THE MARRIAGE MURDER an addictive crime mystery full of twists by LEWIS ROY

Author:LEWIS, ROY
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller and mystery
Published: 2020-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

As Eric emerged from the magistrates’ court, DCI Spate was waiting for him in the corridor. Eric nodded briefly, hesitated, then headed for the stairs; Charlie Spate was not to be ignored, however, and fell into step beside him, cheerfully. ‘You didn’t really expect to get bail for Stevens did you? We were bound to oppose it.’

‘On the grounds he’s a suspected serial killer?’ Eric asked sarcastically.

‘On the grounds that we still want to talk to him, and that he’s still not telling us everything he knows. Sweating it out a bit longer might make him change his mind.’

‘There’s nothing in his record that suggests he could have killed Sam Cullen,’ Eric said evenly. ‘Or even be involved in the killing. He’s strictly small time.’

‘I’ll go with you on that, in general. But he was involved, wasn’t he? I mean, he was there. And, there’s always an occasion when an opportunity arises to move into the big time, and maybe that’s what happened to your client.’

‘I don’t believe that.’

At the top of the short flight of stairs, Spate touched his arm. ‘You got a moment?’

Eric stopped, shrugged warily.

Spate eyed him for a moment, considering. ‘I thought you’d like to know I been to see Mad Jack Tenby.’

‘And?’

‘He says he doesn’t even know Stevens. And, of course, that he never got Sam Cullen whacked.’

‘Do you believe him?’

Charlie Spate grinned. ‘I never believe lizards like him, even if they have clawed up out of the jungle into the fresh air. But then, I don’t believe your client, either. I just thought you’d want to know Tenby is calling it all nonsense.’

‘He would, wouldn’t he?’

Spate chuckled in wry amusement. ‘Of course. Anyway . . .’ He fished in his pocket, brought out a small folder. ‘I’m not out to give your client any assistance to get off the hook in any way, but if he says Tenby was involved in Cullen’s murder, the dirty deed was likely to have been done by one of Tenby’s soldiers. You been around Tyneside a long time — you ever seen this character?’

Spate extracted a black-and-white photograph from the folder. He handed it to Eric. There was a long silence as Eric stared at the features of the man in the photograph. It was an official police file shot: the man stared sullenly at the camera. He had fair hair cut short, a square jaw, cold eyes. His nose was prominent, his mouth set grimly. Eric touched dry lips with his tongue. ‘Who is he?’

‘His name’s Terry Morton.’ Spate stared sourly at the photograph in Eric’s hands. ‘Not a pretty sight, is he? Stevens claims he’s Tenby’s enforcer. Tenby reckons that though he used to work for him, Morton’s not been around for a while. I just wondered whether you’d ever come across him. Whether you might know about his usual haunts . . .’

The pulse was beating quickly in Eric’s temple: he was aware of the thudding, and he wondered desperately whether Spate was aware of it too.

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