Page 105 of First Blood

She rolled her eyes seeing her boss’s name appear on the display.

‘Stone, where are you? I expected an update hours ago.’

‘Sir, we’re just following up a lead and…’

‘In my office in one hour. We need to talk resources for this. We have three victims likely to have been murdered by the same killer. We need to draft in more—’

‘S… rr… y… s… r… can’t… hear… go… thr… tunn…’ she said, waving the phone around in front of her.

She ended the call. In his opinion it was three victims and in hers it was now six. She didn’t have time for a briefing right now and she certainly didn’t have time to bring a whole new team up to speed. By the time she’d finished she could be heading to the crime scene of victim number seven.

Their killer was going to strike again and she had to find out who the victim was going to be.

‘Wait a minute,’ she said, thinking back over the events of the day.

‘What?’ Bryant asked, rubbing at his forehead.

‘Hang on,’ Kim said, taking out her phone. She dialled Marianne’s number. The woman answered with a voice mixed of breathlessness and irritation.

‘DI Stone, how may I help you?’

‘There was a woman today, at the shelter; mid-thirties, cream jumper and navy slacks, looking quite smart and—’

‘Diana Lambert, thirty-six years old, had a custody hearing today to retrieve her daughter from the state.’

‘Was the child sexually abused by her father?’ Kim asked.

‘How did you know?…’

‘Lucky guess. What’s her story?’

‘Husband had been abusing their child for two years but Diana had no idea. He accused her of taking prescription drugs and endangering the child following a minor car accident when all along he’d been molesting the little girl. Diana left him and reported him to Child Services but the child refused to speak. There were accusations back and forth of neglect and abuse and drug-taking so Lily was removed from the home, and Diana sought help from us while an investigation was carried out.’

‘And what about the husband?’ Kim asked.

‘He’s a doctor, a GP I think.’

‘And what’s happening to him?’ Kim asked, feeling the tension tighten in her stomach.

‘It’s my understanding that Child Services have still not been able to glean anything from the child, but they have deemed it safe to return her to Diana. So, in the absence of any kind of statement from the child I’m pretty sure there’ll be no further action and he’ll receive no punishment at all.’

Kim thought back to Carl Wickes’s lengthy conversation with Diana earlier that day.

She had a feeling that was about to change.

Chapter Ninety-Seven

Bryant pulled the car into the kerb in front of The Full Moon pub in Dudley High Street. When asked if she could return to the shelter at almost ten to speak to Diana Lambert, Marianne had told her that Diana was celebrating at the local Wetherspoons with a few of the women from the shelter after a successful meeting with Child Services. Marianne had been invited but had been unable to attend.

Kim entered the establishment as a blur of sashes, veils and tiaras came stumbling out. The cheap beer drew in most stag and hen parties from a three-mile radius.

She spotted Diana Lambert amongst three other women on a table behind a fruit machine halfway along the space. She was immediately struck by the fact that Diana was swaying along to the background music and the other three were not. She could feel their discomfort as she approached.

‘Diana Lambert?’ she asked.

Diana focussed on her and nodded.

Kim held up her identification. ‘May we have a word?’ She looked around the group. ‘It’s urgent.’