Fatal Love

by Michael Patterson

  ‘When do you plan to bring them in, then?’ asked Superintendent Birch.

  ‘Tomorrow morning. There’s not a lot more we can do tonight, anyway. Tomorrow morning will give us the opportunity to make doubly sure that all the paperwork is in place. Especially as there are now two locations.’

  Superintendent Birch’s tone had changed when he next spoke. ‘Tom, you may have heard that Gary’s death is now out in the open and I’ve received many requests for us to make an official statement. Sir Peter called me just before you got back. He thinks, as it’s not going to go away, we should do it sooner rather than later. So it’s been arranged for 1 pm tomorrow, outside the station. The question is “who should do it?” Sir Peter will be there, and will say something, but he’s keen for someone from here, closer to Gary, to be the main person. I’m happy to do it but, as Gary was in your team, I wanted to give you the option first.’

  This was not a surprise to Tom, especially after Mary had mentioned hearing about an officer’s death on the news. Nonetheless, during the past few hours, he had been able to put it to the back of his mind. Now that option was no longer available. ‘I think I should make the statement, sir. As you say, he was in my team, but, more importantly, I’ve known Gary for many years. I think it’s the least I owe him.’

  ‘I suspected that might be your answer, so I’ve put the force’s media team on standby. They’ve already been working on the logistics. They are just waiting for you to call them. Here are details of your main contact. She’s the media relations manager.’ He handed Tom a small slip of paper.

  Tom glanced at the name and telephone number on the slip. ‘I’ve worked with Jane before. You might remember she arranged the press interview on the Aphron case.’ It was during this particular press conference that Tom had begun to strongly suspect there was a concerted campaign to discredit him at play. ‘Let’s hope it’s more successful than that one, although, to be fair, it wasn’t her fault.’

  He looked up from the paper, suddenly concerned. ‘Has anyone spoken with Julie about this?’ he asked. ‘She’s going through enough right now without switching on the television and listening to people talking about her husband.’

  ‘All done,’ answered Superintendent Birch. ‘Her police welfare officer has spoken with her already. She understands the need to make an official statement. In fact, she would like to attend it.’

  There was a brief silence before Superintendent Birch spoke again. ‘As I said earlier to you both, it looks as though you could do with some rest. You’ve been on the go for a long time now. I’m sure you’ll agree the last thing we need now is a cock-up because you’ve missed something due to being dog tired. Why don’t you both go home and try and get some sleep?’

  After the excitement of the preceding few hours, and now that they were back in a warm office, Tom, not for the first time today, suddenly felt very tired. It was the type of tiredness that often caused a nagging headache and could, as his concentration levels diminished, result in errors.

  Tom and Milner spent the next half-hour or so discussing the following day’s arrests plan. They then went home to try to get some rest, recognising that the following day would be one of the most important and emotional days of their careers.

  Chapter 49

  It was late when Tom arrived home. Despite his suggestion that Mary should not wait up for him, she was in the lounge, watching TV, when he got back.

  As he entered the room she immediately stood up and put her arms around him. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I can’t begin to imagine how his wife must be feeling.’ She pulled away and, looking directly at him, said, ‘That could easily have been you or David. I just feel sick every time I think about it.’

  Tom, not being able to think of any words which would offer any degree of reassurance, instead said, ‘What I really need, right now, is a proper cup of coffee.’

  ‘Why don’t you sit down whilst I make you one?’ She then added, as an afterthought, ‘Have you had anything to eat today?’

  ‘A couple of sandwiches, that’s all. But I’m really not hungry.’

  ‘Are you sure? I could quickly make you something.’

  ‘Thanks, but, as I said, I’m really not hungry.’

  As she walked towards the kitchen, Tom followed her. The last thing he needed right now was to be alone, and, anyway, now would be a good time to update Mary, not only on what had happened – that much she deserved – but, also on what was likely to happen tomorrow. So he briefly told her of the planned arrests, but he mainly wanted to forewarn her about the impending press conference.

  After he had finished, she said, ‘What will you say? It must be incredibly difficult, when you’ve known someone for so long.’

  ‘I don’t know, yet, what I will say. All I do know is that I owe it to him and Julie.’

  Tom could see that Mary was now beginning to get emotional herself, and so he pulled her towards him and, for a while, they remained that way with nothing being said between them. Eventually, he released his hold on her. ‘I know the plan for tomorrow was to spend some more time with Paul and his family. Could you call him first thing? The next few days are likely to be very busy and so I can’t really commit to anything just yet. But tell him I’ll somehow find time so that we can all meet up again.’

  ‘Of course I will,’ she replied. ‘Why don’t you go to bed now? It’s getting late and you look exhausted. I’ll sleep in the spare room, so that I’m not disturbing you.’

  Even though it was late, and he was tired, he felt as though he had almost gone beyond the point where sleep would come easily. ‘You are probably right,’ he simply answered, knowing there was a good chance that he would just lie there, looking at the ceiling.

  Mary kissed him and said, ‘Try and get some sleep. What time will you be leaving?’

  ‘Early,’ he answered. ‘I’m meeting with Milner at 7 am. So I need to leave here no later than, say, six thirty.’

  ‘I’ll make you some breakfast, then, before you leave.’

  ‘You don’t need to do that. I can always get something at the station.’

  ‘Tom,’ she said, in her most assertive voice, ‘I am making you some breakfast. The least I can do for you is make sure you have eaten something. And anyway, knowing you as I do, there is a strong chance you’ll forget. You’re not leaving until you’ve eaten it. I suspect you’ll need as much energy as possible tomorrow.’

  Chapter 50

  ‘Okay, that’s agreed, then,’ said Tom. It was the following morning, and Tom and Milner had met earlier to finalise their plans. He was now addressing the other members of the team. ‘We don’t need any drama with the arrests. We’ll read out the charges, and their rights, and bring them both back here to the station. Although I don’t expect any physical stuff, let’s not take any chances. You never know, so be prepared. Any questions?’

  ‘Are there likely to be any children there?’ asked one of the uniformed officers.

  ‘We don’t think so,’ answered Milner, ‘but, just in case there are, we have child support officers on standby. DCI Stone and I will call them in if required.’

  When it was obvious there were no more questions, Tom nodded. ‘Right, let’s go. Good luck.’

  Not long afterwards, Tom and his team were outside Mrs Burton’s house. The gates were open, allowing them unrestricted access to the property. They’d agreed Tom would bring in Mrs Burton whilst Milner would carry out the arrest at the other address.

  It was just after 8 am when Tom pressed the doorbell, and he had to repeat it a couple of times before the door opened. Mrs Burton was wearing her dressing gown and was clearly shocked when she saw the group of officers standing there.

  ‘Would you mind if we came in, Mrs Burton?’ asked Tom.

  ‘Why? What do you want?’ she replied, still unable to take in what was happening.

  ‘I can tell you when we are inside. It will be much better than doing everything stood here.’

 
Mrs Burton stood back, allowing everyone to enter.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Tom, before following her into the large living area.

  ‘Why are you here?’ she asked, once everyone was in.

  ‘This is a warrant for your arrest,’ answered Tom, holding up a piece of paper.

  ‘My arrest?’ she repeated, before sitting down. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Mrs Burton. We are arresting you for being complicit in the murder of your husband, Glyn Burton.’ He read her her rights, after which he said, ‘If you could please now get dressed and accompany us back to the station, where you will be formally charged.’

  Mrs Burton began to sob, before eventually saying, ‘I knew this would happen. You can’t believe what I’ve been through over the past few weeks. It’s been an absolute nightmare.’

  ‘Are you admitting to being involved in the death of your husband?’ asked Tom, seizing the opportunity just presented.

  ‘Yes,’ she answered, before finally breaking down. Between sobs, she added, ‘But I didn’t mean to kill him. I didn’t know what I was doing.’

  ‘I think it would be better if we continued this conversation back at the station. Why don’t you get dressed? One of my female officers will help you.’

  After Mrs Burton had left the room, Tom turned to one of the other officers. ‘When we have left, get hold of forensics and let them know they can start. Tell them to concentrate, initially, on this room. I know it’s a few weeks now since it happened, but they might still be able to find some evidence.’

  He then walked towards where the photograph frames were, took out his mobile and took a photo of them.

  Whilst this was happening, Milner’s arrest was not going quite so smoothly, as the man had become increasingly aggressive as he began to understand what was happening. In the end, Milner took the decision to handcuff him.

  It wasn’t long after, though, that both people were back at the station and seated in adjoining interview rooms, along with their legal representation.

  Tom had decided it would be best to first interview Mrs Burton as, given her current emotional fragility and earlier admission, they were more likely to make significant progress.

  It was Milner who started the interview. ‘Mrs Burton? Do you know why you are here?’

  She simply nodded.

  ‘Just for the record,’ said Milner, ‘Mrs Burton has indicated that she does know why she’s here.’ He carried on. ‘Mrs Burton? Earlier you indicated to my colleague, DCI Stone, that you were involved in the death of your husband, Glyn. Do you still agree that was the case?’

  ‘Yes,’ she immediately answered, before her legal representative even had the chance to advise her. She caught the look he gave her. ‘I don’t care any more,’ she said, clearly unwilling to take any advice he was about to offer. ‘I just want it to be over.’

  ‘It would help if you could tell us what happened on the day your husband disappeared,’ said Milner.

  By now Mrs Burton was surprisingly composed, almost as though it were a relief she could, at last, tell the truth. ‘Glyn arrived home early from golf. We weren’t expecting him back that soon. It was then it all happened.’

  ‘What exactly did happen?’ asked Milner, in an almost sympathetic tone.

  ‘He caught us together, and that’s when he suddenly attacked Jim.’

  ‘Jim?’ asked Tom, speaking for the first time. ‘Do you mean Jim Mason, the man he used to golf with?’

  ‘Yes,’ she answered.

  Chapter 51

  ‘Why did Mr Mason come to your house?’ asked Milner.

  ‘I’d called Jim the previous night,’ she answered, ‘after Glyn and I had argued, and told him I’d decided to leave my husband. He could hear just how upset I was. He said he’d come round to the house early the following morning. He knew Glyn would be playing golf and got there just after Glyn had left.’

  ‘So, when your husband unexpectedly arrived home early, he found you both together and presumably wanted to know why Mr Mason was there?’

  ‘Yes,’ she simply replied. ‘It was then I told Glyn about Jim and myself and that I was leaving him. He completely flipped and went for Jim.’

  ‘What happened then?’

  ‘Glyn had pushed him to the floor and was hitting him. Although Jim tried to hold him back, he was not able to force him away completely. I thought Glyn was going to kill Jim. That’s when I hit him. I just wanted to get him away from Jim. I didn’t mean to kill him.’ She began to cry as the memory of that fateful day came back to her.

  Tom stood and went to pour a glass of water from the cooler before placing it in front of her. ‘Please take your time,’ he said.

  They waited patiently until she had, once again, stopped crying, before gently resuming their questioning.

  ‘If it’s any consolation, I’m certain you didn’t mean to kill your husband,’ said Tom. ‘Did you hit him with the frame that had the photograph of your son in it?’

  ‘Yes,’ she answered. ‘How did you know that?’

  ‘Well, the first time I came to your house, I noticed there was only one photograph of either of your children. That was the one of your daughter. It was in a very distinctive frame. I thought it a bit strange, especially when I heard you speak so movingly about them, that you would only be displaying one of them, not both. But it was when we found a small, broken piece of the same type of frame in the boot of your husband’s car that my suspicions were confirmed. We found a slight trace of your husband’s DNA on it, suggesting it was what had killed him. And then finally, when I came to visit you at a later date, I couldn’t help but notice you had replaced it with the very same type of frame.’

  Mrs Burton remained silent for a while, before finally speaking again. ‘It was the first thing that I could grab. It was only when we saw the blood we realised just how serious it was.’ Once again she began to sob. ‘Oh my God. I can’t believe that I’m even talking about this. It’s a nightmare.’

  ‘Would you like to take a break?’ asked Tom.

  When she just shook her head, Tom carried on, gently trying to prise out the full story from her. ‘Do you mind if I ask how long you have been in a relationship with Mr Mason?’

  ‘You make it sound so sordid,’ she immediately answered.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Tom, ‘I didn’t mean it to sound that way. I’m just interested to understand everything, that’s all.’

  ‘I knew, of course, Glyn was seeing other women. To begin with, though, I just seemed to close my eyes to what was going on, reassuring myself that, whatever he was doing, it was not serious and that he would never leave me. After all, he always came back home. But it was his affair with Mike Preston’s wife that changed everything. I knew Amy. Well, I’d met her a few times at golf club functions. Funnily enough, she was one of the few people there who I did get on with. That’s why I refused to go to any more of them. I felt humiliated, with everyone at the club knowing what had been going on, and I didn’t want people to start feeling sorry for me.’

  ‘So you knew your husband and Mike Preston had been involved in a fight in the club car park?’

  ‘Eventually, yes. It was Jim who mentioned it to me.’ She paused briefly and then continued. ‘And, to answer your previous question, it was just after that we began to realise we had feelings for each other. One morning, we bumped into one another in a supermarket. To be honest, it was a bit difficult at first, because Jim and Mike had been friends for a long time, and I’m sure Jim didn’t know where his sympathies lay, with him or me. We finished up having a coffee together and, well, suddenly found ourselves meeting quite regularly for a coffee. It was a short time afterwards that things became more serious.’

  Once again, she paused momentarily before continuing, this time with genuine defiance. ‘I do not feel guilty about what I did. Jim was no longer married, and I had, by then, passed the point of trying to save my marriage. The children were now old enough to understand that there were pr
oblems with our marriage. I just wanted some happiness and to be able to share my life with someone who loved me.’

  ‘Why didn’t you call for an ambulance, or the police? It sounds as though what happened to your husband, at least partly, could be explained as being in self-defence. Why, then, did you decide to try and cover up his death?’ Tom asked. ‘Was it Mr Mason’s idea?’

  For the first time during the interview, Mrs Burton displayed some anger, rather than the contrition that had characterised her statements thus far. ‘I know what you are trying to do. You want me to say that it was all Jim’s fault. But it wasn’t and I’m not going to do that. Whatever was agreed was done together.’

  As he heard this, Tom couldn’t help but feel real sympathy for her. Even in the depths of this ultimate nightmare situation, she was still unwilling to blame someone else exclusively for what happened.

  The irony of the situation suddenly struck Tom. On the very day that Glyn Burton was planning to leave his wife, for Caroline Mercer, his wife was planning to leave him for Jim Mason. If the weather had been kinder that particular day, and Mr Burton had not returned home early, then their complicated personal relationship difficulties might have been resolved. And two people would still be alive.

  ‘So, instead, why don’t you tell us what you did next?’ asked Milner.

  So that was exactly what she did.

  Chapter 52

  After their session with Mrs Burton, they took a short break, rather than going straight on to interview Jim Mason.

  ‘I just can’t believe Gary died as a result of all of that,’ said Milner, as they sat in Tom’s office, each of them holding a drink. ‘It just seems so unfair.’ His emotions were quite obvious.

  ‘I agree,’ answered Tom, ‘but life, especially when you are investigating crime, is full of unfairness. At least, finally, Mrs Burton was honest with us.’

  ‘It’s just a pity she wasn’t honest with us some time ago. If she had been, Gary would still be alive now.’