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 Day 3 (Wednesday 26th May)

   I was up, dressed and ready by 9am and after they had both entered I
asked if they wanted breakfast, so we ordered and while we were waiting I
said to Ellen "It may be best if you were to phone you're landlord this
morning to find out when or if he has repossessed the property yet and tell
him that you would like to go to the flat to get personal items that belong
to you, you don't have to go into details about you're situation, I'm sure
he is probably used to these questions by now, I will phone Jim Reynolds
and see if we can get a van suitable with a driver and assistant" We were
interrupted by the waiter bringing in our food, then after I had tipped him
and he had gone I continued "We will find a local storage facility to put
it all in, how does that sound?" Ellen had tears in her eyes and said, "It
all sounds so easy when you say it, I want you to be there when I go into
the flat, and I don't even feel like saying, `it's my home' anymore, it's
just a flat now" After our breakfast I called Jim and he said that the
brother of the taxi driver I had used had a `Luton' type van, plus he
didn't get much work so he would be pleased to hire himself out to me, then
he said "Just don't overpay him like you did Andy, he couldn't keep his
mouth shut and you don't want to be flashing too much cash about, ok?"
"Alright Jim, point taken, I'll get the address and time I want the van to
you later" So it was agreed.  Ellen then phoned the landlord and found out
that he had arranged for two of his staff to go to the flat that afternoon
after lunch.  I told her after getting off the phone that that gave us
plenty of time to arrange everything, I then also asked how much furniture
and stuff there would be and she said "Not much really as most of the
furniture belonged to Archie as he lived in the flat before we were
married, his previous wife left him and they had a quickie divorce and he
had kept the flat on".  Anyway, I got the address of the flat from Ellen
and phoned Jim about it and the time to meet the van and men.  `I thought
to myself maybe I should have hired myself a car, but then on second
thoughts I would have had to have a chauffeur or bought myself a sat-nav
unit, no, best stick to cabs'.  I phoned around and found a local storage
centre and gave them my details and booked it for 3 months, then we chatted
until lunch with both Ellen and Libby getting more and more agitated the
nearer it got to the time of going back to visit the place they had called
`home' for a year.  After a subdued lunch I ordered a cab to take us to the
flat in an area called Broomhill (a nice part of Glasgow overlooking
Partick).  By the time we arrived the van had arrived as well and we only
waited about 5 minutes in the cab and the landlords surveyors arrived in a
small van with the rent company's logo on it.  I paid off the cab and then
as Ellen still had her key she opened up the ground floor flat and she let
me walk in first to make sure we were alone, I had a quick look around in
the lounge then into a dining area and then into the kitchen with Ellen and
Libby following closely behind, I went back into the hallway and found the
bathroom, I only just opened the door slightly and was shocked to find
Archie Murray hanging from clothes drying rail attached to the ceiling, I
hurriedly turned and prevented Ellen from going that way, closed the door
and said to the one of the surveyors "You'd had better call 999 and get an
ambulance and the police to attend here urgently.  I am afraid Mr Murray is
in the bathroom and they are needed here" I turned to Ellen "I think you
and Libby had better go into the lounge and sit down or rather make some
tea or coffee, I'll attend to this until they arrive" She said "Archie is
in there isn't he?  He's done himself in hasn't he?  The damn coward" I
just nodded, there was nothing I could add.  While we were waiting on the
emergency services turning up I phoned Donnie and all he would say was "If
the police ask you all to go to the police station, ask them which one then
phone me, I'll drop everything and meet you there, ok?" I agreed that was
probably best and apologised for taking up so much of his time, he said
with a wry chuckle "Don't worry about it Ken, I'll bill you big-time later"
Then he hung up before I could think of an answer.  There was a sound of
sirens getting louder and louder so I hurriedly went and opened the front
door for whoever turned up first, it was the police and I quickly showed
the two of them where the bathroom was, a close second came the green
uniforms of paramedics so the police, who had cut Archie down allowed the
ambulance crew into see what could be done.  The two surveyors had gone out
of the flat into the street and were chatting to my van driver and his pal.
