Free Kissing the Demons by Kate Ellis Page B

me over that house. Only gave me half of what it was worth. Bloody stupid I was. But my wife had just passed away and I wasn’t thinking straight.’
    Joe gave him a sympathetic smile. The business of the house might have been in Norman Quillan’s imagination or perhaps number fifteen needed a lot of renovation. Or maybe Rory Quillan was a sharp operator who did the dirty on his recently widowed uncle. He was keeping an open mind.
    â€˜Let’s go back twelve years to the time when these two girls disappeared. Can you tell me what happened?’
    â€˜Nowt happened as far as I was concerned. We were away in Scarborough.’
    â€˜That’s not far for a holiday.’
    â€˜It always suited me and the missus. I’ve never gone in for all this travelling. And what’s wrong with Scarborough anyroad? Nowt.’
    Joe nodded. ‘You’re right there, Mr Quillan. There’s nothing wrong with Scarborough.’
    Quillan met his eyes and gave a tiny smile of agreement.
    â€˜So how long were you away for? You’re right about it being somewhere in the files but it’ll save us a lot of time if you can remember.’
    â€˜I went on the Wednesday and stayed exactly a week. The Sea Breezes Guest House. Very nice.’
    â€˜Bet they did good breakfasts,’ said Emily, entering the room with a tray of steaming mugs. She handed them round before sitting in the armchair next to Joe, wriggling her ample backside to make herself comfortable.
    â€˜They did that,’ said Quillan, licking his lips at the memory of the generous Yorkshire breakfasts – full English and then some more.
    â€˜So your house was empty on the Saturday night?’
    Norman Quillan hesitated. ‘It were meant to be empty. Aye.’
    â€˜You were away so why shouldn’t it be empty?’
    â€˜No reason.’
    But Joe saw a flicker of uncertainty in the old man’s bloodshot grey eyes.
    â€˜Do you remember the students at number thirteen at the time?’ Emily asked. ‘You were their landlord so you must have seen a lot of them.’
    â€˜They’d come round to pay their rent and tell me about anything that were wrong in the house but I can’t say I knew any of them. None of them seemed to stay very long. Certainly no more than a year – some a lot less.’
    â€˜Why was that?’
    He looked away. ‘How should I know?’
    â€˜You must have had an inkling.’
    â€˜They only talked to me when they had a leaking tap or the fridge weren’t working. I were their landlord, not their friend. They had their own concerns.’
    â€˜Did any of them mention if there was anything wrong with the house?’
    â€˜Aye, I’ve just told you. Always on about broken furniture and hot water and that. Did nothing but moan, some of ’em. Got too much in the end, all the fussing and griping. Some even tried to make out the place was haunted. I ask you . . . anything to get a reduction on the rent. But I wasn’t falling for it.’
    â€˜Do you remember a girl called Jasmine who lived there twelve years ago?’ asked Emily as she put down her half full mug of tea.
    Quillan made a great show of thinking. ‘Can’t say I do. But, like I said, there were a lot of them.’
    â€˜She was tall and blonde,’ said Emily. ‘Probably the sort of girl you’d remember.’
    â€˜A lot of the girls were like that. Little whores, some of ‘em.’
    Joe caught Emily’s eye. Had Quillan tried it on with some of his female tenants? It was hardly the sort of thing they’d get him to admit. But he’d have a try.
    â€˜I know the sort of thing,’ he said. ‘Bet some of them liked to flirt with you . . . persuade you to let them off the rent.’ He leaned forward with a knowing smile. Man to man.
    â€˜Oh aye. Teasers I called them. Not that I ever . . .’
    â€˜From what I’ve