Page 128 of Deadly Cry

‘You shitting me?’

‘No, Sean. It’s true.’

‘So you ringing to tell me you believe me?’ he asked suspiciously, as though she was playing some kind of joke on him.

‘Oh, I believe you all right, Sean, seeing as we now have in custody the person who actually did it.’

Silence.

More silence.

‘Sean, are you there?’

‘Seriously, are you shitting me?’ he asked with a tremble in his voice.

Stacey felt a tear prick her eye. ‘No, I’m not shitting you. We know you’re innocent, the victims know you’re innocent and as soon as the paperwork is sorted you can get out of that place and tell anyone who will listen that you’re innocent.’

‘I don’t… I mean… I just… is this real?’ he asked, and Stacey could tell that the man was in tears.

She felt the emotion gather in her throat. ‘Yes, Sean, it’s real. You’re getting out.’

‘It’s not doing the time, you know. I can cope with that. It’s…’

‘Being convicted of something you didn’t do. Being labelled a rapist instead of the cocky bleeder you really are,’ she said with a smile in her voice.

‘Not so much any more,’ he said hoarsely.

That arrogance had got him convicted.

As Sean pulled himself together on the other end of the phone, she took a moment of pride at her own part in this process. Even without Penn’s prompting she had taken the case because of the injustice done to Lesley Skipton. She couldn’t have known that following the thread of that case would lead to an even greater injustice. Most police officers she knew objected equally to the right person not doing the time as they did to the wrong person doing time. It wasn’t numbers they sought but justice.

‘So, Sean, take care and stay good, yeah?’

‘Will do, Stacey. And… thank you.’

Stacey ended the call, wiped a tear from her eye and headed out of the boss’s office.

One Hundred Eight

Kim stood at the window of the squad room looking out of an empty office on to the car park below. Most of her team was enjoying some time at home after a physically and emotionally exhausting week. Most of her team, but not all.

Her own debrief of the case with Woody had ended only moments earlier and many subjects had been covered.

After congratulating her, Woody had informed her that West Mercia were drafting lengthy press statements that both appeared to offer support to their superintendent while putting distance between them at the same time. Kim was unsure how they were going to manage both simultaneously, but she also knew that the police force itself couldn’t find Lena Wiley guilty before a jury had and so would ensure extensive legal advice had been sought before uttering one word.

The TV news was over it, but every local newspaper servicing both West Midlands and West Mercia was still spewing out the gory details and wringing every last morsel of life from the story. Frost was no exception about which Kim was not surprised. Kim knew the woman possessed some measure of morals, but she also knew she had a boss and readers to satisfy.

During the meeting with Woody, the knowledge that she had been right in her approach in reaching Christopher via the local media had hung in the air between them. Neither of them had mentioned it, but both she and Woody had come to the agreement that given recent events, most specifically her inability to follow an instruction she thought was wrong, promotion to DCI was not a viable prospect right now. Something Kim had told him at the beginning of the week.

Then they had briefly discussed career progression within her team, outlining potential opportunities for Stacey in particular.

And it was with Stacey that her thoughts had stayed. There had been easier cases to look at in the shuffles, but Stacey had chosen the toughest, most complicated case, which spoke volumes about the woman and police officer she had become. She was about to embark on a new stage of her life with her marriage to Devon, about which she couldn’t now shut up since Penn had offered Jasper’s services to make them a wedding cake.

She had grown in both ability and confidence far beyond Kim’s expectations. There was no case they worked where Stacey didn’t impress her just that little bit more, she thought as the officer herself came into view on the car park.

Stacey had asked if she could bring in Lesley Skipton to meet with Chris, if both parties were agreeable. She had felt it would offer Lesley some closure, some understanding of why she had felt certain emotions in connection with her attack, maybe even give her the chance to move on.

All parties had agreed, and the meeting had just taken place.

Stacey had no idea that Kim was watching as she hugged Lesley and then put her into a waiting taxi.

Kim knew that Stacey had no idea how far she’d come in the years they’d worked together; she had grown drastically in her ability to feel empathy, her humanity, her willingness to go a step beyond. She was a police officer to her core, a bloody good one, and she didn’t even know it.

Woody knew it and she knew it, and as Kim watched the detective constable wave away the taxi, she knew it was time for things to change.

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