This was the person she’d been waiting for.
‘Come in,’ she said to the young constable.
Ian Skitt stepped in and automatically looked to the wipe board, where his reaction told her he saw a name he recognised.
His white shirt was open at the collar and his eyes bloodshot from a night shift. He put his hands in his pockets, uneasily.
‘You put that note through my door, didn’t you?’ she asked.
He nodded.
‘Lauren Goddard was your younger sister. You were one of the children taken away.’
‘Thank God,’ he muttered.
‘Sorry?’ Kim asked.
‘Nothing, it’s…’
‘Go on,’ Kim urged.
‘I did okay. I was fostered long-term by a middle-aged couple that kept me for nine years. They were my parents. I was lucky.’
Kim understood. The three years she’d spent with Keith and Erica had formed the building blocks for her entire life.
‘Did you ever get to see her?’
‘Yes. I found her on the roof of the flats just two weeks before she died. I wanted her to come with me, leave her mother, but she refused. Said I’d abandoned her.’ He looked down to the ground. ‘She said she hated me and never wanted to see me again.’
‘So you started visiting the community centre, trying to see her?’
‘I didn’t want to crowd her. I just wanted to be close by.’
Kim understood.
He had been removed from the family home through no fault of his own and had made the most of the opportunity. He had taken that gift and made a decent life for himself. Kim knew he was carrying the guilt for all that he had been given and all that Lauren had not.
‘There’s nothing you could have done,’ she offered.
His expression thanked her for the sentiment but, in reality, that acceptance was a long way away right now. There was only one final thing she could give him.
‘Lauren’s body is being returned to the ground, right now. She was your sister, and I’d like you to come with me.’
He swallowed. ‘I’d like that.’
Kim grabbed her coat and paused. There was something she had to know.
‘Skitt, why didn’t you just come and speak to me about your sister’s death?’
He thought for a few seconds. ‘I just didn’t think she would matter to anyone.’
Kim offered him an acknowledgement and a smile before glancing once more at the board.
‘In this office, I can assure you, everyone matters.’
If you were gripped by DI Kim Stone and her team, see where it all started with the first in the series, SILENT SCREAM – an edge-of-your-seat serial killer thriller that will hook you to the very last page.
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SILENT SCREAM
DETECTIVE KIM STONE CRIME THRILLER SERIES BOOK 1
#1 BESTSELLER
Even the darkest secrets can’t stay buried forever…
Five figures gather round a shallow grave. They had all taken turns to dig. An adult-sized hole would have taken longer. An innocent life had been taken but the pact had been made. Their secrets would be buried, bound in blood …
Years later, a headmistress is found brutally strangled, the first in a spate of gruesome murders which shock the Black Country.
But when human remains are discovered at a former children’s home, disturbing secrets are also unearthed. D.I. Kim Stone fast realises she’s on the hunt for a twisted individual whose killing spree spans decades.
As the body count rises, Kim needs to stop the murderer before they strike again. But to catch the killer, can Kim confront the demons of her own past before it’s too late?
Fans of Rachel Abbott, Val McDermid and Mark Billingham will be gripped by this exceptional new voice in British crime fiction.
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ALSO BY ANGELA MARSONS
Detective Kim Stone series:
1. SILENT SCREAM
2. EVIL GAMES
3. LOST GIRLS
4. PLAY DEAD
5. BLOOD LINES
6. DEAD SOULS
7. BROKEN BONES
Other books:
1. DEAR MOTHER
2. THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN
A LETTER FROM ANGELA
First of all, I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Broken Bones, the seventh instalment of the Kim Stone series.
What began as an idea about working in the sex trade developed into a story about grooming, prostitution, entrapment and the modern day slave trade. The unbelievable horror of people ownership still existing today and affecting generation after generation is a subject that I felt compelled to explore. Thank you for joining me on this emotional journey. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you did enjoy it, I would be forever grateful if you’d write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it can also help other readers discover one of my books for the first time. Or maybe you can recommend it to your friends and family…
To keep up to date with the latest news on my new releases, just click on the link below to sign up for a newsletter. I promise to only contact you when I have a new book out and I’ll never share your email with anyone else.
Sign up here!
In Broken Bones I enjoyed learning more about the friendship between Dawson and Stacey and offering them an opportunity to work a case together. After separating Kim and Bryant in the previous book there was a welcome familiarity in pairing them back up here. I definitely missed their banter.
It was interesting to present Kim with a situation completely alien to her right at the beginning of the book and I must admit to having a little fun at her expense with regard to her maternal instinct. I can promise that no babies were harmed in the writing of those chapters!
There are six other books in the D.I. Kim Stone series – Silent Scream, Evil Games, Lost Girls, Play Dead, Blood Lines and Dead Souls – so if you enjoyed Broken Bones and haven’t read the other books, I hope you’ll love reading them too.
