned away from the window and joined the conversation.

‘She always said she’d never work at a job she wouldn’t do without pay. That was why she encouraged me to do the drama degree. Most parents would have advised against it, but she said I’d regret it if I didn’t give it my best shot.’

There was a moment of silence, broken by the wail of a saxophone from one of the practice rooms further down the corridor. Holly thought this had been a strong family; despite the divorce, the couple had maintained a good relationship and had brought up their son together. She couldn’t imagine why anyone would want Shirley Hewarth dead; surely her killing must be the result of the double-murder in the big house. Shirley had known something, or guessed something, that had made her death inevitable.

‘Does the name Patrick Randle mean anything to you?’ She directed the question to Jack, expecting an immediate denial. Instead there was a hesitation.

‘Something about it is kind of familiar.’

‘He was one of the earlier victims at Gilswick.’ Holly leaned forward across the desk towards the man. ‘You probably heard the name on the news.’

‘Aye, maybe.’ But he didn’t sound entirely convinced. ‘I thought I knew it from a different context, though. Something that happened a while ago. It’s the journo in me. You never forget a contact.’

Another silence. The musician along the corridor was playing scales.

‘Did Shirley ever talk to you about Martin Benton? He worked with her at Hope.’ Holly was going through the motions now. The Hewarths might have parted on amicable terms, but they’d been separated for years and she didn’t think they’d share confidences.

‘The geek volunteer?’

She was surprised that he’d known the name. She nodded.

‘Just that she’d never met anyone who could find their way round a computer system as well as him. She said he could make a fortune if he took up hacking. Just as well he was on the side of the angels.’

‘When did you last see Shirley?’

‘She called last week and asked if I fancied a drink. She said she’d had a crap day and needed to bend my ear about something.’

Again Holly was surprised. She dismissed former partners from her mind and from her life. She wondered what Jack’s new wife made of the arrangement. ‘Was that usual?’

‘Not recently. Not since I’d married.’ Jack gave a sudden grin. ‘Shirley said Mandy wouldn’t appreciate it. So I knew she must be a bit desperate.’

‘And did you meet?’

‘Yes, in the Rockliffe Arms. A little pub behind Front Street in Kimmerston. It’s usually quiet in there and we arranged to meet early, straight after she finished work. That time of day it’s mostly old men playing dominoes and the odd person calling in for a quick pint on their way home.’

Holly was taking notes now. If Shirley had needed to confide in someone, this might be significant.

Jack continued, ‘I could tell something was bothering her as soon as she got there. She looked as if she hadn’t slept properly, as if worry was eating away at her.’

‘When was this?’ Holly looked up from her iPad.

‘Thursday.’

‘So after the first Gilswick murders.’

‘Aye, I remember it was all over the news. People in the pub were talking about it. Because it was so close to home and nobody had been arrested.’ Jack seemed to replay the events of the evening in his head and began to describe them as if he could still see them. ‘I went up to the bar to get the drinks, and then I asked her what had happened. Martin had just been mentioned on the news as a victim. She was obviously shocked, but she was anxious too. “The police will be poking into our business now. I don’t know what they’ll find.” I was just saying that she shouldn’t worry when a gang of her old mates came in. People she used to work with. They joined us and it was impossible to chat after that. Shirley was drinking a lot and ended up leaving her car and getting a taxi home. That was the last time I saw her.’ He put his head in his hands. ‘I should have dragged her away, found somewhere else to talk. But I thought she was just upset because someone who worked with her had been killed. I thought she needed cheering up, and her friends could do that as well as me.’

‘Did you speak to her after that?’ Holly tried not to show her disappointment. The man felt guilty enough.

‘I texted to ask if she wanted to try for a quiet chat again.’ Jack paused. ‘She said she was fine.
Nothing I can’t deal with
. That was classic Shirley. She thought she could take on the world all by herself.’ He looked up at Holly. ‘Trouble was, none of the rest of us could keep up with her.’

