by M A Comley
“Morning, all. Fine morning!” she announced, joyfully pushing through the doors to the incident room.
“Let’s hope that mood of yours doesn’t end up getting squished by Whiting. She’s had a rough night, apparently,” Jack warned.
“Good. Couldn’t happen to a nicer person. Do you know if the solicitor has arrived yet, Jack?”
“I’ll check.”
“You do that. I’m going to ring the pathologist, let him know. Also, I want to see if he’s carried out the post on Kathy yet.” Sally marched into her office and placed the call.
Simon answered after two rings.
“Simon, I have great news for you.”
“Ditto. You first,” he replied.
“No, I insist, after you.”
“Well, you were right. Kathy was around four weeks pregnant, give or take a few days. Now, it’s your turn to share.”
“We’ve got someone sitting in the cell for the murder of both women.”
“Excellent news. Did we help you find the suspect at all?”
“Sort of. I’m relying on you to come up with the goods in the next day or two. I’ve got the suspect’s clothes, and I’ve asked forensics to pick up the suspect’s car. It has been repaired since Gemma’s death took place, so I’m hoping it’s not too late.”
“If there’s evidence to be found, we’ll find it. May I ask who the suspect in question is, Inspector?”
“The mother-in-law of both women.”
“What? Why on earth…?”
“Exactly. I’ve yet to question her thoroughly—I’m about to do that now. My initial understanding is that she was afraid of losing her five-year-old grandchild.”
“Holy crap! So she killed the women and the unborn children out of jealousy?”
“So it would appear. I’ll buy you a drink later this week and go over the details.” Sally shook her head. Why the hell did I say that?
Simon chortled. “Wow, you must be excited if you’re inviting me out on a date.”
“Umm… on that note, I better crack on. Talk soon.”
She could hear him laughing as she hung up. Her cheeks warmed as Jack appeared in the doorway of the office.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
Sally nodded. “Fine. Has the solicitor arrived?”
“Yes, indeedy!”
She slipped out of her chair and picked up her notes. “Let’s get this show on the road then and see what kind of reception we get from the dear lady today.”
A female PC brought the furious-looking suspect and her female solicitor into the room a few moments later. Jack started the tape and declared the relevant details.
“Right, Yvette, you seem a reasonable lady. Why don’t you reiterate what you told me yesterday about the deaths of your two daughters-in-law? Why don’t you tell me why and how Gemma Whiting died on the eighteenth of September, 2015?”
Yvette Whiting inhaled and exhaled a few breaths, her gaze glued to her interlocked fingers. “She was going to leave. I had to stop her.”
“Leave? Leave your son?” Sally asked in a hushed voice, matching the suspect’s.
“Yes. She’d been planning it for months. I found a letter lying on the kitchen table.”
“What letter? Who was it from?” Sally asked.
“Her new employer—in London. I couldn’t let her take Samantha away. The thought of not seeing her every day tore me apart. I had to step in and do something before it was too late.”
“So you followed her home that evening?”
“Yes. She drove into town with her friends. I saw her in the garden, flirting with that man. How could she do that when she had a loving husband waiting for her at home?”
“So you thought you’d punish her. Is that it?” Sally asked incredulously.
“I suppose so. I was determined to prevent her running off with my granddaughter. She’s my only grandchild. That counts for something, right?” Yvette glanced up at Sally as if seeking some kind of approval.
Sally shook her head. “No, that fact is far from being a justification, Yvette, and deep down, you know that. This is all about what is going on in your heart and your head. You’ve killed two innocent women because they dared to do something that didn’t meet with your approval.”
The woman sighed heavily. “I know I was wrong. But unless you know what it feels like to love a grandchild unconditionally, I’ll ask you not to judge me, Inspector.”
“I don’t have to be a grandmother to know that excuse is hogwash. Why don’t you tell me what occurred that evening back in September?”
“As I followed Gemma home, my blood was boiling after I saw her with him. For all I knew, she had made arrangements to meet up with this man once she’d moved to London.”
“If that was true, then that would have been Gemma’s business, surely?”
“She was cheating on my son—that made it my business,” Yvette snapped back.
