Killing Mind: An addictive and nail-biting crime thriller (Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller Book 12)

by Angela Marsons

  ‘You feel that Unity Farm was somehow related to your daughter’s suicide?’

  There was a pause. ‘If you need to ask me that question you don’t know as much about the place as you should.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…’

  ‘Never mind. You’re a police officer. If someone isn’t physically assaulting someone in front of your face you’re not interested. There are other types of crime.’

  Stacey had no idea what she meant but she felt compelled to make her understand. ‘Mrs Deere, we’re just trying to find out more about the place.’

  She snorted. ‘Good luck with that.’

  Stacey wanted to assure her that they were committed to learning more. ‘We have visited Unity…’

  ‘Visit as many times as you want and you’ll see the facade but you’re never going to find out what truly goes on in that place,’ she said, before she hung up the phone.

  Fifty

  ‘Right,’ Kane continued. ‘There are no secret drugs or potions involved in thought reform. There’s no violence and we’re all subjected to it in various forms every day through advertising and marketing, but there are other tactics involved that are employed by a cult.’

  Kim opened her mouth to speak, but he held up his hand.

  ‘Please, Inspector, if you take nothing else away from this meeting then please accept that a cult does not look like a cult. It always appears as something else.’

  ‘Okay, please continue,’ she advised. In the absence of getting back in there to see what was going on she was going to have to get information from him. For now.

  ‘Language, not physical force, is the key to manipulating minds. The first thing a cult does is destabilise someone’s sense of themselves. They get someone to drastically reinterpret their life history and alter their view. Sammy was convinced that she had suffered psychologically as a child because her younger sister had been prone to health problems as a baby. Sophie became the favourite child and Sammy was loved less. Her parents had made her less of a person through their neglect of her needs.

  ‘The next step is to develop a dependence on the cult. Initially they’re kept unaware of what is going on and the changes taking place. They control the person’s time and environment. They’re not left alone; they’re given activities that reinforce the changes. Eventually the cult introduces a “them and us” philosophy. It separates the person from anyone not in the cult. Outsiders are given an identity.’

  ‘Zombies?’ Kim asked, remembering what Sammy had called her parents.

  He nodded. ‘Similar to tactics used by the army. Give the enemy a name. Eventually the cult creates a sense of powerlessness, fear and dependency.’

  Kim remembered the girl selling the vegetables. Her anxiety and then her joy when Jake appeared.

  ‘They suppress much of the old behaviour and attitudes while instilling new ones. Finally, they offer a closed system of logic, allowing no real input or criticism. Esteem and affection from peers is important to new recruits. Initially, a new member will be showered with praise, affection to make them feel safe and loved. The changes happen over time. Newbies are cut off from families, friends and love bombed.’

  Kim raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Flattery, compliments, always in the company of a long-term member who is affectionate, kept busy so there is no room for doubts. Sometimes kept awake for long periods so they’re sleep deficient, phones will be broken to prevent contact. Once you change someone’s surroundings to that degree you’re halfway there.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Have you ever spent time in hospital, Inspector?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Attended a team-building course for a few days?’

  She nodded.

  ‘The few people around you take on more importance. Cut off from everything you know, a new reality forms. You become dependent. A cult will tap into any unresolved feelings and exploit them. Eventually the only people a newbie will care about are the people in the group. Their new family.’

  Kim recalled Britney’s allusion to family.

  ‘Is that what newbies want?’

  ‘Everyone wants to belong: to a team, a group. Take someone’s family away and they’re ripe to become part of another one. You have to remember that these groups are highly cohesive. They are controlled by a shared system of beliefs.’

  ‘Do they target vulnerable people?’

  He sipped and nodded. ‘In most cases they do. People who are emotionally unstable are prime targets, they’re easier to coerce, but most people are susceptible to flattery and being told what they want to hear.’

  ‘And do you use the same techniques when you break them out?’

  ‘That subject isn’t up for discussion,’ he said, finishing his drink. ‘But what I can tell you is that people who aren’t extracted properly may never recover from the experience.’

  ‘Why not?’ Kim asked. Surely the influence of the group was like a drug. If you no longer took it, it wore off.

  ‘Remember my pizza example. It’s not enough to take the person out of the cult. You also…’

  ‘Have to take the cult out of the person,’ she finished for him.

  Kim sensed their meeting was coming to an end but there was more she wanted to ask.

  ‘Did Sammy recruit Sophie into the group?’

  He shook his head and pointedly looked at his watch.

  ‘My understanding of their dynamic is that Sophie wanted everything her sister had and she went of her own accord. As children they were very close and Sophie looked up to her sister. Sophie wasn’t as bright, academically, as Sammy. She had to work harder to do well at school but Sammy never made fun of her and would help her revise for exams and tests. Sophie is more artistic, more of a dreamer, from what her parents have said.’

  ‘But why would Sophie follow her sister into—’

  ‘My understanding,’ he said, cutting her off and glancing at his watch again, ‘is that when Sammy pulled away she shunned everyone, even Sophie. Myles and Kate think she followed to try and get that connection back. Basically, Sophie missed her sister.’

