Female Sleuth Mystery Book Series Set In England
Agnes Lockwood Mysteries Series by Eileen Thornton
Series Excerpt
Back at the police station, Alan explained to his sergeant why Agnes had been so upset. “I do think she has a point. While she was telling me all this, I kept thinking back to Alice Thurgood. I can’t say I noticed any resemblance between her and Agnes at the time, but on reflection, she could be right.”
Alan took out his phone and looked at the photo again. “I want copies of this picture printed out and given to every police officer working this case. They need to be aware that this man is a suspect. However, be sure they understand they mustn’t do anything to alert him to the fact we are on to him. We need positive proof he is involved before we bring him in. In the meantime we need to keep a close eye on him.” He paused. “I want to know his every move.”
Andrews transferred the photo to his computer and began printing off some copies.
“Why don’t we just go to the hotel and question him?”
“For goodness sake, Sergeant, at the moment we have absolutely nothing on him. Even the photograph is nothing without something to back it up. For the time being, we’ll continue to let him believe he has got away with whatever it is he has done and hope he does something to trip an alarm.”
Andrews pulled the photos from the printer. “I’ll get these spread around the office.”
Alan nodded. “And remember. We keep a low profile, watch and listen; make sure everyone understands that. Hopefully we’ll get something more solid to go on.”
When Andrews disappeared down the corridor, Alan sat back in his chair. If only Agnes wasn’t caught up in all this. On one side of the coin, he was pleased she had refused to leave the hotel. It would have been disappointing if she had packed up and left. But, on the other side, he was very concerned about her safety. If Drummond had been involved in the murder it meant he was an extremely dangerous man. More especially if he thought Agnes had evidence, which might incriminate him.
Was there something they could do to make Drummond realise he was watching the wrong woman? What if Agnes was to leave her phone lying around when Drummond was nearby? Maybe if he picked it up and looked at the stored photographs and found nothing to incriminate him he would leave her alone.
Alan looked down at the floor and shook his head. Surely he could come up with something not so damn obvious. Yet, despite giving it more thought, nothing else came to mind. Perhaps they could talk about it over dinner that evening.
The thought of dinner reminded him he needed to book a table somewhere. He pondered for a moment over where to take Agnes this evening. There were still a couple of rather nice restaurants on the quayside, which she might enjoy. But would she rather go up into the city? He should have insisted she made the decision this time. Yet he had the feeling she would still have left it to him.
He would like to have had time to linger on those thoughts for a while longer, but someone popped their head around the door informing him the superintendent would like to see him right away.
****
Agnes sat quietly in her room after Alan had left. She had been surprised when she saw David Drummond’s picture on Alice’s phone. She certainly hadn’t expected to see anyone she would recognize. It had left her quite shaken when she realised why he might be tailing her. Even now, she felt uncomfortable knowing he was actually staying in this very hotel. At the moment, he didn’t know which room she was in – or even what floor she was on, thanks to the lift attendant. But he could find out easily enough. All he had to do was to point her out to one of the receptionists and they could fill him in on all her details.
There was the option of moving to another hotel. But it was possible Drummond would find her. He could telephone various hotels in the city and ask whether she was staying there; giving some excuse for needing to contact her urgently. To avoid that, she would need to check in under a different name.
Alan hadn’t answered her question before he left. When she had asked him ‘what’s next’, he simply told her he was heading back to the station. “I want some copies of this photo printed out.”
That wasn’t what she had meant at all. Though she guessed he knew that already. He probably didn’t want her to get any further involved. She sighed. Yet, for goodness sake, she was already involved and she wanted to continue to help find out what was going on at the hotel.
She ticked off the events on her fingers. First there were robberies. Then a woman, who happened to be staying at the hotel, was murdered, though her body was not found here. Third, today they find that another guest could possibly be involved in one – or even both of the crimes. So what would be next?
She sighed. This was as close as she had ever come to investigating a real crime and she wasn’t going be to put off by the detective working the case, even if he was trying to keep her out of harm’s way. But where did she go from here? What would be number four on the list?
Agnes took a deep breath. She needed to start at the beginning; when the first robbery took place. But what if that hadn’t been the first theft! Something could have happened before she arrived. Perhaps, back then, whatever went missing hadn’t been noticed until the people left the hotel.
She shook her head. No. There was no way she could go down that road. She could only dwell on what had happened since she arrived at the hotel a few days ago. Gosh! Was it only a few days ago? So much had happened, it seemed as though she had been here for a couple of weeks.
****
Alan knocked on the superintendent’s door and walked in. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes, sit down.” The superintendent gestured towards a chair on the other side of his desk.
“How can I help you?” Alan asked once he was seated.
“It’s about these robberies at the hotel. I have had the chief constable on the phone asking me what is being done and couldn’t tell him a damn thing.” The superintendent sat back in his chair. “Are you any further forward with the investigation?”
“There’s been a murder since I first started to investigate the robbery. A woman staying at the hotel was found dead outside The Bessie Surtees Museum a couple of nights ago. I thought that would take priority.” Alan noticed the superintendent fidget in his chair.
“Yes, of course,” the superintendent replied. He coughed. “I think the chief constable wants to be kept in the loop and looks to me for answers.”
“We think the murder and the robberies could be connected,” Alan suggested. He hoped he wasn’t going to be asked to explain why he had come to that conclusion, because at that moment he had no real evidence.
“I see.” The superintendent paused for a moment before leaning forward. “Yes, I see how there could be a connection. This poor woman might have seen something and had to be silenced before she reported it. Very good, Johnson, I’ll pass that on to the chief constable.”
Very little else was said before Alan was dismissed. He heaved a sigh of relief as he stepped out into the corridor. He had come out of that unscathed. It had surprised him that the chief constable could put a robbery before a murder. But he supposed with Mrs Hargreaves on his back he would have to look for something to appease her.
Back in the office, Andrews was on the phone. He looked up as Alan entered and placed his hand over the mouthpiece. “There’s been another robbery at the hotel, sir.”
“Not another one,” Alan murmured as he slumped into his chair to wait until Andrews had finished the call.
“A diamond necklace and a pair of diamanté earrings have gone missing this time,” said the sergeant, reading from his notes. “It seems the couple had only been out of the hotel for two hours. They were meeting some friends in the Sage. When they got back the wife went to put her jewellery in a box by the bed and she found some pieces were missing. Before calling the manager, they both searched all the drawers to make sure she hadn’t put them somewhere else by mistake. But they weren’t there.”
“This is ridiculous.” Alan thumped his fist on his desk. This whole case was beginning to irritate him. “How is the thief gaining access to the rooms without a key card?” Now he was talking more to himself than to Andrews. “The manager tells us that only trusted staff is allowed to use these cards for cleaning, etc. At all other times the keycards are locked away. Yet somehow, someone is able to get hold of one of these cards, get into the rooms and steal expensive jewellery.” He looked across at Andrews. “Despite what the manager says, this has got to be an inside job. One of the staff must know something. Hopefully, when we find out who it is, we will find our killer.”
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