“Actually, she wasn’t. Gemma and Taylor Hew met for the first time that evening. Which means you killed your daughter-in-law just because she chatted with a total stranger.”
Yvette’s mouth dropped open.
“So, you followed her home, then what?” Sally asked sharply.
Yvette looked sideways at her solicitor, who was frantically making notes, then Yvette’s gaze dropped to her hands again. “I realised we were getting closer to her home. Something took hold of me, forced me to ram her car. I never expected her to end up in a hedge.”
“Okay, I can believe that. What I can’t understand is what happened next. Why don’t you fill us in?”
“You have to understand the rage was bubbling inside of me. I went to the back of the car and took out the tyre wrench, or whatever it’s called. She had no idea it was me. I beat her with the bar. I was shocked by the first blow, the impact it made. I couldn’t stop myself hitting her. Samantha’s face drifted into my mind. I got angrier and angrier, believing that I would never see my darling granddaughter again and…”
“You killed your own granddaughter’s precious mother. Go on, say it.”
“Yes. I killed her. I regretted it afterwards, once I saw the devastation it had caused to the family.”
“Yet you repeated the crime only a few months later. This time, the victim was your son’s second wife. In the process of that murder, you put him in the spotlight for both crimes. What kind of mother does that, Yvette?”
Her head tilted upwards, and she glared at Sally. Through clenched teeth, she said, “A desperate one, Inspector.”
“Go on then, tell us why and how Kathy Whiting felt the wrath of your anger.”
“I overheard her telling someone on the phone that she intended going part-time at work. I assumed that meant my time with Samantha would be limited in the future. I couldn’t let that happen. The rage descended again. I shooed Samantha upstairs to play with her dolls and went out to the car to collect the tyre wrench again. It worked the first time. There was no reason for the outcome to be any different this time.”
“What a callous woman you are. Not once thinking about how damaging your actions would be to the one you say you love most in this world. Samantha will be traumatised for life because of what you have stolen from her. How could you kill Kathy with your granddaughter upstairs in the same house?”
Tears trickled from Yvette’s eyes. Sally suspected they were tears of sympathy for her own selfish sake and not for the two victims, whose lives she had ended so recklessly. “For a split second, I forgot she was even there.”
“Really? You expect me to believe that when you’ve just told me you parcelled the girl off to her room a few seconds before?”
She shrugged. “That’s how it happened. I’m telling you the truth in the hope it will ease my guilt, Inspector.”
“Nice to see you showing some kind of remorse at last, Yvette. Tell me this; did you know that both women were pregnant?”
“I had an idea. If you’ve ever been through a pregnancy, yo
u get a nose for these things.”
Sally was appalled by the woman’s admission. “And that fact didn’t prevent you from reconsidering your murderous actions.”
Yvette flinched when Sally emphasised the word murderous. “No. I keep telling you, you would need to put yourself in my shoes to understand the anguish I was riddled with.”
“I doubt I’d ever be driven to the lengths of killing someone. Let alone four people. Because that is what this amounts to, Yvette. You’ve robbed this world, and your family, of four innocent lives.”
Yvette’s head dropped swiftly onto her chest as the magnitude of what she had done finally sank in. She could try to justify her actions all she liked, but the truth was there for all to see: her craziness had ripped her own family apart.
“What I don’t understand is your willingness to apportion the blame on others. You had no compunction in trying to frame either of your sons. Boy, you must really hate them.”
Her head snapped back up. Anger shone in her eyes. “I love my sons. How dare you infer that? Even after Colin did what he did to Gemma.”
“What did he do, Yvette?” Sally asked, intrigued.
“They didn’t have an affair. That is what he told you, isn’t it? Don’t make him out to be a blameless party here. It’s Colin’s fault that Gemma was leaving. I’m sure it was.”
“What did he do?” Sally repeated with a sigh.
“He raped her. That child wasn’t conceived out of love.”
“What? Does Mark know about this?”
“No. We kept it a secret between ourselves. Colin being the father wouldn’t have come out at all if he hadn’t shown up at the house that day and opened his big mouth to Mark. I should have revealed to Mark then that I was aware that Colin had raped Gemma. My son was delusional. Colin loved Gemma so much, but she did all she could to escape his advances.”
