The Righteous Men (2006)

The Righteous Men (2006) Read Online Free PDF

Book: The Righteous Men (2006) Read Online Free PDF
Author: Sam Bourne
Tags: Sam Bourne
tapping out a quick
email to Beth. There was a rhythm to all this electronic communication: BlackBerry
by day, when he knew his wife was near a computer terminal, text message by
night when she was not.
    Quick psychology lesson needed. Need
to get interview with woman who knew the victim. Have led her to believe I work
for funeral company. Will now have to reveal truth: how do I do that without
getting her so angry she throws me out of her house? Need yr considered opinion
asap, am just few mins away.
    xx W
    He waited; but there was no reply.
    It was twilight when Will tapped on the screen door. A woman
poked her head out of the upstairs window. Early forties, Will guessed; black,
attractive. Her hair was straightened, with an auburn hue. ‘Coming right
down.’
    She introduced herself as Letitia. She did not want to give her last name.
    ‘Look, my name is Will Monroe and I apologize.’ He began babbling
that this was his first big story, that he had only lied because he was
desperate not to let his bosses down, when he noticed that she was neither
doing nor saying anything.
    She was not throwing him out, just listening to him with a faintly puzzled
expression. His voice petering out now, he gave her a pre-cooked line: ‘Look,
Letitia. This may be the only way the truth about Howard Macrae will ever come out.’
But he could see it was not needed. On the contrary, Letitia seemed rather glad
to have the chance to talk.
    She gestured him away from the front door towards a living room cluttered
with children’s toys.
    ‘Were you related to Howard?’ he began.
    ‘No,’ Letitia smiled. ‘No, I only met that man once.’ That man. Here we go , thought Will. Now we’re going to get the
real dirt on this Macrae . ‘But once was enough.’
    Will felt a surge of excitement. Maybe Letitia knows a secret about
Macrae dark enough to explain his murder. I’m ahead of the police .
    ‘When was this?’
    ‘Nearly ten years ago. My husband — he’ll be back soon was
in jail.’ She saw Will’s face. ‘No! He hadn’t done
anything.
    He was innocent. But we couldn’t pay the bail to get him out. He was
in that prison cell night after night. I couldn’t bear it. I grew
desperate.’ She looked up at Will, her eyes hoping that he understood the
rest. That she would not have to spell it out.
    ‘Everyone knows there’s only two ways to make quick money round
here. You sell drugs or …’
    Now Will got it. ‘Or you sell … or you go see Howard.’
    ‘Right. I hated myself for even thinking about it. I grew up singing
choir in the AME church, Mr Monroe.’
    ‘Will. I understand.’
    ‘I was raised right. But I had to get my husband out of that jail. So
I went to … Howard’s place.’
    Without looking down, Will scribbled in his notebook. Eyes glittering .
    ‘I was going to sell the one thing I owned.’ Now she was tearing
up. ‘I couldn’t even go in, I was sort of hiding in the shadows,
hesitating. Howard Macrae spotted me there. I think he had a broom in his hand,
sweeping. He asked me what I wanted. Kind of, “Can I help you?” I
told him what I wanted.
    I told him why I needed the money. I didn’t want him to think, you
know. And then this man, who I never met before, did the oddest thing.’
    Will leaned forward.
    ‘Right there and then, he marched off to what I guessed was his own
room in that … place. He unlocked it and, straight away, he starts
stripping the bed.’
    ‘Stripping the bed?’
    ‘Uh-huh. I was scared at first, I didn’t know what he was about
to do to me. He put these blankets in a pile, and then he gets to work on his
bedside table. Starts packing it up.
    Starts unplugging his CD player, takes off his watch. It all goes in this
big pile. And then he begins moving all this stuff, shooing me out of the way.
Now this bed is one of those really good ones, big with a deep, strong
mattress, like a topof-the-range bed. So it’s heavy but he’s
dragging it and lugging it, till it’s
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