Death's Cold Hand by J.E. Mayhew (good romance books to read txt) 📕

going that way to visit someone between Green Lane and your house. Tell me if I’m getting warmer, Mr Owens.”

“It’s hard to explain,” George Owens said, tangling his fingers together in front of him. He looked trapped.

Kath fixed her eye on Owens. “Harder than explaining to Mrs Travis what happened to her husband and telling her we can’t track down his killer because his so-called friend thinks his personal life is more important than the investigation?”

“That’s not fair,” George Owens snapped.

Kath gave Kinnear a sidelong glance as if sharing a derogatory thought about Owens with him. “No, Mr Owens, it isn’t fair, is it? You do realise that what you’re doing makes you look like a prime suspect?”

“I didn’t kill Paul,” Owens said, glaring at Kath.

“So you say, but where were you?”

“I got the train and walked home.”

“Did you and Paul argue, much?”

Owens looked from Kath to his brief and back. “A little. Mainly about business things…”

“Money,” Kath said.

“Yeah. Money. Paul liked to spend and was always ‘thinking big,’ as he liked to call it. The trouble was, ‘thinking big’ cost a lot of cash. Cash we didn’t always have.”

“You sound bitter, Mr Owens.”

“No. It was just annoying. You probably get annoyed by your work colleagues. It doesn’t make you a murderer.”

“It might if one of them turned up dead, I was the last person to see them and I wouldn’t account for my whereabouts when he died.”

“He didn’t annoy me so much that I’d want to kill him. All I had to do was show Paul the bank balance and he’d realise we didn’t have the funds to do whatever he’d dreamed up.”

“That must have annoyed him.”

“Yeah, I suppose it did,” Owens said.

“And how did he show his annoyance?”

“I dunno. He grumbled a bit maybe or went off in a huff,” Owens said.

“Went off in a huff,” Kath repeated, looking at Kinnear. “If his reaction was so low-key, how come it was common knowledge around the charity that you argued a lot over money?”

“Maybe I grumbled to other people. Maybe Paul did.”

“So you were bad-mouthing each other around the business? Doesn’t sound very wholesome, George…”

“You’re putting words into my client’s mouth, now, DI Cryer,” Cornell said, suddenly.

“No,” Kath said, looking at him levelly. “I’m making an observation and you aren’t in court now, Perry Mason. Another interruption and I’ll have you kicked out.”

Cornell shrank down in his seat.

Owens gave a frustrated sigh. “Look, Paul and I had our disagreements about how the charity spent its funds. That’s no secret but I didn’t kill him.”

“So you keep saying but we don’t know where you were on the night he was murdered.”

“I got the train,” Owens said through gritted teeth.

Kath sat back and folded her arms. “There’s something else, though, I can tell. Let’s assume you are telling the truth for a moment and you got the train. It’s well out of your way. I reckon the only reason you’d do that was if you were meeting someone and you’re trying to protect them for some reason. Whatever you’re hiding, I doubt it’s worse than murder. Your secret will come out one way or another, so you may as well explain to us what it was you were doing because we will find out.”

*****

Jeff Blake had spent most of the day trying to wrangle a few hundred words into coherent sentences that didn’t sound like excerpts from a particularly dull stately home tour guide. It was hard to concentrate after Gambles had mentioned Laura’s name. On one level he was annoyed with himself for letting Gambles snare him once again. Obviously, the killer had more information about where Laura was but once he’d realised that Jeff was hooked, Gambles had taken great pleasure in holding that back. Jeff was worried about Will, too.

It was possible that Will would keep it from Jeff if Laura had come home. They weren’t the most communicative of brothers but also, Will would be aware of Jeff’s link to Gambles and, therefore, to Quinlan. But what if Will didn’t know? What if Laura had come back and been taken by Quinlan?

Gambles would love it if Jeff tipped Will off because it would drive another wedge between them, adding to the little psychodrama that the serial killer liked to keep going. Gambles was always trying to insert himself into the Blake family story. If Jeff and Will were arguing, at least they were arguing about Gambles. It made him the centre of discontent even if Laura was the main concern.

On the other hand, if he said nothing and Laura was in some kind of danger, Will would never forgive him. Jeff stopped typing. He had to let Will know. “I’m damned either way,” he muttered to himself and picked up his phone. “It always goes to voice messaging anyway.”

“Jeff, I’m busy,” Will said, tersely. Jeff almost dropped the phone.

“I’m fine thanks, Will. How about you? Recovered from your jaunt up north?”

“What do you want?”

“I was talking to our mutual friend…”

“Gambles. Jeff, I’ve told you before, I don’t want to know anything about that monster. You trade off the misery and horror he’s caused in the past by all means but don’t make me an accessory…”

“He told me Laura has come home,” Jeff said. He would have skirted around the issue, but Will’s tone had annoyed him. Jeff had helped Will with his investigations in Scotland and hoped he’d cut him some slack at least. A mean part of Jeff hoped his revelation hurt Will.

“What?”

“You didn’t know?”

“No, I didn’t. What did he say?”

“He said she was back but wouldn’t give me any more details. You know what he’s like…”

Will heaved a sigh down the phone. “Yes, Jeff, I do know. So he could just be winding you up.”

“He could be, yes but there’s generally a grain of truth in what he says at least. I didn’t know what to do for the best, Will. Was I wrong to call you? Should I have just ignored it and then,