  And now to what Kim had to say before she ran out of time. There was a meter running in his watch or in his brain.

  ‘Look, I understand the wishes of the Browns with regard to their younger daughter, but I must ask that you hold off on any plan to snatch her while we’re investigating exactly how Unity Farm is involved in Samantha’s murder.’

  ‘You’re not paying me,’ he said, pushing his chair away from the table.

  ‘No, but I can throw your ass in prison.’

  For the first time, she saw the promise of a change in expression but it quickly disappeared.

  ‘On what charges, I’d be very interested to know.’

  ‘Yeah, if we can’t find any we make ’em up,’ she said, drily. ‘Especially if it’ll stop you potentially hampering a murder investigation by snatching another girl.’

  He leaned down as he passed by her chair. His voice was a whisper as it sounded in her ear.

  ‘Who says we don’t have her already?’

  Fifty-One

  Kim took a second before pushing back her chair and tried to analyse her feelings towards the man who had just left. Strangely, she had remained neutral throughout the exchange.

  There was no doubt in her mind that he was knowledgeable on the subject of cults and mind control, and yet she still struggled to equate the information with Unity Farm. Damn it, she needed to get back in there. Everything about him was controlled and measured. His facial expression had barely changed, just like his tone, which had remained tempered and calm. She had studied him for ticks and tells to indicate if he was lying and she’d found nothing, not even when she’d asked him about his reasons for being at Sammy’s flat.

  His parting words about Sophie had almost propelled her to run after him, cuff him and haul him down to the station, but Woody’s potential wrath at her actions had played through her mind before Kane had eve
n closed the door behind him.

  Is Sophie Brown a legal adult?

  Yes.

  Is Sophie Brown a missing person?

  No.

  Have her parents asked for your involvement?

  No.

  Do you have any physical evidence to suggest Sophie Brown is at risk?

  No.

  She sighed. Right now, every lead was drying up before her eyes. It was time to get back to the station and see how they could move this on.

  Her phone rang as she stood. Surprised to see Travis’s name, she answered straight away.

  ‘Hey.’

  ‘What they fuck is going on, Stone?’

  ‘Excuse me?’ she said, trying to think of any part of their case that had impinged on the jurisdiction of West Mercia. There was nothing but their chequered past, and her knowledge of her old partner told her that he was seriously pissed off.

  ‘What’s with Bryant calling and giving me the third degree?’

  Kim turned away from the café window, confused.

  ‘About what?’

  ‘A particularly horrific crime scene I was called to this morning.’

  ‘You gotta give me a bit more than that, Travis.’

  ‘A young girl, butchered and raped.’

  Kim got it. Peter Drake had been released yesterday.

  ‘I don’t fucking appreciate the Spanish Inquisition by an officer from another force.’

  Kim felt her own anger rise in line with Travis’s temper. What the hell was Bryant doing going behind her back to another force about an investigation he had no part in? Right now it looked like she couldn’t control her own damn team.

  Bryant had stepped way out of line. It was both unprofessional and unethical to try and involve yourself in another force’s case. Travis was right to be pissed off. Had it been her she wouldn’t have been content with going to the officer’s DI. She would have gone higher, and Travis was doing Bryant a favour by coming directly to her. She could cap it right here and that would be the end of it.

  She opened her mouth to speak as she turned back towards the window.

  Her colleague was staring forward, a set expression on his face. His fingers tapped on the steering wheel.

  She realised that over the years he’d supported every decision she’d made both as a colleague and a friend even when he didn’t agree with her. He had always given her the benefit of the doubt. She thought back to their conversation in her kitchen. She had told him to drop it and then dismissed it. She felt a sliver of shame roll into her stomach. Was their friendship just a one-way street?

  ‘Stone, what the?…’

  ‘Travis, I’ll talk to you more later because there are things here you don’t understand, but do me a huge favour just this once, eh?’ she said, heading towards the door.

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Give Bryant whatever he wants.’

  Fifty-Two

  Bryant looked on confused as his boss and colleagues left the office. The guv had offered to shout them lunch.

  ‘But not you,’ she’d said, placing a hand on his shoulder to sit him back down. ‘Take a nap, make some calls, whatever. I’ll grab you something.’

  He tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. He was no Penn but even he knew something had gone on that he was unaware of.

  Damn it, Travis must have called her. It was the only thing that made sense.

  So, right now he should be receiving an almighty bollocking in the privacy of the Bowl. Instead he’d been given some privacy and some time.

  His mouth lifted in a smile. The guv never wasted words. Make some calls, she’d said.

  He took out his phone and dialled. He was being given an opportunity to repair the damage.

  The DI answered on the third ring.

  ‘Hey, Travis. Listen, I just want to apologise about…’

  ‘Forget it,’ Travis said. ‘Went over the old case files of Peter Drake. Didn’t realise you’d been on watch duty with that poor kid.’

  Travis’s understanding made him feel even worse about ringing up to demand information about a crime scene that had absolutely nothing to do with him.

  ‘Listen,’ Travis continued, ‘we’ve got the techies over at the scene and the post-mortem later this afternoon. We’re debriefing around seven if you can make it.’

