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

“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 sexually 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.

“Go home. I’ll ring you tomorrow, once I’ve spoken to your mother.”

The girls, having now calmed down, passed Katy and went back into the lounge.

“Jesus, it’s hard to contemplate what hell that woman has been living through all these years,” Charlie leaned in to whisper.

“True, but it doesn’t alter the fact that she should have spoken up sooner, Charlie. Two wrongs don’t make a right, especially where murder is concerned.”

“I hear you. So, who do you think is killing off these men?”

“Who do you think?” Katy had her suspicions, however, she wanted to hear Charlie’s take on it.

“Are all the men dead? Could it be someone else was there that night and he’s killed the others? Maybe someone threatened to expose them all.”

“While it’s a good theory, I’m inclined to believe I’ve been right all along.”

“No! You still think