‘I have a photo of you and Mikey.’
Kim’s heart stopped for just a second. There was no such thing.
‘You’ve forgotten, haven’t you?’ Alex said.
Kim could hear the strength entering her voice.
‘There was only one photo of the two of you ever taken. One single school photograph, and I have the only copy.’
Kim steadied herself against the last remaining table as a vague memory came back to her. A double seat, a big blue background of sky.
She had nothing of her dead brother; she carried his picture in her heart but some days she couldn’t quite recall the curve of his chin or the light freckles across the bridge of his nose.
‘I have the last remaining copy of that photo. And I’m happy to give it to you.’
The thought of seeing the face of her brother clearly again was overwhelming.
‘If you just come back to the table.’
Kim didn’t turn. She couldn’t. The emotion was attacking her from every direction.
To see Mikey again would be like a hundred Christmas wishes but in her weakened state she could not return to the battle.
She knew that if she walked through that door the photo would be destroyed. Mikey’s face would be lost for ever but the alternative was worse.
It was just too high a price to pay.
The tears were pricking at the back of her eyes as she felt she was failing her brother all over again.
She gathered her strength and continued her journey to the doorway.
She heard her name being called behind her.
But Kim made sure she didn’t look back.
CHAPTER EIGHTY
Alex walked back to her cell slowly. The meeting had been a semi success on the one hand, but a total disaster on the other.
How the hell had she learned of the attack on Ruth, and how the fuck had she stopped it?
That woman should be dead right now. Part of her problem should be resolved.
She would have to devise another plan, and she would, but right now she wanted to focus on Kim.
So far their interaction had been a positive one from her point of view. She had manipulated the woman to visit her mother, which had stirred up all kinds of emotion, and now Kim knew of the existence of the photo.
Alex could almost feel sorry for the victims of Kim’s current case. They had no chance of getting a conclusion. With all the thoughts floating around her head, banging into each other, colliding, the woman’s brain must be turning to mush.
Alex knew that Kim’s weakest points were her unending hatred for her mother and the guilt of not being able to save Mikey. Start playing with those two fireworks and the result was Chernobyl.
The thoughts would burrow into her mind and fester like an abscess. She had made a choice. She could have walked away with the photo, but she had been weakened to a state whereby she had been forced to concede the battle. Triumph was mixed with disappointment.
‘You really are a despicable person, aren’t you?’ Katie said quietly from beside her.
‘Oh sorry, didn’t see you there. You are so inconsequential to me that your presence barely registers.’
‘What pleasure do you get from torturing people?’
‘More than you can ever imagine,’ Alex said cheerfully.
Time for a little light relief to chase away the disappointment.
‘Look at you. You’re nothing. You have no dreams, no ambition. You will eventually exit this world as you entered it: silently. You will leave no mark anywhere. Your greatest achievement will be producing that child or even a whole gaggle. That is no achievement, it is simply breeding.
‘You will sleep with any man that finds you remotely attractive and you will call that love. Your gratitude for their attention will be pathetic as you try to find a substitute father for your children.
‘With little else to occupy your mind you will absorb every bit of negativity from this job, and the incidents, hatred and despair will weave themselves into your clothes and follow you home. The negativity will eat at your table and sleep in your bed until one morning you will wake up bitter and old, consumed by regret.’
Alex stopped as she reached the doorway to her cell.
The woman was pale and clearly trembling.
‘Did that answer your question, officer?’
Katie took a deep breath and fixed her with a look of pure hatred. ‘Thank you for the warning. Doctor Thorne. You may well be right but at least now I know what to look out for.’
Alex viewed her dispassionately. She had been hoping for something more.
Katie smiled. ‘Now, please step aside, Doctor Thorne. I’ve received intelligence that there may be contraband in your room.’ She took a pair of latex gloves from her pocket. ‘And so I’m going to be taking a look.’
Alex opened her mouth to argue. Damn, the bitch had surprised her.
As she watched the guard advance towards the bedside cabinet and the book, she knew there was nothing she could do.
But she consoled herself that all was not lost.
Alex’s silence had already activated plan B.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
‘Bloody hell, guv. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost,’ Bryant said.
Almost, she thought, as she leaned against the bonnet of the car. She needed a minute to breathe the fresh air into her lungs.
‘How’s Ruth?’ she asked, finally.
‘On her way to the hospital. She’s in a bad way. She’s been beaten badly but it could have been worse. Tina Neale and her buddies were doing a good job on her when it appears her friend, some Russian girl, came to finish the job.’
‘Two separate attempts?’ Kim asked.
Bryant nodded and blew out air. ‘Jesus, if you’d listened to me when I was asking you to leave, she’d be dead right now. Possibly twice,’ he added.
‘You were only thinking of me, Bryant. I can’t hold that against you, and on that score you were probably right,’ she admitted.
‘Damn it, I knew if you went in to see her—’
‘It was worth it,’ she said, holding up her hand. ‘Ruth is alive, and I’m not hurt,’ she said, with a weak attempt at a smile.
‘Are you sure?’
