Page 74 of Deadly Cry

‘Crying on the inside, Frost. Now I need you to do me a favour.’

Her face hardened immediately.

‘Don’t worry, there’s something in it for you.’

‘Go on,’ she said, tipping her head.

‘I want you to write your story, but I want you to add in some quotes from me.’

Frost frowned. ‘I can name you?’

‘You must name me,’ Kim said.

Frost took out her notebook. ‘Okay, Stone, what the hell are you up to?’

‘Write this down. I want you to say that we fear for the safety of an innocent child, that there’s no need for Archie to get hurt, that we understand how Archie has unwittingly become an innocent party. Add that we know his captor doesn’t want to hurt him, we know to him there’s a good reason why he’s doing the things he is and that I would welcome the opportunity to talk to him about it.’

‘Fuck me, Stone, I wish you were this empathetic to folks who weren’t going round murdering folks,’ Frost said with her pen poised.

There wasn’t one ounce of empathy in her for someone who had killed three women in three days. It was a calculated move. If he wanted a parent, she didn’t think harsh, cold disciplinarian was the way to go.

On cue, her phone started to buzz in her pocket.

‘Can you do it, Frost?’

‘Err… yeah, exclusive content from the senior investigating officer on a triple murder case, I’ll do it, but why me?’

‘I read yesterday’s article online. There was no mention of any letters from the killer.’

Frost rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, sometimes I slip up and do the right fucking thing.’

Kim was grateful that she’d chosen not to divert the direction of the story and had kept the focus on the missing boy, but they still needed to know whose loose lips were going to be kissing their career goodbye. ‘Look, your source…’

Frost looked up and to the left. ‘You wanna tell that Mitch guy to be more careful when he’s carrying plastic evidence bags around. I have zoom on my camera, you know.’

‘Fuck, Frost, you said there was a leak in—’

‘Yeah, I ain’t all nice, you know. You guys pissed me off.’

‘We all square now?’ Kim asked, aware they used Frost when it suited them, and for once she’d done the right thing by them.

‘For now,’ she said, putting her notepad away.

‘How long until it’s live?’ Kim asked.

‘The article will be online within the hour and in the early print edition tomorrow afternoon.’

Kim prayed Noah was searching online. Every hour that passed where she didn’t receive a call to attend the body of a young boy offered another sliver of hope that they could get Archie back unharmed.

Her phone rang again, reminding her that she had to go back and face the music.

But not before she’d played some music of her own.

Sixty-One

‘Alison. Bowl. Now,’ Kim said as she entered the squad room.

‘Boss, she—’