Хилари Боннер - A Moment Of Madness

Yes, thought Karen, that was probably true and was also half the point. The James family did not rest easily until they had avenged any perceived grievances against members of their clan. And murder was a very big grievance indeed.

‘Has he taken his van?’

Mrs James nodded. ‘Course he has. Who can afford train fares nowadays? Even if the bloody things are running.’

They searched the house then.

Ken James’s bedroom was almost as interesting as Terry James’s room had been all that time before. The walls were pasted with newspaper cuttings of the killing of Scott Silver and Terry James at Maythorpe Manor, and of Angel’s trial for the manslaughter of Terry. There were also a selection of photographs of Angel, some with Scott, which Karen thought may have earlier adorned Terry James’s bedroom. All the pictures of Angel had something in common. They had each been grossly defaced. In some her face had merely been obliterated with what looked like marker pen in various colours, primarily black or red. Others had been drawn over obscenely, with the addition of unpleasantly distorted breasts and sexual organs. Several had ‘Die, you bitch’ written across them.

The DCI and DS Cooper exchanged glances.

‘Right,’ said Karen. ‘Let’s get on to Birmingham. We need to find Kenny James and that van of his, smartish.’

Less than a couple of hours later the West Midland Constabulary called to say that they’d found Ken James, a quicker result than anybody had realistically expected. But it seemed that his details had already been logged when the West Midlands received the call for help from Torquay.

Ken had apparently been involved in a pre-match pub brawl. His neck had been broken and he was in hospital in a coma. His van had been parked outside the pub and a preliminary search had revealed a lump hammer wrapped in a pair of bloodstained combat trousers.

Eventually even the Chief Constable agreed that the murder charge against Kelly had to be dropped in view of the fresh evidence. He didn’t like it, though.

‘Basically, Karen, you’re telling me now we haven’t got enough on Kelly, even with his confession, and yet we haven’t got anyone else realistically in the frame either,’ he told the DCI irritably.

Karen, summoned yet again to Harry Tomlinson’s office at headquarters in Exeter, forced herself to remain cool.

‘We now have the murder weapon, there’s little doubt about that, sir,’ she began. ‘Kelly confessed to attacking Angel Silver but he absolutely denies using any kind of weapon. The PPS reckon there are too many grey areas and that any defence brief worth his salt would have a field day with the weapon line. It was found in Ken James’s van, and Ken James had motive in spades. He has made no secret of the bitter grudge he holds against Angel. Manslaughter or murder, it’s never made much difference to Ken. Angel killed his brother. Circumstantial stuff, I know, but the PPS reckon we’ve little or no chance of getting the charge against Kelly to stick.

‘His solicitor has already told me that he has advised Kelly to plead not guilty, in spite of his confession, and I’ve no doubt he’ll just do that. Kelly confessed on the spur of the moment because he was frightened and confused. And we all know how those kind of confessions go down in court. He’ll have plenty of time to think things through, too, before his case comes up at Crown Court, and his brief’s going to be able to drive a truck through our case. That’s what the PPS say, anyway.’

Harry Tomlinson grunted. ‘But we don’t have any chance of getting a charge against James to stick either,’ he responded.

‘Well, no, certainly not as long as Ken James is unconscious.’

‘And if he comes round? You reckon he’d confess?’

‘I’ve no idea, sir,’ said Karen non-committally, although she actually thought it was about as likely as James emerging from his coma and announcing he wanted to join the Salvation Army.

‘So, we’ve no result, nor likely to get one, Detective Chief Inspector. Is that what you’re telling me?’

Karen winced at that dangerously formal use of her rank again. She decided to attempt the political card.

‘Not at the moment, sir. But, don’t forget, if Kelly had gone to trial all that stuff about Angel allegedly telling him she had killed both men and planned to do so would have been bound to come out. It was what caused Kelly to strike at her, after all. So we may have got a result of sorts, sir, within the force, anyway. This way that won’t happen, and the public may never know how wrong we got the original investigation.’

As she spoke Karen realised that her final remark was a mistake.

‘How wrong you got it, Detective Chief Inspector,’ snapped Tomlinson.

But then he appeared to think about the rest of what she had said.

‘Mind you, I suppose you’re right up to a point,’ he remarked eventually. ‘Some things are better kept away from public knowledge.’

Karen arrived back in Torquay just in time to see Kelly, whose reprieve had come before his planned transfer to the County Jail, off the station premises.

‘Thanks for everything, Karen,’ he said when the DCI told him he was free to go.

‘If you want to thank me, John, just stay away from me for the foreseeable future,’ Karen replied tetchily. ‘This case has come very close to bringing me down, and not least of that has been your involvement in it and our so-called friendship.’

Kelly merely shrugged an apology. ‘Don’t worry, all I want to do is keep out of trouble from now on,’ he said.

Karen sighed wearily. Well, there was a first time for everything, she supposed.

In her office she went over and over it all in her mind for the umpteenth time. The new evidence was certainly circumstantial, and there were no fingerprints on the hammer — but Karen and her team had never been very optimistic on that score. Ken James was far too streetwise to leave prints anywhere. But also the combat trousers were virtually brand new and seemed to have been worn over leggings so there was little chance of coming up with any hair or skin particles which could provide DNA confirmation that they had been worn by James.

The chief constable was right enough, she thought. Unless James confessed there was probably even less likelihood of getting a conviction against him than there would be against Kelly.

‘I’d still like to know who made that anonymous phone call, though, boss,’ remarked DS Cooper a little later.

‘And I’d like to talk to Ken James,’ responded DCI Meadows. ‘But who knows if we will ever get the chance.’

‘Even if he does come out of his coma OK, he’ll deny all knowledge,’ said the detective sergeant echoing Karen’s own thoughts on the matter. ‘I’ve never known a James confess to anything yet.’

Karen Meadows pulled a long-suffering face. ‘So unless something else new, and something bloody good, turns up again, we’ve had it, Phil,’ she said. ‘The only evidence we have against anyone is conflicting and insubstantial and we’ve got little or no chance of any sort of result, as our own dear chief constable has already pointed out to me.’

The DS muttered his agreement. Angel Silver was dead and could not in any case have been tried for Terry James’s murder, having already been cleared of his manslaughter. And there was no evidence to point to that either, nor to prove that she had murdered her husband in the way Kelly had described.

Kelly had destroyed the videotape. All Karen could do was put the case on file. Along with a pending assault case against Kelly, which would almost certainly never be proceeded with, either.

Karen was, however, not quite as unhappy as she maybe felt she should be. There was that one advantage of this lack of action against Kelly — that Angel’s confession to the reporter so shortly before her own death might well not ever come to light now. Karen supposed Kelly could still write the story, but she had a feeling it was the last thing he would want to do. Even if he did, she wondered if anyone would print it. John Kelly had been pretty well discredited, after all, particularly as far as the Silver case was concerned.