by M A Comley
“Don’t do this, Kenny. Give yourself up. We can help you if you let us.”
“I don’t need help. I screwed up. I’m looking for a way out now.”
Sally shuffled closer to the suspect, her mouth drying up. She swallowed and moistened her lips. “Why? Why now? Think about your wife and daughter—Tina, isn’t it?”
He stared at her, the expression on his face changing as he contemplated her words. His gaze drifted to the sea beside him, and when he looked over his shoulder, Sally clicked her fingers for the officer holding the Taser to take the shot. Kenny Gillan instantly hit the ground as the volts surged through his slim body. Two of the officers approached him and yanked the man to his feet. Cuffs in place, the two officers walked Gillan towards Sally.
“You disgust me. The lives you’ve destroyed and continue to destroy—for what?”
The man’s head slumped in shame, and he couldn’t look at her.
“Take him away. I need him taken to Wymondham Station. Bang him up in a cell overnight, let him experience what he’s put his brother through for the past sodding fifteen years.”
His head rose and their gazes met. “I didn’t mean to do it. It was an accident.”
“Some accident. Accidents rarely end with someone’s body being butchered.”
She watched as the officers put the suspect in the back of their car.
“How’s the leg?” Jack asked on the way back to the car.
“Like it never happened. Funny how a satisfying ending helps to relieve the pain. Let’s get back to the station. I have an important call to make.”
“To the prison?”
“Yep, only to make an appointment to see Craig. I want to share the good news with him myself.”
Jack smiled. “He’s probably still in hospital. Well, that’s yet another case solved. We just need to find out why he killed her.”
“We’ll question him first thing in the morning. Let him stew in the cell overnight. Maybe it’ll prick his conscience into telling us the truth tomorrow.”
~ ~ ~
The next day, Sally and the team assembled in the incident room earlier than usual. Sally was determined to have all the facts at hand to hit Kenny with during the interview. Simon rang her at nine o’clock with the news that the blood inside the boot of Kenny’s Capri, along with several hairs that SOCO found attached to the car’s interior, belonged to Anne.
When she and Jack entered the interview room, Kenny was already sitting at the table, his head bowed. Alongside him was a female solicitor whom Sally had met a few times before.
“Hello, Miss Vaughan. Nice of you to join us.”
“Hello again, Inspector.”
Sally gave Jack the nod. He announced that the interview was about to be videoed and audio taped.
Sally cleared her throat and asked her first question, the most obvious question she could think of asking. “Why? Why kill Anne Gillan, Kenny?”
He sighed heavily a few times, his eyes fixed on his hands twisting together on the table in front of him. “I didn’t mean to.”
“So, you are openly admitting that you killed your sister-in-law?”
“Yes. But I never meant to kill her. I thought she loved me.”
“What gave you that impression? Were you sleeping together?”
“No, not for the lack of trying on my part.”
“Then why would you believe that she loved you? I’m finding that very hard to fathom.”
He inhaled a shuddering breath. “She was all I ever wanted in a woman. Kind, compassionate…”
“Who belonged to someone else, your brother nonetheless. Are you delusional? Why would you think her kindness constituted that she loved you?”
“I don’t know. I was confused at the time.”
“At the time? You mean, when you confronted her in the street, late at night, wielding a large kitchen knife?”
“Yes. I had no intention of killing her. I wanted her to run away with me. To start afresh somewhere else. She didn’t really love him. I knew deep down she had feelings for me that she suppressed in front of him. When we were alone, she was all over me.”
“But you stated you hadn’t slept together. How could she be all over you?”
“She listened to me. Hung on my every word. But whenever Craig was present, she pretended to be distant from me. I couldn’t stand it any longer.”
“So you killed her?”
Tears dripped onto his cheek, but Sally didn’t have an ounce of sympathy for the man. “I released her from the torture she lived with every day she spent with that moron. He couldn’t give her what I could give her.”
“Love isn’t always about the material things you can furnish a partner with, Kenny. During my investigation, it’s been highlighted over and over again how much they meant to each other. You destroyed that happiness through envy and jealousy. Please don’t try to deny it.”
“I didn’t mean to. I wanted her to come away with me. I could give her all the things that I used to listen to her crave for with him.”
“And in your delusional state, Kenny, did you ever consider Molly and Jamie?”
“I would have cared for them, if only she’d said yes and come away with me. We could have become a proper family.”
“You’re unbelievable. Your needs, no one else’s, tore that contented family apart. So much so that Jamie can’t even bear to look at his father in the eye, let alone speak to him. But you didn’t stick around to see the damage you had caused, did you? You cut those kids out of your life. Is that how you should treat someone you care about? Mind you, you’re swearing blind that you loved Anne, and yet you ended up taking her life. What a callous and twisted individual you truly are.”
“I’m sorry. I let the kids down. I couldn’t bear to look at them knowing that I had killed their mother. Looking at their features every day would have reminded me of what I had lost.”
“You didn’t lose her, Kenny. She was never yours in the first place. I’ve heard enough. We’ll see what a judge and jury think of your confession. I hope they lock you up for life. You deserve to lose everything, just like your brother has over the years.”
Sally left Jack to end the interview process and departed the room. She leant against the wall outside, her heart pounding, and waited for her partner to join her.
Jack left the interview room, and together, they climbed the stairs. “Why? It was such an easy confession. Why couldn’t he have confessed years ago?”
Jack sighed. “Maybe he hadn’t anticipated her body showing up like that.”
“It’s sad. To put Craig through all that torment over the years. Others blaming him for killing the one person he loved more than life itself. I can’t wait to tell him the truth. I have a surprise for him too.”
