Three Little Maids(82)

In the Interview room, still dressed in the stage costume for his part of Ko Ko in the Mikado, Aiden Ludlam sat with his solicitor Mr. Arnold Barker beside him.

‘Interviewing Aiden Ludlam, Inspector Kent and Sergeant Turner present, also present is Mr. Barker, Mr. Ludlam’s solicitor August 16th at 7pm.

‘Aiden Ludlam, you are charged with killing three girls Maureen Carey, Yvette Marceau, and Jodie Charters. And leaving their bodies respectively on the cliff top, in the Victoria Park woods and in the Victoria Park.’

‘This is utter rubbish.’ Aiden Ludlam listened to the charges read out to him with a look of incredulity on his handsome features. ‘I’m innocent, Inspector. Raymond Perkins is your man. Did you not find what you were looking for in the garden shed?’

‘I am asking the questions, Mr. Ludlam. Besides Mrs Flitch and his grandmother, you were the only other person who knew what Raymond got up to as a lad. Mrs Perkins confided everything the boy did to you, didn’t she? You were careful not to mention the stolen panties. Only the killer would have known about their obscene use in the girls deaths beside the police officers on the case.’

‘You’re mistaken. I have no motive for killing those girls.’

Kent studied the perspiration now beading the grease paint, the frowning brows and the deep lines of anger biting into Ludlam`s handsome face, accentuated harshly by the heavy stage makeup. ‘It might seem like that. But Michael Berkley knows different. He came in earlier today to tell us that there has been a sexual relationship going on between you for some years.’

Ludlam gasped. ‘He was telling lies!’

‘Inspector, this has no bearing whatsoever on my client’s case,’ protested Mr. Barker.

‘It has, Mr. Barker. According to Michael Berkley, who was in your company in the chapel on your birthday, Ludlam, Maureen discovered you fondling him which left her in little doubt as to your sexual preference. You eventually managed to persuade her that you weren’t entirely oblivious to her charms.

‘And she came to meet you in the chapel where you killed her. And then you carefully picked out the other two girls to make it look like the work of a serial killer. All three known previously by Raymond Perkins. You knew about Tom Berkley and Yvette. You typed and sent a letter to her which she believed was from Berkley. Asking to meet her in the chapel. Yvette went to her death there and lost her anklet. That’s correct, isn’t it, Mr. Ludlam?’

‘I have nothing to say.’

‘I have here a written statement from Michael, who is prepared to be a witness, to seeing you offer Jodie Charters, a lift to the hostel in the car with your children. He questioned you about it. And you left him in little doubt, that if he told us, you would expose his father’s affair with Yvette to the tabloids before his sister’s wedding.’

‘This is all pure fabrication, Inspector.’ The solicitor intervened. ‘You have no proof of any of this.’

‘You knew about Raymond’s problems in the past, Ludlam. You saw the nude drawings he did of Maureen. And decided he would fit the role of the killer for you nicely. You were careful not to leave any prints or DNA on any of your victims. You left none on the jewellery which should have had Raymond’s on them. But didn’t.’ Aiden’s face remained stony.

‘That was your first mistake, Ludlam. And your second were the prints on the letter you sent to Yvette and they match your prints on the anklet which you handled and brought into the station earlier today. Now, have you anything to say, Mr. Ludlam?’ Kent said.

‘I would like to discuss these new developments with my client, Inspector.’





64




‘Congratulations,’ Viviane said as he relaxed over a glass of beer on the patio much later thatevening. ‘I suppose everyone has been celebrating.’

‘Yes the rest of the team are drinking the Nag’s Head dry. The good news has been sent to Raymond via Turner. If I’m not mistaken he will have nothing less than a miraculous recovery.’

‘So Ludlam confessed to it then.’

‘Eventually. When he realised he’d not checked on those prints. He was so certain he’d covered everything.’

‘But what about his alibi’s?’

‘Frances Leach so idolised him she believed everything he said. And gave him his clearance on those three evenings. He admitted he put his wife’s sleeping pills into Frances’s wine which soon put her to sleep. And like Gwynith both women were unaware of how he filled his time on those fatal nights. After he offered Jodie a lift to the hostel, put the children to bed with Jodie waiting outside in the car, and took her to the chapel where he killed her.