by David Carter
‘Careless accident in a garage. All my fault. But I’ve never missed it. Learned my lesson. Life’s too short for unnecessary hassle. Let’s move on and get living.’
Walter wasn’t keen to let it go.
‘This woman,’ he said, nodding at the still smirking Susan, ‘paid cash to have you executed. You’re lucky you’re not buried under the main flyover out of town. You should think about that.’
‘I have, and I forgive her.’
‘I think you’re mad, and I may know the answer to this, but do you wish to press charges?’
‘You’re right, you do, I don’t. Look, she’s always been hotheaded, and jealousy is a powerful force. I’ll hold my hands up; I didn’t treat her well and deserved a shellacking. I don’t bear grudges, there’s nothing positive to be had in that. I won’t testify against her, in fact I’d come to her defence. She is my wife and isn’t that what good husbands are supposed to do? If I haven’t been a great husband in the past, it’s never too late to change one’s ways.’
Karen mumbled, ‘Better late than never.’
From the sofa, Susan said, ‘What was it you wanted to tell me, Inspector? You must have come for a reason.’
Walter glanced at her and said, ‘We came to tell you our enquiries into the attempted murder of your husband are not closed, and are still ongoing.’
‘Good luck with that,’ said Jack.
Walter and Karen shared a look. Any further comment would only be face-saving nonsense. He had long learned in such circumstances, it was better to bring things to a speedy conclusion.
‘We’ll be off,’ he said, ‘but we’ll be in touch.’
‘Excellent,’ said Susan, ‘nice to have seen you again,’ as she struggled to stand.
‘No!’ said Jack, ‘you stay there; I’ll see them out,’ and he beckoned towards the hall, and the front door beyond.
As they moved that way, Karen said, ‘What are your plans now?’
Jack grinned and said, ‘My immediate plans are to take Susan into town, trawl the Rows, and buy her a new outfit. That skirt’s dangerously short, don’t you think?’
‘Whatever,’ said Karen, shrugging.
Walter said, ‘Not sure many men would reward their wife with a new outfit after she’d conspired to have you murdered, resulting in your finger being hacked off.’
‘Maybe not, Inspector, but I guess you have never been in love.’
Walter scoffed and reached out and opened the door. In the next second he and Karen were striding away down the corridor, Jack’s parting words chasing them all the way to the stairs, ‘Good morning, folks, nice to have met you.’
Two minutes later sitting in the car, Karen said, ‘I guess that’s case closed.’
‘Yes, though it’s hard to take. She admits to conspiring to have someone murdered. Okay, it never happened, but the guy was mutilated. And that’s before we think about Paul Fratelli who admits knowing that Ted and Trevor were planning murder, and did nothing about it. The pair of them, Susan and Paul, are lucky they are not both in court facing serious charges.’
‘You know how it is, Guv. There are hundreds of nearly cases that never come to fruition. There’s two more right there we’ll never forget.’
‘It gets my goat!’
Karen grinned and said, ‘I thought after your long service and great experience you would shrug it off.’
‘Never, Greenwood, never. I don’t bear grudges, but I sure as hell don’t forget interesting facts, and one day they could return to be used against these people.’
‘Maybe we could do her for wasting police time.’
Walter shook his head.
‘Sadly, that’s not going to happen.’
There was a brief silence before Karen said, ‘Back to the Station, Guv?’
‘Yes, and I’m sure Mrs West will have something new she wants us to look at.’
‘Let’s hope so,’ said Karen, breathing out heavy and starting the car. ‘You may not want to banish them from your brain but the sooner I forget ever hearing the names Susan Woodhams and Paul Fratelli, the happier I’ll be.’
BACK AT HEADQUARTERS, Walter went to see his boss. He told her about the surprising reappearance of Mr Woodhams, meaning that any solid case was scuppered. She agreed, happy to put it to bed for she didn’t want to spend another hour or another pound on it, and besides, she had another piece of nonsense she wanted Walter to examine.
‘What is it?’ he said grumpily.
‘They’ve called it Operation Firefly.’
‘Oh, here we go,’ said Walter.
‘It centres on one Colin Courtesan.’
‘Unusual name.’
‘Yes, and an unusual business.’
‘Go on.’
‘It’s all in the file.’
‘Can you give me the abbreviated version?’
Mrs West slipped her glasses on and glanced across at the man.
‘Mr Courtesan has never been in any kind of trouble. He runs a god-boring bookkeeping business, but the lifestyle he leads suggests his income is far superior to the one he declares.’
‘So, as a bookkeeper, he’s brilliant at figures and tax fiddles, and keeps far more of the profits to himself or his clients, than he otherwise might. Perhaps not a great surprise.’
‘It’s more than that.’
‘Go on.’
