Scorned

by Denver Murphy

The woman stared at Ruby as though verbalising the events would somehow make them real and this wouldn’t all just be a bad dream. ‘I… I was in the kitchen when we heard the key in the lock,’ she said eventually, her tone flat. ‘Megan went out to see her daddy and then… and then…’

  ‘And then what?’ Ruby prompted as gently as possible.

  ‘I heard her screaming. I thought she had tripped over or something but I guess I knew it was more serious. I dashed out to find out and then I saw… I saw…’

  ‘What?’ Ruby hated herself thinking it but in case the husband didn’t pull through she needed the woman to have seen exactly what had happened.

  ‘James wasn’t tending to Megan, he was facing the other way and that’s when I saw… her…’

  ‘Her?’ Ruby exclaimed, her heart now thumping in her chest. ‘The person who attacked him was a woman?’

  ‘Yes, she even looked at me as she held up that… that metal thing…’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘She turned back to James. I didn’t hear what she said to him.’

  ‘She spoke to him?’ Ruby could barely believe her ears.

  ‘Yes, the moment before she struck him with that thing. She then just dropped it and ran.’

  Ruby decided to forgo asking for a description; it was too much of a coincidence for the attacker to be anyone else and she needed to react to the news as quickly as possible. She marched back into the hallway, already punching the number into her phone and waving a dismissive hand in response to Ramsey’s inquisitive face.

  ‘You’re never going to believe this,’ she said, covering up the mouthpiece less than a minute later. ‘I thought she might be heading back to Hatfield; you know, sit back there and pretend everything was normal for our next visit.’

  ‘Kate you mean?’ Ramsey replied but in a tone that suggested he had already put the pieces together.

  ‘She hasn’t been picked up yet, but it seems from the ANPR she’s on her way to her marital home.’

  ‘Then what are we waiting for?’ Ramsey asked, already moving towards their car.

  ‘We can’t leave until the others get here,’ Ruby responded, despite feeling the same desperation to get going. ‘Tell them not to put her in the van until we get there,’ she added, having turned her attention to the officer on the other end of her phone; her voice cold as ice.

  Chapter Seventy-three

  Kate knew that she was pulling up at her home for the last time, what she didn’t know was how long she would be allowed to stay before the police arrived. If she’d been thinking straight, she would have known the game was up as soon as she clocked the child in the hallway, never mind the wife. But something inside had convinced her that she might still be able to do it and get away with it.

  She had barely made it back in the car before she understood it not to be true. As soon as the wife reported that it had been a woman who had attacked her husband, and had chosen to leave without finishing the job, DC Knight would know it was her rather than whatever crazed killer was still meant to be at large.

  There might be nothing Kate could do to save herself now but at least she could spare that suspicious bitch the satisfaction of thinking she had caught her unawares. She wouldn’t even put it past DC Knight to arrive at her mother’s house pretending that she was just asking a few more of her impertinent questions, when really, she was just enjoying watching Kate squirm before finally pouncing, like a cat who has a mouse caught by its tail.

  The forensics team may have packed away all their stuff but otherwise the house was as she had last left it. Regarding the pool of blood from where Scott had lain, its edges having already dried, Kate wondered whose job it was to come and clean up the place afterwards. Did the police have their own contractors whose job it was to make things appear normal before anyone was supposed to return home?

  Kate supposed that none of it mattered now. She plonked herself down into her favourite armchair, even though what she really wanted was to go upstairs and get into bed. Just a few minutes to give her a taste of the liberation she would have felt when she had finally been given the all-clear to move back in, with fresh linen that would never be corrupted by Scott.

  But for the police to arrive and find her tucked up in her bed here would only feed the notion that she had suffered some kind of catastrophic mental breakdown. Getting people to accept that her killings had been a necessary evil was going to be hard enough as it was but there was something she could do in the meantime to ensure that the person who mattered most in this regard received the correct version of events before the press could add their sensationalist spin on things.

  Besides, just being in the house gave her a degree of inner peace. When planning Scott’s death, a small part of her had wondered whether she would regret killing the man she had once loved, and in truth probably still did. As she sat there regarding the room they had decorated together and the objects they had bought over the years, nothing she saw provoked even the slightest twinge of remorse. If Scott had been prepared to turn his back on all this, why should she find them anything other than meaningless items too?

  ‘So quick,’ Kate muttered to herself as she saw the first pulse of blue through her curtains, but whilst she had hoped for longer, the confirmation that she had been right about her actions in King Harry had been welcome. Far better they come now than leave it so late that she might start believing she was in the clear.

