Death at Eden's End (A DCI Satterthwaite Mystery) by Jo Allen

Author:Jo Allen [Allen, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781789543056
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 2019-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

*

‘I think you can guess why we’ve come.’ Jude declined a seat, though Ellie had sat at the table in the interview room Karen kept available for them and had helped herself to coffee and cake.

Though she must surely have been expecting her background to be uncovered, she showed no signs of nerves, wasn’t remotely cowed. Instead she stuck out her chin and challenged him, with a look. ‘Obviously you’ve discovered something important relating to Violet’s death.’

‘Not that. My team have done something your employers should have done, Mrs Jack, but it appears they didn’t. They carried out a criminal record check.’

‘I see.’

‘You did disclose your criminal record to your employers, I take it? After your appointment, if not before.’

She shook her head at him. ‘You can’t accuse me of killing Violet Ross, Chief Inspector. Or if you are, you’ll have to come up with something a lot better than that.’

‘I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m asking you why you didn’t declare your criminal record.’

She rolled her eyes at him, as though she found the question stupid and the required explanation tedious. Clearly she wasn’t a woman with a great deal of respect for authority. ‘I was never asked. If I had been, I’d have told them. It isn’t my fault if they chose not to follow up my references, or do the background checks.’

‘And what would they have found if they’d checked your references?’

She raised her eyebrows at him in a gesture that was almost contempt. ‘I edited my references, Chief Inspector. I wanted a promotion and this was a good job. No-one’s ever challenged me on my professionalism. I made mistakes. I don’t deny that. But they were mistakes I made when I was sixteen and under pressure from my peers. I’ve paid the price for them. Can’t you understand that?’

Jude stared back at her, understanding too well. The situation Ellie described, that of a naive teenager under the influence of others, was exactly the same one Mikey had found himself in, and in his heart he knew that mercy was the most productive way of dealing with it. Beside him, Doddsy cleared his throat and Jude knew he must be thinking the same thing. ‘That’s a fair point.’ He pulled himself back to the questions. ‘And I take it the conviction is spent?’

She nodded.

‘Was it spent when you took up this job?’

‘Does that matter? I’ve proved I can do the job and do it well. Don’t you dare try and pin a conviction on me for a crime I didn’t commit, just because I committed a very different crime in the past.’

Jude caught Doddsy’s eye, and wished he hadn’t. His colleague seemed to find this funny, but there was little that annoyed Jude more than the layman who claimed to know the law, and his job, better than he did. ‘I want you to understand where I’m coming from, Mrs Jack. Somebody killed a defenceless old lady and I need to find out who that person was.

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