An Imitation of Darkness: A DC Ruth Hunter Murder Case by Simon McCleave

Author:Simon McCleave [McCleave, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, detective, Crime
Publisher: Stamford Publishing
Published: 2021-07-23T22:00:00+00:00

1

CHAPTER 16

Friday 30th January

AS RUTH SIPPED HER coffee and listened to Brooks’ morning briefing, she could still feel the anxiety in the pit of her stomach. Koyuki’s comments about her parents ‘snogging’, combined with what she had seen of Shiori in the shower, had convinced her that she was back with her husband Jerry. It was a horrible thought after all he had put her through. It wasn’t a surprise that there was still an attraction, even love, between them. They had been married and they had Koyuki. But betrayal was betrayal and it was hard to take.

Trying to put the thoughts out of her mind, she glanced over as Brooks made his way to the scene boards and pointed to a photograph. ‘Josh Harriot now has a strong alibi for where he was at the time of Tash’s death. Ruth?’

Ruth sat up in her seat and gathered her thoughts. Her mind was still foggy and jumbled from her concerns over Shiori. ‘Yes, Guv. We interviewed Hugo Allerton, who is Harriot’s assistant at UCA Talent Agency. He confirmed what Harriot told us. He arrived at Hugo’s flat around ten o’clock and left around midnight.’

‘And you believed him?’

Ruth nodded. ‘They both seemed very emotional about the affair. There was nothing to suggest that either of them was lying to us.’

‘Lucy?’ Brooks said, glancing over at her.

If anything, Lucy had been acting even more out of character than the previous day, but Ruth wasn’t going to probe just yet.

‘Yes, Guv. Harriot was in bits when he revealed his affair with Allerton. My instinct was that they were both telling the truth.’

‘Okay,’ Brooks said with a nod. ‘So that puts Harriot out of the frame for now. Tim, can you fill in the team with the latest on Barbara York?’

‘Sure Guv. We brought her in for interview yesterday. She admitted that she had gone with Tash Weston back to her flat in an attempt to persuade her not to go to the press with her story about Bob Goldstein’s sexual assault. When she thought she had managed to change Tash’s mind, she got a mini-cab home at about ten thirty.’

Brooks shrugged. ‘From the crime scene that we found at Banfield Road, do we think someone like Barbara York is capable of murdering Tash in the way that we found her?’

‘If the drugs had incapacitated Tash while Barbara York was at her flat, she could have staged her murder to look however she wanted it to,’ Gaughran suggested.

Brooks nodded. ‘Okay. First thing to do is to track down the mini-cab company and check if she really did leave the flat around ten thirty.’ He pointed to a photo of Marcus Jankel. ‘He still bothers me. I know we have a witness who saw him arrive home at the time of Tash’s murder, but he was having a relationship with her and the murder is a copycat of something that he made up.’

‘Doesn’t that rule him out?’ Lucy asked.

‘Not every killer is a criminal mastermind, Lucy,’ Gaughran pointed out.

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