“What’s that?”
She tapped her nose and continued to climb the stairs. “You’ll see. We have to be at the hospital at eleven thirty. Time for a coffee and a celebratory cake, I think.”
Jack turned around and began descending the stairs. “I know a hint when I hear one.”
Sally laughed and called after him, “I fancy a celebratory chocolate éclair if you’re buying, matey.”
“Huh, you’ll have what you’re given.”
EPILOGUE
Sally felt the emotion stir within her as she and Jack wound their way through the hospital corridors to Craig’s room. She rapped her knuckles on the door and pushed it open. She was surprised to see Governor Wilkinson sitting beside Craig’s bed and the prison officer standing at the end of his bed.
The governor stood and walked towards Sally with his hand outstretched. “Good to see you again, Inspector. We’ll be outside in the hallway.”
“Good to see you, too, Governor. Thanks, we shouldn’t be long.”
He winked, and both men left the room.
Sally moved forwards and smiled down at Craig. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore. It’s nice to feel safe and warm for a change, t
hough. How is the case going? Any news for me?”
She sighed and placed a hand over his. “I have good news for you, Craig. Well, actually, I have good and bad news for you.”
He shuffled to sit upright in his bed and winced. “You better give me the good news first.”
Sally’s eyes welled up. “We’ve caught the culprit. The person who killed Anne. Which means that you will now be totally exonerated. I knew from the instant I laid eyes on you that you were innocent. I can’t apologise enough for what my colleague put you through all those years ago and what you’ve suffered during your time in prison. No one will ever understand the devastation and trauma you’ve gone through, but I’m truly sorry you’ve had to endure everything that has been thrown at you.”
Craig’s bloodshot eyes were bulging out of his head. He moistened his lips several times as Sally shared the news with him. Finally, he cleared his throat and whispered one raspy word. “Who?”
Sally glanced at Jack, who nodded for her to go on. She turned back to face Craig again. “That’s the bad news, Craig. It was Kenny!”
His brow furrowed, and his hand began to shake in disbelief. “Kenny? My brother? I don’t believe it. How? Why?”
“Basically, he was envious of the love you and Anne shared. He was under the impression that Anne loved him. I asked him if she had ever shown him any reason to believe that, and all he could tell me was that she was different towards him when you weren’t around.”
“My God. I can’t believe it. All the pain and grief he’s put my family through. No wonder he moved away and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since. How could he do that?”
Craig’s anger was evident in his eyes and his twisted expression. Sally had something else up her sleeve that she knew would ease his pain. She patted his hand and walked back to open the door.
Standing on the other side, speaking to the Governor was Molly.
“Come in and see your dad, love.”
Molly didn’t hesitate. She barged into the room and flung herself on her father. “Dad, you’re free. I always knew you were innocent.”
Her father began to choke but managed to spit out the words, “Let me breathe, Molly, for goodness’ sake.”
Molly pulled away from her father and bit her lip. “Sorry. I’m over the moon that they’re going to have to let you go now. You can come and live with me.”
“That’s kind of you, love.”
Sally placed an arm around Molly’s shoulder. “Hey, by the time the compensation board has paid out, you’ll be living it up in a mansion.”
Molly laughed, but Craig still looked bewildered by what had gone on. Jack coughed. Sally turned to face him, and he nodded at the doorway. She swivelled and stepped aside so Craig could see. Standing in the doorway was a reluctant Jamie. Sally crossed the room to draw him closer to his father.
With tears streaming down his face, he rushed to his father’s side and smothered him. “Please forgive me, Dad.”
Craig’s own tears mingled with his son’s on his chest. That was when Sally and Jack chose to leave the family alone.
Governor Wilkinson shook her hand again in the hallway. “You and your team did an exceptional job, Inspector. You should be proud of yourselves.”
“We are, sir. Craig and his family deserve all the happiness heading their way. When do you think he’ll be released from prison?”
“Within the next couple of weeks, I should imagine. As to your other dilemma, you’ll be pleased to hear that Darryl is going to be transferred to another prison.”
Sally’s heart rate escalated. “That’s wonderful news. May I ask where?”
“To Scotland. Is that far enough for you?” he asked, tilting his head.
Sally laughed and hugged the governor. “Bloody marvellous. I can’t thank you enough.”
“He dug his own grave, shall we say. He can expect his sentence to be extended due to what he sanctioned for Mr. Gillan. And if he refuses to mend his ways, I’ll make sure his sentence is lengthened in years to come.”
“Much appreciated. Thank you again, Governor Wilkinson.”
Sally tugged Jack’s arm. “Come on, partner, we have a double celebration ahead of us.”
Suddenly, she skipped ahead of Jack and jumped up in the air to click her heels à la Eric Morecombe, not caring if she fell flat on her face in the process.
Nothing would stand in the way of her wedding to her soulmate now… nothing
THE END
NOTE TO THE READER
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed the tangled web that was unveiled during Deadly Encounter, so glad that Sally and her team dug deep to solve this case.
But wait, there is another tough investigation lying ahead of them, actually there are two in LOST INNOCENCE. One of the cold cases will put everyone's emotions on edge while the other will demand Sally to be at her cagiest to seek the truth to the answers she craves.
Will you join the team in their search for long awaited justice.
Pick up your copy of ...
LOST INNOCENCE
Thank you for your continued support, if you could find it in your heart to leave a review that would be excellent and give me the impetus to keep pounding away at my keyboard every day.
M A Comley
KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE AUTHOR
http://melcomley.blogspot.com
On Facebook
On Twitter @melcom1
Subscribe to newsletter
Follow me on BookBub
