"So Harry Bundrick pleaded to accessory to the murder of Patsy Worth and interfering with a police investigation?"
"That's correct, Ma'am." Detective Inspector Robert Lewis was reviewing the outcome of their latest case with his Chief Superintendent, Jean Innocent.
"And Tina Daniels pleaded to two counts of accessory to murder?"
He looked rather unhappy. "Yes, Sefton Linn and Dean Greely."
"And Theodore Platt's death was what? An accident?"
"Well, he really brought it on himself. Him threatening his wife is what made the dogs think they needed to protect her. We could hear him shouting while we were still in the car. The dogs just did what they were trained to do."
"Your report doesn't mention how the dogs got loose. Tina Daniels was in custody at the time, wasn't she?"
"Uh, Anne Sadikov indicated that they were running loose for exercise. She had set them free like that the first time Sergeant Hathaway and I were at the house, too."
"Handy coincidence, that. It should have been in here." She waved the report at him. "This report is not the usual model of clarity that I have come to expect from you two. You're just accepting that the dogs attacked Platt and Anne couldn't stop them? Seems suspicious to me, after two other Sons of the Twice Born were murdered."
"Ma'am, there's no evidence anyone intended Platt to die that way. It's pure speculation. Can't get a conviction on that."
"Well, you certainly could have interviewed Anne Sadikov. You should have at least taken her statement, even if she wasn't involved in the murder. She was right there at the time of his death. That seems suspicious to me."
"She saved his life earlier. I was there. Why kill him after that?"
"I suppose you have a point. Still, I'd like to hear her answer to that question." Innocent clearly was not satisfied, but she turned on her heel and headed for her office. The conversation was over, but only for the time.
Lewis felt a twinge of guilt. He knew Anne had engineered Platt's death. Why was he protecting her? She was beautiful, yes, but he'd arrested beautiful women before, lots of times. He hadn't even told his sergeant, D.S. James Hathaway, that he knew she had done it. No, he was seriously in breach of his duty here. But that's just how it was going to be this time.
Lewis knew it was his own loathing of the man Anne had killed that, in his mind, completely justified her actions. Platt was despicable for half a dozen reasons, and deserved to die. He drank to excess all the time, and Lewis suspected Platt used cocaine as well; he had seen grains of white powder on the glass-topped table. Platt not only murdered Anne's mother in pursuit of his own pleasure but also treated Anne brutally. A wife should not be treated that way, and Lewis always reacted strongly when married people behaved cruelly or carelessly toward their spouses, or treated their marriage vows lightly.
And, yes, Lewis had felt like he had gotten a tiny bit of revenge knowing that the repellent Platt was killed by the woman he had wronged. The man had slaughtered an innocent person when he should not have been behind the wheel at all, and Lewis was utterly unable to forgive anyone for that. Why was it always the wrong person who ended up dead in car accidents? Anne had done the world a favor by letting her dogs tear up Platt. The man was poison.
Still, he should probably go out to talk to her one more time. She had taken a risk by letting him know she had intended Platt's death and he wanted her to know her secret was safe with him. Promising her that would strengthen his own resolve to let the matter go, even if it violated his professional ethics. His rather loudly nagging, professional ethics.
Hathaway was out of the office. This was his chance. It wouldn't do for James to know where he was going. He grabbed his jacket and headed for the car park.
As he drove, he wondered what he was trying to hide from Hathaway and why. He'd been upfront about the note. But he hadn't told Hathaway that Anne said she was sharing her revenge with Lewis. This was the one piece that completed the story. If James knew Anne had told Lewis that, he would likely feel compelled to tell Innocent. Not that Lewis cared about getting a reprimand, but he didn't want Anne to suffer any fallout. James clearly thought Lewis was letting his personal feelings about Platt affect his judgment, and did not approve. But that wasn't the case. Lewis had better people instincts than Hathaway, and a stronger sense of substance over form when it came to what was just. No, Hathaway must not learn about Anne's secret. His secret.