  Bryant was speechless. What the hell had the boss said to him? Regardless, he was grateful. He knew he wouldn’t be able to offer Richard Harrison detail of the briefing but he hoped to be in a position to assure him that everything possible was being done. The man needed something. He was unravelling before Bryant’s eyes.

  ‘This ain’t charity,’ Travis continued. ‘You might be able to offer something useful, that’s all.’

  ‘Thanks, Travis. I’ll be there.’

  Silence filled the line between them.

  ‘Go on, ask,’ Travis said.

  Travis had already combed the reports of Wendy Harrison and Tina Crossley, so he had to know the answer.

  ‘Is it the same?’

  A slight pause before the DI answered.

  ‘Yeah, Bryant. It’s the same.’

  Fifty-Three

  Kim headed for a table by the window and laid down her tray. She hadn’t even looked at the plastic triangle she’d selected for herself, but had chosen a prawn triple for her colleague back in the office.

  Penn had opted for a plate of chips and gravy, and Stacey was the proud owner of an egg salad bowl. She had valiantly refused the muffin that had been produced from behind the counter, although Kim had thought she was going to burst into tears.

  ‘Okay, Penn, continue,’ she said. He had started to talk about Josie Finch in the canteen queue.

  ‘So, according to Josie, whoever Sheila was with took her for everything. She withdrew every penny she’d saved and then sold the house as well. Mortgage was clear so it was £150k that went somewhere.’

  ‘Okay, try and find the estate agent and solicitor who handled the sale and see where the money went.’

  ‘You think she was at Unity Farm?’ Penn asked, wiping a blob of gravy from his chin.

  Kim shrugged. It was a leap from finding a shoe that might or might not belong to the missing woman, but it had to have been more than a fleeting affair with some kind of con man for the woman to have completely exited her daughter’s life.

  Kim turned to Stacey who appeared to be trying to eat the salad while avoiding the lettuce. Penn caught her eye and shook his head. Kim silently agreed. For a woman about to marry the love of her life she’d never been so miserable.

  ‘Stace, you find out anything?’

  She put down her fork for a minute. ‘So far I can find no mention of anyone named Kane Devlin. I’ve got a few more places to check, but I did see a few mentions on Facebook about Unity Farm but it’s from a closed group. I’ve tried to join and was refused immediately, so I was about to set up a fake profile and try again.’

  ‘Ooh, devious, Stace, you have been spending way too much time with me.’

  ‘And I spoke to the mother of a girl named Helen Deere who threw herself out of a window after spending time at Unity Farm. There was no one else involved, so there’s no direct link but the mother blames that place for brainwashing her.’

  ‘Damn, Stace, great work. Did she say anything else?’

  ‘Just that we’re never going to find out exactly what goes on in there.’

  Yes, that’s what Kim was starting to fear herself.

  ‘How was the meeting with Kane?’ Stacey asked, pushing away her bowl completely. Only the egg had been eaten.

  ‘Informative about cult culture in general but not so much about Unity Farm. It’s bloody frustrating. With no clear links from our victims to the place we can’t get a search warrant and we can’t get in to have a damn good look.’

  Yes, Sammy had lived there but that had been months ago. No judge would sign a warrant giving them full access on that. Right now, they couldn’t even prove that Tyler ha
d lived there and they didn’t know for sure if Sheila Thorpe was even dead.

  ‘Aaaargh,’ Kim groaned, dropping her head into her hands. Stacey was tapping her fingers on the table while Penn finished off his lunch.

  ‘What we need…’ Stacey began.

  ‘Is someone on the inside,’ Kim finished.

  ‘Innocent looking…’

  ‘But intelligent,’ Kim said.

  Their eyes met as Penn speared his last chip and mopped up the remaining gravy.

  ‘You thinking what I’m thinking?’ Kim asked the constable.

  Stacey smiled. ‘Yeah, pretty sure I am, boss.’

  Fifty-Four

  ‘Hiya teeeeam,’ Tiffany called from the doorway.

  ‘Come on in, Tink,’ Kim said, from the top of the office.

  Tiffany Moore was a bright and committed twenty-four-year-old police constable who looked much younger than her years. She’d been called in to assist Stacey with some of the desk work on their last major case due to Travis being seconded back to West Mercia.

  Kim had nicknamed her Tinkerbell not only because she wore her blonde hair up in a bun at the back of her head but because she truly had walked off the pages of a fairy tale book. Kim would not have been surprised to see butterflies and rabbits entering the squad room behind her.

  ‘Close the door,’ Kim instructed.

  The girl did so and then stood in front of it.

  ‘Sit down,’ Kim told her. ‘So, what has Wood… I mean DCI Woodward told you?’

  She sat and shrugged. ‘He asked me if I’d like to book the afternoon as annual leave and pop up here to give you a hand with something.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I was like, err… yeah.’

  Kim hid her smile. On paper this girl should have annoyed the hell out of her. She was bright, chirpy, cheerful, innocent and she whistled show tunes when she was concentrating. And yet Kim didn’t find her irritating because she had allowed neither life nor the police force to knock that joy of life out of her.