Stop Dead (DI Geraldine Steel)

can. You won’t miss anything if you’re not there on the dot.’
    That was what everyone said, no speeches, no presentations, no fuss . She would insist on that herself when the time came and her wishes would be ignored, just as Ted’s colleagues would take no notice of his request that nothing be said on the occasion of his retirement after a lifetime on the force.
    ‘Sounds perfect.’

     
    It would certainly be good to see Ted and Kathryn again. She expected to see her former sergeant, Ian, there as well although Ted hadn’t mentioned his name. Geraldine could count the number of people she had felt close to in her life on the fingers of one hand. Ian Peterson was one of them. They had worked together on a number of cases and she still missed working with him. The call ended, Geraldine went into the kitchen to fix herself something to eat.

     
    Talking to Ted had reminded her how readily she had once trusted her instincts about people. Somehow the more experienced she became, the less confident she felt. Sitting down to eat in front of the television, she found her attention wandering from one of her favourite comedy shows; intermittently she was aware of the audience roaring with laughter but she missed the jokes as she reviewed her gut feeling about the suspects in her current case.

     
    She had never believed Guy had killed Henshaw, let alone Corless, and now they knew Guy was out of the frame. Amy and Amanda Corless seemed equally unlikely to have killed each other’s husbands. Even if it had been credible to begin with, Sam’s desperate suggestion that the two women might be jointly culpable, acting out a pact to despatch their husbands, was completely discredited by the discovery of old Bradshaw’s body. Not only had Geraldine doubted that either of the women were in any way involved in the murders, she hadn’t thought any of the suspects guilty yet. How much time and energy they would have saved if the investigation had simply followed her hunches. But so far her instincts had merely rejected all the suspects they had come up with. Even she couldn’t home in on an unknown killer.

     
    She felt in her bag for her diary. The retirement do was exactly one week away. She hoped it wasn’t too optimistic to trust they would have made some progress with her current case before she met up with her old colleagues again. The way the investigation was going, they were more likely to discover another victim than the killer.

CHAPTER 52
     
    G eraldine didn’t completely disapprove of her young sergeant’s fecund imagination, although Sam’s latest theory was particularly far-fetched. Nevertheless, Geraldine had to agree it was feasible. She had seen too much not to admit that if something was possible it didn’t really matter how improbable it might seem. When an investigation seemed to be going nowhere, any idea was welcome. Geraldine nodded at Sam to indicate she was listening as she continued to outline her latest theory, warming to her narrative as she spoke.
    ‘So what I was thinking is, let’s say Patrick was having it off with Desiree and George found out.’
    Sam sat forward in her chair, her short blonde hair falling forward to form an irregular fringe above her eyes. Geraldine couldn’t help smiling at the young sergeant’s enthusiasm.
    ‘You make it sound like a soap. This isn’t Eastenders , Sam.’
    Geraldine laughed but Sam didn’t join in.

     
    ‘No, but think about it for a moment,’ the sergeant insisted earnestly, undeterred by Geraldine’s amusement.
    ‘Patrick and Desiree must have known each other, mustn’t they? At the very least they must have met. They can’t not have known each other.’
    ‘OK, I get it, Patrick Henshaw knew Desiree. They knew each other. So what? Where is this going, Sam?’
    Geraldine glanced over at her screen, rapidly losing interest in Sam’s idea which seemed to be nothing but gossip.
    ‘Well, what if George found out that Patrick was having an affair with Desiree and killed him? George would’ve had plenty of opportunity, plus there’s the added inducement of getting his hands on the entire proceeds of the restaurant which would’ve come in very handy. He might have been considering getting rid of his partner for a while, only not in any serious way, and then the sexual jealousy pushed him into doing it. Well? What do you think? It makes sense, doesn’t it? Sexual jealousy can be a powerful drive.’

     
    Geraldine nodded,