Page 37 of First Blood

‘Are you related?’ Kim asked.

The woman’s hands had found each other in her lap. They were flexing and releasing as some kind of tension entered her body. ‘Please tell me what this is about.’

‘I have to know if you’re related,’ Kim said, not unkindly. This could be the mother of his child. Whoever she was she was about to get one hell of a shock. Damn it, she hated this part of the job.

Lisa Bywater nodded. ‘Luke is my brother.’

Oh shit, now she really hated this part of the job. And this sibling knowledge would have been useful to them ahead of time.

‘Parents?’ Kim asked.

‘Dead,’ she answered, shaking her head.

Liking the job less and less.

‘Mrs Bywater, I’m sorry to inform you that we believe your brother is dead.’

Not one solitary muscle moved on her face as the words appeared to bypass her ears completely. Her expression said she was still waiting for the actual reason for their visit.

‘Mrs Bywater, your brother has been killed, I’m sad to say, murdered.’

The woman began to shake her head. ‘No… no… you’re wrong… he can’t be…’

‘I’m afraid he is,’ Bryant said, firmly. ‘We’re in no doubt.’

She blinked a few times in quick succession as though the action was helping to get the information into her brain.

Her head dropped into her hands. Her elbows resting on her knees. Her body began to shake with emotion.

Bryant reached across and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

‘Is there someone we can call?’

She shook her head.

Bryant removed his hand but continued speaking. ‘We’re so sorry for your loss, Mrs Bywater but—’

‘Are you kidding?’ she said, raising a dry-eyed, colour-infused face. Her eyes were alight and animated. ‘It’s the best bloody news I’ve had in months.’

Chapter Thirty-One

‘What the hell was all that about?’ Bryant asked as they watched Lisa Bywater drive away.

There was no grieving time for this lady, no call to the workplace to explain her loss and forthcoming absence. Brother or not, his death was not going to make her any later for her shift than she already was.

‘And her refusal to answer any further questions about… well anything,’ she noted.

The woman had pretty much ordered them out of the flat and would speak no further.

‘Shocked you got her to agree to the body identification, guv, to be honest.’

Yes, Kim was surprised at that herself. She had asked as the young woman was pushing them out of the door. At first she had started to shake her head and then changed her mind and said she’d love to.

‘On a scale of one to ten of weirdest notifications of a death, I’d rank that an eleven,’ Bryant offered.

Kim could feel her own frown. ‘Yeah, I get that they might not have been close but to get actual joy from his…’ She stopped speaking as she had a sudden thought. ‘Bryant, how far away are we from Wolverhampton?’

‘Just a couple of…’