Joe went straight from the Hope office in Bebington to the valley in Gilswick. Less than a dozen miles in distance, but as far removed from the ex-pit-village as it was possible to be. Vera had phoned him from the car just before she arrived at Alicia Randle’s house.

‘Go and talk to the retired hedonists! I don’t want them dismissed as possible suspects because they read books, keep hens and make jam.’ Shouting to make her point, although he could hear her perfectly. He thought she’d always be in charge, even though she was at the other end of the country.

It was just after midday and he’d already decided that would be a good time to catch the residents at home. After the fuss of the night before they might have slept in, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable now to expect them to be ready for interview. He sat for a moment in the car planning his strategy; and because he was nervous. He might have been brought up to believe that all men were equal, but he found himself awestruck by people with degrees who used long words. Up until now Vera had been the point of contact with the Valley Farm residents. She didn’t think anyone was cleverer than her. Joe hadn’t even met them and he felt slightly daunted.

He went to the Redhead house first. Shirley Hewarth had visited their daughter in prison, and the police knew that there’d been contact between her and Annie Redhead. A man opened the door. Joe recognized him from the photo pinned on the whiteboard in the operations room. Sam Redhead. Big, balding and a bit tongue-tied. Joe introduced himself. ‘Could I come in? I know you talked to officers early this morning, but everything was a bit rushed then. You’ll have had time to gather your thoughts.’

Sam showed him into a living room. The original barn walls had been whitewashed and the curtains were white and blue, patterned with small flower prints. Joe wished Sal could see it. She loved all the makeover programmes on daytime telly. A woman, Annie Redhead, sat on a small sofa covered with the same material as the curtains and grasped a mug of coffee. She was plump too, with a very pretty face. Heart-shaped. She might have just got up, but she looked as if she hadn’t slept at all.

‘This is a detective,’ Sam said. ‘He wants to talk to us.’

‘Of course.’ The woman turned and managed a smile. ‘Can we get you anything, Sergeant? Tea? Coffee? We don’t have a fancy machine like Nigel next door, but you’d be very welcome.’ She must have realized she was rambling because she fell suddenly silent.

Joe thought her grief seemed too personal for the death of a stranger, however shocking it must have been to see the slashes on the body. ‘You knew Shirley Hewarth?’

‘I only met her once. Yesterday morning. She asked me to see her in her office.’ A pause, and then a kind of confession. ‘She’d been visiting our daughter Lizzie in prison.’ Annie turned to face him. ‘She had plans for helping her. I’m not sure what will happen about that now. It seems very selfish, but that’s all I can think about: that we’ll be left to deal with Lizzie coming home, without any help or support. I trusted Shirley. It’s crazy, but I almost feel that she’s let us down by dying.’

Sam sat awkwardly beside his wife. As he put his arm around her shoulder, Joe was reminded of himself as a teenager; the party when he’d got it together with Sal, sliding his arm around her back, the very first physical contact. There was something innocent about this couple. They could have been teenagers too.

‘Was that why Shirley was in the valley yesterday?’ Joe thought this might be a breakthrough; it could explain the victim’s presence in Gilswick. ‘To talk to you about Lizzie?’

‘No!’ Annie sounded impatient. ‘I told you, I went to her office in the morning. She wasn’t going to do a home visit until next Monday. Lizzie will be released from prison tomorrow, and Shirley said she’d give us a day to get settled. If Shirley had wanted to talk to me before that, she had both my phone numbers. She wouldn’t have dragged herself all the way out here.’

‘How did she seem at the meeting?’

‘Professional,’ Annie said. ‘Efficient. Kind. I thought she had Lizzie’s best interests at heart.’ There was a pause. ‘You don’t think about people like that having personal problems, do you? I mean doctors and social workers. I can’t imagine their lives away from work. I just think they’re there to provide a service.’

Like the police
.
We’re not supposed to have personal lives, either.

‘What did you do after you’d seen Shirley?’ Joe thought none of this was helping.

