by M A Comley
“About what?” Amy asked.
“Yeah, about what?” Gemma repeated.
“Can you tell us if your husband has mentioned someone possibly following him lately?”
“No, he never mentioned anything like that. Had he mentioned it, I would’ve told him to get in touch with the police. Are you telling us you believe someone was possibly stalking him?”
“Maybe. It’s not something we’re willing to rule out yet. A nugget of information that has come to our attention this week is that all victims are linked.”
“Linked how?” Gemma was quick to jump in.
“We believe they all knew each other. We have suspicions that something possibly happened in their past that has come back to haunt them now. Can you think of anything in your husband’s past that could be the catalyst to all this?”
Amy tucked the end of the towel back around her neck to secure it in place. “No, I can’t think of anything. Maybe if you told me who the other victims are that would jog my memory.”
Gemma glared at Katy and demanded, “Are you saying our dad was guilty of being part of something illegal?”
“I’m not saying anything of the sort, Gemma. The other victims are Bruce Crawford, Dale Peters and Robin Hewitt. Do any of those names ring a bell with you, Amy?”
Her daughters studied their mother as she thought.
Amy ran a shaking hand over her face. “Yes,” she whispered.
Katy’s ears pricked up. “Really, which one?”
“All of them.” Her voice lowered still so her words were difficult to hear.
“Mum, what are you saying? You know why Dad has been murdered?” Gemma asked.
“Possibly.” Amy’s gaze rose to meet Katy’s.
“Would you rather tell me in private, without your daughters being present?”
“No. I’ll need their support. One name stuck out for me.”
“Who was that?”
“Bruce Crawford. He was a horrible man.” She shuddered and paused to take a breath, then continued, “I don’t know what happened, not truly, but something went on at his house years ago that had a truly devastating effect on Ellis.”
Charlie whipped out her notebook and pen.
“Go on, please, anything you can tell us I feel sure will help capture this killer. Can you remember anything at all? Were you and Ellis married then?”
“Oh yes, we’ve been married since our teens. We met at school when we were thirteen. I know a lot of people say this, but Ellis truly was my soul mate. We had our children a few years after our life together began in earnest.”
“How did he know Bruce?”
“I’ll stand corrected if I’m wrong, but I think they met at the pub one night. There was a group of them. And yes, the other men you mentioned formed part of this group.”
“Group or gang?” Katy needed to clarify.
“Not a gang, nothing as sinister as that, my Ellis would never have belonged to one of those. They were older by then, in their twenties when they started hanging around with each other. I suppose I’m partially to blame for that.”
“You were? In what way?”
“Ellis was finding being a father of two young girls a little traumatic. He worked extremely long hours back then as a trainee manager, and to come home to these two, who always appeared to be bickering ten to twelve hours a day, took its toll on our relationship. I told him to get out and have some fun. I would’ve rather he did that than the alternative.”
“Which would have been a separation or a divorce,” Katy filled in the blanks.
“Yes. I knew deep down he loved me, he just needed the freedom to consider how much he loved, and appreciated, his family, if that makes sense? I wasn’t one of these clingy wives. I trusted him implicitly, he’d never given me any reason not to.”
“So what, these men would meet up regularly, is that right?”
“Yes, at the Dragon’s Head around the corner from Bruce’s home. Now and then they would have a drinking session at his house. Ellis said he didn’t really like that much, he preferred it at the pub.”
“Did he give a hint as to why?”
“Not really. Maybe he felt that it put too much pressure on Bruce’s wife. If they chose to go there, she was expected to feed the men.”
“I see. Go on.” Katy sensed the woman was hesitating slightly and that what she was about to reveal could blow the case wide open. “Before you do, we’ve spoken to Adele Peters, the former wife of Dale. She intimated that something happened while the men were all together one night and their friendship appeared to end overnight. Is that your recollection of what went on?”
Amy licked her lips, and her head bounced in a nod. “Yes. I’m trying to recall the day it happened.”
Katy tilted her head. “It? As in, the men falling out, or are you telling me you know what the falling out was about?”
“Please, give me time to work through this.”
“Work through it? Mrs Bird, if you know what went on back then you need to tell us. It could prove significant to our investigation.”
“Don’t force the issue, I’m trying to get my mind around things.”
Katy had a suspicion that the woman was going to come up with a cock-and-bull story that could have them jumping through hoops for days. What are these men guilty of? And why is she willing to keep that secret from me? “Would you rather take this down the station?” Katy snapped, she couldn’t help it.
“Fuck off,” Gemma said, leaping out of her seat again.
Her mother tugged on her arm, forcing her back down. “Don’t do this. The inspector has a right to ask these questions. It’s about time the truth came out.”
“And what would that truth be, Amy? I can’t tell you how important it is for you to divulge what you know in order for us to catch this killer.”
“Do you seriously believe this has something to do with why my husband was killed?”
Katy shrugged. “Unless you tell us what you know, we have no way of knowing if that’s true or not.”
Amy dipped her head and placed her hands on her temples. “I should have said something years ago. I told Ellis to go to the police, but he refused.”