Kim tried to silence all the voices in her head.
‘I’m sure; now let’s get back to the station quick smart.’
‘Inspector… Inspector… wait… ’ Kim heard a shout, as she opened the car door.
The prison guard was heading towards her at speed.
And in her hand was an envelope.
Kim stared at the woman hard. It couldn’t be.
Bryant looked between the two of them, confused.
‘I think… I think this is what she was talking about.’
Kim dared not look down at the envelope.
‘But how, I mean… ?’
‘Cell search,’ she said.
Finally, Kim looked down at the envelope. Emotion gathered in her throat as her hand reached out to accept it.
This envelope contained her world.
She shook her head as the envelope was safely placed into her hands.
‘I don’t have the words to thank you. There is nothing I can say.’
‘Please, say nothing. Consider it my own act of revenge.’
‘Thank you,’ Kim said, sincerely.
The woman smiled and turned away.
Kim looked down in wonder at what had been gained, lost and gained again in the space of fifteen minutes. As she watched the guard walk away she recalled the hatred in the woman’s eyes during the visit.
Maybe there was something she could give her after all. She recalled the warden’s willingness to hand over information about Alex. Had he been bitten too?
‘Officer, hang on,’ Kim called, and closed the gap between them.
‘Whatever she has on you, stop it now. Take away her power. Go to your boss and tell the truth, because if you don’t you will be her prisoner for life
. I promise you.’
‘There isn’t anything,’ the guard said.
Kim touched her forearm lightly. ‘I don’t think that’s true. Whatever you did she will continue to use. Tell the truth and explain the circumstance. If you’ve learned from it, I think they’ll understand.’
The guard weighed her words carefully before an expression of relief rested on her face.
She smiled weakly. ‘I’ll go there right now.’
Kim nodded and their gaze held for just a second before the guard turned and walked away.
‘What’s that?’ Bryant asked, appearing beside her.
A smile formed on her face. ‘It’s a Christmas present, Bryant. A very late Christmas present,’ she said, hugging the treasure to her chest.
‘Well hang on to it tightly; we’re heading off at speed. Stacey wants us back at the station. Now.’
CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
‘Okay, Stace, what have you got?’ Kim said, entering the squad room.
She noted the absence of Dawson and assumed he was on his way.
They had made it back in record time. She suspected Bryant may have broken the speed limit once or twice. She wondered if Woody would ever realise that influence could work both ways.
She took the treasured envelope and placed it in her desk drawer. Now was not the time.
Her full attention was needed elsewhere right now.
‘I’ve gor a case here, guv. It involves all three of our victims’ loved ones. It could be totally coincidental but Harold Howard was the judge. Mitchell Brightman was the prosecutor and Geraldine Hall was an expert psychiatric witness for the CPS.’
‘Where’s Kev?’ Kim asked. She would prefer a full house so that whatever Stacey had learned only had to be said once. But she couldn’t wait for ever.
Stacey shook her head. ‘He’s not back yet.’
She had requested his return to the office to assist Stacey a couple of hours ago. It appeared that she and the sergeant were going to be having another conversation.
‘What was the case?’ Kim asked, sitting down.
Stacey swallowed, and Kim tried to ready herself for what was to come.
‘Luke Sweeney was fourteen years old in December 2007 when he abducted a fellow classmate, Casey Rudd, on the way home from school. The rest of his family was away, and he was under the loose care of an aunt that lived down the road. He was almost fifteen,’ Stacey explained.
Kim nodded for her to continue.
‘He kept her prisoner in the garden shed for five days and even assisted in the search. It was actually an undercover police officer that noticed his behaviour at the search gathering and decided to investigate further. Had this smug expression on his face and just kept staring at the parents. Didn’t listen to the search instructions and disappeared after about twenty minutes.’
It was a known process to have officers in plain clothes amongst the volunteers, observing any strange or erratic behaviour. It was also known that some criminals liked to remain close to the action to feed their ego and sense of achievement.
Stacey continued. ‘The victim was found on the fifth day.’ Stacey paused and closed her eyes for a second before continuing. ‘She had been violently raped, and medical staff counted over one hundred and fifty separate injury sites around her body.’
Kim could feel the horror growing inside her. Bryant stared at the wall ahead.
‘There was no shortage of torture tools in the shed. He sawed off her little finger, crushed her wrist in a vice and hung a pair of pliers from her eyelid.’
Kim held up her hand. The bile was rising to the back of her throat.
Stacey got the message. ‘Other injuries sustained included pinch marks, bite marks, bruises and knife-inflicted cuts. She was dehydrated and close to death.’
‘I remember it now,’ Bryant said, still not looking towards the screen. ‘She didn’t live for long.’
Stacey nodded in agreement. ‘She spent five weeks in hospital fighting both her injuries and infections from the dirty tools. Her identity was outed on social media, and despite what she’d suffered she received the usual trolls and hate messages, not to mention the sick and disgusting jokes. Her news feed was full of pictures of tools and severed fingers.’
Stacey raised her gaze from the screen, and Kim already knew what was coming.
