Shot of Silence (Justice Again Book 3)

by M A Comley

  “Don’t worry. We’ll catch whoever is responsible for the crimes.”

  “It’s him. James! Why can’t you see that?”

  “Yes, he’s our main suspect. All the evidence we’ve gathered so far is leading us to believe it’s him, but there could be something far more sinister afoot here. It could be possible that someone is setting him up, have you thought about that?”

  “I don’t believe it. Just get out there and find him. I need justice for Rufus, my darling Rufus.”

  “And you’ll get it. I promise you will.”

  6

  He watched from behind a neighbour’s hedge. An alley ran up the side of the house, he could use that to escape if someone spotted him, but they wouldn’t. He was better than that. Well-practised at the art of deceit—he’d had to be over the years.

  Fear struck his heart. He’d heard the ambulance arrive and he’d thought Rufus had survived. He should have known that wasn’t the case, not with the pathologist and SOCO at the scene. Why had they run into the house? He’d been tempted to move closer for a better look but decided it would be far wiser for him to remain where he was, peering through the hole he’d made in the hedge to create a perfect viewing slot.

  When the stretcher emerged, carrying his beloved Camilla, he almost blew his cover. What was wrong with her? She looked dreadful, pale and gaunt. Had she been eating well? He’d always ensured she ate plenty when she was at home with him.

  We did good, two birds with one stone!

  “What are you talking about?”

  We killed him and nearly got rid of her as well. You should be pleased. She left you, dimwit, or are you forgetting that?

  “No, no, how could I ever forget that? You’re to blame, you did this. There was no ‘we’ about it.”

  Bollocks! It was your finger on the trigger. You’re the guilty party. I just goaded you into making the move. Gave you the balls needed to retaliate, that’s all. You need to grow a pair of your own, man. The sooner the better. Our job has only just begun.

  “I’m not sure I want to continue. All this is your doing, not mine. You forced me into this. I was quite happy plodding along. Yes, I’d lost my soul mate, but I would’ve survived eventually.”

  Yeah, yeah, of course you would! You said that after she died. And yet you let that fuckwit treat you like shit in your formative years.

  “Leave them out of it. I’m over that. Past it. I don’t want to revisit what went on back then. I can’t do anything about that. It’s the future I need to consider now, not live in the vile past. He moulded me. I regard myself as a decent person.”

  Don’t be so absurd. You, decent? After the murders you’ve committed in the last few days.

  Laughter rang out in his head.

  “You’re guilty of that. Not me. I had nothing to do with those murders.”

  Hogwash, you don’t know what you’re bloody saying half the time. That bastard beat every ounce of common sense out of you at such a young age.

  “He made me stronger, more resilient. I was coping just fine until you popped up. Your nagging and vitriol are relentless. I wish you’d do one and bugger off. Leave me to live my life in peace. Now that Rufus is no longer around, I know she’ll come running back to be in my arms again.”

  Ha! And you think I’m the delusional one. Get a grip, man! She ain’t coming back, and who could blame her?

  “Shut up, just shut the fuck up. She will, I have every faith in our love. She’ll soon come to realise I’m the only man who ever treated her right.”

  Are you for real? She’s on her way to hospital after trying to kill herself because you just killed her one true love. I can’t make it any clearer for you, and you’re still not grasping it, are you?

  “Shut up. She’s mine. She’ll be back in my bed soon enough, now he’s no longer around to tempt her away from me.”

  Whatever! It’s your call at the end of the day. Are we going to stick around here for long?

  “Why the rush? It’s not like you have anything planned.”

  That shut the bastard up. During his internal conversation, his attention had remained on the female detective who appeared to be in charge of the investigation, and he wondered if she had it in her to figure it all out and to capture him.

  Only time would tell.

  He watched until the ambulance drove past, taking the love of his life with it.

  7

  “Right, we’ve got a new lead to follow up on finally, peeps,” Katy began after she’d called the team together back in the incident room. “We need to find out all there is to know about James Boyd. There’s a possibility he’s our killer, according to his estranged wife, who also happens to be this victim’s fiancée.” She pointed at the third victim; she brought the whiteboard up to date as she slotted the pieces together.

  “Want me to make a start while you continue, boss?” Karen asked.

  “If you would. Our suspect works at Zedex, according to his soon to be ex-wife. We need to find out the facts. At present he appears to be the only possible link between the victims. Unfortunately, Camilla is currently in hospital after attempting to take her own life. If Charlie, Patti and I hadn’t been there…well, I doubt if she’d still be with us. Distressing when a loved one is gunned down because of your involvement with the killer. I fear that’s what was behind her trying to end her life. I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes. I promised her we’d find him, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. No matter what costs are involved. He’s up in the realms of serial killer already, and that after what, a total of thirty-six hours? Let’s get this shithead caught, and swiftly, guys.”

  A loud roar went up in response, and a couple of the men thundered their hands on their desks.

  “All right, calm down. Let’s make every second count on this one. Each of you knows what you have to do. I know you won’t let me down.”

  “Are we going to go see James?” Charlie called over from the vending machine.

