A Body in the Lakes by Graham Smith (great books of all time .TXT) 📕

have anal sex, among other… things. Derek wouldn’t hear of any of it, so eventually I finished with him. It wasn’t an acrimonious split; we just had different tastes.’ She gave a shrug. ‘I think I disgusted him a little.’

Beth lifted her chin off her fists and hoped her voice wouldn’t betray her amazement at Eleanor’s frankness. ‘How did you know he was here? We only arrested him this morning and the only person we are aware he’s spoken to is his lawyer.’

‘His lawyer is my cousin. He knows we used to date so he called me an hour ago.’ Eleanor scratched at her shoulder causing the fine material of her blouse to rustle at her touch. ‘I told him the truth about me and Derek, and when he asked if I’d come down and make a statement to you, I agreed.’

With that last sentence, Beth realised how the lawyer had played them. Everything that was said in the formal interview was nothing more than a stalling tactic until his star witness came forward. Forster must have told him about the anal aspect to the rapes when calling to hire him.

What Beth had to find out now would waste her time as well as delaying the investigation into the mayor.

First of all, they would have to establish if Eleanor really was Vaughan’s cousin and whether or not she was lying to help out Forster’s case.

Second, they’d need to see how eager to help Eleanor really was. Telling her tale to two women in the privacy of the witness suite was one thing. Testifying in court was another.

‘Your revelation is very damning to our case. I’m sure that when it goes to court your testimony may well swing the jury’s opinion. However, just because he didn’t want anal sex with you doesn’t mean he didn’t desire it with other women.’

‘We both know that’s not true. Vanilla is vanilla. The case won’t go to court. You’ll not get enough evidence for that to happen.’ Eleanor shifted her eyes from Beth to O’Dowd. ‘Your DC seems to think I’m afraid of testifying in court. That I’m ashamed of my appetites. I can follow her logic, but I have to tell you, I’m not worried about my reputation.’

Beth kept her mouth closed as Eleanor rooted in her handbag and produced her phone. After unlocking it and scrolling through the apps for a few seconds, she slid the phone across the table until it was sitting between Beth and O’Dowd.

‘What’s this?’ O’Dowd made no effort to keep the anger from her tone.

‘It’s the first in a series of pictures that were taken at a wedding. Specifically, my niece’s wedding. You’ll see the bride being given away by her father. You’ll also see a family photo where Neville and I are with my mother and his father. He looks like his father and I’m like my mother. His father and my mother are twins.’ A smugness crept into Eleanor’s tone. ‘I’m sure you’re wondering if I’m really Neville’s cousin or someone who’s been hired to lie Derek’s way out of jail. I am his cousin, and yes I did have a relationship with the mayor. If you keep scrolling through the pictures, you’ll see several of me and the mayor at civic functions back in May. There are also some selfies of the two of us.’

O’Dowd lifted the mobile and swiped her way through the hundreds of pictures on the phone. Her eyes narrowed further with each swipe and when she passed the phone back to Eleanor, she almost threw it at her.

Beth got why her boss was that way. She felt the same emotions. Not only had they been outmanoeuvred by the lawyer, his cousin’s testimony was destroying their case.

The mayor may well be innocent of the charges against him, but the way he’d looked at Beth at his house had revealed his truer nature. Whether or not he’d killed and raped the four women, he was still a predator. Worse than that, he was a predator with funds at his disposal, powerful friends and enough charisma, influence and popularity to make any allegation against him seem like a witch hunt.

As Beth watched Eleanor walk out of the building all confident air and pocking heels, she heard O’Dowd’s mobile ring.

She turned to watch her boss. Maybe she’d be able to interpret what the conversation was about from the side that she heard.

O’Dowd was listening rather than talking and from what Beth could see of her face, the DI wasn’t liking what she was hearing.

Twelve

Beth watched as Forster climbed into the passenger seat of his lawyer’s Jaguar, and cursed the world in general.

Digital Forensics had checked Forster’s diary and found that he was engaged in a series of civic events around the county when two of the women had been raped and murdered. There was no way he could have attended all the various events and still have found enough time to identify, abduct and then rape and kill his victims. Yes, he may have been at the nature reserve around the same time as Christine Peterson was suspected of being taken, and he was in the vicinity of Keswick when Joanne Armstrong was abducted, but unless his support staff were in on the rapes and murders, it just couldn’t have been him. Plus he was at the same function as the chief super last night – a quick word with the chief super had not just verified this, but backed up the mayor’s claim he was too tipsy to drive – which meant that he couldn’t have killed Felicia Evans either. The final clincher was the call she’d put in to American Express. It had taken a bit of wrangling, but she’d managed to speak to someone who’d confirmed the mayor had reported his card as stolen last week.

The good news was that this meant that FMIT had proven beyond doubt that the mayor was innocent and, as such, they were freed from the