Page 11 of Dying Truth

‘On what?’ Bryant asked, finally, voicing the thoughts of the rest of her team.

‘Not one of you thinks there’s something here?’ she asked, surprised.

Dawson shook his head. ‘Poor little rich girl probably couldn’t get her own way, tried to get some attention up on that roof and lost her balance,’ he offered.

Stacey shrugged. ‘Or her boyfriend finished with her and she was distraught.’

‘Or she was pressured by the workload and it all got a bit much for her,’ Bryant offered.

‘So, we have three different theories but none of you think Sadie Winters belongs on our board? And of course this has nothing to do with the fact that she went to a private school?’

They looked from one to the other, and Dawson spoke first. ‘Boss, I’ve got two serious assaults and a string of burglary offences.’

Stacey looked up. ‘And I’m working on a list of armed robberies in Wolverhampton to see if there’s any—’

‘Hey, this isn’t a bloody prove your worth competition,’ she said, holding up her hands. ‘But would someone like to show me where it says on their job description that we care less about suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of wealthy people?’

Dawson coloured. ‘It’s got nothing to do—’

‘Of course it has,’ she argued. ‘You’ve already assumed she’s a poor little rich girl who was seeking attention or that she had problems that you would class as inconsequential. What if this had happened at the school down the road from Hollytree, or the academy that’s at the end of your road, Stacey? Would you still assume the same things?’ she asked.

‘Just doesn’t look suspicious,’ Dawson said.

‘Looks like a suicide,’ Bryant replied.

Yes, they were all right, she conceded and yet there were a few things she couldn’t get out of her mind. Things that had accompanied her and Barney on their late-night walk and which had still been there when she’d opened her eyes that morning.

The first unnatural thing that churned her stomach was a thirteen-year-old girl taking her own life. Kim knew it happened but there had to be a big question why. You didn’t just accept it and move on.

Physically she couldn’t comprehend the spot Sadie had chosen to jump from. A quick look down and all she would have seen was those vicious black spikes staring up at her. She would have needed to leap forward to miss them instead of taking a few steps to the right or left where she would have had a clear fall.

The absence of a cigarette butt on the roof bothered her, too, but not as much as the lack of gravel marks on her skin. Individually these inconsistencies meant little, but together they mattered. Clearly less to her team than they did to her.

‘What exactly do you think we’re looking for, guv?’ Bryant asked.

She shrugged. She really had no idea. She saw the collective sigh of relief as her team thought her admission signalled defeat. Not one of them thought there was anything suspicious about this tragic situation.

So, it was a good job this was not a democracy and that she was the boss.

‘Dawson, write Sadie’s name on the board, now,’ she said as her phone began to ring.

Nine

‘So, why exactly does Keats want to see us?’ Bryant asked, as he parked the car at Russells Hall Hospital.

‘Sadie’s parents have identified the body and are asking for a speedy resolution, which is understandable,’ she acknowledged.

No parent wanted to think of their child being kept in cold storage in a morgue. They would want her body transferred to a funeral director where they could go and visit her and begin making plans for her burial.

‘Just a formality then?’ Bryant asked.

‘Hmm…’ she responded absently.

Once she and Keats had agreed it was suicide with no suspicious circumstances the body could then be released.

She was about to enter the hospital when something caught her eye. Just along the pavement on a wooden bench sat two figures huddled together. The man’s arm was fixed tightly around the woman’s shoulders as though holding her together.

Kim knew instinctively who they were. Their grief-laden shoulders and hunched backs told her she was looking at Sadie’s parents. She stepped away from the doors and headed towards them.