Deadly Cry: An absolutely gripping crime thriller packed with suspense (Detective Kim Stone Crime Thiller Book 13)

by Angela Marsons

  She thrust the phone forward as though she wanted Kim to read it.

  ‘Robyn, let me explain,’ she said, stepping into the room. The walls had been painted white then decorated with hand-painted colourful cartoon characters. Kim had the sudden vision of Robyn and Louise clad in overalls, paintbrushes in hand, preparing for the birth of their child. The thought brought a deep sadness to her heart.

  ‘Explain what? That you understand why he took my child? Why he murdered my wife and left me with nothing?’

  Kim pulled out a stool nestled beneath a small table holding colouring books and crayons. Two grown adults sitting on child-sized furniture.

  ‘I mean, are you trying to make new friends or something? You want to pat him on the back for ruining my fucking—’

  ‘Robyn, I’m trying to keep your son alive,’ Kim offered gently. In hindsight, she wished she’d taken a moment to explain to Robyn what she was trying to achieve. To read the article without warning or explanation must have been like a knife to the heart.

  ‘I should have spoken to you. I’m sorry, but there is a method in our madness. Believe me when I say we are every bit as angry as you are, but we believe in this particular instance a gentle approach will yield the best results. We all want to bring Archie home safely. And we will,’ she said with conviction.

  The anger seemed to drain out of her at the mention of her son’s name.

  Kim waited.

  ‘Monday night,’ she said, shaking her head as her thoughts relocated and attached themselves somewhere else. ‘Just two days ago, we were talking about a brother or sister for Archie. Something that’s impossible now. Archie is biologically Louise’s child but he’s still—’

  ‘Of course he’s your son,’ Kim said. She guessed that though Louise had given birth to Archie, Robyn had never regarded the child as anything other than her son too.

  ‘Not everyone feels that way. Many people feel that I have no claim to him at all: my own brother being one of them.’

  ‘You have a brother?’ Kim asked, surprised. Why wasn’t he here now supporting her? In fact, where were any family members?

  ‘He’s a dick,’ she said honestly. ‘He’s travelling back from a conference in Geneva, but quite honestly, I’d prefer him to have stayed where he was. If you get the misfortune of meeting him, you’ll see what I mean.’

  ‘You’re not close?’ Kim asked, remembering her own brother, Mikey, who had died in her arms when he was exactly Archie’s age. She would have given her own life to save his. She knew that if he’d lived beyond their mother’s neglect and torture, they would have been as close now as they had been back then.

  ‘Pah,’ she said disgustedly. ‘It’s not possible to get close to Robert. He places himself in competition with everyone he meets, and if he can’t beat them he dismisses them. We see each other rarely, but no meeting goes by without some kind of snarky comment or judgement on my chosen lifestyle,’ she said, making speech marks around the word chosen.

  ‘Aah, he’s one of those,’ Kim said, raising an eyebrow.

  Robyn smiled weakly. ‘Oh yes, he’s definitely one of those. I could have a perfectly normal heterosexual life if I wanted to. Says he just wants me to be happy.’

  ‘So he means well?’ Kim asked charitably.

  ‘Absolutely not. He wants a sister with a normal, conventional family. He doesn’t like how my sexuality reflects on him, as though I’m defective, and that people will think he’s tainted with some kind of imperfection brush. Appearances are everything to Robert. He buys likes for his business in textiles which he markets on all social media platforms.’

  ‘Buys likes?’ Kim asked, not really interested, but the longer Robyn talked the calmer she became.

  ‘Yeah, you can buy likes for your social media pages that make you look much more popular than you are, and Robert does this all the time. It validates him and then he ends up believing it himself. It’s hilarious. Louise and I laugh about it all…’ her words trailed away as she realised that just for a few moments her mind had allowed her to forget the reality of her current situation.

  ‘Did they get on?’ Kim asked.

  Robyn shook her head. ‘I’ve grown accustomed to his ways, and I’ve learned not to react because it just fires him up. Louise couldn’t let any snarky comment go and would challenge him on everything.’

