Ferocious Beasts by Vince Vogel

Author:Vince Vogel [Vogel, Vince]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Right House
Published: 2024-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

FIFTY-TWO

Jack and Glenn Morris sat opposite Chief Constable Daniels in his office. Because of the press surrounding the building, the blinds were shut and the room was held in the tepid glow of a desk lamp. Daniels was explaining everything to them and when he finished, Jack agreed, “This really does change things.”

“Complicates, is more my word for it,” Daniels replied.

“And there we were thinking it was open-shut on Julia.”

“You’ve spoken with St. Clements?”

“Yes. Also a shrink she was seeing privately. A Dr. Gross. We were building a case against her. Gross agreed that she wasn’t in a good place and that she felt hostility in the house. We also spoke with Peter Warne.”

Daniels’ bushy eyebrows rose. “You found him?”

“He found us. Turned up at our B&B during breakfast. We’ve just finished talking with him.”

“And what was his view?”

“That she did it. But now it’s looking like she didn’t.”

“I’m afraid,” Daniels said dryly, “that rather than the more glamorous psychological reasoning behind the crime, it’s the much more timeless and less interesting motive of greed that is at the heart of this.”

“Makes more sense,” Jack remarked. “It’s very hard to prove mania as the reason.”

Glenn asked, “Has Will Bainbridge been charged yet?”

“No. He’s under caution. Carl Jones wishes to get the lab results back from the suppressor before we officially charge him.”

“What about the phone call?” Jack asked.

Daniels furrowed those bushy brows. “The phone call?”

“Yes. The one Will received from his father on the night of the killings. Has that been followed up?”

“I believe Carl Jones would have gotten to the bottom of it,” Daniels assured him. “And, anyway, it’s all inconsequential now. What with the bed and blanket proving Julia was shot while asleep and the fact that a suppressor was used and then found in Will’s cottage.”

“There’s one thing I don’t quite understand, though,” Jack said.

“And what’s that?”

“How did Detective Jones get to this theory so quickly? It’s like he was sure of it from the start, even though Julia looked a dead cert.”

Daniels shuffled a little uncomfortably in his chair. It appeared that he too had pondered this at length.

“Look,” he said, “Carl’s only been in Helm for seven years. Before that he had a similar career to yours. Not quite the sprawling metropolis of London, but still the inner-city horror of Bristol. He spent the first twenty or so years of his career among murderers, rapists and drug dealers. Even after almost a decade catching badger baiters and poachers here in Helm, his senses haven’t dried up and he can still see into the grisly truth of things better than us yokels.”

A slight grin on his face, Jack replied, “But, I mean, he figured it all in a matter of days. Even for the most cynical detective, that would be very soon for someone to get to the truth of the matter.”

“The extra glass at the table,” Daniels listed off confidently. “The impressions on the floor. These were things that set Carl off as soon as he arrived at the crime scene.

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