Ultimate Dilemma (Justice Again Book 2) by M Comley (poetry books to read .txt) 📗

“I’m not saying anything of the sort, Gemma. The other victims are Bruce Crawford, Dale Peters and Robin Hewitt. Do any of those names ring a bell with you, Amy?”

Her daughters studied their mother as she thought.

Amy ran a shaking hand over her face. “Yes,” she whispered.

Katy’s ears pricked up. “Really, which one?”

“All of them.” Her voice lowered still so her words were difficult to hear.

“Mum, what are you saying? You know why Dad has been murdered?” Gemma asked.

“Possibly.” Amy’s gaze rose to meet Katy’s.

“Would you rather tell me in private, without your daughters being present?”

“No. I’ll need their support. One name stuck out for me.”

“Who was that?”

“Bruce Crawford. He was a horrible man.” She shuddered and paused to take a breath, then continued, “I don’t know what happened, not truly, but something went on at his house years ago that had a truly devastating effect on Ellis.”

Charlie whipped out her notebook and pen.

“Go on, please, anything you can tell us I feel sure will help capture this killer. Can you remember anything at all? Were you and Ellis married then?”

“Oh yes, we’ve been married since our teens. We met at school when we were thirteen. I know a lot of people say this, but Ellis truly was my soul mate. We had our children a few years after our life together began in earnest.”

“How did he know Bruce?”

“I’ll stand corrected if I’m wrong, but I think they met at the pub one night. There was a group of them. And yes, the other men you mentioned formed part of this group.”

“Group or gang?” Katy needed to clarify.

“Not a gang, nothing as sinister as that, my Ellis would never have belonged to one of those. They were older by then, in their twenties when they started hanging around with each other. I suppose I’m partially to blame for that.”

“You were? In what way?”

“Ellis was finding being a father of two young girls a little traumatic. He worked extremely long hours back then as a trainee manager, and to come home to these two, who always appeared to be bickering ten to twelve hours a day, took its toll on our relationship. I told him to get out and have some fun. I would’ve rather he did that than the alternative.”

“Which would have been a separation or a divorce,” Katy filled in the blanks.

“Yes. I knew deep down he loved me, he just needed the freedom to consider how much he loved, and appreciated, his family, if that makes sense? I wasn’t one of these clingy wives. I trusted him implicitly, he’d never given me any reason not to.”

“So what, these men would meet up regularly, is that right?”

“Yes, at the Dragon’s Head around the corner from Bruce’s home. Now and then they would have a drinking session at his house. Ellis said he didn’t really like that much, he preferred it at the pub.”

“Did he give a hint as to why?”

“Not really. Maybe he felt that it put too much pressure on Bruce’s wife. If they chose to go there, she was expected to feed the men.”

“I see. Go on.” Katy sensed the woman was hesitating slightly and that what she was about to reveal could blow the case wide open. “Before you do, we’ve spoken to Adele Peters, the former wife of Dale. She intimated that something happened while the men were all together one night and their friendship appeared to end overnight. Is that your recollection of what went on?”

Amy licked her lips, and her head bounced in a nod. “Yes. I’m trying to recall the day it happened.”

Katy tilted her head. “It? As in, the men falling out, or are you telling me you know what the falling out was about?”

“Please, give me time to work through this.”

“Work through it? Mrs Bird, if you know what went on back then you need to tell us. It could prove significant to our investigation.”

“Don’t force the issue, I’m trying to get my mind around things.”

Katy had a suspicion that the woman was going to come up with a cock-and-bull story that could have them jumping through hoops for days. What are these men guilty of? And why is she willing to keep that secret from me? “Would you rather take this down the station?” Katy snapped, she couldn’t help it.

“Fuck off,” Gemma said, leaping out of her seat again.

Her mother tugged on her arm, forcing her back down. “Don’t do this. The inspector has a right to ask these questions. It’s about time the truth came out.”

“And what would that truth be, Amy? I can’t tell you how important it is for you to divulge what you know in order for us to catch this killer.”

“Do you seriously believe this has something to do with why my husband was killed?”

Katy shrugged. “Unless you tell us what you know, we have no way of knowing if that’s true or not.”

Amy dipped her head and placed her hands on her temples. “I should have said something years ago. I told Ellis to go to the police, but he refused.”

“Mum, what are you saying? That Dad broke the law? How? You have to tell the police everything. What if the killer comes after you next?”

“Samantha, don’t say that,” Gemma shrieked.

“What? It could be true. How the fuck do we know unless she tells us? Jesus, I don’t want to listen to this but, Mum, you have to tell the police. If you don’t, you’ll be putting all of us at risk. Are you willing to take a gamble on that?”

“Okay, maybe Sam has got a point, Mum. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I don’t want my husband or kids ending up in a mortuary…like Dad. Tell them what you know or…”

“Or what?” Amy stared at Gemma, worry lines etched into her forehead. “Are you threatening me, child?”

Gemma shrugged. “Make of it what you will. All I’ll be doing is trying to protect my family.”

“Ha…what do you think your