  Kim got the feeling she would have liked Louise. She felt a sudden wave of sadness wash over her. She remembered walking into this home just yesterday, an interloper in a family that had been primed for normality. The food had been cooking, the wine had been poured and she had walked in and destroyed it for ever.

  ‘It’s him I hate,’ Robyn said, as though reading her thoughts. ‘Every fibre of my being wants to meet him face to face and make him suffer the way I’m suffering now. I want to take the most important things in his life and smash them to pieces.’

  ‘Absolutely normal,’ Kim said.

  ‘But I can’t do it,’ she said as a tear slid over her cheek. ‘I can’t hold on to it. There are so many emotions running round inside me that I don’t know which ones to try and hang on to.’

  Kim understood. How did one grieve while trying to maintain hope? How could she fall apart when she still needed to stay strong? How did she even begin to find a new normal when her son was still missing?

  Kim stood to leave. There was nothing more she could give Robyn right now.

  ‘Why?’ Robyn asked suddenly as her eyebrows drew together.

  Kim turned and waited.

  ‘Why would you believe this is the best way to handle him when it’s clearly not normal practice? What makes you think he’ll respond to this tactic?’ she asked, demonstrating that her quick mind was still in attendance.

  However much Kim wanted to, she couldn’t divulge the contact that had been made. She trusted Robyn with the information; she just didn’t trust whomever Robyn chose to trust with the information.

  ‘I can’t answer that, Robyn. Not yet.’

  ‘Bring him back to me, Inspector,’ she whispered as fatigue set in and her eyes began to droop.

  ‘I plan to,’ Kim said as she quietly left the room.

  Sixty-Nine

  Stacey was sure the wave of tiredness was being passed around the room like a Mexican wave. All three of them were covering their mouths to stifle yawns.

  The ten-minute walk around the building had temporarily revitalised both her and Penn, but had had the opposite effect on Alison, whose eyes were drooping and growing heavier by the second.

  ‘Alison, get off home. You don’t even have to be here.’

  As an unpaid consultant, Alison didn’t have to wait to be dismissed by the boss. She could leave whenever she wanted.

  ‘Hey, the team that walks together stays together… or something,’ she protested, stifling a yawn.

  Stacey turned back to her computer as the clock hit nine and a loud thunk sounded from the spare desk.

  ‘Was that her head?’ Stacey asked, looking over.

  ‘Yep,’ Penn said, wheeling his chair over to Alison.

  He touched her lightly on the arm and a loud snore sounded, startling him.

  Stacey felt the giggles rising in her stomach. The more she looked at Penn’s efforts to gently wake Sleeping Beauty, the funnier it became.

  ‘Bloody hell, she’s out colder than a knocked-down prize fighter,’ Penn said.

  Another loud snore reduced Stacey to fits of laughter. Whether or not it was the effects of fatigue kicking in, she couldn’t stop the tears from rolling over her cheeks.

  ‘Stop it, Penn, you’re hurting my stomach,’ she said, wiping her eyes.

  ‘Stace, stop laughing and help me wake her. I don’t want to startle her.’

  Stacey managed to get hold of herself and fought the laughter away. Just for a moment it had felt so good.

  ‘Okay, Penn. Step aside, I’ve got this,’ she said.

  Penn rolled his chair back to his own desk.

&n
bsp; ‘Hiya, boss,’ Stacey shouted.

  ‘What?… Where?…’ Alison spluttered as her head shot up.

  Both Stacey and Penn couldn’t contain their laughter at her panicked expression.

  ‘Alison, seriously, go home,’ Stacey said.

  The woman conceded defeat and reached for her handbag.

  ‘I swear to God, you pair…’

  ‘Hang on, that’s it,’ Penn shouted, standing up and looking at Alison. ‘Noah, the name. We’ve exhausted every other theory except one. The animals came in pairs.’

