The Hero's Fall (DCI Cook Thriller Series Book 14) by Phillip Strang (best classic romance novels txt) 📗

car window as I drove. Don’t ask me where because I can’t remember.’

‘Why? You’ve just doomed a man to his death. People usually experience heightened emotions after committing a murder, and they can remember everything in infinite detail.’

‘It was on the radio that the woman had died. I wasn’t thinking straight. I tossed the knife not far from the house. I could show you, but I doubt if it’s still there.’

‘Why? It’s hardly likely to have got up on its own and moved.’

‘My client is confused. I am requesting a thorough mental examination be conducted before we proceed further,’ Harders said.

‘The purpose of this investigation is to confirm that your client committed the murder, not whether his mind was disturbed,’ Isaac reminded the lawyer.

‘I’m protecting my client from himself, arguing that he is not in a fit state and that any confession he has given is invalid.’

Isaac thought Harders’ approach unusual but saw no point in pursuing it further. Instead, there was another murder that he needed to focus on.

‘Mr Hampton, you admitted to shooting Angus Simmons,’ Isaac said.

‘I did.’

‘Yet, you have still not written a confession.’

‘I will be tried and sentenced for one murder. Why should I give you the benefit of two? The first death was justifiable. I do not regard Angus Simmons’s death as murder. My lawyer would back me up on this.’

‘Would you?’ Isaac said to Harders.

‘I would advise my client to act in his best interests.’

‘You’re not concerned that two people have died?’ Larry asked, perturbed at the man’s attitude.

‘I am here in a professional capacity; your question is irrelevant.’

‘The defence of your client is more important,’ Isaac said. ‘That’s understood. However, a confession for the first murder is required; otherwise, we will continue to investigate. Whether he is tried for both is not for us to debate here.’

‘I’ll confess, I was there. It was me that took the shot,’ Hampton said.

‘Is that it? Three sentences, no more?’

‘What more do you want?’

‘You wrote close to one thousand words detailing how you were on the bridge, how you severed the cord and threw the knife away. Yet, Angus Simmons dies, and you give us platitudes.’

‘It was soon after I found that I could walk again. My mental state was confused after so long, with no movement. How would you feel?’

‘I imagine I would be confused,’ Isaac said, ‘although revenge would have been the last thing on my mind, more a need to tell those nearest and dearest, to tell the world.’

‘What you would do is not relevant,’ Harders said. ‘My client couldn’t have committed the first murder, not up those stairs. How could he?’

‘I agree,’ Isaac said.

‘It was me; I killed him,’ Hampton said. ‘I’ve told you the make of gun, and I had the anger. McAlister’s proved that.’

‘Has he? He’s got a recording of the two of you arguing, and he was the first one to say you could walk, but that’s it. And are you telling us that with your life returning, revenge was all you could think of?’

‘It was.’

‘Mr Harders, Mr Hampton is either lying or confused,’ Isaac said. ‘I just walked up three floors to the chief superintendent’s office. I’m relatively fit, but I had to catch my breath at the top. Yet Mr Hampton can climb over twenty floors of a high-rise under construction, clambering over builders’ rubble on the way, negotiating rebar and concrete.’

‘He couldn’t,’ Harders said.

‘I did,’ Hampton remained adamant.

‘I suggest that we wrap up the interview for now,’ Isaac said. ‘It’s clear that Mr Hampton could not have shot Angus Simmons and that either he is delusional, or he’s protecting someone. This will require further investigation by Homicide.’

‘Mr Hampton’s status?’ Harders asked.

‘Mr Hampton will remain in custody. He will receive the appropriate medical care.’

***

Larry and Wendy met with Jim Breslaw to see if he remembered anything untoward at the second murder and if he had further recollections of the first.

There was a look of decay in the man's garden, the lawn too long, flowers wilting, a pile of rubbish next to a bin.

‘Gone off gardening?’ Larry said.

‘Life in general,’ Breslaw, unshaven, unkempt and slovenly dressed, responded.

‘You must be used to it by now,’ Wendy said.

‘If you mean receiving the sharp end of Jerome Jaden’s boot, then I am.’

‘Do you blame him?’

‘Not really. He’ll come out of it smelling of roses.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I’ve known the man a long time, know what makes him tick, what drives him.’

‘Are you suggesting that he’s come out on top?’

‘No need to prove it; I just know he has.’

‘Is that because you believe it?’

‘In the early days, Jerome would stake his house to get the money, constantly take a risk, always keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Whatever’s happened, whether he was responsible or not, he will have been weighing up the angles, looking for maximum effect, the chance to fill his pockets, to let others take the loss.’

‘You, for instance,’ Larry asked.

‘Not me. I’m only a small fish, but he used Simmons’s death to deride me publicly, and now, with Tricia, he’ll do the same if it’s to his advantage.’

‘Do you think he feels sorry for the two deaths?’

‘Not Jerome. A charming man to those he likes or wants to influence, but he’s devious, as slithery as a snake, twice as dangerous.’

‘Mr Breslaw,’ Larry said, ‘you were there when Tricia Warburton died.’

‘I was, but not on the bridge. I had stood back, ensuring that everything was in place, looking at a monitor, interested in camera angles, making sure the focus was on Tricia, as nervous as she was.’

‘She wasn’t happy to be there?’

‘Happy to be in the limelight, but not the jump. It was Jerome