Indefensible (DI Sara Ramsey Book 12), M Comley [world of reading TXT] 📗

anything worse than hearing about something so tragic through the media. Do you have a suspect in custody?”

“Not yet. There was no one at the crime scene.”

“I know, it was a dumb question, one I had to ask.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what else to say, my mind is full of nonsensical questions that I’m too scared to ask. The truth is I don’t want to know the ins and outs of how she died, however, I’m aware that I should know. Does that make sense? Because it doesn’t to me, none of this does. I’m appalled to be in this position less than twelve months since her mother passed away. How the hell can I bury my daughter? I’ve never bargained on having to do this throughout my life, you just don’t, do you?”

“I feel for you, it’s not something we tend to make plans for, saying goodbye to someone so young.” Sara’s voice cracked and she coughed to clear her throat as images of her dying Philip pushed into her mind.

Carla placed a hand on her arm and mouthed, “Are you all right?”

“Am I missing something here?” Mr Load asked, watching the interaction between Sara and Carla.

It was Carla who spoke first. “The inspector’s husband was murdered a few years ago.”

He stared at Sara open-mouthed for a brief second and then whispered, “So, you truly do know what I’m going through.”

“I do. And I have to say you’re going to have some dark times ahead of you, believe me.”

He smiled. “I’ll have to dig deep and drag up the happy times from my memory bank to keep me on the straight and narrow then, won’t I?”

“You will. Perhaps you can tell us if Mona had mentioned being under stress lately for any reason?”

“I don’t think so. Not that she let on. Stress as in a bad day at work? How would that lead to her death, Inspector?”

“It wouldn’t, I meant stress as in her personal life.”

“No, nothing is coming to mind. You’re not hinting at someone who she knew doing this to her, are you?”

“Possibly. Okay, here’s the deal. We called at Mona’s flat and spoke to the young woman above. She told us that Mona had split up with her boyfriend a few months ago. What can you tell us about either him or their relationship?”

“Nothing much. I never really got on with Jack. To me, it appeared he lacked any sense of compassion, you know, regarding what Mona had been through the past year, trying to overcome the loss of her mother on top of the damn pandemic and everything that involved. It was a shitty time for each and every one of us. Thankfully, we didn’t lose anyone due to the virus, unlike a couple of friends of ours.”

“That’s terrible. So many lives were lost during that time. How often did Mona see Jack?”

“Quite often. They were very close, I can’t say she loved him, though, otherwise she wouldn’t have split up with him, would she? I think he stayed at her flat a few nights during the week, but she was keen to keep hold of her freedom and refused to let him move in when he raised the subject, cheeky sod. I was extremely proud of her standing her ground. Shit! I get where this is leading, do you think he did this? Did he kill my baby?”

Sara raised her hand. “That’s impossible to know at this stage. He’ll definitely be a person of interest. I don’t suppose you happen to know where we can find him? What his surname is or where he works, perhaps?”

He thought over the questions for a few moments. “Surname, I haven’t got a clue. I think she said he’s a porter at the hospital, or did she? Something is prodding me to think that, I’m sorry, I’m not being much help, am I?”

“You’re doing fine. Carla, can you ring the hospital for me?”

Carla nodded and left the room.

Mr Load blew out a large breath that puffed out his rosy cheeks. “I feel so claustrophobic in here. I hate this area, we spend most of the time either on the shop floor or in the stockroom next door. I avoid this place like the plague usually.”

“Do you want to move? I don’t mind, it’s up to you.”

“Are you going to be long now?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Let’s get it over with quickly then, Abby will probably interrupt us soon anyway, sod’s law, right?”

“It’s bound to happen,” Sara agreed. “Can you think of anyone Mona had fallen out with lately?”

“She wasn’t the type. She tended to brush people aside if they argued with her. My girl liked to live a simple life, no conflicts if she could help it.”

“What about Jack? How did that end?”

“Let me think?” He paused for a while and then clicked his fingers. “I believe he started hounding her about moving into her place because his landlord was evicting him. I seem to recall the bloke had sold the house where Jack was staying. He was cheesed off, too lazy to search for other accommodation and plonked himself on Mona’s sofa and refused to move.”

“How did she eventually get rid of him?”

“She tricked him. Gave him a tenner to go and fetch some beers and locked him out of the house. She was wise enough not to give him a key to the front door.”

Sara smiled. “She sounds as though she had her head screwed on.”

Tears welled up. “She did. I’m going to miss her terribly. She was my only child and now, with my wife gone as well, I’m left all alone. I’m not sure how I’m going to cope. She was my shoulder to cry on when things got on top of me. This is my business, things have been rough the past year as you can imagine. I was forced to take out a large loan to restock the shop and I’m a long way off recouping that money. It’s