  Seventy

  ‘Thanks for dropping me home, Bryant,’ Kim said as he pulled up outside her house. That last meeting with Robyn had drained her last reserves of energy. She’d left a house that a couple of days ago had been filled with normality, a family, and now it held only strangers. Right now all she wanted was a hot shower, strong coffee and a late-night dog walk.

  Bryant killed the engine. ‘I’d love to come in for a coffee, thanks for asking.’

  ‘You okay?’ she asked, getting out of the car. She was running on fumes, but if Bryant needed to talk she’d summon the energy from somewhere.

  ‘I’m tickety boo,’ he replied, following her to the front door.

  She unlocked and pushed it open to see her favourite sight.

  ‘Barney, my boy,’ she said, leaning down to pet him as Bryant walked around her.

  ‘I’ll put the kettle on.’

  ‘So what’s up?’ she asked, rubbing Barney’s head as he walked beside her.

  She opened the back door for Barney to go out. Their night walk would come after Bryant had left.

  ‘You have a fight with the missus?’ she asked, concerned.

  It would be unusual for the two of them, but every marriage, even the best ones, hit rough patches. And Bryant’s was the best example of a good marriage she’d ever seen.

  ‘We’re in your home, so I’m still Bryant but you’re now Kim, right?’ he asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ she said. That was her rule.

  ‘And we’re officially off duty after a fourteen-hour day?’

  ‘Bryant…’ she warned. It was too late in the day for these kind of games. ‘Out with it.’

  ‘You were dead wrong to speak to the team the way you did earlier today.’

  ‘Is this because of Woody’s call?’ she asked, reaching for a carrot when Barney came in from outside.

  Her boss had called her once she’d left Kate Sewell’s address to ask why her team was outside walking around the building.

  The news had both made her smile and prompted her to instruct Bryant to send them home.

  ‘Alison had just left, the other two sounded delirious and I’m not sure I mean that in a good way,’ he said, reaching for the mugs. He looked at the one she reserved for him and put it back.

  ‘I don’t really want a coffee; I just wanted to get in the door to give you a reality check.’

  ‘Go on then, let me have it,’ she said, sitting on the bar stool where he normally sat. He took her position, standing against the work surface with his arms folded.

  He was a bit late with his bollocking. She’d realised her error two hours ago, but it was important to let him have his say.

  ‘That team will do anything for you. They’ll follow you anywhere. They don’t expect a pat on the back, a gold star or for you to bake them cookies. They don’t expect you to big them up for doing a good job. They also don’t expect to be shouted at for working long hours and trying their best.’

  ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘They also don’t expect to take the brunt of your frustration that this guy is getting ahead of us at every turn.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  ‘Penn has just lost his mother. Stacey is getting married in ten days’ time and Alison… well, Alison actually deserved the bollocking, but still, you could have gone easier.’

  ‘Is there any language in which I can say I agree with you that you’ll understand?’

  There was nothing he’d said that hadn’t already gone through her mind since she’d left the office.

  He uncrossed his arms. ‘I mean, to be fair, it does look like the bollocking had a positive effect. Penn was telling me some interesting stuff they came up with on their little walk.’

  ‘So make your mind up: was I right or was I wrong?’

  Now she was just playing with him.

  ‘You were right in content but oh so very wrong in delivery.’

  ‘Message received and talking of delivery, go take your wife an average husband home until she can find a decent one. I’m sick of the sight of you today.’

  He smiled. ‘Yeah, the feeling is mutual,’ he said, heading for the door.

  ‘She’s all yours,’ he said, patting Barney on the head.

  ‘Oh, and Bryant,’ she called as he reached the front door.

  ‘No, it’s okay, no thanks are necessary for my honesty and bravery in pointing out to you that—’

  ‘I was gonna say don’t forget to take my bike frame out of your boot,’ she said, cutting him off.

  He was laughing out loud as he closed her front door behind him.

  Kim moved to the other side of the breakfast bar to finish making the coffee that Bryant had started.

  ‘Jesus, what now?’ she asked Barney as her phone tinged receipt of a message.

