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

“It’s true. He’d even had chemo and didn’t tell us.”

“But you’re a nurse, aren’t you, dear?” the man’s wife asked.

“Yes. I don’t know what he was thinking. Maybe he thought he was indestructible and didn’t want to burden us. It was a shock when the police made us aware of the situation.”

“I can only imagine what you poor girls went through,” the man’s wife said, seeming genuinely upset by the news.

“It is what it is. At the end of the day, I think it’s proved what a complex person our father was. To have held on to a secret as great as that and neither of us recognising the change in him.”

“I wouldn’t have known either way, living in Scotland,” Penny piped up.

Nadia chose to ignore her sister’s input into the conversation. Penny kicked out at a stone at her feet, appearing to suppress the anger bubbling inside her.

Katy stepped closer as the queue grew smaller. The pallbearers were next. One by one, they apologised to the girls for not being there when they needed them the most, or when their father had needed them in recent years.

Nadia nodded but kept her mouth shut, and Penny did the same. The air surrounding them was one of extreme awkwardness. The men hurried past and gathered in the car park. Four men, no female company, all appearing to be uncomfortable in their surroundings.

Katy held her hand out to shake Nadia’s and then Penny’s. “Thank you for allowing us to attend today. I’m sorry we haven’t got any positive news to share with you regarding your father’s case. I put out an appeal to the general public a few days ago, but we’ve been disappointed by the lack of information we’ve received to date.”

“It is what it is. I’m sure you’re doing your best, Inspector,” Penny replied.

Nadia remained quiet, lost in thought.

“I hope to be in touch with some good news soon,” Katy responded.

“Keep us informed,” Nadia said, her tone flat and dismissive.

“Of course we will.” Katy held the woman’s gaze for a while before moving on.

She and Charlie marched back to the car, slowing down as they got closer to the pallbearers who were all looking their way for some reason.

“That was strange, wasn’t it?” Charlie noted once they were back in the car.

“Yep, it has to be up there for awkward moment of the century, I’ll grant you that. I’m getting the distinct impression there’s still more to this case than meets the eye but I’ll be buggered if I know what. I was hoping running the appeal would flood us with clues to chase up. It didn’t. So where the fuck do we go now?” She turned the engine over and drove out of the church’s car park ahead of the rest of the cars.

“You sound defeated.”

“Truthfully? I feel it. I hate the fact a man has lost his life and no one is behind bars yet. That can’t be right, can it?”

“I know, but if the clues or evidence aren’t there, what do you suggest we do, plant it?”

Katy twisted her head sharply towards her partner. “I would never do that, Charlie, and I’m mortified that you would suggest such a despicable thing.”

“Sorry, it came out wrong…or maybe it didn’t. Oh, I don’t know. I suppose I’m just as frustrated about this investigation as you are. Does this type of thing happen often?”

Katy smiled, accepting her apology. “Once in a blue moon. All cases can have levels of frustration thrown into the mix, I guess. But to have nothing after a week is beyond me. We’ve done as much digging as we possibly can. I’m surprised Karen isn’t speaking to us from a station in Australia by now.”

“You can imagine it, can’t you? Her sitting at a desk in the Outback somewhere, having a conversation with a gathering of kangaroos trying to get something out of them.”

“That does summon up a hilarious image. Talking of which, do you know the correct term for a group of kangas?”

“Is there one? I’ve never really thought about it before. Go on, don’t tell me this is another one of your off-the-wall facts you’re going to fling at me?”

“It is. Get this, it’s either a mob, troop or court of kangaroos. Can you believe the last one? You’ve heard of a kangaroo court before, right?”

“Yeah, of course I have. Seems bizarre to be connected.”

“That’s what I thought. Anyway, I thought I’d brighten your day with that little gem, I only learnt about it last week.”

“I bet you never thought that fact would see the light of day, eh?”

They both laughed, relieving the tension that had descended.

4

“We’ll see you later, Dale. Have a good evening.”

“Thanks, the wife and I are visiting friends tonight for a catch-up. See you tomorrow.” Dale waved at the group of teacher colleagues and climbed into his car. He drove through the country lanes back to his cottage on autopilot, mulling over some of the lessons he’d given during the day, mostly furious by the lack of response to his questions from his students. What he wouldn’t give for a group of youngsters craving to learn more, eager to bombard him with questions, no matter how trivial or mundane they sounded, and yet he got nothing. The students of today just weren’t the same as they had once been in the past.

Leading him to wonder at times whether his own standards had slipped. Or was their lack of response due to them being deficient in any form of interest in learning full stop? He feared it was the latter and prayed it wasn’t the former. If that ever happened, he’d chuck in the towel and retire immediately. Now that’s a thought! At fifty-five, could I? He vowed to speak to his good friend, Simon, who was also his financial advisor, to run the idea past him. But then, raising that subject in his mind led him off in a different direction. Could he bear to stay