Free Sorcerer by David Menon

Mr.Griffin?’ said Jeff.
    ‘Because he was a little brat who’d been spoilt rotten by his father and resented me coming into the house and the family’.
    ‘Surely it was natural he missed his father and remained loyal to him? He had only been dead a few short weeks when you married Ed’s mother?’
    Griffin looked at Jeff as if he’d just stepped in him. ‘I don’t know the answer to that. Look, what happens to me now?’
    ‘Oh I’m sorry, were you under the misguided impression that you decide when the interview is over?’
    ‘Can I remind you I have my dear wife’s funeral to arrange?’
    Jeff stared at him. He was as guilty as hell of all the crimes he’d been accused of and probably many more besides. Now it was just proving it. He took out some of the black and white photographs that had been found at Pembroke House and laid them out on the table.
    ‘Do you recognize any of these children, Mr. Griffin?’
    Griffin swept a cursory glance over the pictures. ‘Should I?’
    ‘Two of the boys who’ve given us sworn statements are in these photos and say that you’re the adult male whose face we can’t see performing horrific sexual acts on them’.
    ‘More fanciful nonsense’.
    ‘My colleague DI Stockton and I are going to consult’ said Jeff. ‘I’d settle down if I was you and make yourself comfortable. You’ll be here for some time. Oh and I’ll leave the pictures with you in case they jog your memory. We have several copies’.
     
    Griffin was released from questioning eight hours later. He was set to appear before magistrates in a month’s time and he was furious. He detested the way the country had changed since he’d moved to Spain. They were all so weak and feeble these days. But they’d never get the better of him no matter how hard they tried.
    He decided to go and see his step-son Ed. When he got there, he knew he wouldn’t get the red carpet rolled out for him but Ed seemed particularly aggrieved. He took a certain degree of satisfaction from that.
    ‘I assume Jenny is at work?’
    ‘I don’t want to talk to you’ said Ed who was trying not to look at George. He thought he’d be sick if he met eyes with him. ‘I just want you to leave’. 
    ‘So no respect for your mother’s memory?’ snarled George. ‘Come on, Ed. We need to be friends more than ever now’.
    ‘What do you mean by that?’
    ‘Let’s not fight’ said George. ‘I’ve really no stomach for it’.
    ‘That’s the trouble with you, isn’t it? You can always sound so reasonable and yet I know the real face behind the mask. The police are already starting to see through you though from what I’ve heard. You can’t control this lot like you could Ian Hayward’.
    ‘They’ll never get anything on me’.
    ‘Even a cat only has nine lives and you’ve gone way past that. You’re on borrowed time. These charges will stick. You won’t get away with it this time and you’ll be spending the rest of your days behind bars’.
    ‘Oh don’t be so sure of that. I’ll be on my way out of here as soon as your mother is in the ground. Pity though when your wife has made me feel so welcome’.
    Ed glared at him. ‘You’re so low you could get underneath a snake’.
    ‘She said last time that I made her feel like a woman again. I suppose that’s still on your to-do list’.
    ‘If you want to leave here in one piece then I suggest you tell me what it is you’ve come here for’.
    ‘Oh you shouldn’t sound so bitter, Edward’.
    ‘Nobody calls me that’.
    ‘I do if I choose to’.
    ‘What did you mean by what you said?’
    ‘I say a lot of things’.
    ‘When you said that we need to be friends more than ever now?’
    George laughed sardonically. ‘Yes, I thought you’d pick up on that‘
    ‘Stop playing games with me you bastard!’
    ‘Oh calm down!’
    That’s when the scales fell from Ed’s eyes. He lunged for George, lifting him up and pinning him up against the wall.
    ‘I’ll kill