  “I’m undecided on that one. I’m going to see the chief, see what he thinks we should do. You might as well all know, there’s a letter sitting on my desk, telling me that funding is tight and warning about wasting money unnecessarily. I need to get clarification from the boss what that means exactly. I’ll be back soon. Crack on in the meantime.”

  Katy left the incident room and marched up the long hallway to DCI Roberts’ office.

  “Hello, Inspector. Is he expecting you?” Trisha asked. “Ouch! That looks nasty.”

  “It is. I’m fine, though. I was hoping you could squeeze me in. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it was important.”

  “Leave it with me, I’ll have a word in his shell-like.”

  Trisha knocked on the chief’s door. He bellowed in response, and she disappeared inside. She emerged a few seconds later and held the door open for Katy to enter.

  “He can spare you five minutes, just enough time for a nice cup of coffee, eh?”

  “Don’t bother, she won’t have the time to drink it,” Roberts shouted before Katy could even open her mouth.

  She rolled her eyes at Trisha. “Thanks for the offer anyway.”

  Trisha smiled awkwardly and closed the door behind Katy.

  She tentatively took a few steps closer to Roberts’ desk. “I can come back later if you can’t spare the time right now. It’s no biggie.”

  “Sit down, Inspector. What do you want to bend my ear about this time?” He looked up, and his eyes widened. “Where the fuck did you get that?”

  “I’m fine. A confrontation with the killer, that’s all. Getting back to what you said, bend your ear? Not sure I’ve ever done that. Right, first of all, I want to get clarification on the new budget slashes. Does that include me and my team?”

  “Of course it does, why shouldn’t it?”

  “Because it takes a lot of time to solve murders, and I’m getting the impression that someone is directly having a go at me.”

  “Stop with the woe is me, I us
ed to get enough of that with your predecessor. You shouldn’t take things to heart. We’re all in the same boat. We’ve just got to deal with it and make the most of the funds we have at our disposal.”

  “Okay. Can I also say that I don’t appreciate being compared to my predecessor? I’m not saying I had anything against Lorne, you know that. But stop flinging it at me every time I raise a subject or do something which isn’t to your liking.”

  He sat back and steepled his fingers, a smirk pulling at his lips. “Okay, guilty as charged. I wondered how long it would take you to have the balls to shoot me down.”

  “What? You were bloody testing me?” She rubbed at her forehead, consciously avoiding the bruise.

  “I do that occasionally. Now, what can I help you with? What’s going on with the investigation? And how come you let the killer slip through your fingers?”

  Katy groaned and then disclosed everything they had up until now, delivering it without taking a breath.

  “I see. I take it you’re going to arrest this James Boyd then?”

  “Should we? Or should we keep him under surveillance for a few days?”

  “Why the dilemma and if he’s killed so quickly already, who’s to say he won’t continue his spree today?”

  “Because all we have is hearsay that it could be him. Yes, there are several motives, but you know what CPS is like, if there is no DNA or evidence to back up the claims, we’re thigh high in shit.”

  He nodded. “I get that. Didn’t you get a look at him when he knocked seven bells out of you?”

  “No. He was wearing a mask.”

  “Unfortunate. Okay, then I agree with you, put the man under surveillance for the next two days.”

  Katy chewed her lip.

  “What’s wrong now?”

  “We have to locate the bugger first. My guess is that he’ll go on the run.”

  Roberts expelled a frustrated sigh. “Who’s toying with whom here?”

  Katy sniggered. “Two people can play your game, sir. No, in all honesty, it’s true, we’ve yet to locate him. His estranged wife tried to commit suicide before I could ask if she knew where he could be now.”

  “Is she all right? Do you think she’ll try it again?”

  “Who knows? It depends on her mental state. My take is that she might—her self-worth is at a possible all-time low at present.”

  “In that case, she’s in the best place for her.”

  “She can’t stay in hospital indefinitely, though, and when she comes out that responsibility is down to me. I’ve arranged to put her in a safe house, but she’ll be alone at the residence, who’s to say she won’t try it again the minute she’s left alone?”

  “I hear you. Maybe if she feels bad enough, she’ll reconsider trying to take her life a second time.”

  “I hope so. We’ll deal with that should it crop up in the future. You’re telling me if we track this bastard down that I can throw some funds at the investigation?”

  “Yes, within reason.”

  “I have to justify my decisions, in other words.”

  “Yes, we all do. Stop taking this as a personal slight against you and your team. The directive went out to every high-ranking officer in the force from inspectors upwards.”

  “That’s reassuring. It doesn’t alter things, though. There’s a serial killer on the loose around here, and instead of giving the case my full and undivided attention, I have to pause and think whether the expenditure that accompanies an investigation of this magnitude is justified or not. Makes you wonder how Head Office expect us to solve any crimes at all, doesn’t it? What a deplorable position to be in.”

  “Hey, I’m with you all the way with that perspective. It is what it is, and we need to adapt or…”

  “Or?”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. On that note, I need to crack on. Just be cautious, I’d go as far as telling you to be restrained in your approach on this case.”

