Page 96 of Child's Play

He groaned as he closed the boot and then got into the front of the car.

‘Buckle up, kiddies,’ he called over his shoulder.

Stacey groaned as she pulled her seat belt across her body.

Despite what she’d said to Bryant this was the last place Kim wanted to be. Right now she would have preferred to be working in her garage on the bike with Barney lying in the corner watching her.

The thought of her dog brought a pang of guilt.

She’d rushed home, put a few bits and pieces in a hold-all and then hotfooted it to Charlie’s house down the road.

She’d spent half an hour walking Barney, five minutes feeding him and ten minutes silently explaining why she had to leave him at Charlie’s for an overnight stay. During the last few minutes of her explanation he’d spotted the squirrel in the tree at the bottom of the garden and left her to it.

She swore that if a dog could roll its eyes Barney would be doing it twenty times a day.

Charlie had been overjoyed at keeping Barney overnight. She’d made him promise that the dog was not allowed on the bed, and she knew how long that would last.

But she also knew they needed to be at that hotel. She was sure their murderer was there and who knew who else was on his hit list.

‘Feeling a bit like Hugh Hefner right now,’ Bryant said, with a smirk.

‘Who’s that?’ Tiffany asked.

The smirk disappeared. ‘I don’t like her any more, guv,’ he said loudly.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Kim said to Tiff over her shoulder. ‘After more than five years he still doesn’t like me.’

Tiffany laughed nervously. ‘I always seem to say the wrong thing. My school report always had a big tick for effort but—’

‘Shush, Tink,’ Kim said as something snapped in her brain.

‘Sorry, I know I talk a lot.’

‘That was a good shush,’ Kim explained.

She turned in her seat and looked around at all three passengers.

‘We’ve been looking at the markings on the victims’ necks as an X, like the letter, wondering what it means.’

‘But it is an X,’ Stacey said, frowning at her.

‘Yes, Stace, but it’s also a cross, as opposed to a tick. He’s trying to tell them, or us, that these people did something wrong.’

Sixty-Eight

Kim opened the door to the room at two minutes past ten and nodded approvingly. The hotel was booked solid because of the event, but Woody had managed to pull some strings and the result was a two-bedroom suite with a dining area that looked out on to a small fishing lake.

‘Woody did good,’ Bryant observed stepping in behind her.

‘Okay, just throw the stuff in for now. Restaurant closes in fifteen minutes, so get down there if you want to eat.’

‘You coming?’ Bryant asked.

‘Yeah, be there in a bit. Get me a sandwich or something.’

He nodded and headed out with the others. She wanted to take a look around without standing out amongst a group of four adults.

The Village Hotel complex was a sprawling maze with a central driveway that cut through a car park at the front. The rooms sat to the left and the rest of the facilities were to the right with a large communal reception, bar and café separating the two halves.