Status of Individuals
Femi Hassan
Fran CONFESSES?
Charlotte Holroyd
However badly frustrated she is by her relationship with Josh, she doesn’t seem the type.
Roderick Tanner, KC
What is “the type” who would kill their former lover?
Charlotte Holroyd
Emotionally unstable, mental health issues, a history of chaotic behavior. Fran is the opposite.
Femi Hassan
Anyone can act in a moment of anger. Perhaps Josh ended their relationship and she snapped?
Charlotte Holroyd
Or is she confessing to protect someone else? Her sense of responsibility toward Amelia, Georgia, and Lucas is strange.
Roderick Tanner, KC
A confession for that reason would indicate a lack of judgment tantamount to mental or emotional instability, would it not?
Femi Hassan
You said “former lover,” Mr. Tanner. But we didn’t see their relationship end, did we?
Roderick Tanner, KC
Indeed not. Sharon, where are you?
Sharon Collins
As of ten seconds ago, I’m in your flat, Mr. Tanner. Where are YOU?
Roderick Tanner, KC
I’ve popped out for some fresh air.
Sharon Collins
Where? It’s gone nine-thirty at night!
Roderick Tanner, KC
Broadstairs. Always loved the place.
Sharon Collins
But that’s in Kent! The doctor told you not to leave the house!
Roderick Tanner, KC
Please send the next folder to Femi and Charlotte.
Sharon Collins
I give up!
Sharon Collins
The next set of correspondence seems to be out of chronological order. Please pay attention to the dates.
Femi
Only five megabytes. We must be close to the end.
Charlotte
We need to establish where everyone is right now, otherwise my head will explode. Here goes:
Status of Individuals
Sarah-Jane
Thinks Kevin has been having an affair. Is waiting until after the play to confront him about it. She now realizes he’s been seeing her sister, Nicky-Rose, having previously thought it was Fran, and now facing the fact he may have been seeing two other women.
Kevin
Was certainly keeping something from his wife. He was in the park talking to a woman when he told SJ he was at the cash and carry. However, we’re not wholly convinced he has been seeing Nicky-Rose (see below) or Fran.
Nicky-Rose
We believe NR, who states early on that she’s looking for “fun,” was having a casual affair with Lucas and had saved his name in her phone as “Kev MacDonald.” On February 18, Lucas writes: “The second I saw you something clicked. An instant connection.” She’s also planning vengeance on Trina, and is involving Issy in what appears to be an exchange of drugs and cash.
Issy
Met with Trina as Nicky-Rose planned. She seems to have enjoyed the meeting but mentions how unhappy she is that Nicky-Rose hadn’t told her “something important.” It says a lot about Nicky-Rose that we wonder which secret she means.
Fran
Confesses to killing her married lover. This came out of the blue.
Lucas
Is keeping secrets from everyone. His affair with Georgia, who is not his cousin after all, and his fling with Nicky-Rose.
The stress and responsibility of maintaining these deceptions, supporting his unconventional household, managing the nightclub, and his illegal activities must surely be taking their toll.
Amelia
Fell for Lucas’s line that Georgia was his cousin.
She’s still limping and in pain from her sleep-out injury.
We only discover after the murder that as the play was about to start, she found Lucas’s messages to Nicky-Rose on his phone.
She hints at a confrontation with NR. The stage gun is found in her costume pocket and NR has disappeared.
Georgia
Not Lucas’s cousin, but his secret (pregnant) girlfriend. She is convinced he will leave Amelia once the play is over. She considers Lucas to have cheated on her with Nicky-Rose.
Femi
So many people with a grudge against Nicky-Rose and so few with any reason to kill the Reverend Josh Harries.
Charlotte
Someone close to the victim is usually the guilty party.
Femi
Which leaves us with only two suspects: Fran and Josh’s wife, Elizabeth.
Charlotte
I’m shattered. Let’s carry on tomorrow.
Lockwood Murder Case WhatsApp group, September 13, 2025:
Femi Hassan
Thank you, Sharon. Before we start reading we’d like to run something past you.
Charlotte Holroyd
Our theory is this: Elizabeth finds out about Josh’s affair with Fran. Perhaps she follows him to the lane and sees them together. She kills him, right in front of Fran.
Femi Hassan
Fran is consumed with shock, grief, and guilt.
She stumbles back through the secret door in the scouts’ kit cupboard and plays Lady Angkatell in the second half of the play.
She delivers a quirky but brilliant performance.
She reasons that Josh’s death is ultimately her fault and, when the play’s run is over, confesses to the murder.
Roderick Tanner, KC
Very well deduced. And before you’ve read the final messages too. Well done.
Femi Hassan
Are we there, or thereabouts?
