Sins of the Fathers by Sally Spencer Read Free Book Online

to make sure he remained the majority shareholder.’
    â€˜Remind me what happened to Hawtrey,’ Woodend said.
    â€˜He died in a mountaineering accident up in the Lakes, a couple of years ago.’
    â€˜How old was he when this happened?’
    â€˜In his mid-fifties.’
    Woodend sniffed. ‘Seems a bit long in the tooth to be buggerin’ about climbin’ mountains,’ he said. ‘So what happened to Alec Hawtrey’s shares after he died?’
    â€˜They went to his widow, Thelma.’
    â€˜So she’s the one who’s actually in charge?’
    Paniatowski shook her head. ‘She makes slightly more money out of the company than Pine did, but she doesn’t take any active part in running it.’
    â€˜An’ the business is healthy, is it?’
    â€˜More than healthy. It’s fighting fit. It posted record profits last year, and had to take on a lot of extra staff in order to meet demand.’
    â€˜You’ve done very well to come up with so much on the feller in such a short time, Monika,’ Woodend said approvingly.
    â€˜Thank you, but I can’t really claim much personal credit for it,’ Paniatowski told him. ‘I got most of the material out of his political manifesto.’
    â€˜So now let’s get on to the really big questions,’ Woodend suggested, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. ‘What was the motive behind Bradley Pine’s murder, and – perhaps even more importantly, in terms of openin’ up the investigation – why did the killer mutilate him once he was dead?’
    The other two looked him blankly for a moment.
    Then Paniatowski said, ‘I’ve no idea. I’ve never come across a case of murder and mutilation before. Have you, sir?’
    â€˜Only once,’ Woodend told her. ‘It was while I was at the Yard. The victim had been beaten to death, then his killers had cut off his genitals an’ stuffed them in his mouth.’
    Beresford shuddered, and put his hand protectively – and instinctively – over his lap.
    â€˜Did you ever find out the reason for the castration?’ Monika Paniatowski asked.
    â€˜I did. It turned out that the dead man had raped the sister of the two fellers who murdered him. I can’t say I was entirely surprised by the result. I suspected it might be somethin’ like that right from the start, because what they’d done made a twisted kind of sense, you see. But this is a different matter altogether. Whoever killed Pine smashed in his mouth an’ slit open his stomach. What kind of message was that meant to send?’
    â€˜Smashing in his mouth could have signified that he talked too much,’ Paniatowski said.
    â€˜An’ slittin’ open his stomach signified that he
ate
too much?’ Woodend asked.
    â€˜Probably not,’ Paniatowski agreed.
    â€˜I suppose that sex could have been involved,’ Beresford suggested, tentatively.
    â€˜In what way?’
    â€˜Well, I’m not entirely sure,’ admitted Beresford, who was still a virgin, but would have died rather than admit it to the other two. ‘Maybe he treated a woman very badly, and this was her revenge.’
    â€˜Fair point,’ Woodend agreed. ‘What have we found out about his love life so far, Monika?’
    â€˜Not a lot,’ Paniatowski admitted. ‘There hasn’t been time. But we do know that he wasn’t married, nor ever had been – which is quite unusual for a man in his late thirties.’
    â€˜Aye, it is,’ Woodend said. ‘Is there any indication that he might have been inclined the other way?’
    â€˜There’s no record of him ever having been arrested for loitering outside public lavatories, if that’s what you mean,’ Paniatowski said.
    â€˜Not that that rules out the possibility of his bein’ homosexual,’ Woodend said. ‘Still, there’s no point in just