“Mum, what are you saying? That Dad broke the law? How? You have to tell the police everything. What if the killer comes after you next?”
“Samantha, don’t say that,” Gemma shrieked.
“What? It could be true. How the fuck do we know unless she tells us? Jesus, I don’t want to listen to this but, Mum, you have to tell the police. If you don’t, you’ll be putting all of us at risk. Are you willing to take a gamble on that?”
“Okay, maybe Sam has got a point, Mum. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I don’t want my husband or kids ending up in a mortuary…like Dad. Tell them what you know or…”
“Or what?” Amy stared at Gemma, worry lines etched into her forehead. “Are you threatening me, child?”
Gemma shrugged. “Make of it what you will. All I’ll be doing is trying to protect my family.”
“Ha…what do you think your father and I have been doing all these years?”
“Jesus, what are you saying? How big is this fucking secret you’ve been keeping from us for fuck’s sake?” Gemma shouted.
“Stop swearing at me. Go, leave if you want. I don’t want you here if you’re going to speak to me like this.”
Gemma reclined against the chair and folded her arms. She glowered at her mother and stated defiantly, “Tough. I ain’t going anywhere until I hear you tell the truth.”
“Please, can we all calm down? I appreciate your tempers are frayed at present, but arguing amongst yourselves isn’t helping matters,” Katy said, adrenaline speeding through her veins faster than any tsunami would likely carry it.
“She’s right,” Samantha said. “Mum, what’s the point in keeping this secret any longer? If it’s costing lives, you need to spit out what you know.”
“I will. Stop bullying me, the pair of you.�
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“Your daughters are right. The sooner you tell us, the more likely we are to catch the person responsible. If we can do that, then there will be no need for you guys to live on your nerves, wondering if you’ll be next.” Katy felt Charlie’s gaze on her. Yes, her statement had been over the top, but if it had the desired effect, and Amy finally revealed the secret she and her now-dead husband had concealed for years, it would be worth it.
“All right, don’t hassle me, let me tell the story without interruptions. It is a heinous tale that has blighted my life for decades.”
“Jesus, Mum!” Gemma shook her head in disgust.
“Let her say her piece,” Samantha warned her sister.
Charlie had her pen poised, ready for action.
“Amy, tell us in your own time. We promise not to interrupt, right, girls?” Katy asked.
The two daughters reluctantly nodded.
Amy inhaled and exhaled a number of times and circled her neck as if to relieve the tension knotting her muscles. Katy was tempted to do the same. In the end, she sat perfectly still and studied Amy with interest.
“Where do I begin? Okay, the lads, all those you mentioned and another man, whose name escapes me at the moment, they used to meet up at the pub or Bruce’s house—”
“You’ve told us that already, Mum. Get on with it,” Gemma interrupted.
Amy’s eyes doubled in size as she glared at her impatient daughter. “I warned you. Nope, I won’t say any more.”
Katy had heard enough. She rose to her feet, surprising everyone else in the room. “Right, Amy, get dressed, we’ll continue this interview under caution down at the station.”
“What? No, I can’t do it. I won’t do it!”
“Get dressed, or I mean it, I will throw the book at you for intentionally withholding vital evidence and perverting the course of justice.”
“No, please. I had nothing to do with this. Wait, sit down, I’ll tell you.”
Katy pointed at the three women and wagged her finger. “This is a final warning. It’s late, we all want to get to our beds, but we also want to hear the truth come out.”
The three women seemed suitably reprimanded and each avoided eye contact with Katy.
“You were saying, Amy?”
“Okay, this one particular night, I remember Ellis coming home out of breath. His face was colourless. I asked him if he’d seen a ghost, and he shouted at me. I was flummoxed and hurt by his response. He was distraught for days. In the end, I couldn’t take his mood swings any longer, he was starting to take his foul moods out on the girls. I was having none of that, they didn’t deserve it. I noticed he wasn’t going out, not seeing his friends. I tried to persuade him. He told me to stop nagging and to leave him alone. To my knowledge, I’ve never nagged him in over thirty years of marriage.”
She reached out to hold each of her daughters’ hands.
“Go on, Mum, you’re doing well, don’t stop now,” Samantha encouraged her, smiling.
“I’m getting there, love.” Amy sighed heavily and stared at the floor. “It was then he broke down and confessed what was bothering him. He said the night he came home distraught…he’d witnessed something horrendous. He later admitted that he was more involved than he first let on. I know that sounds confusing, but that’s how it happened. The remorse brought the whole story out into the open. I was appalled, disgusted by the revelation. He feared I was going to walk out on him and take you girls with me. I thought about it long and hard but realised I wouldn’t be able to bring you up on my own. We decided to work through the issue and never to discuss the matter again.”
“Go on,” Katy urged. She wished the woman would stop skirting around the issue and just reveal the truth.
“He said that night they had been involved in a sex game.” She closed her eyes as if anticipating yet another outburst from her daughters. By the look of things, they were too shocked to say anything. “The game went wrong, and the woman ended up…being killed.”