‘She committed suicide before the case went to trial.’
Kim shook her head wondering at the use of lifelong anonymity in this day and age.
She felt her hands clench of their own volition. Another innocent life lost.
She took a deep breath. Regrettably, they could not help her now. ‘What about Luke Sweeney?’
Kim was doing the calculations in her head. Nine years. Could he be out now?
‘He was sentenced to a term of no less than fifteen years. He died of pneumonia three years ago.’
Kim struggled to find one bone in her body that was sorry about that. Her mind was still with the teenage girl who had been terrorised physically and mentally for days.
Stacey continued. ‘Geraldine Hall testified that he was of sound mind and that there were no extenuating circumstances. She didn’t find him to be psychologically incapacitated in any way.’
‘So, we know it’s not him,’ Bryant said, stating the obvious.
Kim frowned. ‘What about his family?’ she asked.
‘Well, the parents and two other children – a boy and a girl – were hounded out of town. Luke’s details got out and his family became the focus of disgust and rage from the local community. The kids were beaten up, and the parents were egged and abused everywhere they went. There were seventeen phone calls to the police during the first month after Luke’s arrest. Complaints included faeces through the letterbox, two broken windows, and lit fireworks down the chimney.’
‘So, the family members suffered?’ Kim asked.
They all fell silent for a moment, processing the catalogue of horrific events.
Kim spoke first. ‘We have the DNA of Jason Cross at the scene of the first murder, and we can tie him to the family of the second. Damn it, we really need to speak to him.’
Dawson tore into the office, flushed and breathless.
‘If you’re talking about Jason Cross, ain’t nobody going to be talking to him. Sorry I’m late by the way, boss.’
‘Good of you to join us, Kev,’ she snapped. ‘Now what the hell is this about Jason Cross?’
‘I stopped by the hospital to try and speak with him.’
Bryant swore under his breath.
‘What the hell are you playing at?’ Kim raged. ‘You know he’s off limits.’
Only Stacey appeared unsurprised. She was too busy frowning at the computer screen.
Dawson nodded. ‘Yeah, I know, I’m sorry, boss, and I’m happy to take my bollocking later. But the guy is gone. Discharged himself this morning and even his solicitor doesn’t know where he is.’
‘Damn it,’ Kim said. ‘Our main suspect has been back in circulation for bloody hours and who knows who’s next on the hit list.’
‘You thinking he’s a family member, guv?’ Bryant asked.
‘It could be bloody anybody,’ Kim answered with frustration. They had the link and it brought them no closer to identifying the actual killer.
‘Shiiiiit,’ Stacey said.
All eyes turned her way.
‘Boss, you’re not gonna like what I just found.’
Kim didn’t like the tremor in her colleague’s voice.
‘I carried on looking at the key personnel in the case thinking it might give us a clue as to who might be next.’
Stacey stared at the screen as though she still couldn’t believe whatever it was that was right in front of her.
‘Stace, what’s wrong?’ Kim asked.
‘It’s the investigating officer, boss. The person who arrested Luke Sweeney was Woody.’
CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE
‘Martha, I don’t care who he’s in
a meeting with,’ Kim shouted. ‘I need to speak to him now.’
‘I’m under strict instructions not to disturb the Super—’
‘An officer’s life is in danger if you don’t.’
Kim realised she was now speaking to the hold music.
Three seconds later, Baldwin’s irritated voice sounded in her ear.
‘Stone, what the hell—?’
‘Sir, I have reason to believe that the lives of either DCI Woodward or his granddaughter are in danger. I need to know where he is.’
She knew she had his attention.
‘Summarise,’ he instructed, curtly.
‘We’ve been working a case whereby the families of the victims are linked. Our guy is killing the people his intended victims loved the most. He is torturing the people who were left behind. He doesn’t want them to die. He wants them to hurt. We’ve identified the case involved and, so far, we have the prosecutor, the expert witness and the judge. The arresting officer was Woo—DCI Woodward.’
‘Okay, Stone. Case made. The DCI is in Wales, close to Welshpool. He has a caravan there. I’ll contact the local force and get them over to check. I’m assuming you’ve called his mobile.’
‘Appears to be no coverage, sir,’ she said, glancing at Bryant, who was still trying constantly to get through.
‘Yes, that’s why he likes it there. I suggest you and your team get going. I’ll assemble a team to follow you but start heading towards.’
‘Yes, sir,’ she said with surprise. He had been more accommodating than she could have hoped. She hadn’t needed to be rude once.
‘Okay, guys,’ she said, grabbing her coat. ‘If you’ve got plans tonight, you should cancel them. We’re going for a ride to the country.’
Everyone followed her out the door and she was pleased to have her back to them.
She only hoped the flippancy had covered the fear.
For once, she was pleased they were sending backup.
Because right now she had no idea who or what she was heading towards.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
Baldwin put down the phone and smiled. Martha sat poised with her ballpoint pen at the ready.
‘Sir, should I… ?’
‘No, Martha it’ll be fine,’ he said, heading towards his office.
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