Shot of Silence (Justice Again Book 3) by M Comley (best contemporary novels txt) 📗

Katy sighed. “Life is so tough at times. And James accepted it when you chose to leave him? Or did he kick up a fuss?” Katy asked a second time, needing to clarify things.

“No, he accepted it, even told me he was in the wrong for neglecting me over the years. I appreciated his honesty, and Rufus and I decided to move on with our lives and never to discuss him again, until the day came when we received notice from the solicitors that James was digging his heels in about signing the divorce papers. We told our solicitor we’d pay him a visit. She advised us against doing that, but we did it anyway.”

“And what kind of reception did you get?”

“I’d worked myself up into a frenzy. He opened the door. At first, he was angry to see us standing there together but accepted things for what they were and invited us in. He apologised and said work had been manic for several weeks and all he was guilty of doing was coming home at night and flaking out on the sofa. From what I could recall, he used to do that a lot every time work put too much pressure on him.”

“What was his role at Zedex?”

“He worked closely with Grace Hunt. I’ve got it somewhere in the back of my mind that he told us she might have grabbed the promotion that was due to him, but you’ll need to check I’ve got that right.”

“What’s his background? Any episodes of unstable mental health over the years?”

“No, nothing that I’m aware of. As I said earlier, he liked to control me. Maybe that’s an indication that things weren’t that good in his early life.”

“What about his parents?”

“They’re both dead. His mother died when he was a mere babe in arms, and his father was forced to bring him up on his own.”

“You’re telling me there was no female influence in his life from a very young age?”

“I suppose I am. Do you think that’s contributed to him being unstable?” She shuddered. “Oh God, to think I lived with the man, laid down beside him every night for almost ten years. Had sex with him, and all the time…”

“Try not to put yourself through the mental torture of thinking about that.”

“But if you’re telling me that he’s gone on a killing spree, shit, do you think I’m next?”

Katy shrugged. “Don’t worry. It might not be him. We’ll take every precaution to keep you safe. I’ll organise a safe house for you if necessary. My advice would be to pack a suitcase after we finish speaking, just to be on the safe side, in case the killer returns. I can make the arrangements while you do that.”

“Thank you so much. Shall I do it now?”

“Yes, I’ll call the station, make the arrangements. It could take a few hours to sort out for you. You’re safe, we won’t leave you alone.”

Camilla rushed out of the room, and Katy took her phone from her pocket. She rang her contact in witness protection to seek their advice first. They told her they had a property available and would arrange to pick Camilla up to take her there. Katy said that wasn’t necessary and that she would personally drop Camilla off at the station just in case the killer was hanging around and followed them out to the house. Her contact agreed. After ending the call, Katy rang the incident room to speak to Karen. She gave her colleague a brief rundown on what had gone on and asked her to carry out all the necessary checks needed on James Boyd.

Katy then went outside to see what Charlie had discovered, if anything. She placed a uniformed officer at the door and issued instructions for him not to let anyone else into the house, except for the professionals dealing with the case.

Charlie saw her, excused herself from the gentlemen she was talking to and headed towards Katy. “Any good?”

Charlie nodded. “Sort of. A lot of waffle and possible conspiracy theories flying around which I had to sift through. Maybe you can take a look at what I’ve written down and tell me if I did the right thing in discounting certain information.”

“Bollocks, will I. I trust you. Give me a brief recap, and I’ll tell you what I’ve learnt from the victim’s significant other.”

“Sounds ominous. I bet your fishing trip was more lucrative than mine. One of the guys, no, make that two of them, said the killer pulled up in a blue Honda. They couldn’t give me an exact model, but I do have a partial number plate to be going on with.”

“Excellent news. Go on.”

Charlie flipped open her notebook. “They told me the driver drew up in a hurry, got out of the vehicle, took shelter behind a hedge, and then, in front of the three men, without a care in the world, he opened fire on the victim. The men took off, fearing for their lives. One of them said the killer shot at him, but the other two said he was mistaken. They admitted they couldn’t really tell because they were that intent on running away from the scene they didn’t bother looking back until the killer drove off.”

“I see. Anything else?”

“A lot of projective possible suggestions as to who the masked, oops, I forgot to tell you that bit, yes, it would appear our masked man was the culprit.”

“Okay. First of all, get in touch with base. Tell them what you’ve got on the car and get a couple of members of the team searching the ANPRs in the area, focusing around the time the incident occurred.”

Charlie nodded and stepped away. In the meantime, Katy walked over to have a brief chat with Patti.

“How’s it going?” she asked, glancing down at the body.

“I’m almost ready to shift him back to the mortuary. SOCO will hang around though. How are things at your end?”

“I’ve got the