‘Murder: three men,’ Bryant answered.
She could see his eyes travelling quickly from left to right. He scrolled and then lifted his eyes and looked at her.
‘Shit, guv,’ he said, handing her the phone.
Kim scanned briefly. Her eyes danced from the name of the sister to the place she was being held.
Her eyes met Bryant’s and she saw her own fear reflected there.
She nodded. He turned and rushed from the building.
She turned back towards the guard.
‘I want to see Alex Thorne, and I want to see her now.’
He began to smile. ‘No offence but what if she doesn’t want to see you?’
‘Oh, she will,’ Kim said confidently. ‘Just tell her that Kimmy’s here.’
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
Ruth walked along the corridor towards the door to the library.
There was an anxiety in her stomach that she could not think beyond.
She hesitated for a moment, and again thanked Alex for her indecision. The woman had destroyed her trust in people. In her mind, everyone had a motive for something. Alex was supposed to have been helping her, healing her. Guiding her through the pain to the other side. But she hadn’t. She had only been using her for her own sick games.
She fought down the hesitation and continued on her journey. Tina had done nothing to provoke this distrust. She had spoken pleasantly.
Ruth tried to ignore the voice that questioned why she had spoken at all.
That was Alex speaking, not her, and she was sick of it. She added momentum to her step, hoping to outrun the sound of Alex in her head.
She would not view the world with such bitterness and distrust. She would not allow Alex to shape the rest of her life.
She would not suspect every person that spoke to her of hidden agendas and ulterior motives.
She fixed a smile to her face as she entered the library.
The first blow caught her to the back of the head. She stumbled forward with confusion. Had something fallen on her?
And then she saw Tina before her.
She knew that the blow to the head had affected her peripheral vision. There was activity to the left and to the right of her but she could only see straight-ahead.
A fist or foot slammed into her right kidney. The impact sent her reeling forward. The world turned to slow motion as she felt her body pitching forward, and yet, perversely, it was happening so quickly she could not think.
She wanted to cry out that they had made a mistake. They had the wrong person; but a foot caught her in the throat as she tried to get onto her side to curl up.
She choked and spluttered as blood filled her mouth.
Another blow landed between her shoulder blades.
Ruth wondered how she could use just two arms to protect her whole body.
Her mind was trying to understand what she’d done wrong. She had never spoken to Tina, never crossed her. It had to be a case of mistaken identity.
A foot landed in her stomach. Her hands moved to try and cover it as the sickness rose inside her.
She tried to scoot around to face Tina; to explain that she’d done nothing wrong.
She looked up into a face that held no hate, no anger, no rage.
Ruth tried to speak as Tina stepped forward.
‘Wh… at… why… ?’ she spluttered past the pain in her throat.
‘Nothing to do with me, mate,’ Tina said.
Ruth’s head was spinning with both pain and confusion. The woman beating the living daylights out of her was calling her mate.
Ruth cried out as a foot embedded in the small of her back. Fresh new pain sites were springing up all over her. A blackness was trying to fall. She welcomed it, and yet she wanted to understand.
She summoned all of her energy. ‘Tina… please…’
She held out her hand.
Tina kicked it away. ‘Bitch, we got instructions. Not my business but you gotta die.’
Ruth tried to understand the words through the pain that was wracking her body. She hadn’t done anything to offend Tina? She was doing this for someone else.
Realisation hit her like a thunderbolt through the pain. It was Alex. Somehow this was because of Alex.
Despair took any residue of fight from her muscles. She couldn’t reason with them because it wasn’t their fight.
Ruth suddenly knew she was going to die.
She made no sound as the blows continued to rain down on her. The blackness was approaching, and she welcomed it. She couldn’t fight any more.
‘Get out,’ said a familiar voice.
Fists and feet stilled all around her.
‘What you say, bitch?’ Tina asked, with attitude.
‘I said, get out.’
Although the voice was familiar, it was different somehow.
Activity recommenced and feet began to move. Ruth readied herself for a further onslaught, but they were moving away. Leaving the area.
Relief flooded through her.
‘It’s all right,’ said the reassuring voice as it came closer.
Ruth felt the tension leave her body as a soft hand gently stroked her cheek. They had stopped, and she wasn’t dead. Despite the pain she wanted to laugh, to cry.
‘It’s going to be okay, Ruthee,’ Elenya said, before the blade plunged into her stomach.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
By the time Stacey had read through the fourth controversial case of Judge Harold Howard she thought her blood was going to burn right through her veins.
Her phone rang, and she took the opportunity to stand.
‘What?’ she said.
‘Bloody hell, Stace, who pissed on your Imp?’ Dawson asked.
She rolled her eyes. He never missed an opportunity to take a swipe at her online gaming. Some days it was funny but mainly not.
‘Are yer on yer way?’ she snapped. She had called him an hour ago and passed on the boss’s instructions.
‘Kind of,’ he answered.
Stacey frowned. His voice held the tone of a child who was about to put his hand into the fire to see how it felt even though he knew it would hurt.
‘Kev…?’
