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

now, I don’t think AJ would ever forgive me. I’d be stepping on his toes as her primary carer.”

“A tough situation, I admit that. You two, your combined efforts are amazing. Georgie is a very lucky little girl.”

“Thanks, Charlie, AJ has to take the main share of the credit, though. I refuse to hog the limelight when he does most of the hard work caring for her.”

“It’s a joint effort, stop putting yourself down.”

“I’m not. All I’m being is truthful. Now get out of here, let’s remain focused on the job in hand.”

Charlie mock-saluted her and left the office.

Katy rang the hospital. Camilla had been placed on the women’s ward in a private room. The nurse informed her they were keeping a constant eye on her. Camilla was tearful and obviously very upset by the loss of her fiancé but appeared to be bearing up well under the considerable strain she was under. Katy gave the nurse her number to call if things should change while Camilla was still in their care. The nurse promised she would, then hung up.

With vigour, Katy had breezed through the chore of dealing with the paperwork that had been lying in her in-tray. That left her free to lend her team a hand.

Karen discovered that James Boyd had since left Zedex, gone freelance and registered a firm with Companies House. That added up, and would have allowed him the time off to have committed the murders. Katy’s spirits were lifted by the news which would add ammunition to their armoury when they pulled him in. Tracking his movements and being able to place him at the scene could be the key to putting him behind bars.

The boys reported in a few times during the day. Nothing, Boyd wasn’t around. They’d even conducted a small house-to-house enquiry of the road to see if anyone had seen Boyd recently. The next-door neighbour told Graham and Patrick he hadn’t seen James at the house in over a week. It wasn’t the news Katy wanted to hear.

On the way home that evening, she called in at the hospital to have a brief chat with Camilla.

The young woman had red raw eyes. There was a bag of used tissues beside her bed. She glanced up and stared at Katy with glassy eyes. “Hello, aren’t you the policewoman who…?”

“That’s right. I was with you earlier.”

Both of them skirted around the ‘saved’ word.

“I should thank you for what you did. The truth is, I can’t figure out yet if what you did for me was a good or bad thing.”

“I understand your confusion. It’s been a tough day for you.”

“It has. And here I am now, lying here, thinking…just reflecting on what we had.”

“The struggle is going to be real for you during the coming weeks and months, but I believe you’re strong enough to cope with what life is about to throw at you.”

“How can you say that? I have so many doubts…you should’ve let me go…I wanted to be with him. Now what’s going to happen to me? I’m going to die a lonely old woman. I can’t be trusted to fall in love again…not while James is on the loose. You really think he’s the one who did this?”

“Don’t you? From what we’ve learned so far, it wouldn’t make sense not to consider him as our main suspect. That’s why I’m here, not to pressure you into speaking to me, but to see if you can help us track him down.”

“How do you expect me to do that? I haven’t seen him in ages, that was by choice.” She nervously twisted a tissue through her fingers, and her gaze was drawn to her hands.

“I appreciate how hard this is for you. Don’t you want us to catch him, Camilla?”

Her head shot up, and her eyes narrowed. “What sort of question is that? Of course I want him caught. I want you to lock him up and bury the damn key so he never sees the light of day again.”

“My problem is that we’ve had a team sat outside his house all day, and he hasn’t been near the place. He’d stolen a car to use to get him to the various crime scenes, but we discovered that burnt out earlier on a waste site. You see, although we’re doing our very best to find him, we’re struggling to locate him. In other words, he’s proving elusive and we can’t understand why.”

Camilla shrugged. “What do you expect me to do about that? I’m sitting here in hospital after trying to commit suicide, and here you are, hounding me about the one man I detest the most in this world—no, make that this universe. I can’t take this. You’re pushing me closer to the edge again. I want you to leave.” Her voice rose.

The next second, a nurse rushed into the room. “Everything all right in here?”

Katy’s cheeks warmed under her intense gaze. “Yes, just a misunderstanding.”

The nurse shifted, leaving a gap between herself and the hallway. “I think you should leave, Inspector, now. Mrs Boyd is in a fragile state. I knew it was wrong allowing you to see her so soon.”

Katy’s head dropped as the shame descended. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me, Camilla. The last thing I wanted to do was make your rehabilitation worse. All I’m trying to do is capture the man who has affected so many lives in the past thirty-six hours.”

Camilla sniffed and wiped her runny nose. “No, I’m sorry. I appreciate you have a job to do.” She let out a long breath. “I’m just tired. Tired of thinking what my future held, and now all I can consider is how lonely the world is going to be without him. Rufus, I mean.”

The nurse approached the bed and puffed up the pillows behind her. “There, there, you don’t have to talk. Just relax, there’s no need for you to get yourself in a tizzy again.”

“Is that a technical term?” Katy asked, smiling in