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

illness. Put it on speaker so I can hear what he has to say.”

“Will do. Ah, yes, Doctor Malik, I wonder if you can help me. We’re conducting a murder enquiry and believe the victim to be one of your patients. Bruce Crawford.”

“Yes my receptionist told me that’s why you’re calling. It’s very sad to hear he’s no longer with us. How can I help?”

“You’re aware he had stomach cancer, I take it?”

“Yes. I diagnosed his condition over six months ago. He was a poorly man. Didn’t have long to live. No, you don’t think he killed himself, do you? No, you said something about a murder enquiry, I forgot that.”

“That’s right, it’s hard to take the news in sometimes. Can I ask what treatment he was undergoing? And were you aware he was still working?”

“He’s recently completed a course of chemo—it wasn’t successful. I gave him the news that he only had three months at the longest to live when he came to see me last week. He was understandably devastated by the news, as you can imagine and yes, he wanted to keep working, rather than sit at home, waiting for his dying day to arrive.”

“Can you tell me if his daughter was aware of his condition?”

“Nadia? No, she wasn’t. He refused to let me tell her. I told him I wouldn’t go against his wishes but urged him to tell her himself. She’s a nurse and would have cared for him, if he’d been willing to confide in her.”

“Did he give a reason why he didn’t want to inform her?” Charlie asked.

“No. Actually, he said he’d lived his life and didn’t want to become a burden to his two daughters. I had to stand by his wishes, my hands were tied.”

“I see.” Charlie glanced at Katy and whispered, “Anything else?”

Katy shook her head. “No, that’s fine.”

“Thank you for taking my call, Doctor, and for giving me the information.”

“No problem.”

Charlie hit the End Call button and placed the phone in her lap.

“Strange he kept his cancer a secret from his kids, especially if Nadia is a nurse. Katy pulled up at a red light and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel.

“Seems odd, doesn’t it? I can’t get my head around it. It sounds to me like he just gave up.”

“That’s my take on it, too. Why? Because he’d lived his life and was fed up with it? Hard to contemplate anyone wanting to give in to the disease like that.”

“He’d gone through the chemo. I’ve heard that can take a dreadful toll on a body.” Charlie shuddered.

“Yeah, again, it doesn’t add up. Surely Nadia would have known about the chemo.”

“Hmm…maybe it was carried out at a different hospital.”

The light turned green, and Katy put her foot on the accelerator. “I know it’s the wrong time to grill her, but we could do with sitting Nadia down and doing just that.”

“We’d be quite within our rights to question her again, wouldn’t we? Or am I missing something as a newbie?” Charlie asked, her brow pulling into a deep frown.

“No, you’re right. Maybe it’s me being a tad cautious. Treating the woman with respect, knowing that she’s grieving.”

“I understand that, but if you have doubts about her story then maybe you should dive in and get some answers.”

“I hear what you’re saying. Let’s hold back a while, see what the boys come up with first. Actually, I’m going to chase them up, find out if they have any news for us.” She indicated and drove into a nearby parking space and made the call.

Patrick answered on the second ring. “Hello, boss, anything up?”

“Not really. How are things progressing there?”

“Slowly. Nadia turned up around thirty minutes ago. I accompanied her into the house, and she left not long after.”

“How did she seem to you?”

Patrick groaned. “Dazed and confused. Going through the motions, I suppose.”

“I see. I’m going through the mill here. Pondering whether to call her in for questioning or not.”

“Any particular reason, boss?”

“In my eyes, there are a lot of things that simply aren’t adding up. Did she say anything to you at all?”

“No. She was desperate to step into the lounge for some personal effects. I told her she couldn’t. She begged me to go in there to collect a family photo for her. I looked for the particular one she mentioned, but the frame was empty. She broke down and cried when I told her that.”

“Wait, back up a minute. There was an empty photo frame and she wasn’t aware that it was empty?”

“That’s right. I asked her when she noticed the last time the frame was full, and she said yesterday before she went to work.”

“Hmm…now that is weird. Why would someone break into the house, remove one of the photos and then kill her father, or do it the other way around? Bloody hell, what are we up against here? During the PM, we discovered that Bruce only had a few weeks or months to live. He had stomach cancer. We chased it up with the doctor, and he told us that neither Nadia nor her sister were aware of his illness.”

“Wow, that’s strange. If Nadia’s a nurse, wouldn’t she have recognised the signs if he was terminally ill?”

“My thoughts exactly. The poor man had to go through months of chemo as well.”

“Jesus. She had to have known, surely?”

“I’m going to try and have another word with her. I take it she was on her way into work after leaving you guys.”

“She was. She packed a holdall and was in and out within ten minutes tops. I asked her if she needed a lift or anything else, and she mumbled that she had it covered and to leave her alone to get on with her life.”

“Odd thing to say when someone offers you help. Maybe we’ll leave her alone today and chase her up again tomorrow, once the sister has arrived. Hang on, were there any other photos of the family in the lounge?”

“Yes, a