Free Delayed & Denied by J. J. Salkeld Page B

let’s talk about exactly what he said. Can you remember?’
    ‘Just that he’d killed Sharon, and dumped her in Crummock Water.’
    ‘Just like that?’
    ‘Like I say, I can’t really remember now. It’s a long time ago, and I’ve just lost my wife.’
    ‘Don’t worry. Did he say why he’d decided to confess to you?’
    ‘I asked. I do remember that. I was shocked, amazed, like. So I asked him straight out.’
    ‘And what did he say?’
    ‘He said that he had to tell someone, like. That it was doing his head in.’
    ‘And did you ask him for more details?’
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘Like how he’d killed her, or how he’d moved the body? Anything like that, really.’
    ‘No. No, I don’t think so. Like I say I was completely stunned. Well, it’s not every day that your best mate admits that he’s a murderer, is it?’
    ‘Indeed not. So what happened then? Did you tell Adam that you’d have to tell the police what he’d said?’
    ‘No, not at the time. But I told my wife everything the next morning, and she persuaded me that I had to do the right thing. So I did. I didn’t want to, like, I hated myself for it, but I still did it anyway.’
     
    Hall kept eye contact with Lee, and smiled encouragingly.
    ‘Of course you did. Quite right, too. You had no choice. So Jack, just one other thing that you might be able to help us with, and I must admit that it’s got me stumped.’
    ‘Oh, aye? What’s that, then?’
    ‘Why did Adam say anything to you precisely when he did? Why not confess earlier? And did you know that the police had actually told him, just a couple of days before he confessed to you, that they were scaling down the enquiry? Did he tell you that?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Are you sure he didn’t say anything about that? You sound pretty sure, I must say.’
    ‘Aye, I’m sure. He didn’t tell me that. I’d remember.’
    ‘OK, fine. So why do you think he told you when he did?’
    ‘Like I told you, it was doing in his head in. It was the guilt that really got to him, in the end. Aye, it was the guilt. That’s what made him tell me.’
    ‘And did you see Adam again? After that night, I mean.’
    ‘Just in court, like. I’ve seen him about in town a few times over the years since he got out, but he doesn’t socialise much, doesn’t Adam.’
    ‘And you’ve never spoken since?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘You’ve had no contact at all?’
    ‘None.’
     
    Hall stood up, and Dixon reached forward to turn off the tape, before getting to his feet.
    ‘Oh, yes,’ said Hall, ‘I almost forgot. In terms of the new information that I mentioned. I said we’d share some of it, didn’t I? So let’s see. First, we now have some new evidence to support the account that Adam Burke gave of the day and night of his wife’s disappearance.’
    ‘He said he was in bed, poorly, didn’t he? Well, I can tell you that he’d been fine at work the day before. I remember that very clearly.’
    ‘Yes, you and two other witnesses said that at the trial, didn’t you? He’d been fine on the Thursday. And what we’ve found out doesn’t contradict that testimony, not at all, but it does explain why Adam Burke was indisposed for the better part of twenty four hours. I can’t give you the details, but it is a viable explanation.’
    ‘I see.’
    ‘And there’s more. We now have a pretty solid lead as to the identity of the person with whom Sharon Burke may have been having an extra-marital relationship.’
    ‘Really? So this person could actually have been the killer?’
    ‘That’s certainly a possibility. You never had any ideas about who it might have been, did you?’
    Lee hesitated, and Hall didn’t even exhale as he waited, and watched.
    ‘No, sorry. Like I said, I never really knew Sharon that well. As I told the coppers at the time, she was just my mate’s wife, that’s all.’
    ‘You did say that, yes. But it’s a funny thing about other people’s lives, and other people’s wives, come to