The Locked Room (Ruth Galloway #14)(83)

God bless you.

Your mother

Jean



Ruth finishes this letter in a haze of tears. Our time will come. A wonderful single parent. It broke my heart to say goodbye to you. She has written books!!

She thinks she loves her mother more for those two exclamation marks than for anything else.





Chapter 43


The next morning, Tanya interviews Hugh Baxter in the largest custody suite. His solicitor, Shobna Harris, is present only via Zoom, which is the way they have to do things these days. But Tanya is taking no chances and there’s an ‘appropriate adult’, a social worker called Belinda Carter, sitting two metres away from Hugh. Shobna is on screen wearing a neat white blouse and black jacket. Tanya wonders if she has her pyjamas on underneath. Tony is also in the room and everyone is masked except Hugh who says he is exempt for medical reasons. Nelson is watching through the two-way mirror.

‘This is DS Tanya Fuller. With me is DC Tony Zhang. We’re interviewing Hugh Everard Baxter under caution in the presence of his legal representative, via Zoom, and Belinda Carter, acting as an appropriate adult.’

Hugh Baxter blinks at her. He has mild blue eyes, but Tanya is not taken in by this or by his sparse comb-over. When she’d apprehended Baxter last night, he had flashed her a look that was pure evil.

‘Do you understand that this is an interview under caution?’ she says. ‘You have the right to silence but it may harm your defence if you do not mention something when questioned that you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’

Hugh looks towards the screen and Shobna nods. He says, ‘I understand.’

‘Do you know Zoe Hilton? She’s a practice nurse at Westway Surgery.’

‘I do go to Westway. I have angina and high blood pressure.’ Hugh gives Tanya a pathetic look, which she ignores.

‘And do you know Zoe?’ Tanya pushes a photograph across the table.

‘I think I recognise her.’

‘On Tuesday, thirty-first of March, did you telephone Zoe and ask her to meet you at Steward’s House tourist information centre? I should remind you that we have your phone records.’

‘I can’t remember,’ says Hugh.

‘And, when Zoe arrived at Steward’s House, did you imprison her against her will in the cellar?’

‘No!’ Hugh sounds shocked. ‘I wouldn’t do that.’

‘We have CCTV footage that shows you entering Steward’s House on Wednesday the first and Thursday the second,’ says Tanya.

‘CCTV?’ Hugh sounds as if he’s never heard of it.

‘You’re on camera,’ says Tanya. The footage arrived that morning. She thanks God for the cathedral’s security system. ‘We have photographs.’

‘I don’t remember,’ says Hugh.

Tony leans forward, his voice full of sympathy. ‘Would you like a glass of water?’

‘Yes please,’ says Hugh quaveringly. Tony pours a glass from the jug on the table.

‘Mr Baxter,’ he says, ‘you were good friends with Avril Flowers, weren’t you?’

Tanya sees that Hugh prefers this form of address. He says, almost proudly, ‘Yes. We were very close.’

‘Did you visit her house on the morning of Tuesday the twenty-fifth of February?’

‘I don’t remember,’ says Hugh. ‘So much has happened since then. This terrible Covid . . .’

‘We’ve got a photograph,’ says Tanya.

Hugh shoots her a look of dislike. ‘So many photographs.’

‘Did you visit her that day?’ asks Tony.

‘It’s possible.’

‘We’ve got a picture of you by the pond,’ says Tony. ‘There’s a heron there. I remember that you like birds.’

‘I do like birds,’ Hugh admits.

‘Did you go into the house?’ says Tanya. ‘Did you lock the door of Avril’s bedroom?’

‘Why would I do that?’

‘You were Avril’s boyfriend, were you?’ says Tony.

‘Hardly boyfriend at my age.’ But Tanya thinks Hugh sounds flattered. ‘We were companions.’

‘Were you also Karen Head’s boyfriend?’

‘Karen . . .?’

‘Karen was a teacher who killed herself in November 2019,’ says Tanya. ‘Did you know her?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Her friend sent us a photograph of you together,’ says Tony. ‘Do you want to see it?’

Hugh doesn’t answer but Tony puts the photograph, emailed by Sue Elver that morning, on the table anyway.

‘What about Samantha Wilson?’ says Tanya. ‘Did you know her? Samantha’s daughter Saffron identified you from a photograph we sent her.’

‘That’s him,’ Saffron had said. ‘Creepy old man. Always talking about his wife who committed suicide. Almost as if he was encouraging Mum to do the same.’

‘I can’t remember any of these people,’ says Hugh. ‘I’m tired. I need a break.’

‘Interview suspended at eight thirty-five a.m.,’ says Tanya.



‘He remembers, all right,’ says Nelson, when they gather in his office. Super Jo is there too, wearing a see-through visor that makes her look as if she’s about to perform dental surgery.