The police, a man and a woman, turned to me and asked who the hanged man is
and why there are so many people in the flat, I tried to explain "The two
women in the lounge are the Wife and Step-daughter of the man who has
hanged himself, namely Archie Murray and I am a family friend who is
helping them as their marriage for several reasons had come to an end, we
were visiting the flat to get a few of their belongings into storage, it is
my hired van and men outside" I also explained that the other two were
surveyors from the property rental company.  Then the policewoman asked me
my name, address and birth details.  After she had written these down she
asked why I was so far from home and I said "That's complicated and I would
rather try to calm the two ladies down than spend a lot of their time
explaining" The policewoman said in that case we had better get you to the
local police station to make a statement, please don't go anywhere, we are
going to have a word with the ladies" Meanwhile the policeman had been
speaking on his walkie-talkie and requesting more help.  I asked the
policewoman what the address of their police station was and was asked why,
so I said "So my lawyer can be present, I know nothing of Scots law and
would rather he be there" So I was told and while they walked into the
lounge I made the call to Donnie.  Just as they moved another older man
came into the flat with a large black bag and said to me that he was a
doctor so I directed him to the bathroom, since the police weren't watching
I walked out of the flat into the street and approached the van, I asked
for the man whose van it was and a guy came up to me and said "My name is
Jimmy and my mate is Vince, how can we help?" "I don't think you can now, I
don't think the police will allow us to take anything away at this time, so
if you want to I would just leave and I'll pay you for the time and for the
inconvenience" I had separated some of my money in my wallet earlier so
when I handed them an amount of cash, neither of them argued but they
didn't see everything.  I mentally thanked Jim.  Whereupon they got into
the van and drove off, no doubt glad they didn't get involved.  I then went
over and spoke to the two young surveyors and said that they had better get
in touch with their boss and tell him what has happened and to say that the
police probably won't be allowing them to roam around in the flat at this
time owing to the circumstances.  After this I went back into the flat and
just as I got back in there appeared another couple of policemen at my
back. I showed them into the lounge and the original policeman looked up
and said to their colleagues "There's something fishy going on here, I
think all these people should be taken to the station to get this sorted
out, we have all their personal details but the story we have been getting
is a bit complicated" At that the doctor came into the lounge and spoke
softly to one of the police and I could hear him say that he had pronounced
the man in the bathroom dead and had probably been that way for most of the
day, but that details would follow after a post-mortem.  I tried to
reassure both Libby and Ellen with a smile but they both had sad eyes and
no smiles came back, this had taken a lot out of them.  The police
indicated that we should all get ready to leave and outside I was
instructed to get in the back of one car and Ellen and Libby into another,
there seemed to be a lot of police cars there now, some people ogling and
then we were whisked off to the Partick police station.  On my arrival
inside I saw Donnie talking to a policeman at the desk and he turned as he
heard us coming in then walked straight towards me, the policeman with us
came between us and asked Donnie who he was "I am Donald McKay, lawyer of
(he gave them his city address) and you have my clients here, Mr Ken
Richards, Mrs Ellen Murray and Miss Elizabeth McCowan they are all my
clients and if you wish to interview them I request I be present at each
interview, I can shed a lot of light on the circumstances they find
themselves in as I already have signed and witnessed statements from most
of those concerned here and they would be admissible in a court of law,
maybe you should interview me first" I had to admire Donnie for speaking
like that to the police, they were all standing there gobsmacked.  Then the
desk sergeant spoke up and said "Maybe that's a good idea, it may make
things easier in the long run" One of the policemen asked Donnie to
accompany a couple of them to an interview room and we were told to wait
where we were and not to talk to one another.  About 20 minutes passed and
then they asked me to join Donnie in the room, after I sat down one of them
read from a card informing me of my rights and I said afterwards that I
understood, one of them asked me why I was in Partick, so I told them, it
took me about ¾ of an hour to bring them up to date and they changed the
tapes they were using to record me twice and as I finished one of the
policemen said "I hope when you leave Scotland that you don't leave with
bad feelings towards us" "No sir, this may not be what I expected when I
came but I have still made a lot of good friends" "Mr Richards, you may
leave for the time being but please leave contact details before you do" I
thanked them and left the room with Donnie.  He went straight over to the
two ladies and said "The police want to hear both you're sides of this,