‘The computers think he’s perfected some kind of new online fraud scheme.’
‘Computers! Are you telling me this inquiry has been instigated solely through AI?’
‘Looks that way.’
‘God help us!’
‘It’s the way forward, Walter. We have to move with the times. Use every tool at our disposal. Take the file away, give it a week, and come back and tell me if there’s anything in it.’
‘There’s a big part of me hoping there’s nothing in it at all.’
‘I know, we all feel that way. But keep an open mind. You’ve always been good at that.’
Mrs West could turn on the charm and pass compliments when need arose, soft soaping, some might say, and Walter recognised that. He gave her his best: If I must look, and hoped it conveyed he knew what she was up to. He grabbed the file, stood up, and ambled away, listening to her parting shot as he went.
‘Might be an idea to ring Harry Cameron and tell him there was no unsolved murder on his watch.’
Walter was always going to do that. It was the least Harry deserved.
‘Consider it done!’ he said, scratching his chin, and thinking how wonderful it would be to sink a pint of cold stout.
Author’s Notes
Thank you for reading my book and I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d place a brief review on Amazon I’d be most grateful because it does help me.
If you would like to read more about Walter Darriteau and the gang, there are eight books out there now, plus a Box Set too.
They are:
The Murder Diaries – Seven Times Over
The Sound of Sirens
The Twelfth Apostle
Kissing a Killer
The Legal and the Illicit
The Death Broker
Five Dead Rooks
Old Cold Bones
The Walter Darriteau Box Set
For more details and BUY LINKS please visit:
Davidcarterbooks.co.uk/books.html
Thanks for your interest in my work – I appreciate it. Next year there will be an all new full length Walter Darriteau case, God willing, and he is excited about that, and so am I.
Have fun,
David.
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Did you love The Missing Man? Then you should read The Murder Diaries - Seven Times Over by David Carter!
&n
bsp; There have been three suspicious deaths in the ancient city of Chester, but are they accidents, suicide, or murder?
Inspector Walter Darriteau lives in the city, and he's soon on the case.
"The Murder Diaries – Seven Times Over" is the first novel in a series of seven standalone books.
If you enjoy English crime stories, detailed characters, compelling prose with occasional hints of humour, this is the book for you.
Buy "The Murder Diaries – Seven Times Over" today, and become a first-hand witness to how this fascinating case unfolds…
Read more at David Carter’s site.
Also by David Carter
Down into the Darkness
Grist Vergette's Curious Clock
The Inconvenient Unborn
The Life and Loves of Gringo Greene
The Twelfth Apostle
The Murder Diaries - Seven Times Over
The Sound of Sirens
Kissing a Killer
The Death Broker
The Bunny and the Bear - A Cold and Frosty Winter
State Sponsored Terror
The Legal & the Illicit
Five Dead Rooks
The Missing Man
Watch for more at David Carter’s site.
About the Author
David Carter lives in the south of England and has written more than 20 books including a series of murder/mysteries featuring his detective Inspector Walter Darriteau based in Chester, Merseyside, Liverpool, and North Wales.
If you’re interested in this genre look out for The Murder Diaries - Seven Times Over, The Sound of Sirens, The Twelfth Apostle and Kissing a Killer, aIl featuring Walter Darriteau.
David has also written a male equivalent chicklit novel dubbed “manlit” by some. The Life and Loves of Gringo Greene features a character who doesn’t treat women well and it comes back to haunt him.
Margaret Henderson Smith, a seasoned writer in her own right, wrote about Gringo Greene:
In its easy style it simply bounces along, every page sheer entertainment, compulsively turned, but at the same time I found myself grateful for the sheer length of this chunky, fun-filled book because I never wanted to reach the end. I feel sure readers will be hankering after a sequel, or a prequel as Carter puts it and I hope the author will oblige.
From the start, the reader readily engages with the characters, the context, the setting, the story. With its low-key running plot gradually stepping up as the story progresses, Carter has the balance just right for he allows no distraction from each of Gringo’s lover’s own tales. This has got to be one of the most fascinating books I've ever read, for Carter has the knack of placing the reader in the thick of it. One is hardly aware one is reading, the experience of interacting with the characters is strangely powerful, and I read this with the ease of watching a film. I congratulate the author on this work for it takes a very clever author to be able to hold the reader’s fascination continuously in this way. He has created a superb male `slick-lit’ character in Gringo Greene and the work has much to commend it. Within its genre, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read and it goes without saying I highly recommend it.
David’s aim is to release one full-length novel every year, though two would be nice! There’s a much-requested sequel to Gringo Greene in the offing, time permitting. Read more on David’s books and see lots of reviews at: www.davidcarterbooks.co.uk
And you can get in touch and follow David on Twitter @TheBookBloke.
Read more at David Carter’s site.
