05 A Witch Hunt in Whitby by Helen Cox

Author:Helen Cox
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781529410389
Publisher: Quercus Publishing
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

It was nearing midnight when Kitt settled herself into the small booth behind the double-sided mirror at Whitby police station. The local officers had understandably taken some convincing before they would allow Kitt to witness the interview, but luckily Halloran knew one of the officers, DS Sandra Drake, from his time working in Irendale. DS Drake had grey hair worn in a long bob that just met her shoulders and had a soft, round face that looked kindly enough. From her posture, however, Kitt got the distinct impression that she wasn’t the type to stand for any nonsense.

Duly, even if she had known Halloran for some time, she wasn’t entirely enthused about the idea of Kitt observing from the sidelines. Once he explained that Kitt was a civilian investigator who had already interviewed the suspect once and would thus be able to quickly spot any holes in the suspect’s story, however, Kitt was discreetly shown into the back room. It was already late and nobody wanted to make this a longer job than it had to be. Especially given that after the stroke of midnight, there would only be four days left to catch the killer. If they could put this case to rest tonight, they could all sleep easier when they finally got to bed.

Grace was, of course, put out not to be permitted the same access as Kitt. But once she had accepted they couldn’t breach protocol any further than necessary, she agreed to continue her research into The Curse of James I, A Musical – the play Cyril Armitage had performed in that he now seemed to be reliving.

As they were operating from a different police station, it was highly unlikely that Chief Superintendent Ricci would find out about Kitt’s sneak peek into the interview. Even if she did, Kitt wagered that with so little time before the next murder was due to happen, Ricci would forgive this lapse in protocol if they managed to bring the killer to justice.

Though Kitt privately admitted that, just now, it was a big if. Ayleen Demir may have lied to them but they still had to prove she had means, motive and opportunity to commit the vampire killings. The means were taken care of with the tattoo needles, the opportunity – well, she had known two of the victims and didn’t have an alibi for the nights they were murdered, so perhaps something further would be uncovered on that point. The motive, however, was the real issue. Had the death of her parents been her fault? Were they dealing with a long-term psychopath? Or had her experiences with the cult warped her mind in some irreparable way?

Beyond the glass of the two-way mirror Ayleen, or Jamelia, sat in a pair of jeans and a tatty grey T-shirt she’d thrown on when the police came knocking after she had already gone to bed. Her hair hung long and unkempt around her shoulders and the bags under her eyes betrayed the fact she hadn’t been sleeping well.

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