Ultimate Dilemma (Justice Again Book 2) by M Comley (best books under 200 pages txt) 📕

“It’s hard for us to fathom out why he wouldn’t want his children to know, especially as he’d gone through chemo as well.”

“What? I can’t believe what you’re telling me. Wouldn’t my sister have known, what with her working at the hospital?”

“We need to run our findings past Nadia. I didn’t want to disrupt her shift today.”

She shook her head again. “I can’t figure this out. Why wouldn’t Nadia know about this? Dad would’ve had medicine to take, wouldn’t he? She lives with him, wouldn’t she have spotted him popping some pills? Did she care that little about him?”

Katy inclined her head and asked, “What makes you say that? Have they fallen out recently?”

Penny ran a shaking hand over her face and into her hair. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her.”

Katy had a suspicion that Penny knew more than she was letting on but chose not to push her on the subject. “I’m sorry if this has come as a shock to you.”

“Why didn’t he tell us? Didn’t he love us? He couldn’t have done, right? Not to keep us in the dark like that. He just couldn’t have. Oh God, here I go again.” She searched her handbag, sitting on the seat next to her, and extracted a tissue. “I’m at a loss. I’m confused and bewildered. Maybe I’m more tired than I thought after my journey. I don’t think I can blame it all on that, though.”

“Please, try not to upset yourself. Your father must’ve had a good reason to keep his illness from you. He didn’t want to burden you both.”

“But he was my father, fathers aren’t supposed to do that, are they?”

“Men can be stubborn fools at times. Maybe he thought the chemo was going to make him better.”

“I don’t know. I’m struggling to make any sense of it. Nadia said that someone must’ve entered our house but she had a quick look around and couldn’t see any signs of a break-in. Why? There should’ve been. It’s not like Dad would’ve opened the door and let a stranger in at that time of night. I don’t think he would have anyway.”

“We’re still waiting on the report from the Scenes of Crimes Officers who are currently examining the house.”

“Let’s hope they find something to help you guys.”

“It’s rare for a criminal not to leave some form of clue behind. Maybe you can cast your mind back a few months. Over that time, has your father intimated that anything might have been wrong at home? I’m not referring to the cancer, I mean life in general. He’d possibly fallen out with someone.”

She shook her head slowly. “No, you’re asking the wrong sister. Nadia would be the one to give you a definite answer there. You think someone he knew did this to him, is that what you’re saying in a roundabout way?”

“Possibly. I can’t go into detail, I wouldn’t want to upset you more than you are now, but the way your father was killed, well, the pathologist has suggested that might be the case.”

Her eyes widened at the revelation. “Jesus, is that true? I find that hard to believe.”

“May I ask why?”

“I don’t know, maybe I felt that was the right thing to say. Perhaps I didn’t really know my father after all. You should be asking my sister all this. She’d be able to tell you like that.” She clicked her finger and thumb together.

“Maybe if your sister hadn’t chosen to go back to work so soon, we would have been able to.”

“Don’t ask. I haven’t got a clue why she insisted continuing to work. Surely her employers would understand. We’re talking about the NHS here, for God’s sake. She needs this time to grieve, we both do. I could do with her support right now. I know that and I didn’t even really know the man, not as well as she did. Sorry, I’m rambling.”

Katy smiled. “You’re doing fine. Your sister told us that your mother died when you were both very young. Does that mean your father brought both of you up on his own or did he have another girlfriend after your mother left? Or possibly a second wife?”

Her head bent low. “I don’t remember my mother. I think I was three when she died. Nadia says she remembers her a little, but not that much. And no, our father has never had a regular woman in his life since she died.”

“No one regular but the odd girlfriend, I take it?”

Penny sighed. “I think I can recall him having a few…liaisons, shall we call them. Drunken nights of sex with the odd woman. Nadia and I used to sleep in the same bed, huddled to each other when the women started screaming. At the time, we thought he was hurting them. Of course, we know better now and acknowledge that it was… I’m sure I don’t need to go into detail, you’re not silly, you can figure that part out for yourselves, can’t you?”

“I understand what you’re saying. And none of these women stuck around for more than a few days, or nights, should I say?”

“They might have done. They showed up after the pub and left before we got up the next day. Nadia and I always remained in our bedroom until he gave us permission to leave it. When we came down for breakfast, the women had usually gone.”

“I see. Do you remember this happening often?”

“No, not really. Gosh, don’t ask me to think back, I’ve blocked out so many things from my childhood…”

Katy inclined her head. “Meaning it was bad for you?”

Penny swallowed and covered her eyes with her hands. Her shoulders jiggled. Katy glanced at Charlie and grimaced, then looked back at Penny who was clearly upset.

“I’m sorry. I can’t talk about it. I’ve locked most of it away in the box at the back of my mind. I don’t want to go back there. Please, please, don’t force me