‘How’s the research on Harold Howard going?’ he asked, sweetly.
She stood up and stretched her legs. ‘Harold Howard is a knob,’ she said.
He chuckled. ‘Oh yeah, I could have told you that. Before my first court appearance I went and observed a case at Birmingham. He was the judge, and he was a complete knobchop.’
‘Thanks for that, Kev. But why are we not having this conversation across the desk?’
‘Stace, are you pacing?’
‘A bit,’ she said, turning around at the coffee machine.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘We can safely assume he wor the president of the minorities club,’ she snapped. ‘But how the hell did he ger away with it?’ Stacey asked, shaking her head.
‘How does anyone, Stace?’ he asked, quietly.
She turned at the door and walked back. ‘Kev, I’m gonna keep asking why you’re not here yet.’
‘Just for clarification, Stace. Jason Cross has filed a complaint against the boss, right?’
‘Yeeeaah,’ she said, getting a feeling of what was coming.
‘So, I mean, maybe other members of the police could happen on by the hospital.’
‘Don’t even think about it,’ Stacey said, coming to a halt. ‘If the boss thought for even a minute that was a good idea she would have asked you to do it.’
‘Yeah, but sometimes—’
‘No, Kev, no times is it a good idea to go against the boss’s wishes, and after the newspaper episode I would think yow might know that.’
‘But strictly speaking she never said not to.’
‘She never says specifically dow go throwing yourself in front of fast moving vehicles but yer dow do it.’
‘It’s not really the same—’
‘Kev, if
you’ve called me to get permission, I’m the wrong person, and if you’ve called me to get encouragement, see above. And if yowm still willing to do it after the shit you’ve had this week, then I’m gonna look into getting yer certified.’
‘Aww… Stace, you’re no fun—’
Stacey shook her head and ended the call.
She wasn’t in the mood to be her colleague’s enabler.
As she sat back at her desk, Kev’s nickname for the racist, bigoted bastard she was researching was at the forefront of her mind.
She moved on to the next case on the list, and her eyes widened. It wasn’t so much the screaming headline that got her but rather a name in the third line down.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
Kim had been handed over to a young, slim female prison guard who she followed to the visitors’ room. She idly wondered if the officer had had a long day. The elastic band holding her ponytail was not as tight to her head as it had probably started the day and a few tendrils of hair had broken free. A small stain coloured the back of her sleeve and there was a distinct weariness to her walk.
Kim worked hard to fix a nonchalant expression to her face as they passed the vending machine.
Alex was already seated with her back to the door. Two cups of coffee had been placed on the table. Her demeanour said she was not eager for the meeting, as though she could take or leave this interruption into her busy day.
Everything about the woman was a play of some kind. Kim wondered how exhausting it must be to have your mind constantly plotting and planning, devising scenarios and possibilities.
And she’d bought coffee as though they were two old friends catching up.
And this was what people didn’t understand about Alex. The devil was in the detail. You had to catch the small things before they could grow up.
Kim’s thoughts briefly went to Bryant outside. She knew a part of him felt she was overreacting to the tenuous link between Alex and Ruth. That Tanya’s sister happened to be in the same prison as one of Alex’s former victims was a leap of faith too far for her colleague. And for once she hoped he was right.
‘Kim, how are you?’ Alex said, as she sat down. ‘Such a lovely surprise.’
‘No it isn’t,’ Kim answered, drily.
Alex smiled, accepting the words as a compliment of her victory.
‘You sent me a message. Where is Leo?’
Alex attempted to look surprised but the enjoyment danced in her eyes. ‘Why would I know where he is?’
‘You know,’ Kim said.
Alex began to shake her head. ‘I assume you’ve checked at Hardwick House. Doesn’t your friend, David, know where Leo is?’
Kim cursed herself for doing exactly what Alex expected of her. She would have known that’s the first place she’d check. Just as she’d known Kim would try and find out.
‘How is my little friend, Dougie? Has he taken any more swimming lessons?’
‘You fucking—’ Kim snarled, before catching herself. The memory of Dougie flailing helplessly in the canal lock was not a vision that would ever leave her.
The guard stood just inside the door watching closely.
‘Dougie is perfectly fine, Alex,’ Kim said, trying to keep her voice even.
Alex leaned forward. ‘Come on, who would have actually missed him if you hadn’t pulled him out?’
Kim ignored the question. It was designed only to rile her. Dougie’s name on her tongue had no other purpose than to get her fired up. She resented the fact that it had.
‘I want you to tell me about Leo,’ Kim pushed.
Alex rolled her eyes with boredom. ‘I really have no idea, and I could not care less. He was a disappointment to me. Why are you always so focussed on the waifs and strays, Kim? What is Leo to you?’
‘So, he’s not the visitor listed as Michael Stone?’
Alex laughed out loud. ‘Oh, Kim. It is so much fun seeing you again. I have missed you so much. And while we’re playing catch up, how is your dear mother?’
‘She sends her love,’ Kim said, sarcastically.
Alex chuckled. ‘Oh, you went to see her?’
Kim said nothing but thrust her hands into her front pockets.