I'd love to hear from you – so please get in touch on my Facebook or Goodreads page, Twitter or through my website.
Thank you so much for your support, it is hugely appreciated.
Angela Marsons
www.angelamarsons-books.com
EVIL GAMES
DETECTIVE KIM STONE CRIME THRILLER SERIES BOOK 2
The greater the Evil, the more deadly the game…
When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal attack, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But, as more vengeful killings come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone far more sinister at work.
With the investigation quickly gathering momentum, Kim finds herself exposed to great danger and in the sights of a lethal individual undertaking their own twisted experiment.
Up against a sociopath who seems to know her every weakness, for Detective Stone, each move she makes could be deadly. As the body count starts to mount, Kim will have to dig deeper than ever before to stop the killing. And this time - it’s personal.
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READ AN EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT
Chapter One
Black Country – March 2015
Three minutes to go.
Dawn raids didn’t come bigger than this. The case had taken months to build. And now Kim Stone and her team were ready. The social workers were positioned across the road and would be given a signal to enter. Two little girls would not be sleeping here tonight.
Two minutes to go.
She keyed the radio. ‘Everyone in position?’
‘Awaiting your command, Guv,’ replied Hawkins. His team, parked two streets away, was poised to secure the rear of the property.
‘Good to go, Guv,’ said Hammond from the car behind. He had possession of the ‘big key’ that would gain a fast and deafening entrance.
One minute to go.
Kim’s hand rested above the door handle. Her muscles tensed, an adrenaline rush borne of impending danger; her body making the choice between fight or flight. As if flight had ever been an option.
She turned to look at Bryant, her partner, who had the most important thing: the warrant.
‘Bryant, you ready?’
He nodded.
Kim watched the second hand hit twelve. ‘Go, go, go,’ she called over the radio.
Eight pairs of boots thundered on the pavement and converged at the front door. Kim got there first. She stood aside as Hammond swung the enforcer at the door. The cheap wooden frame collapsed against three tonnes of kinetic energy.
As per the briefing, Bryant and a constable ran straight up the stairs towards the master bedroom to serve the warrant.
‘Brown, Griff, take the lounge and kitchen. Strip the place bare if you need to. Dawson, Rudge, Hammond, you’re with me.’
Immediately the house was filled with the sound of cupboard doors being swung open and drawers crashing shut.
Floorboards above her creaked and a woman wailed hysterically. Kim ignored it and gave the signal for the two social workers to enter the property.
She stood before the cellar door. A padlock secured the handle.
‘Hammond, bolt cutters,’ she called.
The officer materialised beside her and expertly snapped the metal.
Dawson stepped ahead of her, feeling along the wall for a switch.
A funnel of light from the hallway lit the stone steps. Dawson carried on down and powered up his torch, lighting the walkway beneath her feet. The smell of stale smoke and damp permeated the air.
Hammond headed over to the corner which held a spotlamp. He switched it on. The beam was aimed at the square gym mat that dominated the middle of the room. A tripod stood just beyond.
In the opposite corner was a wardrobe. Kim opened it to find a number of outfits including a school uniform and bathing costumes. On the floor of the wardrobe were toys: a rubber ring, beach ball, dolls.
Kim fought back the nausea.
‘Rudge, take photos,’ she instructed.
Hammond knocked on each of the walls, checking for any secret spaces.
In the furthest corner, in an alcove, sat a desk with a computer. Above it were three shelves. The top one was filled with magazines. The thin spines offered no clue to their content but Kim knew what they were. The middle shelf held a selection of digital cameras, mini discs and cleaning equipment. On the lowest shelf, she counted seventeen DVDs.
Dawson took the first one labelled Daisy Goes Swimming and put it into the disc drive. The high-powered machine quickly sprang into life.
Daisy, the eight-year-old, appeared on the screen in a yellow bathing costume. The rubber ring encircled her tiny waist. Her thin arms hugged her upper body but did nothing to stop the trembling.
Emotion gripped Kim’s throat. She wanted to tear her eyes away, but couldn’t. She pretended to herself that she could prevent what was about to happen – but of course she couldn’t, because it already had.
‘Wh— what now, Daddy?’ Daisy’s tremulous voice asked.
All activity stopped. The cellar stood still. Not a sound came from four hardened officers paralysed by the little girl’s voice.
‘We’re just going to play a little game, sweetheart,’ Daddy said, coming into camera view.
Kim swallowed and broke the spell. ‘Turn it off, Dawson,’ she whispered. They all knew what happened next.
‘Bastard,’ Dawson said. His fingers shook as he replaced the disc.
Hammond stared into the corner and Rudge slowly cleaned his camera lens.
Kim pulled herself together. ‘Guys, we are gonna make this piece of shit pay for what he’s done. I promise you that.’
Dawson took out the paperwork to itemise every piece of evidence. He had a long night ahead.