  “Restrained? As in, every facet of the investigation or only the financial side of things?” Katy asked. She could tell Sean had picked up on the sarcasm laced throughout the question from the narrowing of his eyes.

  “Be very careful, DI Foster.”

  Katy placed an innocent hand on her chest. “Oh, don’t worry, I will.” She rose from her chair, walked towards the door, yanked it open and threw over her shoulder, “And the concussion is passable today, but I’ll plod on. Ever the professional, sir.”

  His mouth dropped open and tried to close a few times, but some kind of force appeared to be preventing it.

  Katy didn’t hang around to hear the sharp-tongued retort she sensed would be coming her way once he’d had the chance to recover.

  “Everything all right?” Trisha whispered conspiratorially.

  “Yep. It is now.” Katy giggled and left the outer office.

  Back in the incident room, she announced, “Listen up, folks, we’ve got the initial go-ahead to start surveillance, but it has an added warning not to be wasteful of the funds in place.”

  The team all groaned.

  Patrick threw his pen across the desk. “How do they expect us to do our jobs properly working under the current restrictions, boss?”

  “I asked the same thing and have no doubt that, in the past, numerous inspectors before me have done the same. I’m not happy about it but, let’s do the best we can under the restrictions.”

  “Is it always like this?” Charlie asked.

  “More often than not. We’re just like any other business out there, Charlie. Head Office has a balance sheet they need to tally up at the end of each financial year. We must be nearing the end of ours, hence the restrictive measures in place.”

  “Oh, I see. Do you think you should make a public announcement, pleading with the criminals in the area to give us a break for a few months until the new financial year kicks in then?”

  Katy smiled. “Can you imagine the uproar that would bring? You’ll get used to it. We’ve coped before and we’ll cope again. I’ve always tried to keep the overtime down to a minimum, the chief knows that. But I had fun reminding him what a crack team we are and pointing out our stunning achievements along the way. The trouble is, it’s not him we should be worried about. He’s behind us all the way, I don’t want you guys to think otherwise.”

  Applause sounded from the doorway, and Katy swivelled on her heel, the motion almost sending her off balance.

  “I couldn’t have put it better myself, Inspector,” Roberts shouted, his gaze boring into hers.

  “Sorry, sir, I didn’t see you there.”

  “That much is evident. Glad you weren’t too over the top in your damning assessment, Inspector.”

  She recapped her recent words, trying to think if she’d called him any vile names or spoken unkindly about him. She hadn’t. Katy breathed out a sigh. “I was simply relaying the message you gave me, sir. I’d rather make that point clear first before we truly sink our teeth into this investigation.”

  Roberts entered the room and approached the whiteboard. He scanned the information and then turned to face the team who were all staring at him anxiously. “No need to look so nervous, guys. I know we’re asking a lot of you, and some of you will need to adapt the way you do things, but it’s the way it has to be. Either that, or we’ll be forced to make drastic cutbacks, so you tell me which is the lesser of the two evils.”

  “We get that, sir. We’re intelligent individuals, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. It doesn’t mean we have to like working under a microscope, though,” Katy batted back.

  “I’m not asking you to. All I said was be mindful of how you spend the budget. Now, run me through what you’ve got. Let’s try and figure out whether there are alternative measures we can put in place that will make all our lives a lot easier to cope with.”

  “We’re going to carry out the background checks on James Boyd. We’ve got his address. All we need now is to find out what he’s been up to lately. We’ve also
got a partial plate on a blue Honda we can be looking into.”

  “I’ll do that, boss,” Patrick volunteered.

  “Thanks. Steven, will you stick with the CCTV and ANPRs around the area of today’s murder?”

  “I will.”

  “What about evidence found at the earlier scenes?” Roberts asked.

  “I’ll be chasing up Forensics later today. I think it’s way too early for them to have anything for us just yet.”

  “Try. That’s all we can do. How sure are you that James Boyd is our man?”

  “Joining the dots, he has to be, although in the eyes of the CPS we haven’t got enough to nail him. I’m aiming to change that status during the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, providing we can track the man down. Why?”

  Roberts appeared thoughtful for a second or two. “I was wondering if it might be worth running a press conference.”

  “Outing him? Before we’ve got anything else in place? Is that wise?”

  Roberts shrugged. “It would be a means to an end.”

  “Personally, I think it would have a negative effect without gathering the background information for him first.”

  “Explain why,” Roberts challenged her.

  “Let’s face it, although we have his address, I doubt he’ll be there, and if he’s not there we need to uncover other possible addresses where he’s likely to be hiding. As for his alternative employment, we’ve yet to establish that. Until we obtain the basics, our hands are tied.”

  “In that case, I suggest you get on with things.” Roberts smiled and marched out of the room.

  Katy shook her head in his wake. “Logical, right?” She rolled her eyes and motioned for the team to crack on with their tasks. “I’ll be in my office, eagerly anticipating your findings, guys.” She stepped into her office and rang Forensics. She knew what the answer would be long before the phone connected.

  “Sorry, nothing yet. We’ve got teams attending several crimes today.”

  “What you’re telling me is that you’re stretched too thinly as usual,” Katy muttered, her disappointment clearly showing.