A Fatal Affair by Faith Martin (top e book reader TXT) 📕

done, he’d risked his life to get it. And had probably saved her life, and that of at least one of the others, in the bargain. Probably Dr Ryder’s, she mused. For she knew, if it had come down to it, and she thought Ray had been about to open fire, she’d have had to take her chance and rushed him.

And she knew that Dr Clement Ryder wouldn’t have been far behind her.

The wait for the police cars to arrive seemed to Trudy to be both long and short, since she was still feeling prone to that sensation that it was all a dream. She knew she was probably in a little bit of shock, but then, weren’t they all?

Were they really standing around in the sunlit farmyard whilst Janet and Ronnie sheltered in the house, and Duncan interviewed a killer? Was Clement really stood there, standing guard with the shotgun, just in case?

But then they heard the sound of the sirens, and Duncan started frantically getting in some final questions. Ray Dewberry answered them calmly, as if he was talking about the price of wheat.

Chapter 36

It was dark by the time Trudy, DI Jennings and Superintendent Finch had enough time to gather together for a short meeting in the DI’s office. Ray Dewberry had been processed and everyone had given their statements.

Not surprisingly, they were all looking tired and emotionally spent.

Keith Finch alternated between euphoria that his son’s memory was now secure and safe from slander, and a grim, hollow-eyed acceptance that that wouldn’t bring him back from the dead.

DI Jennings, too, swung from sheer relief that he’d solved his murder case, to annoyance that, once again, it was the old vulture and his wayward female WPC that he had to thank for it.

He’d already wasted some of his breath hauling her over the coals for not waiting for him at the Baines’ house and going off on what might have been a wild goose chase without reporting in. The fact that, through sheer luck and incompetence, Trudy, the old vulture and some have-a-go-hero of a reporter had managed to save Janet’s life, and maybe even the Dewberry boy’s, was enough to make him want to chew the wallpaper. So he still had plenty of spleen left that he wanted to vent – and he was determined to do so. When it was safe to.

Needless to say, however, with Superintendent Finch now firmly on Trudy’s side (and with the rest of the top brass happily giving interviews to the press on how clever they’d been in solving not one but two highly-publicised murders) he knew that she wouldn’t be facing any actual disciplinary charges. And her star, as ever, was rising high.

He supposed, grudgingly, that he had to admit that she’d acquitted herself quite well, all in all. It wasn’t every green young copper who could keep their head when faced with a killer holding a shotgun.

‘How is Mrs Baines doing, sir, do you know?’ Trudy asked now, jerking the Inspector’s mind from his inner grumbling.

‘Last I heard, the doctor said she was in a coma,’ he grunted and glanced at the coroner. ‘Bleeding on the brain, or some such thing?’

Clement nodded in understanding. ‘But they’ve relieved the pressure and they’re hoping she’ll recover. However, I think young Janet is in for the long haul. Her mother’s going to need her.’

Trudy sighed. ‘I hope she and Ronnie will get together. After all they’ve been through I think they deserve some happiness.’

Jennings grunted sceptically. In his experience, tragedies like this tended to do no good for anyone involved. For a start, young Ronnie Dewberry was probably going to be a pariah for all his life – at least in Middle Fenton, where he’d always be regarded as the son of a killer. And he couldn’t see Mrs Baines, when she was fit and well again, ever letting her precious daughter marry him. Unless the pair ran off to Gretna Green and then set up a new life somewhere far away from here. And even then – what sort of a start were they going to have? Janet had admitted that she’d thought Ronnie was to blame for Iris’s death, and could the boy really forgive that – even given the extenuating circumstances?

‘Well, I have to get back to my family,’ Keith Finch said, and held out his hand to Clement. ‘Thank you, Dr Ryder, for all that you did,’ he said, swallowing hard, his voice gruff.

‘I wasn’t on my own,’ Clement pointed out, making Jennings fairly grit his teeth.

‘No indeed. Constable Loveday.’ Keith turned to her and shook her hand too, totally against protocol. ‘I’m expecting great things of you,’ he told her.

Trudy felt herself blush.

Jennings waited until his superior officer had left the office, before turning his gimlet eye on Trudy. Great things indeed!

Clement chose that moment to also rise from his chair. ‘Well, I’m off home as well. It’s been one hell of a day, and I need my bed.’

He looked as if he did too, Trudy thought with some concern. He looked tired and worn out and … well, for the first time since she’d known him, actually … old.

Clement forced himself to stride confidently to the door, but was secretly relieved to discover that his legs held him. There was no doubt about it, today had been a serious strain on him, and he could no longer fool himself that his illness wasn’t beginning to make itself felt.

But, he was sure, after a good night’s sleep and a solid breakfast he’d be right as rain tomorrow. He wouldn’t let himself be anything else. He was not ready for the scrap heap just yet.

All he had to do now, Clement thought wryly, was get home without driving into a ditch or something.

With the departure of the old vulture, Jennings was able to finally relax, and with a slow, satisfied smile, turned his attention to the young woman who seemed determined to make herself the bane