‘I came straight back here. Had lunch with Sam. Then I thought I’d better tell our friends here in Valley Farm that Lizzie would be coming to stay with us for a bit.’ There was another pause, then an attempt at humour that didn’t quite come off. ‘That we’d have a convicted offender in our midst.’

‘And was everyone at home when you went to call?’ Joe found he was speaking gently, as if to an invalid.

‘Yes. I didn’t see John O’Kane. He was working in his office upstairs, but he was there.’ Annie set her mug carefully on the floor beside her. ‘Janet was lovely. So kind. Then I went next door to tell the Lucases . . .’

Her voice tailed off and Joe had to prompt her. ‘How did
they
react to the news of Lizzie’s release?’

‘Nigel was fine.’ A hesitation. ‘They’ve never had children. It’s easy to judge, isn’t it, if you’ve never had any? You think the parents must be to blame if a child goes off the rails. I used to do it myself.’

‘And what about his wife?’ For a moment Joe struggled to remember the name of the Lucas woman. ‘Lorraine?’

‘She found it harder to accept. She worked in prisons at one time. Education. She taught art and crafts. Maybe you’re used to all the sob-stories if you work with offenders every day. You become less sympathetic.’

Not me
, Joe thought.
I’m still a soft touch. According to Vera, at least
.

Annie was still talking, trying to explain her friend’s reaction. ‘I suppose she moved to the valley to escape screwed-up kids, and the last thing she’d want would be to have one turn up here. This is their idea of paradise.’

‘What time was that?’ Best stick to facts. He was more comfortable with those.

‘Oh, I’m not sure.’ She frowned. ‘I don’t wear a watch. We don’t need to, out here. Mid-afternoon sometime.’

‘Did you see or hear anything unusual while you were out visiting?’ Joe knew he was clutching at straws now. If Annie had seen a stranger she’d have mentioned it by now.

She shook her head.

‘Mrs Hewarth drove a black Golf. Did you see that along the track at any time yesterday?’

Another shake of her head before she turned to her husband for confirmation. Joe turned to him too.

‘Where were you all afternoon, Mr Redhead?’

‘Here, in the house. In the kitchen. Listening to a play on the radio. Then I pottered in the garden for a while.’ The man shrugged. ‘Time seems to pass without me noticing, and some days I wonder what on earth I’m doing with my life.’

‘And later you all went round to the Lucas house?’ Joe found himself overtaken by the same lethargy as the people he was questioning. He’d always envied people who could afford to retire early, but now he wondered what he’d do with his time all day if he wasn’t at work. He’d always been crap at DIY. ‘Was it a special celebration? A birthday?’

‘I think we were all feeling a bit strange,’ Annie said. ‘It was those two killings at the big house. Right on our doorstep. The fat detective poking into our business. I suppose we thought a bit of a party would be a way to relieve the tension. Besides, it was Friday night. We always get together on Friday night.’

‘Can you talk me through the evening?’ Joe thought it was pretty weird, these three couples living on top of each other. If they’d wanted to escape the horror of what had happened in the big house, wouldn’t Sam and Annie have chosen to get away from Gilswick altogether? The pictures in town followed by a nice meal perhaps. By themselves, so they had a bit of privacy before Lizzie landed up. The last thing he’d want, in their position, would be to spend the night with the same people he’d see every day.

‘It turned into a bit of a session,’ Sam said. ‘Nigel had made one of his lethal cocktails and the evening went downhill from there.’

Joe couldn’t imagine the man enjoying a party. A play on the radio seemed much more his sort of thing.

‘Did anyone leave the house during the evening?’

They looked at each other. Joe wondered now if their pallor and confusion were the result of a hangover rather than distress at another killing.

‘I can’t be certain,’ Annie said. ‘People came and went all evening. At one point Nigel came in and said how beautiful the stars were. I knew then that he must be seriously pissed. John might have gone out for a couple of sneaky fags. He pretends he doesn’t smoke, but we all know that’s not true. What I do remember very clearly is Janet leaving later, to take out the dogs. She told us to send out a search party if she was gone longer than a quarter of an hour. I was watching the clock then. And suddenly she was screaming.’