The Two Deaths of Ruth Lyle by Nick Louth

Author:Nick Louth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2024-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

She headed back inside twenty minutes later, apologised to her team for the outburst, and then went in to see Pavel. The cracked glass, right across the panel diagonally, had already been fixed with clear tape. It still rattled as she opened the door. He glanced up at her, then looked back at his screen.

‘Look, I’m sorry about that, just then.’

He shrugged, but wouldn’t look at her. Pavel was a sensitive soul, prone to moods, but a first-class CSI technician.

‘I’ve put it away,’ he muttered, gesturing at the security cabinet.

‘Thank you. Look, we’re all under pressure. No suspect, a week after the killing.’

‘And we don’t even know who the victim is,’ Pavel said.

‘Right. So hands up, I was out of order.’

He extruded a smile of acknowledgement. She left quietly. It wasn’t the greatest apology, but would never have been made by a man, she was sure of that.

She returned to CID. ‘So what was that you were telling me, Maddy?’

‘It’s about the uniforms who visited Entwistle’s aunt. Sheila Woodley apparently denied that her nephew had come to visit her, but refused the officers’ permission to look around the house. Shall I get a warrant?’

‘Yes,’ said Talantire. ‘That’s a good idea. There is a good chance he may have gone to ground in the area. Primrose, can I get you to track down any CCTV from the Woolacombe to Ilfracombe bus?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘We have to remember that Gawain Entwistle was plucked from the modern world at the age of fifteen, and incarcerated in an institution. He can’t drive, doesn’t know how to use a mobile phone, and is probably travelling around by public transport.’

‘That limits his options,’ Primrose said.

‘Yes. In practical terms the outside world for him is frozen at 1973. He has of course some severe learning difficulties. But it doesn’t mean that he will be easy to find,’ Talantire said. ‘He knows things about Ilfracombe that most people have forgotten. I discovered that when I came up against him in the Dimpsy. And he could be dangerous.’

‘Right,’ said Maddy, picking up the phone. ‘One other thing. I’ve tracked down Trevor Goswell, and I’m going to call him.’

‘Well done. How did you find him?’ Goswell, the other man who had briefly been a suspect in the original crime.

‘Through his National Insurance number. He’s a retired mental health nurse living down in Falmouth. Do you want to listen in?’

Talantire listened in on her extension as Maddy rang Goswell’s landline. After she’d introduced herself, Goswell interrupted: ‘It’s about this murder in Ilfracombe isn’t it?’

‘What makes you think that, Mr Goswell?’

‘You’re raking over the coals, aren’t you? Considering I was arrested back in 1973. Well, I don’t know anything about it, see?’

‘I haven’t asked you anything yet,’ she said. ‘But I would very much like to come and speak to you.’

‘Well, I don’t want to speak to you.’

‘Come on now, Mr Goswell, we can do this the easy way, just two of us, in plain clothes and an ordinary car, or we can do it the hard way, with uniforms and flashing lights.

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