Miss Take

Chapter 8 (3509)

Chapter 8 (3509)
Mabel, in her role as the expert in break-ins walked around Corum's flat, until she ended up in the bathroom.
'He came in here, Sergeant,' she said as she opened the window and looked down into the murky alley below. The light from the street lamps in the main street twinkled in the rain water. 'I doubt the climb would have posed much of a challenge. Do you usually keep this window open, sir?'
'It was locked,' grumbled Lavius from the kitchen as he boiled the kettle.
Mabel looked at the window frame, running her eyes up and down it. She then went back into the kitchen and sat down at the counter, accepting a cup of tea. 'You didn't call the police, sir?'
'I am the police!' growled Lavius. 'Besides, Gavin didn't actually take anything. The last thing I want is you HBU mob all over my flat. Honestly, when I get my hands on the wee bastard, I'll knock shite out of him.'
Corum paused, laughed, then threw his head back and sighed. 'Oh well. Balls of Steel that kid. More than that, a right titanium nut-sack, breaking into the flat of a CID officer!'
Mabel looked at the picture that had been circled in red pen.
'Aye,' he nodded at the photo. 'And it looks like he's trying to help us. I think Gavin was there that night, and saw the murderer. He's telling us that this is the murderer.'
'Or he's trying to frame this man,' Mabel murmured.
'Maybe,' considered Corum, 'It's a lot of effort to go to. There must be easier ways to lose the heat than this?'
The sipped their tea for a while, each of them lost in thought. Lavius shuffled through all the other CCTV images they had collected from the cameras around Wraithston on the night of the murder. There were over twenty of them.
'A lot of people passed the house that night. From what I understand it's a bit of a bridle path for people walking back from the pub,' said Corum. 'You know what, I think we should concentrate on this guy. Put everything else on pause, including hunting high and low for Gavin the Scarlet Pimpernel. I think if we did bag him, he'd just point at this picture and say "this is your murderer" anyway.'
'We can hand everything to do with Gavin over to Harvey if you like, Sergeant.'
'Sure, do that,' said Corum.' If they do catch him though, make sure they let us know right away.'
'Of course,' agreed Mabel with a nod.
Corum sighed and walked over to the sink to wash out his cup. He then turned to Mabel and looked her over. 'So, this is how you dress out of work?'
She looked down at her professional looking black coat, dark trousers and shoes. 'Sergeant?'
Corum smiled and shook his head. 'It's nothing, Yoyo. It's just something I thought of earlier today. You look exactly as I pictured you would.'

***
On Wednesday, after school, Kelly Kane went for her piano lesson. She went home and changed first; into a new outfit she had just bought the same day for the occasion. She did her hair differently too, doubting that it would make much difference, but doing anyway. A small disguise was better than nothing.
She looked herself up and down in the mirror before leaving the house. She looked like a plain clothes police officer, which was precisely the look she was going for.
On the bus she thought everything over, wondering what would happen when she went through the door to this man's house and how he would react when she revealed her true purpose. He'd not had a profile picture on Facebook so she started to worry, however unlikely it was, that he could be the Wraithston killer himself.
He wasn't though, he was an elderly man with straggly grey hair and a tattered woollen cardigan with patches on the elbows. He lived in a small second floor flat and by far the most expensive thing he owned was the stand-up piano that occupied the wall furthest from the door.
'Do you have any experience at all dear?' he asked as he ushered her in.
Kelly stayed at the door. 'I'll be blunt and get straight to the point Mr Gould. I am here investigating the murder of Elaine Nostrum.'
He did a double take and took his first good look at her. 'My word!' he exclaimed. 'I've not heard that name for a while. Two years or more.'
'So, you remember her?'
'Ah yes,' he replied. 'She was a good student. Very agile, ah... fingers. How is she? Is she ok?'
Kelly was confused for a minute, but then realised he must have had no idea of her fate. 'I'm sorry Mr Gould, but she is dead. She was murdered two years ago.'
'Oh, oh I see,' he said, backing off into the tiny adjoining kitchen. He looked around for a moment, as if wondering how he had got there. 'Um, would you like a cup of tea?'
'No thanks,' replied Kelly. He seems lost and confused, she thought. She had initially considered he might have hired an assassin to kill Elaine, out of jealousy or for some other unknown reason, but looking at the dirty dishes in his sink and the light patch in the living room wallpaper were a television used to be mounted she doubted this man had enough money to pay the rent, let alone a contract killer.
'I don't understand. Sorry,' he mumbled. 'Who are you? Are you the police?'
'Sorry,' said Kelly as she sat down by the window. 'My name is Janet Yates; I was a friend of Elaine's. I'm trying to find out things about her death on behalf of her family.'
'Oh,' he said and sat down in the chair opposite, rubbing his chin nervously. 'The police?'
'Never caught the killer,' she said, and she knew this to be true as she'd been reading everything she could find out about Elaine Nostrum on the internet for the last several days. 'The police never interviewed you, sir?'
'No, no, not at all. This is the first I've heard about it,' he said with apparently genuine sadness. 'She was a lovely young lady.'
Kelly took her mobile from her pocket and scrolled to a picture of the killer she had taken from the photo in Sergeant Lavius's flat. 'Do you recognise this man?'
'No, no I don't sorry,' he said instantly, looking as if he was starting to get concerned about this strange woman in his flat. 'Listen, I barely knew her really.'
'It's ok, Mr Gould,' Kelly said as gently as she could. 'I know what she did for a living.'
Steven looked down at the floor for a moment or two, then stood up and pointed at the door. 'Please leave now.'
Kelly also stood up. 'Tell me what you know about Elaine, then I'll leave.'
He put his right hand on her shoulder, gently, but said sternly, 'I'll call the police.'
At that moment Kelly ran out of patience and grabbed his hand, then twisted it, forcing him back into his seat with a thump. 'Listen Mr Gould. I need to know what you know. I'm usually very nice, but lots of nasty people are currently after me and I need to find out everything I can.'
The old man winced as she applied more pressure onto the wristlock she had him in. 'You're really hurting me!' he cried 'If you break my wrist, I can't make a living!'
'So, talk!' she hissed and let him go. 'Talk to me and I'll leave.'
'Fine,' he grumbled. 'Fine. I paid to have sex with her? Happy? I don't see how that helps you though.'
'And? You didn't know she'd been murdered, so what did you think when you didn't see her about again?'
'Oh well,' he said, as if searching his memories. 'We lost touch. I used to call her, but she always said that she had a new client that wanted her exclusively. Always taking her on holidays and things. She just didn't need my money any longer.'
'Did she say anything about this man?'
'Only,' he said, then laughed. 'Only that he was fat, old and ugly. And that's honestly all I can remember. You think he killed her?'
'It's possible,' pondered Kelly. 'I'm just pulling on threads at the moment, seeing what happens.'
He shrugged, looking up at her with a confused half-smile.
She stood up. 'Well thank you for your time.'
He stayed seated, but as she was just at the door he spoke. 'Elaine Nostrum wasn't her real name, incidentally. That was just the name she used in the UK.'
'You know her real name?'
'Yes, I even contacted her father in Bulgaria, silly I know, but at one point I really thought I could marry her. Make an honest woman of her. It seems ridiculous now.
He sighed. 'Her name was Bogomila Todorova.'