Page 83 of Vengeance is Mine

‘Can I get you anything, Terry?’ Barbara asked.

‘I’m fine, thanks.’

‘Something to eat? There’s some shepherd’s pie left.’

‘No. Honestly, I’m fine. Thank you.’

‘How is your dad?’ Barbara sat down and placed her hands in her lap.

‘The usual.’

‘Did you tell him about Dominic?’ Harry asked.

‘Yes. He practically danced around the room.’

‘Well, I can understand that,’ Barbara said.

Harry looked over at his wife and gave her a blank stare. Terry could see what he was thinking. He couldn’t get her to see how Dominic’s murder was not the solution to the problem. They wouldn’t suddenly get their daughter back. Their grief wouldn’t be lifted. Nothing would change for them.

‘How’s the investigation going?’ Harry asked.

‘Who cares,’ Barbara muttered under her breath.

‘I care,’ Harry almost shouted. ‘I’m interested. A man has been murdered. It’s important his killer is caught and faces justice.’

‘We’re waiting for forensics to come back on a few items found at his house, but we’ve hit a brick wall when it comes to witnesses,’ Terry said. ‘The neighbours all claim to have heard nothing, but if you’d seen the state of the house, someone must have heard something.’

‘They’re not talking because they don’t want to get involved,’ Harry said.

‘No. They’re not talking because they don’t care. It’s good riddance to bad rubbish,’ Barbara injected.

Harry visibly baulked. He jumped up. ‘I’m not going through this with you again.’

‘We’ll be having this conversation time and time again, until you admit that man got his just deserts,’ she called after him, as he went into the kitchen. She turned back to Terry who looked uncomfortable in the armchair. ‘Sorry about that.’

‘It’s okay. I understand. It must be difficult for you both.’

‘It’s always difficult for us. It’s got worse since Dominic was released.’

‘Is there anything I can do?’

Barbara looked over her shoulder to see if Harry was coming back into the living room. He wasn’t.

‘Don’t find his killer,’ she said, her voice hardly a whisper. ‘I’ll want to recommend him for a knighthood while Harry will say prison. It’ll drive an even bigger wedge between us. I don’t want to end my life hating the man I’m married to.’

Terry looked at her with wide-eyed fear on his face. He had always been under the illusion Harry and Barbara had grown closer following Stephanie’s death, that their grief had bonded them and made them stronger. He had had no idea how fragile their relationship really was.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

STEPHANIE WHITE’S KILLER MURDERED

Dominic Griffiths, the killer of thirteen-year-old Stephanie White, has been found stabbed to death at his home in Winlaton.

Griffiths, 41, was released from prison last year following the introduction of new evidence that he was taking a now banned prescription drug at the time of the killing which had altered his mental state. He went on to receive an undisclosed compensation payout from the makers of the drug.

Northumbria Police were at the rented semi-detached house in Atlantic Road all day yesterday, and a post mortem is due to be carried out today. Leading the investigation is DI Terry Braithwaite, son of DI Ian Braithwaite, the detective in charge of the case which secured Griffiths’ conviction for the murder of the tragic teen. The junior DI Braithwaite was unavailable for comment last night.

Police sources have told the Chronicle that neighbours have put up a wall of silence and are claiming to have heard and seen nothing at the time of the murder. One neighbour, who doesn’t want to be named, told us: ‘It’s understandable nobody is saying anything. That man was pure evil. The Bible says an eye for an eye, and he certainly got what was coming to him.’

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