Death at Rainbow Cottage by Jo Allen (book club books txt) 📗

a straight white male you carry the baggage of privilege. I want you to focus much more closely on the victims and their sexuality.’

Jude might have privilege but Faye had a chip on her shoulder. And she might be right but his gut told him there was more to it. ‘There’s no evidence George Meadows was gay.’

‘He had a leaflet about the festival.’

George had had a wife, too, but so did Giles. ‘We can’t assume he’s gay because of that.’

‘Not can we assume he isn’t. But perhaps even if he wasn’t someone thought he was. And there’s this warning note. At which point, I must add a footnote to this story. Or rather, a forenote.’

‘Oh?’ Jude calmed himself.

‘Yes. I didn’t mention it to you because it isn’t something I want widely known but I received a similar warning to the one that came to DI Dodd.’

He drew in a long breath, as if he needed reminding that the killer who had come to the Eden Valley had extended their shadows right into the corridors of the police headquarters. Perhaps after all Faye’s concerns about the newspaper article weren’t so self-serving. ‘Did it come here?’

‘No. It came to my home address, which is a matter of concern in itself. Nevertheless.’ She turned to her computer as if the interview was ended, ‘I’m telling you that for information only, but I’m having the papers analysed.’

‘Get the tech people to copy me in,’ Jude said, and headed down the corridor.

*

‘Excuse me, Doddsy.’ Tammy, bristling with chill hostility, shouldered her way past him as he moved towards the desk where Jude was in deep conversation with one of the constables, his body language demonstrating his sheer frustration at the turn the investigation had taken.

Doddsy understood. Just when they’d been so sure of the case against Giles Butler, with a name and a reputation he was so desperate to protect and a perfect motive for murder, along had come an indication that either he wasn’t the killer, or that he was and there was a copycat case.

‘If we hear any more on his movements,’ Jude was saying, ‘I want to know straight away. Okay?’

‘Jude.’ Tammy’s hostility extended beyond Doddsy. She must have guessed where Tyrone had been when he hadn’t come home the night they’d gone for their walk up by Ullswater, but he sensed she knew her own powerlessness. ‘May I interrupt?’

Tammy was sensible and she would get used to the idea, in time. But what might Phil have done, or what might he have threatened to do, in the first heat of his fury? And if there was a threat to Doddsy, then there could also be a threat to Tyrone.

Jude sat back. From a distance, Doddsy thought he could sense yet another in what seemed to be a series of sighs, and moved a little closer. ‘Is it important?’

‘I think so.’

‘Fine.’ Jude turned to Chris. ‘Good work so far, though. Let me know if anything comes up. Okay, Tammy. Is something wrong?’ Something else wrong, the slight rebuke in his tone seemed to imply.

‘Yes. I haven’t been called in to look at the crime scene up in town. The murder. Why’s that?’

With his colleagues Jude was a poor liar, unable even to reproduce the bland expression he kept for witnesses. ‘I couldn’t say. I wasn’t the one who called the CSI team out. I was interviewing a suspect when the body was found.’

‘You know it makes sense for me to be out on that job. I was available. I know the other two scenes. It’s possible that there are things I could find out from there, more quickly than some others, just because I know what to look for.’

‘Yes, I know that. And you know how highly I think of your work.’ Jude smiled, one that was meant to reassure her and which, judging by the little shift of her shoulders, failed. ‘Whoever sent out the team must have had their reasons.’

‘If it wasn’t you, who was it? Doddsy?’ She turned to scowl at him. ‘Did you decide to cut me out?’

‘It wasn’t me. I imagine it was Faye.’

‘And should I go and ask her reasons, or are you going to tell me what you think they are?’ Tammy turned her hard stare back to Jude, then over to the far side of the room, where Faye was sitting listening intently to what one of the detectives had to say.

Jude had been fidgeting with a pen, and at that he put it down. ‘I haven’t discussed it with her, but I imagine she thought it wasn’t entirely appropriate that you should be involved when it was Phil who found Gracie Pepper’s body. That’s all. You can imagine what fun a defence counsel would have if that piece of information came out.’

‘Are you seriously suggesting Phil is a suspect?’ Her look would have frozen a lesser man. ‘For God’s sake, Jude. Phil? He’s a doctor.’

‘I’m not suggesting anything. I’m only pointing out that we have to observe all the protocols. We’ve hardly started eliminating people from our inquiries, let alone finished, and until then we can’t make any assumptions without evidence. I do hope you understand that.’

She stared down at him, the hard, curious stare of a woman determined to defend her family, placing them above everything else, without question. ‘Well, hurry up and rule him out, then. I don’t need this hassle hanging over me, and his career won’t stand being accused of murder.’

‘Nobody’s accusing him of anything.’ Jude stood up and turned away from her, in a gesture of dismissal. ‘Doddsy, I’m glad you popped by. We can pool information. You probably know more about this than I do.’

Doddsy pulled up a chair and inspected his spotless fingernails for the half a minute that it took for Tammy to realise