A Genuine Mistake by Ted Tayler (miss read books txt) 📗

fitness classes. Of course, most of them were women. Many were far older than me, but in a university city, I found plenty of students and lecturers who needed to keep fit and healthy. I can honestly say that although I enjoyed their company whenever we met up away from the classroom, I didn’t meet a man that sparked my interest. Perhaps I wasn’t looking hard enough in the right bars and clubs. I visited the theatre, went to concerts and film shows in the Royal Crescent. It might sound boring, but I can assure you, I was happy with my lot.”

“Then, one Thursday evening in Bradford-on-Avon, a forty-nine-year-old man signed up for you to get him fit again,” said Luke. “Gerry Hogan walked into your life, and suddenly everything changed.”

“Your line of questioning suggests that you have me marked down as a man-hater,” said Rachel. “Because I was unhappy getting fondled on home visits; and imagined that Lawrence Wallace planned to attack me. That’s rubbish. I should be able to visit men in their homes for an exercise class without them invading my personal space. Men like Wallace should understand the boundaries and respect them. He was dating my mother, for heaven’s sake.”

“I’m not sure that our line of questioning was contentious,” said Gus. “Gerry Hogan died outside his front door six years ago. You lived with him here for four years. If DI Kirkpatrick didn’t dig deep into your history and relationships, then that was remiss of him. If the killer didn’t come from Gerry’s distant past, then it had to relate to someone he’d met recently. DS Sherman was within his rights to ask why, after several years of celibacy, you changed.”

 “People say they don’t believe in love at first sight, Mr Freeman,” said Rachel. “All I can say is they’ve never experienced a night such as that. After the session ended, I wanted to have a brief chat to learn what Gerry wanted from the course. That’s standard practice; I always want my clients to get the most out of the time they spend with me. As soon as we talked, there was an instant attraction. That had never happened with any other man I’d met during my working life. I couldn’t wait for the following Thursday night to see him again. Gerry was vulnerable. He told me what had happened to his wife and how he’d brought up his sons alone. I told him about my home life and my career. Conversation flowed with such ease that it felt as if we’d known one another for years.”

“That wasn’t strictly true, though, was it?” said Luke. “Gerry had a good deal of help from his sister, Belinda. He couldn’t have raised Sean and Byron alone and continue to develop his financial services firm.”

“Belinda was a cow,” said Rachel. “I’m sorry, but she was a bitter spinster who saw Gerry as a surrogate husband. Belinda treated those boys as if they were her flesh and blood. From the minute I met her, she did everything possible to drive a wedge between us. Gerry couldn’t see it. He loved me, loved the boys, and we lived in this house for four wonderful years. Belinda couldn’t stand getting shut out. When the will surfaced after Gerry’s death, that was the final straw. Belinda started the rumour that I’d persuaded Gerry to change his will, then paid someone to kill him. Gerry didn’t tell me much about the old will because it was none of my business. We were looking to the future. I was thirty, Gerry was over twenty years older, but we should have had another twenty years together, at least. There was no rush to make a will. We weren’t married. Gerry had never asked me, but I expected him to ask one day, maybe once the boys got settled. I would have said yes because I loved him, and we were perfect together. It was ludicrous to suggest I wanted him dead.”

And yet, someone did, thought Gus.

  CHAPTER 6

“I don’t wish to go through every step of what happened that Sunday evening, Ms Cummins,” said Gus. “I realise it was painful. Can I perhaps pose a series of questions to check that I have my ducks in a row?”

“I’ll never forget what happened, Mr Freeman,” said Rachel, “and I can’t imagine that I’ll tell you something different to what I told the detectives six years ago. Despite what you said earlier.”

“We’ll see,” said Gus. “How did that Sunday differ from any other before six-thirty in the evening?”

“The boys didn’t get up until lunchtime. That was normal. I was just as fond of my bed when I was that age. Gerry and I ate breakfast alone. He popped into town to get a few things from the supermarket while I cooked Sunday dinner. In the winter months, we ate in the evenings, but from May to September, we ate earlier, so we had the rest of the day to do whatever we chose. That Sunday we ate at five o’clock. There was no way the boys and Gerry wanted to drive to the coast or visit a country park that weekend.”

“They were keen on snooker,” said Luke.

“They played here in the games room whenever they had the chance.”

“Was the gym here when you moved in?” asked Gus.

“No. Gerry extended the ground floor to accommodate my gym and a bigger kitchen. That work finished six months after I came here.”

“Did Gerry and the boys ever make use of the gym?” asked Luke.

“Gerry used it more than the boys. He didn’t mind working out with me. Sean and Byron were teenagers, and their bodies were changing. They felt uncomfortable exercising with me. I never pushed it. They used the gym alone or together when I was away working.”

“Did you exercise every Sunday evening?” asked Gus.

“Not if