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

“Yep. Let’s get Amy back to the station. She can spend the night in the cell, we’ll question her tomorrow.”

“What about Nadia?”

“I need to have a word with the chief first thing in the morning. If he backs up my theory then we’ll bring her in for a taped interview.”

“What a mess.”

“I couldn’t agree more. Let’s get a wriggle on.” She glanced at her watch. It was ten minutes after midnight, which depressed her. Another night of not tucking her child up in bed.

As if reading her mind, Charlie rubbed her arm. “There will be other nights.”

“Will there? It’s been a hell of a week thus far. Come on, there’s no point in me being maudlin about this.”

They left the house, accompanied by Amy Bird, and returned to the station. The desk sergeant said he wanted a word with Katy once she was free. Thinking that Amy wasn’t about to kick up a fuss, Katy let Charlie deal with booking her in with the custody sergeant.

“All right, Ray, let me have it.”

“It’s about the car, ma’am.”

Katy’s interest piqued, swiping her weariness aside. “What about it?”

“We found it abandoned on a trading estate.”

“Bugger. Get it picked up and sent to SOCO. Let’s get the damn thing checked over, see what shows up.”

“Already actioned, I figured you’d want that.”

“Great stuff, thanks, Ray.” Katy trudged upstairs to her office, debating on the journey whether she should call Roberts or not. She decided against the idea in the end.

Charlie joined her ten minutes later.

“Coffee?” Katy asked.

“I’d love one.” Charlie flopped into her chair and placed her head in her hands.

Katy deposited the coffee on Charlie’s desk. “You look cream-crackered, love. We’ll have this and call it a day.”

“We can’t. The killer is still out there.”

“Ah, but they’ve dumped the car. Ray on the front desk has just informed me. There’s little we can do around here tonight.”

“If you’re sure. My brain is still whirling, it’s just my body that’s tired.”

“I’m sure. It even crossed my mind to give the chief a call, but I dismissed that idea pretty swiftly.”

“Maybe speaking to him in the morning will have cleared any possible doubts away.”

“Doubts? I’m not sure I have any, Charlie, do you?”

Charlie blew at the steam escaping her cup and then took a sip. “I know you’ve said all along that you believe Nadia is the guilty party, but I’m not so sure.”

“Why?”

“I just don’t feel it’s right. I can’t tell you more than that.”

“Fair enough. What we need to find out is the identity of the final member of the group.”

“That’s true. Either he’s the guilty party or he might be able to point us in the right direction. But how are we going to locate him?”

“That’s what’s bugging me. I should’ve taken some photos of the people attending Crawford’s funeral. Shame I didn’t, we might have been able to save the other men’s lives.”

“Okay, we shouldn’t blame ourselves, and there’s a way around that.”

Katy frowned and jabbed a finger at Charlie. “Nadia would know, after all, she was the one who sent out the invites for her father’s funeral. Saying that, if she’s the killer, she’s hardly likely to give us the information, is she?”

“Catch-twenty-two situation. What if she’s not the killer? If she can tell us the man’s name, maybe we’ll be able to save him before the killer strikes again.”

“But you said yourself a few seconds ago that this man could be the one killing the others off.”

“So I did. Bloody complicated working blind, with no clues or evidence to lead us, isn’t it?”

Katy nodded. “Welcome to policing á la twenty-twenty where the criminals are getting smarter, some of them at least. We also need to fathom out why it’s taken twenty-four years for the killer to make their move. Why all these years?”

“I haven’t been able to get my head around that one yet, either. Something must have triggered them off to take this destructive route.”

12

Katy arrived back at the station at eight-thirty the following morning, worn out but buzzing about what lay ahead of her that day. She chanced her luck and called in at Roberts’ office before she stepped foot into the incident room. He was already at his desk.

“I’ll check to see if he’s accepting visitors this early, Inspector,” Trisha said, surprised to see her.

“Tell him it’s important, Trisha.”

She disappeared into Roberts’ office and closed the door. She emerged from the room a few seconds later and smiled at Katy. “Come through, Inspector. Can I get you both a cup of coffee?”

“That’d be lovely, thanks, Trisha,” Sean replied. “Sit down, Katy. Is something troubling you?”

“One or two things I need to run past you regarding the investigation, sir,” Katy said. She sat down opposite him, her leg muscles objecting during the movement.

Trisha entered with the drinks. She placed the tray on the desk, distributed the cups and saucers then left the room.

“Go on,” Roberts said.

Katy ran through how the previous evening had panned out, the fact they were now investigating yet another murder, plus she let him know about the revelation Amy had given her.

“Bloody hell. Well, she’ll go down for perverting the course of justice, won’t she?”

“No doubt about it, sir. While I feel sorry for her, there’s no way we can sit back and ignore what she and those men did all those years ago.”

“I agree. So, are you any nearer to knowing who the killer is?”

“Charlie and I have discussed it at length and came to the conclusion that there are two possibilities.”

“Which are?”

“My prime suspect throughout, Nadia Crawford, or we have to consider the possibility that the only man of the group in question who hasn’t been murdered yet is the one responsible.”

“And that person is?”

“Your guess is as good as mine on that one.”

“What about the wife, Amy, is it?”

“Yeah, she couldn’t tell me the bloke’s name either. The only way I’m going to find out is by interviewing Nadia, but then, if she’s the killer and is on