A Genuine Mistake, Ted Tayler [best self help books to read txt] 📗

A Genuine Mistake

(The twelfth case from ‘The Freeman Files’ series)

By

Ted Tayler

Copyright © 2021 by Ted Tayler

This ebook is licensed for your enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please buy an additional copy for each recipient.

All rights are reserved. You may not reproduce this work, in part or its entirety, without the author's express written permission.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cover design: - www.thecovercollection.com

A Harmsworth House publication 2021

  Other books by Ted Tayler

We’d Like To Do A Number Now (2011)

The Final Straw (2013)

A Sting In The Tale (2013)

Unfinished Business (2014)

The Olympus Project (2014)

Gold, Silver, and Bombs (2015)

Conception (2015)

Nothing Is Ever Forever (2015)

In The Lap of The Gods (2016)

The Price of Treachery (2016)

A New Dawn (2017)

Something Wicked Draws Near (2017)

Evil Always Finds A Way (2017)

Revenge Comes in Many Colours (2017)

Three Weeks in September (2018)

A Frequent Peal Of Bells (2018)

Larcombe Manor (2018)

Fatal Decision (2019)

Last Orders (2020)

Pressure Point (2020)

Deadly Formula (2020)

Final Deal (2020)

Barking Mad (2020)

Creature Discomforts (2020)

Silent Terror (2020)

Night Train (2020)

All Things Bright (2021)

Buried Secrets (2021)

Where to find him

Website & Blog: – http://tedtayler.co.uk

Facebook Author Page: – https://facebook.com/AuthorTedTayler

Twitter: – https://twitter.com/ted_tayler

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Table Of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

About The Author

  CHAPTER 1

Monday, 13th August 2018

When Gus Freeman arrived in the Old Police Station's car park, he soon realised that the team was back to its full complement. Luke and Neil had returned from their trip to the Yorkshire city of Bradford and parts of that vast county’s rugged countryside.

There were just two empty spaces. Gus drove into one near the middle of the row that Geoff Mercer had secured from the County Council. Gus knew Blessing Umeh would arrive in the next few minutes, and his young Detective Constable would appreciate the last space on the right-hand end.

It was small compensation for a wounded heart, but Blessing was a tough cookie. She would get over the loss of PC Dave Smith’s affections in time.

Gus travelled alone in the lift. He found Luke Sherman and Neil Davis hard at work. Alex Hardy and Lydia Logan Barre were still preparing for the start of a new week.

Gus nodded to the couple and walked over to chat with Neil and Luke.

He heard the lift returning to the ground floor. Blessing was on her way.

“A quick catch-up, lads,” he said. “Then, I’m off to London Road to collect the next cold case.”

Neil and Luke brought Gus up to speed on the events of last week.

DCI Phil Banks had called on Tuesday afternoon. His team had searched high and low for Jennifer Forsyth’s former boyfriend, Kyle Ellison. They found no utility or council tax bills carrying Ellison’s details. There was no evidence Kyle had worked or paid National Insurance and Income Tax in the past twenty-five years. The paper trail ended at the flat he’d rented in Leeds.

DCI Banks decided there was only one logical explanation, so he arranged interviews with the people who had wanted Ellison out of their daughter’s life. He needed to narrow the search area. Luke reminded Gus that scrubland near Digley Reservoir was already under investigation last Tuesday afternoon. The Reservoir was seven miles from the village of Marsden, where the Forsyth family lived. It was twenty-five miles from Leeds and the last sighting of Kyle Ellison.

Luke had driven north with Neil later last Wednesday morning and reached Trafalgar House in Bradford at two o’clock. A Detective Inspector Clemence took charge of the interviews with the male members of the Forsyth family. Neil and Luke watched from an observation room next door as Jennifer’s father, Dave, and brother, Darren, adopted the ‘no comment’ tactic favoured by people who hoped to hide their guilt.

Neil and Luke learned that Jennifer’s mother, Mary, had been more forthcoming in an interview late Tuesday afternoon. It transpired there was no love lost between Mary and her husband.

“We drove to Digley Reservoir late on Wednesday afternoon, guv,” said Luke. “Mary Forsyth overheard her husband describe an odd-shaped broom tree near where they dumped Ellison’s body after Darren killed him. The remains were in the mortuary on Tuesday evening, but Clemence had kept a forensic team there, gathering evidence.”

“It didn’t take long to find the poor devil,” said Gus.

“An hour, guv,” said Neil. “There was plenty to do before they could close the case.”

“Darren Forsyth served three months of his six-month sentence for assault,” said Luke. “When he came out, Dave Forsyth was adamant that they needed to get Kyle Ellison out of Jennifer’s life for good. He persuaded his daughter to contact Ellison and convince him she wanted to go back to him. Jennifer walked to a bus stop late at night and sat on a bench. Ellison arrived on foot, and as they talked, Darren crept from behind the bus shelter and brained Ellison with a tyre lever. Dave Forsyth then drove up, and Jennifer and Darren helped get Ellison’s body into the boot. Darren and his father buried the body half a mile from Digley Reservoir.”

“Jennifer moved away from Marsden to Chippenham the following week, guv,” said Neil. “Darren got himself a