‘You did, didn’t you?’ Alex said, as her eyes widened. ‘After all these years you went to see your mother. Oh I’m so happy for you. It must have been such fun to catch up on all the years that—’
‘Alex, shut the fuck up.’
Kim could see the amusement dancing in the woman’s eyes. She hated all of Alex’s faces but this giddy schoolgirl act was just too much. ‘Why did you want me to see her?’ she asked.
‘Because I thought it would be good for you,’ she said, too quickly, leading Kim to the assumption that it was the rehearsed response: meaning it had no connection to the truth.
But hell, she’d play along: she had a few moments to spare.
‘Why would it be good for me?’
‘Oh the future tense you just used would indicate you didn’t speak to her yet. Oh Kim, that disappoints me.’
Kim wouldn’t let that keep her up at night. ‘But what does it matter to you?’
‘It doesn’t, but I care about you. I think you’re ready to take that next step on your journey. I think you’re ready to forgive her. I think you have to forgive—’
‘You know nothing, Alex,’ Kim spat, realising that she had played right into her hands. Again. Once more she had exposed her underbelly to the predator.
Surprisingly, Alex allowed it to pass. ‘Did you see her?’ she asked.
Kim nodded, absently, while still reprimanding herself for the slip up.
‘Oh Kim, that was a mistake,’ Alex said, smiling. ‘You were just thinking about something else. Your mind was distracted, and I saw exactly what you don’t want me to see.’
Kim gathered herself back together. ‘Alex, stop pretending you know—’
‘I know there is a small part of you that doubts the strength of your conviction. Your eyes hold a question about your mother.’
Kim said nothing and worked hard to keep her expression neutral.
‘You saw her, didn’t you? You looked at the woman she is now and you can’t correlate that with the woman you remember. The woman that painstakingly planned the torture and murder of you and Mikey.’
She wanted to rip the name of her brother from the bitch’s mouth but that would offer Alex enough ammunition to shoot at her throughout eternity.
‘She’s not the same woman, is she? The woman you see now is calm, contented, sane, possibly even nice. So how are you going to reconcile the two pictures that are in your head?’
‘Alex, you have no clue how I feel about—’
‘The picture will never go away, now, Kim. You can’t un-see her as she is now and return to that one expression you recall on the day she left you and your twin to die.’
Kim tried to rise above the words that were trying to find a space to land in her consciousness.
‘I’m sure we’ve had this conversation before,’ she said.
Keep moving, Kim thought. It was the only way to avoid the tiny little darts of poison being aimed her way.
Alex sat back and shook her head. ‘No, Kim, I don’t think we did. We talked a lot about Mikey and the guilt you feel for not being able to save him. We talked about how you torture yourself every single—’
Kim bristled. ‘Didn’t you just say we’d already done this?’
She needed no reminders of her feelings on that score. She fought with them daily.
Alex chuckled. ‘Oh, Kim, we’ve barely scratched the surface of your feelings about Mikey and you know it. Those feelings are the motivations behind just about everything you do. It’s what drives you at work. You want to save everyone.’
Kim’s fingers tightened around her phone. She willed it to vibrate against her hand. Every passing minute terrified her.
‘You want to save everyone you meet from pain, despair, loneliness, loss, all the things
you felt yourself. You want to save the world, Kim, because you couldn’t save him. You forget that I’m the only person that truly knows you.’
Kim’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She took a quick look at the prison guard, whose eyes were burning into the back of Alex.
She whipped the phone into view, opened the message and began to read.
‘Looks important,’ Alex said, smiling in her direction.
Kim continued to stare down at the phone, trying to absorb the message from her colleague in the car park.
She didn’t raise her head to meet Alex’s smug, triumphant expression.
When her voice came it was deep and quiet and devoid of emotion.
‘You’ll be pleased to know that they got her,’ Kim said, finally raising her head.
A slow smile began to form on her face as the victory showed in her eyes. ‘I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘But luckily, she’s not dead. The guard got there just in time.’
Kim was rewarded by the confusion that contorted her face. Alex had wanted her here when the news came through about Ruth’s murder.
Too bad.
‘Oh, and your contingency plan didn’t work either. Neither Tina nor the foreign girl were successful.’
Kim enjoyed the rage that filled Alex’s eyes despite her attempts to hide it.
Kim stood. She no longer had any cause to be here.
‘You forget, Alex, that I’m probably the one person that knows you, too,’ she said, walking away.
She tried to leave the things Alex had said at the table.
Kim could feel the rage travelling like a tsunami towards her. Alex had failed, and her anger had to find a target. Kim knew she had to get out before it hit.
‘I know why you’ll never forgive her, Kim. You can’t. Because if you forgive your mother then you will have to forgive yourself, and you will never do that.’
Keep moving, Kim told herself, trying to close her ears to the poison.
‘It’s not her you can’t forgive. It’s yourself. You should have saved him. You know you should have saved him. You were stronger than he was. You could have done more.’
Kim felt the emotion gathering in her throat. She had to get out. She forced herself to keep moving forward.
Blood Lines Page 24