  Kate reached into her handbag and retrieved Scott’s phone. It seemed to take an age to switch on but she wouldn’t need anything more than a minute once the screen lit up. It was just a case of going through his recent messages and tapping on the contact who had been the focus of his attentions; the sound of the dialling tone accompanied by the screech of tyres as the first police car came to a halt.

  ‘Yes?’ The nervousness of the voice on the other end of the line was all the confirmation Kate needed that introductions weren’t required.

  ‘I just wanted you to know that you’re as responsible for his death as I am.’ She ended the call without waiting for a reply and tossed the phone away, walking to the front door. Kate didn’t say anything as she opened it and regarded the onrushing officers; she merely turned around, sank to her knees and held her hands out behind her.

  ‘Where’s DC Knight?’ Kate asked once she was cuffed and hauled back onto her feet. She smiled upon hearing she was on her way rather than set to meet her at the station.

  ‘Do you mind if we wait inside? It’s very cold and I don’t have a coat.’

  The officer shrugged and loosened his grip so she could walk back into the living room. Kate preferred not to discuss everything that had happened in view of the neighbours but decided not to impinge on the officer’s goodwill by asking if she could sit.

  As it happened, she wasn’t forced to wait long anyway, and it was only a couple of minutes later that she heard a fresh siren approaching.

  ‘Hello,’ she said simply as DC Knight walked through the door.

  ‘I only have one thing to ask you before I formally arrest you. What did you say to him before you attempted to cave his skull in?’

  Kate took a moment to regard the woman who had hounded her these past twenty-four hours. Having seemed content to waste her time with her endless questions, now she seemed prepared to boil it all down to one, and no clarification was needed as to whom she was referring to. Attempted, DC Knight had said, causing Kate to smile.

  ‘I told him I was sorry.’

  Chapter Seventy-four

  Ruby didn’t hang around long at the station. She knew the moment she had laid eyes on Kate that she was willing to talk and having her repeat what had been said in King Harry was as good as an admission of guilt. Not that it stopped her having a quick check of the Honda Civic’s boot to ensure the wheel wrench was missing from the spare wheel.

  Content to wait until morning to find out why Kate had killed her husband, Ruby’s earlier decision not to continue tailing Kate to her destinat
ion may not have resulted in another fatality, but the urge to laud her success over Nelson and Cooper had entirely gone away. Undoubtedly there would be ramifications for their mishandling of the investigation, but she would leave it to DSI Robson to confront Nelson, and she would deal with Cooper if and when they were required to partner up again.

  Aside from grabbing a quick cup of coffee with PC Ramsey to ensure he appreciated the sincerity of her initial words of thanks, there was one person she wanted to see before going over to Danny’s apartment.

  Ruby unlocked the cell door without bothering to check on its occupant through the hatch first. The element of surprise was worth it because the fear written on Lexie’s face at her unexpected arrival may have been fleeting but it had definitely been there.

  ‘I told your pig colleagues that I’m not saying another word,’ Lexie spat as soon as she had composed herself.

  ‘I haven’t come to talk with you,’ Ruby replied evenly. ‘I just wanted you to know that you were nearly responsible for another death today.’

  ‘I don’t give a shit,’ came the instant reply.

  ‘Thank you,’ Ruby responded, enjoying the look of confusion on Lexie’s face. ‘I think that’s the first truthful thing you’ve said to me.’

  Ruby turned, slamming the cell door shut behind her.

  More fiction by Denver Murphy

  If you enjoyed SCORNED, and you haven’t read it already, you’ll love the first in the series, THE DEEP END.

  Rookie detective DC Ruby Knight lands a difficult case on her first day when a man is viciously assaulted in an acid attack. Frustrated with her aged and dishevelled partner, she tries to hunt down the culprit. But the risk is that she’ll dive headlong into danger herself.

  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07V8JV7HQ/

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V8JV7HQ/

  Why not check out Denver Murphy’s best-selling DCI Brandt murder mystery trilogy:

  He spent his life fighting crime. Now he has a taste for it himself. His first attack is a stab in the dark. Next time, he’ll kill. Knowing how the police work, ex-cop Jeffrey Brandt stays one step ahead of them. He will even taunt those trying to catch him. DCI Stella Johnson is responsible for finding him. Has she got what it takes?

  Available with Kindle Unlimited and in paperback from Amazon.

  Amazon UK / Amazon US

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