Chapter 28
the flash drive,” Rupert says, “and used the burner phone to send you to Number 24.”
Sorry you got mixed up in his death. Not the plan!
What was the plan?
With our heads reeling, we check the handwriting on both notes. The same.
Who is involving me in Helena’s ‘loose ends’? What are they?
Why me?
And how?
I start pacing.
“She knows about my books, Rupert. My codes.”
“Like all your readers.”
“True but somehow this note-writer knew I was visiting Helena and got that flash drive to Raider. He’s pretty well-known around here as my dog. She probably follows his social media page! And mugshots of me are easy to find online. We had a run in the dog park in Serpentine Crescent.” I stop. “I left the car unlocked. It was only for ten minutes. If she dropped it on the floor of my car before I locked it on our way to Helena’s, Raider only found it when he climbed in to leave for home.”
“But how did she know you were going to Helena’s? Sim knew. Anyone else?”
“Only Baxter.”
“Does anyone else live with Helena?” he asks. “I wonder if someone overheard her talking to you on the phone.”
“There’s nothing in her bios about a partner or children but she’s very private. She mentioned being alone but as a professional woman she’d have a part-time cleaner.” I retrace our phone call. “Our phone conversation was quite short, but anyone listening at her end would have learned enough. My name, that I’m a writer, with a dog. The time we arranged to visit. What if someone with a grudge is working in her house?”
“Someone who’s been collecting copies of interviews and articles about Helena’s past cases. And they put photos behind the ‘loose ends’ of what looks like one case in particular.”
“Alex Loxton’s murder. But he was Helena’s nephew. And his murderer confessed.”
It all hangs on a trace of DNA and a typo!
We look at the three photos again, trying to see beyond our first assumptions. They take me back to Charlie, another person sending me strange pictures. I tell Rupert about him.
“Yesterday he sent me a group of schoolgirls.”
“That’s a red flag, Tiggy. Promise me you won’t meet him anywhere.”
It wasn’t that kind of photo but I agree. We move on.
“Did Alex Loxton’s murderer prey on other children?” Rupert asks.
“A known paedophile. I read that somewhere. Convicted of killing Alex, but … what if Helena’s evidence helped acquit him of another murder? And the dead child’s relative is out for revenge? That would explain the link to Alex in the pictures. ‘Your nephew got justice but my child didn’t.’”
My whole body shudders.
“This person thinks Helena made a terrible mistake,” he says.
“That’s what it sounds like, Rupert, but why involve me?”
We’re exhausted but because the note-writer thinks she knows where I live, he insists on walking us to the car and following us to Lympstone. The road is empty and it’s a great relief to see only Rupert’s car tailing us. We meet at the park for the all-clear – and a hug each – before I drive to the cottage.
When I wake, last night’s speculation is still with me. But in a moment of insight, I know it could be any paedophile who Helena might have helped to exonerate. A perceived mistake on her part could lead to the dead child’s relative seeking retribution. This is research of the most depressing kind and I remember there’s a brain I can pick, as long as I’m in Lympstone and he’s in London. I spend too long crafting an email that disguises my true intentions.
Hi Tremayne
A quick question that would give the twist in my mystery-in-progress an extra edge. Any paedophiles that Helena’s forensic wizardry helped exonerate rather than convict? Her high-level forensic details are what I need but I’ll fictionalise any real case until it’s disguised beyond recognition.
Thanks for your professional assistance.
Regards
Tiggy Jones
His reply is quick. The man must be sitting in his office all day, waiting for women young enough to be his daughter to make his day.
TJ
You ask too much. By email.
Cocktails at six?
TT
Nobody gets to call me TJ. It would be AJ, anyway. And he thinks his promise to share off-the-record information will tempt me to his local bar. The only things he’s aroused are my suspicions. He’s a walking encyclopaedia on Helena’s cases. Why not just send me a link to another newspaper report? And if there isn’t an exonerated paedophile, tell me?
I was asking for information about a unique case but his reply has changed the landscape entirely. He’s overshared in the past. Now I’m sure he’s hiding something.
Who was exonerated by Helena’s evidence, based on a mistake?
A trace of DNA and a typo!
Raider senses my exasperation. He comes over, leans against me and stares at the screen. I read his mind and flip to the image he’s chosen of Bandit. Raider barks but Bandit the virtual Boxador is as tight-lipped as TT.
“What are we going to do about Tremayne?” I ask the pooch.
His growl agrees with my assessment.
Ignore TT. And I need coffee before I can face Piper. As I wait, I cast around for a distraction. Charlie’s schoolgirls?
“Rupert had the wrong end of the stick about this photo,” I tell my resident stick expert. “An old school photo.”
Charlie’s choice of images gives meaning to the word ‘eclectic’. A pub with a quirky name. A report on a tragic accident in a remote bog. And now this. I zoom in, wondering if I’m supposed to recognise anyone. From a time before I was born? And he should have guessed from my accent that my residence here doesn’t go back this far either.
I ignore the glamourous girls who all look the same and run my eyes over the more interesting ones. That’s when I see her. Her heart-shaped face and too pointed chin can only be one person. Molly Crane. I wonder why Charlie has this old photo of her. This couldn’t be from the scrapbook at the office. Is he related?
My phone pings an interruption. DC Ben Baker. That’s enough of a shock, but the message almost knocks me off the chair.
The photo of Number 24 has led to an arrest for murder.
The woman in the photo? For the murder of Ambrose Loxton?
A quick search finds a brief newspaper report published ten minutes ago.
Exeter police have arrested a 23-year-old woman for the murder of Ambrose Loxton on October 19. Her name is being withheld until her identity and nationality are verified.
That sounds like they don’t think she’s British.
I call Anita Blaine at the Echo.
“What can you tell me about this arrest for the Ambrose Loxton murder?”
“I’m not the crime reporter, Tiggy.”
“I’ll settle for the hearsay-hooverer’s version.”
She pauses and I hope she’s remembering how I always help her out.
“Don’t quote me,” she says, “because it’s not confirmed. But word is it’s ‘a domestic’ after all.” Meaning a fight at home between people known to each other. “His French partner’s adopted daughter. Louise Gagner.”
Known as Lou-Lou.