  It was from Frost.

  Check out my article.

  Kim keyed in a response.

  Already done. Thanks!

  Kim had checked the news piece the minute it went up. It was perfect, and Frost had quoted her word for word. She hadn’t realised the woman would want a pat on the back for it.

  A response tinged back.

  Rolling eyes emoji. Check it again!!!

  Three exclamation marks.

  Kim searched for the article, which sprang onto her screen. She reread the piece Frost had written. Nothing had changed and it hadn’t been updated. Only one thing was different. The comments. A Google alert had told her when the article had been uploaded. She’d read it when it was clean. There were now 133 comments.

  She scrolled down. The majority of what her eyes passed over were exactly what she expected.

  ‘Evil Bastard’

  ‘Probably a Paedo.’

  ‘Catch the bastard and string him up.’

  ‘Wot yo on dumb pig?’

  ‘Stone’s a fucking pussy.’

  ‘Kid’s probably already dead.’

  ‘This ay gonna help catch the wanker, is it?’

  ‘Give me ten minutes with him. I’ll sort him out.’

  ‘Does this bint copper wanna shag him or summat?’

  ‘Pandering to a fucking murderer.’

  The comments and the insults went on, and there were no names she hadn’t been called before, but three comments from the bottom was a post that almost stopped her heart.

  ‘Sorry to disagree, folks, but the officer concerned seems to be showing compassion and understanding. Who is to say that these crimes are about hate, and why should she meet violence with aggression? How do you know that her measured and objective response didn’t just save that little boy’s life?’

  Her heart skipped another beat as she read that the post was from someone called Noah.

  Seventy-One

  Penn parked outside his house just a minute before ten and paused. The lights were on, but some small part of him didn’t want to go in. Never had he thought that such a distance would open up between the two of them following their mother’s death.

  The time she spent in the hospice should have prepared them, but it hadn’t. They were both in unchartered territory, and he had no road map. All he knew was that he had to stay strong for his brother: try and keep the routine and the continuity, no matter how much he wanted to break down. Especially after a day like today. He had no choice but to keep it together.

  As he opened the front door, the first thing he heard was laughter. A woman’s laughter.

  ‘Lynne?’ he ques
tioned, reaching the kitchen.

  His brother and his old colleague were comparing two trays of chocolate muffins.

  ‘Jasper called me. He wanted to cook,’ she said, shifting uncomfortably. Reading the surprise on his face, she reddened. ‘I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have…’

  ‘No, no, it’s fine,’ Penn said, getting over the shock. Jasper knew he wasn’t allowed to cook in the house alone. The two of them had struck up a friendship over the course of police social events where Jasper had been his plus one.

  ‘Hey, bud,’ Penn said, reaching over to ruffle his hair. Jasper ducked out of the way as his face hardened.

  Lynne caught his look and planted a big smile on her face.

  ‘Hey, matey, you wanna finish up your computer game while these cool?’

  ‘Okey dokey,’ he said, leaving the kitchen in his apron.

  ‘He’s angry cos I’m late again,’ Penn observed, sighing deeply.

  ‘That’s not why he’s angry,’ Lynne said, removing her own apron. ‘He’s pissed at you for being strong.’

  ‘What?’ he asked, dropping down into a seat at the dining table. The exhaustion of the day suddenly caught up with him.

  Lynne joined him. ‘Bloody hell, Penn, you’re an intelligent man but you often don’t see stuff that’s right in front of you.’

  ‘Like what?’ he asked.

  ‘Never mind,’ she said, shaking her head.

  ‘Lynne, I don’t…’

  ‘What qualities does Jasper possess?’ she asked, using the tone he knew she reserved for young children and difficult witnesses. ‘Describe him to me.’

  ‘He’s kind, sweet, thoughtful.’

  ‘Indeed, he is, and where did he learn those qualities?’

  He shrugged.

  Her head rolled back, and she groaned.

  ‘From you, you bloody idiot. He’s been watching and copying you his whole life.’