Roderick Tanner, KC
Well, I’ve finished reading myself now and have had time to think. As I see it, you’re not even close.
Police interview with Francesca Elroy-Jones. Present: Sergeant Crowe and Inspector Cooper of Lockwood Police, and duty solicitor Ms. Priti Anand at 11:45 a.m. on June 8, 2025:
Ms. Anand: Contrary to advice, my client has asked me to read a prepared statement.
Insp. Cooper: Please.
Ms. Anand: “My name is Francesca Elroy-Jones. I have an apartment on Hayward Heights, but I am temporarily living in a studio flat on the Grange estate. On the evening of June 5, 2025, I was playing Lady Angostine in the Fairway Players’ production of—”
Ms. Elroy-Jones: Angkatell.
Ms. Anand: Anchor-tell? “In The Hollow. I had arranged to meet the Reverend Joshua Harries, whom I have been seeing in secret for around three months. I’d heard something earlier that evening that made me both angry and confused.
Our date was to be during the interval at 8:45–9 p.m. in the lane between St. Barnabas church hall and the vicarage.
When I left the stage, several pages before the interval, I took the Edwardian moletrap from the stage mantelpiece.
The starter pistol and stage gun were set out on a table behind the trellis.
I was carrying a garden tote and as I passed, I hid the starter pistol under a cloth in the basket with the moletrap.
Before the act had finished, I accessed the lane via a door in the back of a cupboard in the green room, and met Reverend Harries as planned.
When he arrived… I think I must’ve realized it was just a starter pistol and wouldn’t fire, so I took the moletrap from my tote and stabbed him with the spikes wherever I could, until he seemed…
dead. I think the wound in his neck was the worst. I wiped the moletrap with the cloth and put it in the props box.
Later in the green room, I concealed the gun in the costume of another actor, then played the role of Lady Angkatell for the rest of the evening, and again on Friday and Saturday night. ”
[Silence]
Sgt. Crowe: Thank you, Ms. Anand. Francesca, can you tell us why you murdered Joshua Harries?
Ms. Anand: Remember what I said about “no comment.”
Ms. Elroy-Jones: It just happened. It was as if I…
couldn’t think straight. I got home and…
when that feeling, or lack of feeling, wore off…
I vomited nonstop. I… I’ve never felt for anyone the way I feel about Josh.
I decided to wait before… We’ve worked so hard on the play, it’s up for NADA awards, I didn’t know when the judge was coming, and didn’t want to ruin it for everyone.
Insp. Cooper: Okay. I think that’s all for now, Francesca. Thank you.
Sgt. Crowe: Wait. What did you find out earlier that made you so angry?
Ms. Elroy-Jones: No comment.
To: The Fairway Players mailing list
From: Kevin MacDonald
Date: June 5, 2025
Subject: Opening Night!
Dear all,
Tonight’s the night! THE night, when it is most crucial to bring your A game to the stage.
As always, the Fairway Players diaspora is cheering us on. I’ve received a great many “break a leg” wishes from friends and former members. I’ll print out the full list and display it on the green room wall, but for now, this little lot will keep you going:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends! Good luck to Fairways for The Hollow. Look after the props you’ve borrowed and they’ll look after you.
Bernice from the Mendham Players
Go Fairways! Wish I could be a part of it, but so busy at uni. Hope opening night is a blast!
Beth’s friend, Jo
? ? ? ? a leg
Jackie Marsh
Enjoy the show and if you need a band for your after-party, call me.
Nigel Crowley a.k.a. Tony Zucchero
So sorry I won’t be able to come now. Between you and me, Kevin, I’m nearly three months pregnant and the doctor says to rest, but Josh will be there on Saturday. I nonetheless wish the group all the very best for each and every night of the play.
Elizabeth Harries
Once our lawyer has sorted out a few things here in Dubai we’ll be back. Until then, break a leg on opening night.
Carly Dexter
Email servers are like sponges soaking up the earth’s water. As a family, the Mayhews are digitally withdrawing. If you have something to say, please knock on our door and tell us face-to-face. If your news isn’t important enough for that, then we don’t need to know. We hope the play goes well.
Victoria Mayhew
So much love for this group and this play. The hall will open at 6:30 p.m. tonight. This is it!
Kevin MacDonald, Committee cochair and director
Message exchange between Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald on June 5, 2025:
10:44 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Elizabeth said not to tell anyone about her being pregnant.
10:45 a.m. Kevin wrote:
Shit! Copied and pasted the whole para. Nothing I can do now. Could you offer her those old baby things of Sammy’s so she doesn’t get shirty?
10:46 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
I’m giving them to Myra.
10:46 a.m. Kevin wrote:
She’s had two kids in the last two years. She must have everything already.
10:47 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote: