Deadly Revenge

by Leigh Russell

  Geraldine waited for Anne to finish before speaking. ‘Anne, you can’t keep this up. We know Jessica killed Jason –’

  ‘It was Ella. It was Ella.’

  ‘You know that’s not true,’ Geraldine said, hoping to persuade Anne to confess.

  ‘Then it was me, it wasn’t Jessica, it was me, and I’d do it again.’

  ‘My client is clearly distressed by this line of questioning,’ the lawyer cut in urgently. ‘We need to take a break.’

  ‘She’s distressed because she knows her daughter is guilty,’ Ian muttered. ‘She’s grasping at straws, blaming everyone she can think of to protect her daughter.’

  ‘This is not the place to cast judgement –’ the lawyer began. He glanced at Anne. ‘I need to speak to my client.’

  ‘You can’t be serious about needing a break already. We’ve hardly begun,’ Ian protested.

  With the lawyer insisting on speaking to his client, Ian turned off the tape and he and Geraldine waited impatiently to resume their interrogation. Ian suggested they go along to the canteen during the break. As soon as they left the interview room, a constable brought them a message that they were to go to the briefing room where Eileen was about to address the team.

  ‘That’s all we need, a pep talk,’ Geraldine muttered as they entered the room.

  She struggled to focus on what Eileen was saying, especially as it quickly became apparent that there was nothing new to hear. Impatiently, she waited to return to the interview with Anne.

  55

  Geraldine entered the interview room ahead of Ian who gave her a quick nod as he took his seat, and a moment later Anne returned, accompanied by her lawyer.

  ‘Tell us exactly how you killed Jason,’ Ian began, when they had all taken their places and the tape was running again. ‘Take us through it, step by step. You must have caught him off guard, because he could easily have overpowered you. So, tell us how you managed it.’

  Anne shook her head. ‘I – I can’t – I can’t remember –’ she stammered.

  ‘Do you seriously expect us to believe you can’t remember how you killed your son-in-law?’ Ian repeated in scathing tones. ‘The truth is you have no idea how he was murdered, because you weren’t there. You didn’t kill him.’

  Anne shook her head, and glanced sideways at her lawyer who gave her a warning frown.

  ‘My client has no further comment to make,’ he responded.

  ‘Tell us what happened on the night David died,’ Geraldine said gently.

  Once again Anne shook her head, and Geraldine repeated her question.

  ‘My client has made a statement about her movements on that night. She has nothing further to add to what she has already told you,’ the lawyer answered for her.

  Anne folded her arms and pressed her lips together, looking at her lawyer. He gave an almost imperceptible nod. Clearly he had instructed her to say nothing.

  ‘My client has no further comment to make. She has already answered all of your questions.’

  The lawyer stirred and gathered his papers, as though he was about to rise to his feet, indicating that the interview was over.

  ‘She may have answered all of our questions so far,’ Geraldine replied quietly, emphasising the last two words. ‘But you are wrong to suppose she has answered all of our questions. You appear to think we have finished. We haven’t.’ She turned back to Anne. ‘We have examined CCTV footage from your street, from your neighbour’s and your own house and established that no one came to your house on the night of your husband’s death, after he returned home on Tuesday evening, a few hours before he was killed.’

  Anne nodded but she looked worried.

  ‘Has the cause of his death been proven to be unlawful?’ the lawyer demanded.

  ‘Your husband was drugged before he was killed,’ Geraldine went on, ignoring the interruption.

  ‘David suffered from headaches so he took painkillers. He must have swallowed too many of them, and then he started drinking. I poured him a whisky, it’s true, but I wasn’t to know he had taken so many pills. His death was an accident. I’m sure he never intended to take an overdose.’

  ‘You just accused Ella of murdering him,’ Ian pointed out quietly.

  ‘I was upset,’ Anne muttered.

  She flung a desperate glance at her lawyer who frowned at her, warning her to remain silent.

  ‘That’s a very serious accusation to make, even if you were upset,’ Geraldine replied. ‘I can’t help wondering why you would accuse someone of murdering your husband, if you genuinely believe his death was accidental.’

  Anne didn’t answer.

  ‘Post mortem injuries indicate that David was not yet dead when someone suffocated him,’ Geraldine said. ‘Whoever did that was determined to ensure he would never recover from his blackout.’

  Anne had turned pale.

  ‘I need to speak to my client,’ the lawyer said.

  ‘Did you have a towel in your hand when you went outside and found him unconscious on the drive?’ Geraldine pressed on. ‘It was dark. You knew your security lights were not working and no one could see you.’

  Still Anne declined to answer.

  ‘Someone pressed a towel over his mouth and nose, while he lay there dying, and murdered him.’

  ‘I really need to speak to my client –’ the lawyer intervened urgently.

  This time it was Anne who ignored him, her words bursting out in a rush.

  ‘All right, all right, I did it. It was me. But I never meant to do it. I saw him lying there, and I don’t know what came over me. It was just a sudden impulse. I –’

  She broke off and gazed around, looking stunned.

  The lawyer began to protest, but Ian held up a hand and glared at him as, haltingly, Anne confessed. David had revealed to her that their daughter was responsible for her husband’s death.

  ‘You mean Jessica told David she murdered Jason?’ Ian asked.

  ‘No, no, Jessica never said that. No, it was her friend, that poisonous snake. She told David what Jessica had done. But it’s a lie. It’s all lies. It was Ella. She did it and then tried to blame Jessica, and David believed her. He believed her, you see.’

  ‘And that’s why you killed David?’

  ‘I had to, don’t you see? He was threatening to go to the police. I couldn’t let him do that. Jessica’s our daughter. I had to protect her. David kept threatening to go to the police.’ She was crying now, stammering out the words between her sobs. ‘Poor Jessica. She was terrified that vicious brute was going to turn on the baby. She did what any mother would have done, and killed that man to protect her baby.’

  ‘So now you’re telling us Jessica killed her husband?’ Ian said.

  ‘And that’s what any mother would have done?’ Geraldine repeated softly.

  ‘Exactly. You understand, don’t you?’ Anne turned to Geraldine in a desperate appeal. ‘Jessica never admitted that fiend was abusing her, but I could tell. A mother always can. One punch from that vicious brute’s fist would have crushed little Daisy’s skull. Jessica had to stop him. He got what he deserved. You have to understand now why we can’t let Jessica go to prison for what she did. That can’t happen, not to my daughter.’

  ‘So you killed David to silence him about your daughter having murdered her husband,’ Geraldine said slowly. ‘Instead of leaving Jason, reporting him to the police, taking out an injunction against him, having him stand trial for what he had done to her, she decided to take the law into her own hands by murdering him.’

  Anne was silent.

  ‘You admit you were aware that your daughter had committed murder?’ Ian said.

  ‘No, no, it wasn’t like that,’ Anne replied. ‘You make it sound so much worse than it actually was. You have to understand that Jessica was provoked beyond endurance. That’
s mitigating circumstances, isn’t it? They can’t call it murder, can they?’

  Her lawyer confirmed that Jessica could plead diminished responsibility on the grounds of sustained physical abuse.

  ‘Yes, that’s exactly what it was,’ Anne replied. ‘Only David didn’t seem to understand. All he could say was that we couldn’t ignore the fact that Jessica had killed her husband. I begged him to keep quiet about it. Who was it going to harm? But he just looked grim and said he would have to think about it, before he decided what to do. “We’re talking about murder” he kept saying, over and over. He said she needed professional help, and then he said he might go to the police, he hadn’t made up his mind yet. I couldn’t take that risk, not with Jessica’s freedom. She has a baby to care for.’

  ‘And so you killed him,’ Geraldine said.

  ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ Anne cried out wildly, speaking in staccato bursts between sobs. ‘That was me. I had no choice. He wouldn’t listen to reason. She’s my daughter. He was going to betray her. He wanted to tell the police – I couldn’t let him –’

  Anne dropped her head into her hands and wept without restraint. At her side, her lawyer stirred.

  ‘I need some time alone with my client,’ he said, his shoulders slumped in resignation.

  ‘Take all the time you want,’ Ian replied, switching off the tape. ‘She’s not going anywhere.’

  56

  The celebratory drink in the pub that evening was subdued. Two killers had been caught and were now behind bars, but as a result of those murders a baby had been taken into care. When she was older, Daisy might learn her family history, and live with the knowledge that both her mother and her maternal grandmother had murdered their husbands. She would never know who her father was. But for now, the team had gathered to celebrate the successful conclusion of the investigation.

  ‘Well done, everyone,’ Eileen said, raising her glass. ‘That was a tough case.’

  ‘And a particularly nasty one,’ a constable added.

  There was a murmur of agreement, while glasses were raised and clinked. Eileen was smiling, more with relief than pleasure, and most of the officers were talking at once.

  ‘A mother and a daughter both killing their husbands has to be more than coincidence,’ a constable said. ‘There must be something in their genes.’

  ‘Plus they both committed the murders for the exact same reason, to protect their own daughters,’ another officer said.

  While her colleagues discussed whether the case provided evidence that the ability to kill was hereditary, or if the similarity between the murders was coincidence, Geraldine remained silent, thinking about everything that had happened during the investigation.

  ‘So you were right,’ Ian said to her when they arrived home. ‘What a family.’

  ‘That poor baby,’ Geraldine replied.

  ‘Well, at least she won’t be raised by a murderer. We now have two killers behind bars,’ Ian said. ‘Admittedly it’s unlikely they were ever going to kill anyone else, but who knows? If either of them had seen someone else as a threat to them, they might have done it again. Once a killer…’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘Just that people don’t change.’

  ‘Do you really believe that?’

  Ian looked at her in surprise. ‘Don’t you?’