“Fucking hell,” Gemma muttered.
She stared at her sister, and the tears began to fall for both of them.
Such a destructive revelation for any member of the family to hear, let alone his own daughters.
Katy’s heart lay heavy in her chest. “Please, Amy, you need to reveal everything to us now, if only to protect your girls.”
“How is informing the girls that their father was a sexual deviant going to save them?”
“The truth, Amy. We all need to hear it. Set yourself free from this suffocating secret. It’s not yours to keep. The longer you suppress it, the more it’s going to eat away at you.”
“Twenty-four years I’ve pushed it down. It’s eaten away at my soul. Destroyed my marriage.”
Katy frowned. “In what way? You remained with Ellis once he told you.”
“The sex. We never had sex after that night. It was my form of punishment. Such a shame; apart from that incident, he was an exceptional man and father to the girls.”
“I hate him for what he put you through, Mum, hate him.” Gemma spat the words out as she swiped at the tears resting on her cheeks.
“Don’t say that, love. I should’ve taken the secret to my grave, that way your perception of him would still be intact. He loved you dearly.”
“Jesus, how can you defend him? How could you put up with him, knowing that he’d killed a woman? Did you ever fear for your own life, or ours, Mum?”
“Don’t think I haven’t asked myself that same question thousands of times over the years. I knew I was taking a risk, but the alternative was so much harder to handle.”
“Are you bloody listening to the shit that’s tripping out of your mouth?” Gemma jumped to her feet and took a swipe at her mother’s face.
Luckily, Samantha sensed what she was about to do and placed her arm in front of her mother to protect her. “Fuck off, Gem. Go home and calm down. Just reflect on your life and what your old man has done in the past. They’re all the frigging same once they get you into bed, they think they own you outright and can do what they like.”
“You fuck off. Leave Jimmy out of this, all that happened five years ago, we’re happy now.”
“What are you talking about? Happy, you don’t know the meaning of the word. If you stripped off now, I bet you’d have dozens of bruises all over your scrawny body.”
“Why, you!” Gemma pounced on her sister, managed to tug clumps of hair out of her head before Katy and Charlie could intervene and separate the warring siblings.
“Cut it out, the pair of you,” Katy said. “Do you want me to call for backup, drag you all down the station? Because I will, in a bloody heartbeat. I need to ask your mother more questions. I’d rather do that in private if you’re going to kick off like this. DC Simpkins, take Gemma and Samantha into another room while I continue to question Amy, will you?”
Charlie left her notebook on the sofa for Katy to use and marched the two sisters out of the room.
Amy sobbed and held her head in shame. “What have I done? I should have forced him to go to the police station. I’m so sorry. I’ve lived a life of hell knowing that I was covering for him and keeping that poor woman’s death a secret.”
Katy returned to the sofa and placed the notebook and pen on her lap. “I’m not denying you should have come forward sooner, Amy, however, there’s little we can do about that now. You didn’t tell me who this woman was. Was it someone they picked up off the street? A sex worker perhaps?”
“No, it was Bruce Crawford’s wife.”
The revelation rocked Katy. “What? Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Why else would it cause a rift between the group of men?”
Katy scratched her head. “But you said this was a sex game gone wrong, can you elucidate on that?”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes. I need to know.”
“I didn’t know this until after…that night. Every time the men met up at Crawford’s house, they either sex
ually abused the woman or tortured her in some way. Please, my girls have been through enough, they mustn’t hear about this. They’ll truly hate their father if any of this comes out.”
“I can’t guarantee that once the journalists get hold of the information, and they will, I assure you. That poor woman. I know this isn’t what you want to hear right now and I appreciate you’re grieving but I’m going to have to arrest you tonight.”
Amy screamed. “No, you can’t. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Katy tutted. “You knowingly perverted the course of justice by not reporting a murder to the police and you also covered up for a murderer.”
There was a tussle in the hallway. Katy jumped to her feet and wrenched open the door.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Poor Charlie was trying to fend off the two sisters who were determined to get to their mother.
“Is she all right? What have you done to her?” Gemma shouted in Katy’s face.
“She’s fine. Your mother will be coming back to the station with us.”
“Why? She hasn’t done anything wrong.” Samantha tried to look beyond Katy into the lounge.
“I don’t have to point out the gravity of the situation, you know what she’s done wrong, your reactions were enough to convince me of that.”
“You’re arresting her?” Gemma screeched.
“That’s right. I would advise you not to overact to the news and allow us to leave peacefully, otherwise, I’ll be forced to arrest you both as well. What’s it to be?”
The sisters stared at each other and, after a while, Gemma shrugged and Samantha nodded, accepting the situation was way beyond their control.
“Good. We’ll be going now. You have my condolences about your father.”
Gemma pointed behind Katy. “What about Mum? What’s going to happen to her?”
“She’ll be charged. I’m sorry, I don’t have a choice at this stage. A woman was murdered, the family have a right to justice, and your mother should have had the courage to speak up earlier.”
“We understand,” Samantha told her.
