Readers' Wives Part 2

This is part 2 of this story. For the whole story click here 

In the house DC Jones was waiting for his boss - ready to show him the collection he’d found.

‘You might want to look at this guv,’ he said as the harrassed looking DI came back into the room.

Griffiths went over to Jones and looked at the pile of porn magazines the younger detective was flicking through.

‘Nothing illegal about having porn Jones,’ Griffiths was getting impatient.

‘I know boss but look, our suspect is in every other magazine.’

‘She was a model?’ Griffiths moved in closer and picked up a magazine.

‘Not exactly! The Readers’ Wives section, look.’ Jones pointed to four or five spreads and there she was, Mrs Edwards in various stages of undress.

‘I think in this one is our stiff too.’ Jones said with a smile, Griffiths looked him. ‘Excuse the pun boss.’

Griffiths looked and sure enough Mr Edwards also featured in the pages of Fiesta in the ‘One for the Ladies’ section.

‘How far do these date back?’ Griffiths asked feeling that stirring again as he looked at Mrs Edwards in white stockings and suspenders with nothing more than a smile.

‘Well 15 years I reckon boss.’

‘Do you think she looks happy in any of these photos, Jones?’

‘She’s smiling isn’t she?’

‘She’s smiling, pouting, licking her lips but that isn’t what I asked, is she happy?’

Jones shrugged his shoulders and went back to flicking through the other magazines.

Griffiths wandered away, lost in thought. ‘Bag them up Jones.’

Griffiths went back to the murder scene, where the SOCOs were just finishing up. As she had been dressed in those clothes, he guessed there had been another photo shoot planned or in progress.

‘Was there a camera here George?’

The SOCO looked up at the DI and pointed to a pile of polythene bags. ‘Yeah and a tripod, we bagged it.’

‘Mind if I take a look?’

‘Be my guest.’

Griffiths pulled on another pair of rubber gloves and looked at the camera but there was nothing on it. All the pictures had been wiped or uploaded to a PC.

‘Jones, make sure the PC is taken down the station too.’ Griffiths called up to his constable before deciding it was time to head back to the station.

‘Meryl, I am trying to help you here love, but you won’t say anything.’ Griffiths stretched out his arms, the gesture completing his sentence for him. ‘You say he didn’t beat you or molest you so why did you kill him.’  Griffiths was hopeless at this, he could deal with real crims, the scum, but this woman wasn’t scum, if anything she was the victim. He wished he had a female colleague but instead he was lumbered with Jones.

Meryl Edwards said nothing. The sobs had dried up and her face had hardened.
‘We know about the photo shoots’ try as he might Griffiths couldn’t get his voice to sound right. It was too harsh, patronising, too policemany. ‘Did he make you do them?’

But it was hopeless, Meryl had said all she was going to say.

Griffiths and Jones turned off the video camera, and left the room.

‘She’s got no defence boss. If he wasn’t beating her then she has no defence, just cold blooded murder.’

But Griffiths wasn’t so sure, there was more than one way to skin a cat. 

For the whole story click here