  She shook her head. ‘I don’t know. To be honest, I’ve had enough of heavy conversations for one night. Can’t we just pretend to be ordinary people with ordinary jobs who don’t spend their time studying cadavers and crime scenes and interviewing the most horrifying people in town?’

  Ian grinned. ‘Sure. I’ll be a construction worker. What do you want to be?’

  Geraldine smiled. ‘A hotel receptionist.’

  ‘Dealing with all the guests’ complaints?’

  ‘No. OK then, a flower seller.’

  ‘But your flowers wouldn’t last long, so you’d be under pressure to sell them quickly.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know, what job do you think would be the least stressful in the world?’

  Ian frowned. ‘Someone who sprays perfume on women’s wrists so they can sample it? That has to be pretty safe, doesn’t it?’

  Geraldine laughed. ‘But what if no one wanted to buy my perfume?’

  ‘Then I’d come along and buy the whole shopful of perfume from you.’

  ‘And what would you do with all that perfume?’

  ‘Give it to you of course.’

  They both laughed.

  ‘Tell me,’ Ian said, ‘how did you used to unwind after an investigation, before I moved in with you?’

  ‘Well, I’d pour myself a glass of wine, put my feet up, and watch something on the telly, or put on some music and read, anything relaxing to take my mind off the case.’

  Ian smiled and put his arms around her. ‘I can think of something to take your mind off the case,’ he said, and he leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips.

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank Dr Leonard Russell for his medical expertise.

  My thanks go to Ion Mills, Claire Watts, Clare Quinlivan, and all the wonderful team at No Exit Press for their continued support over the years that Geraldine Steel has been conducting her investigations. It is a joy and a privilege to work with such professional and kindhearted people.

  I would also like to thank my superb editor, Keshini Naidoo, for her brilliant insights, and my copy editor Jayne Lewis for her infallible attention to detail.

  I look forward to working with the team again on Geraldine’s future investigations!

  Also by Leigh Russell

  Geraldine Steel Mysteries

  Cut Short

  Road Closed

  Dead End

  Death Bed

  Stop Dead

  Fatal Act

  Killer Plan

  Murder Ring

  Deadly Alibi

  Class Murder

  Death Rope

  Rogue Killer

  Deathly Affair

  Ian Peterson Murder Investigations

  Cold Sacrifice

  Race to Death

  Blood Axe

  Lucy Hall Mysteries

  Journey to Death

  Girl in Danger

  The Wrong Suspect

  A Letter from Leigh

  I hope you enjoyed reading this book in my Geraldine Steel series. Readers are the key to the writing process, so I’m thrilled that you’ve joined me on my writing journey.

  You might not want to meet some of my characters on a dark night – I know I wouldn’t! – but hopefully you want to read about Geraldine’s other investigations. Her work is always her priority because she cares deeply about justice, but she also has her own life. Many readers care about what happens to her. I hope you join them, and become a fan of Geraldine Steel, and her colleague Ian Peterson.

  If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll know that I love to hear from readers. I always respond to comments from fans, and hope you will follow me on @LeighRussell and www.facebook.com/leigh.russell.50 or drop me an email via my website www.leighrussell.co.uk.

  That way you can be sure to get news of the latest offers on my books. You might also like to sign up for my newsletter on www.leighrussell.co.uk/news to make sure you’re one of the first to know when a new book is coming out. We’ll be running competitions, and I’ll also notify you of any events where I’ll be appearing.

  Finally, if you enjoyed this story, I’d be really grateful if you would post a brief review on Amazon or Goodreads. A few sentences to say you enjoyed the book would be wonderful. And of course it would be brilliant if you would consider recommending my books to anyone who is a fan of crime fiction.

  I hope to meet you at a literary festival or a book signing soon!

>   Thank you again for choosing to read my book.

  With very best wishes,

  Leigh

  noexit.co.uk/leighrussell

  About the author

  Leigh Russell is the author of the Ian Peterson series (Cold Sacrifice, Race to Death and Blood Axe) and the internationally bestselling Geraldine Steel series: Cut Short, Road Closed, Dead End, Death Bed, Stop Dead, Fatal Act, Killer Plan, Murder Ring, Deadly Alibi, Class Murder, Death Rope, Rogue Killer and Deathly Affair. The series has sold over a million copies worldwide. Cut Short was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association (CWA), John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award, and Leigh has been longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award. Her books have been #1 on Amazon Kindle and iTunes with Stop Dead and Murder Ring selected as finalists for The People’s Book Prize. Leigh is chair of the CWA’s Debut Dagger Award judging panel and is a Royal Literary Fellow. Leigh studied at the University of Kent, gaining a Masters degree in English and American Literature. She is married with two daughters and a granddaughter, and lives in London.

  Copyright

  This ebook edition first published in 2020

  by No Exit Press

  an imprint of Oldcastle Books

  Harpenden, UK

  noexit.co.uk

  @noexitpress

  All rights reserved

  © Leigh Russell 2020

  The right of Leigh Russell to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.