I'll be in there with you but please don't leave anything out, it is very
important" So they were both interviewed individually and afterwards they
allowed us to leave.  Once outside Donnie turned to me and asked if I had
any pressing business I had to get back to in Sussex, when I said "No,
nothing" He said "The police may not want to talk to you again but I think
they'll want to talk to Libby about her abduction and I think she would
like you're support at this time" Ellen said quickly "I would like his
support too, I'm just getting used to him" She turned to me and said
"Please don't go Ken, I'd like you to stay if you can" "I have no intension
of going anywhere, no, the hotel here will think I've moved in permanently
by the time I'm ready to leave" I laughed at my own joke "And they will
think that about you two as well" Ellen said on a more serious note said
that her and Libby would have to see about getting somewhere to live and
for her to get a job and Libby has to get back to school to finish her
year. We hadn't thought about her and her schooling ever since this
started. Well I said "If Libby has to go back to school we'll have to think
about security for her, after all that arsehole, sorry, Danny is still out
there and probably getting madder and madder and it won't be long before he
get's to know that Archie has gone and he's not getting his money back"
Libby suddenly looked frightened and I quickly stepped up to her, hugged
her and said "Don't worry Libby, he or his cohorts won't get anywhere near
you while I have breath in my body" She quietened down, blushed and said
"No one has ever made me feel as safe as I feel at this moment, sorry Mum,
but you understand don't you?" Then I felt as if I was blushing and then we
all laughed.  Donnie said "My, look at the time, I have to get home, my
wife will think I have another woman, plus I don't want to miss dinner" He
laughed loudly "I'll speak to you all again tomorrow, have a good evening"
With that he hailed a cab and was gone, we did the same and headed back to
the hotel.  By the time we arrived back it was gone 6pm and we were hungry
enough to just go straight into the restaurant after a quick trip to the
washrooms and we weren't in the mood for hanging about, Ellen said to me
"Can we have our deserts and coffees afterwards in you're suite, I think
there are a things we should discuss if you don't mind Ken" It sounded
ominous the way she said it but I agreed so we just finished the main
course and I went and explained to the waiter and we headed up in the lift,
just before we got to mine Libby asked if we didn't mind as she was tired,
she just wanted her bed, she looked absolutely knackered and we, of course
agreed, her mum kissed her and I said goodnight and got a hug and then her
mum let her into her room.  Ellen and I continued into my suite and just as
we went in so our deserts and coffee arrived and so the waiter laid
everything out and left.  I poured out two cups of coffee and we just
relaxed eating our deserts, I said "This is certainly the way to eat you're
desert, then it doesn't matter if you get cream on you're nose" Ellen
instinctively wiped her nose and I laughed, well giggled really.  Then she
laughed as well.  "This is what we have to talk about Ken" I knew what she
meant, we were getting so close.  "I'm sorry Ellen, if this is too quick, I
didn't mean for this to happen, I have feelings for you that I find
confusing, I've never felt so in tune with someone and so protective
towards you and Libby, it just seems so fast, I'm sorry I'm probably saying
this all wrong" "Hush" she said, "I'm just as confused as you, my feelings
are so intense compared to the feelings I ever had for Archie, I just love
being in you're company and no, it's not the money, if for any reason you
gave it all away to charity tomorrow I would still feel the same as I do
now" "On a more serious note, how do we tell Libby?  Where do we go from
here?" She stood and then moved over to me, moved my coffee table aside and
sat on my knee and said "Kiss me, please" Well I can't stand to see anyone
beg, so that's just what I did, I held her, one arm round her waist the
other round her shoulders, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, it seemed
to last forever when I broke off the kiss and looked at her she appeared
flushed as if she had run a mile.  "Ellen, we can't push this any further
tonight, I want to make love to you very much, but we also have Libbies
feelings to take into account and I think she should be brought into this
discussion first" "I never thought I would meet someone who is so on my
wavelength, she is not you're daughter, but you make her sound as if she
were and I honestly wish she was" I replied "Well we certainly agree on
that point" Ellen stood up, a little shakily but she stood with her hands
on her hips and I stood up as well and she added "I am going to my bed now,
alone, as I have been rejected" She pouted, then smiled and leaned in for a
peck on the lips "Can Libby and I meet here for breakfast with you tomorrow
morning?" "Of course, I will be privileged to have the company of two
beautiful women for breakfast, how does 8:30 sound?" She turned and walked
to the door and turned back after opening the door and said "We will be
here, you can order a full Scottish breakfast for each of us, then we will
talk again, buster" Then she was gone.