Kim heard a commotion upstairs. A female screamed hysterically.
‘Guv, can you come up here?’ Griff called.
Kim took one last look around. ‘Rip the place apart, guys.’
She met the officer at the top of the cellar steps. ‘What?’
‘Wife is demanding some answers.’
Kim strode to the front door, where a woman in her mid-forties stood clutching a dressing gown to her gaunt frame. Social workers placed her two shivering daughters into a Fiat Panda.
Sensing Kim behind her, Wendy Dunn turned. Her eyes were red against a colourless face. ‘Where are they taking my children?’
Kim controlled the urge to knock her out. ‘Away from your sick, perverted husband.’
The wife clutched the garment at her throat. Her head shook from side to side. ‘I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t know. I want my children. I didn’t know.’
Kim tipped her head. ‘Really? The wife tends to disbelieve it until she’s shown proof. You haven’t seen any proof yet, have you, Mrs Dunn?’
Her eyes darted everywhere but back at Kim. ‘I swear to you, I didn’t know.’
Kim leaned forward, the image of Daisy fresh in her mind. ‘You’re a lying bitch. You knew. You’re their mother and you allowed them to be damaged forever. I hope you never know a moment’s peace for the rest of your miserable damn life.’
Bryant appeared beside her. ‘Guv … ’
Kim dragged her gaze away from the trembling woman and turned round.
She looked over Bryant’s shoulder, straight into the eyes of the man responsible for ensuring that two young girls would never view the world as they should. Everything else in the house faded away and for a few seconds it was just the two of them.
She stared hard, noting the flaccid, excess skin that hung from his jaws like melting wax. His breathing was fast and laboured, his forty-stone body exhausted by any type of movement.
‘You can’t … fucking … come in here … and just do what … the hell you want.’
She walked towards him. Her entire being recoiled at closing the space between them. ‘I’ve got a warrant that says I can.’
He shook his head. ‘Get out of … my house … before I call my … solicitor.’
She removed the handcuffs from her back pocket. ‘Leonard Dunn, I am arresting you on suspicion of assault of a child under thirteen by penetration, sexual assault of a child under thirteen and causing a child under thirteen to engage in sexual activity.’
Her eyes bored into his. She saw only panic.
She opened the handcuffs as Bryant grabbed Dunn’s forearms in preparation.
‘You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
She closed the handcuffs, taking care not to touch the hairy, white flesh. She threw his arms away from her and looked at her partner.
‘Bryant, get this foul, sick bastard out of my sight before I do something that we’ll both regret.’
EVIL GAMES is available now
LOST GIRLS
DETECTIVE KIM STONE CRIME THRILLER SERIES BOOK 3
Two girls go missing. Only one will return.
The couple that offers the highest amount will see their daughter again. The losing couple will not. Make no mistake. One child will die.
When nine-year-old best friends Charlie and Amy disappear, two families are plunged into a living nightmare. A text message confirms the unthinkable; that the girls are the victims of a terrifying kidnapping.
And when a second text message pits the two families against each other for the life of their children, the clock starts ticking for D.I. Kim Stone and the squad.
Seemingly outwitted at every turn, as they uncover a trail of bodies, Stone realises that these ruthless killers might be the most deadly she has ever faced. And that their c
hances of bringing the girls home alive, are getting smaller by the hour…
Untangling a dark web of secrets from the families’ past might hold the key to solving this case. But can Kim stay alive long enough to do so? Or will someone’s child pay the ultimate price?
The latest utterly addictive thriller from the No.1 bestseller Angela Marsons.
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READ AN EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT
Chapter One
Black Country – March 2015
Kim Stone felt the rage burning within her. From the ignition point in her brain it travelled like electricity to the soles of her feet, then surged around again.
If her colleague, Bryant, was beside her now he would be urging her to calm down. To think before she acted. To consider her career, her livelihood.
So it was a good job she was on her own.
Pure Gym was situated on Level Street in Brierley Hill and ran between the Merry Hill shopping centre and the Waterfront office and bar complex.
It was Sunday lunchtime and the car park was full. She drove around once, spotting the car she sought before parking the Ninja right outside the front door. She didn’t plan on being there long.
She stepped into the foyer and approached the front desk. A pretty, toned woman smiled brightly and held out her hand. Kim guessed she was looking for some kind of membership card. Kim had a card of her own to show. Her warrant card.
‘I’m not a member but I do need a quick word with one of your patrons.’
The woman looked around as though needing to seek advice.
‘Police business,’ Kim stated. Kind of, she added to herself.
The woman nodded.
Kim looked at the directions board and knew exactly where she was heading. She took a left and found herself behind three rows of machines on which people were stepping, walking and jogging.
She looked along the rear views of people expending energy on going nowhere.
Broken Bones: A gripping serial killer thriller (Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller Series Book 7) Page 29