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

seeks out to punish people for their sins that’s true, but He wouldn’t do it like this, with such…brutality.”

“Brutality? Yes, I like that. It fits most sins you’ve been guilty of throughout your miserable, deceptive life. To marry a woman, to lie to her for years, knowing that you batted for the other side. You think that was right? To rob her of the chance to lead a happy, fulfilling life with another man, someone who would have bent over backwards to have treated her right? Unlike you, you charlatan. You knew from an early age you liked men and still you put your wife through a life of misery. Why? To make up for what you did? Is that how that warped mind of yours worked in the past?” The stranger prodded his temple.

“Ouch! No. You’ve got it all wrong. My sexuality has nothing to do with what went on that night, I swear it doesn’t. Please don’t punish me for the sins, I’ve done my best to put those behind me and move on.”

“Make good on? You killed an innocent woman during your repulsive sex games and you think the world will be a better place if you come out of the closet? No, that’s not right. It took you almost twenty years to reveal your true sexuality. In the meantime, you put another woman through fucking hell. You’re a selfish fucker with a capital S. What you want, you seem to get, stepping over other people in the process. I’ve met your type before. Others like you have met their comeuppance long before you got yours. I’m bored now. Is there anything you wish to say before the lights go out, so to speak?”

“Yes, I want to talk to Nick, to tell him how much I love him.”

“Nope. I didn’t say I was allowing you a final call. Don’t worry, I’ll take pleasure in putting him right on a few things.”

He sobbed.

The stranger had heard enough. Blow after blow rained down on their target, the man who had ruined so many lives during his own existence. Until his screams and whining could no longer be heard.

The stranger took the bar back to the car and left the man in the road. A new form of roadkill for the scavenging birds to peck at during the night until someone discovered him.

9

Katy groaned and glanced at the clock on her bedside table. The green digital face announced the time as five-forty-five.

“Answer the damn phone,” AJ complained. He buried his head under the pillow.

“Hi. DI Foster. This had better be good.”

“Sorry to bother you at this early hour, ma’am. I’ve had notification of another murder on your patch, and the pathologist thought it imperative that I call you right away. She’s predicting the death is possibly connected to your ongoing investigation.”

“Oh right. Okay, you’d better give me the details. Is the pathologist still at the scene?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The woman on control gave her the details of the location and hung up.

Katy turned over to cuddle AJ.

He re-emerged from under the pillow and kissed her. “What a way to get woken up in the damn morning.”

“I’m sorry, love. I’ll have a quick shower and shoot off.”

“Want me to make you a drink and some toast? I don’t mind.”

“No, you go back to sleep, you need your rest.”

His eyebrows shot up. “You’re the one who could do with a rest. You were barely in five minutes last night before you dropped off to sleep, and now, you’re on the move again long before the birds have even crept out of their nests.”

Katy smiled and strained her neck to listen. In the distance, she recognised the familiar morning chorus of the birds in residence near to their home. “Nope, they beat me to it, just. I’ll try and call you later this morning, if I get the chance. I’m sorry we didn’t get around to discussing the news you wanted to share with me regarding the business.”

“It can wait. Go. We’ll talk about it tonight, depending what time you get home.”

“Sorry, AJ. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” She kissed him and leapt out of bed.

“I’ve heard it all before,” he grumbled behind her.

She chose to ignore his hurtful comment—whether it had been intended that way or not, she wasn’t sure. After suffering a quick tepid shower, she carried her clothes downstairs and got dressed down there rather than disturb AJ a second time.

Twenty-five minutes later, she arrived at the scene, which was cordoned off and being patrolled by two constables in uniforms. She flashed her ID. One of them held the tape up for her to duck under. The area up ahead was being lit by mobile floodlights set up by Scenes of Crime Officers even though the sun was fully awake by now.

“Don’t come any closer,” Patti shouted, stopping dead.

“Why?”

Patti stared and looked her up and down. “You really have to ask me that, Inspector Foster?”

Katy bashed her hands against her thighs. “Sorry, my mistake, I’ll correct it right away.”

“Grab a suit from the back of my van.”

Her lapse in concentration signified how tired she truly was. She’d never knowingly strolled up to a crime scene in the past without putting on a protective suit. Well, maybe she had, back in her early days when donning one hadn’t yet become a formality to her regime.

Suited and booted, she returned to the crime scene and stood alongside Patti. “Shall we start over, now my wrists are black and blue?”

“Bollocks. You’d soon know if I was angry with you, so don’t give me that hogwash.”

“Bloody hell! Nothing like telling it how it is, Patti. By your pissed-off attitude, I take it you’ve been here all night.”

“More or less, and before you start kicking off, just remember I waited until daylight broke before I decided to get you out of your comfy bed. I’ve yet to see mine, it’s been over twenty-four hours for me.”

Katy placed a hand