“How did you know about the rape? Did Colin admit it to you?”
“No. I was in the utility room on the day of the barbecue. No one knew I was there. I overheard Gemma warning Colin that she would tell Mark about the incident if he didn’t stop harassing her.”
“Why? Why didn’t you intervene? Why didn’t you tackle Colin about the assault?”
Yvette shrugged. “Because I had my own agenda to deal with, I suppose. During the argument, I discovered Gemma’s intentions to leave Mark. She rubbed Colin’s nose in it, told him that because of his actions she could no longer be a wife to her husband in the bedroom.”
“And what did Colin say to that?”
“He acted like an excited puppy, thought that Gemma meant she was going to leave Mark for him.”
“Wow, your family truly have a way of twisting the truth to suit their needs, don’t they? That’s bloody priceless.”
Yvette shrugged. “I was hoping you would come down heavily on Colin, arrest him for Gemma’s death, but you didn’t.” Yvette sneered again.
Jack nudged his knee against Sally’s under the table, urging her to retaliate, “Oh, I get it—now it’s our fault for not arresting the wrong person. You really are a perverse, nasty woman. Everyone is to blame but you, eh?”
“I’ve showed Samantha real love. She would’ve wanted for nothing had she come to live with me.”
“You had no right to kill those women just so the access channels to your granddaughter remained open to you.”
“In your opinion, Inspector.”
Sally exhaled a large breath. “And the unborn children meant nothing to you, either? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“No one could replace Samantha. She’s an absolute treasure, the sweetest girl ever to walk the earth, and that is down to me. All the care and love I’ve shown her since the day she was born.”
Sally had heard enough. She could no longer bear to be in the same room as the loathsome woman. “We’re going round and round in circles here. Yvette Whiting, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Gemma Whiting and Kathy Whiting…” Sally left the room after completing the arrest announcement under the glare of Yvette, who said nothing further in her defence.
EPILOGUE
The team met up at the pub they usually frequented to celebrate the conclusion of a case.
“Here’s to our success,” Jack announced, raising his pint. The others chinked their glasses against his.
Sally smiled weakly. Her mind was full of regrets for the innocent people whose lives had been affected—not only by a screwed-up grandmother, but also by her delusional son.
She doubted very much if Mark would ever fall in love with another woman, even though his mother would spend the rest of her life behind bars. He would always be wracked with guilt for what his own mother and brother had put the women he loved through. Mrs. Whiting’s husband was at present recuperating in the hospital after suffering a heart attack, brought on by Sally revealing the truth about his wife. The poor man had had no idea the lengths that his wife’s obsession with their granddaughter had gone to.
As for Colin Whiting, divorce was definitely on the cards for him and Leona. She’d forgiven him once for his ‘affair’ with Gemma. However, once Sally had disclosed the real nature of his relationship with Gemma, Leona had broken down in tears and said enough was enough as far as their marriage was concerned. Colin was, at that moment, sitting in a remand cell, awaiting trial for rape. Sally was uncertain if he would actually serve any time for his crime now that his victim was dead, but she would do all she could to see that he was punished for the crime he’d committed.
Jack clashed elbows with her. “Hey, you’re miles away. You should be happy, not gloomy about this, boss. We did it.”
“I know. I’m just sad for those who lost their lives. That’s all. Needlessly at that. Who gives people the right to snuff out another person’s life because they don’t conform to their wishes?”
Jack shrugged. “Pass. At the end of the day, boss, we’ve done our job and caught the culprits. At least there are no recriminations on our part.”
“Isn’t there, Jack? Maybe not for you, but I’ll always have deep regrets that I didn’t arrest Yvette sooner. Maybe, just maybe, Kathy would still be with us today if we’d picked up about the car sooner. I’m off home. Enjoy the rest of your evening, everyone. See you at work bright and early, to do it all over again.”
Sally left the pub and drove home. After bidding her mother and father a good evening with one of the most suffocating, loving hugs she could muster, she took Dex out for his evening walk to contemplate what lay ahead of her. Life was pretty darn good, and she envisaged it getting a whole lot better, now that Darryl had been punished and was permanently out of her life.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
EPILOGUE