Page 98 of Deadly Cry

‘Not a fucking chance,’ Kim said. ‘But I will pay you back and you know it.’

Frost hesitated for only a second before reaching for her notebook.

‘Okay, what do you want in there? I’ll work the article around that.’

‘Okay, I want you to say that not every murderer is evil, that if they want to stop they can. That no one else has to die and that help is available and—’

‘Bloody hell, Stone, do you want to tuck him in and read him a bedtime story too? This monster has killed three women and—’

‘I’m trying to make sure he doesn’t kill a fourth. Unless he chooses you and then I’m not all that—’

‘Okay, carry on,’ she said, shaking her head.

‘You must mention my name, and you must emphasise that no one else needs to die. Got it?’

‘Yeah, yeah, but working it into a bloody news story is another matter.’

‘I have every faith in you, Frost,’ Kim said, pushing back her chair.

‘Whatever,’ she said, taking out her laptop and making herself comfortable at the corner table in the café.

As they stepped outside, Kim glanced back at Frost’s fingers flying across the keyboard.

Whatever words she’d chosen to use, it was a plea for him to stop what he was doing, and with it being almost twenty-four hours since the last murder, Kim only hoped that she wasn’t too late.

Eighty

‘Penn, what the hell are you doing?’ Stacey asked as he wrote furiously on the wipe board.

‘Give me a minute, Stace,’ he said without turning.

‘You’re just writing random incidents on the board that have nothing to do with—’

‘Okay, I’m done,’ he said, standing back.

Stacey looked at the completed board and tried to take it all in.

May 2010 – Burglary – Scratches in sideboard

May 2010 – Burglary – No scratches

August 2012 – Peeping Tom – Scratches on window sill

August 2012 – Peeping Tom – No scratches

January 2014 – Assault – Scratches on hand

January 2014 – Assault – No scratches

February 2019 – Murder – Homeless Woman – Scratches on arm

February 2019 – Murder – Homeless Woman – No scratches

Current – Murder 1 – Katrina Nock – Scratches

Current – Murder 2 – Louise Webb-Harvey – No Scratches

Current – Murder 3 – Nicola Southall – ???