Page 48 of First Blood

‘Okay, thanks, Keats. It was good of you to look.’

But it had helped her not at all.

She put her phone back in her pocket and realised her colleague was still looking her way.

‘She punched him in the face?’

Kim nodded, still not quite believing what she’d heard from Dawson.

‘She sure did and now we’re gonna go find out why.’

Chapter Forty-One

Lisa Bywater wiped at her eyes and vowed it would be the last time he would ever make her cry. She had shed enough tears over that bastard but she hadn’t been prepared for the emotions it was going to bring back to the surface seeing his dead body.

It had been bad enough when he’d put that one-word post on Facebook, despite her privacy settings and the deliberate misspelling of her last name.

All night she’d been agitated and hadn’t even been able to tell Richard why. She had shared nothing of her childhood with her husband. He knew her parents were dead and she had an estranged brother. All true. She hadn’t lied but she hadn’t told the whole truth either.

When she’d seen his face, she’d been unable to help herself. Even in death he looked smug, victorious.

Well no more, she vowed, taking out her phone. He would control her life no longer.

She scrolled down to the contact called ‘Taxi’ and keyed in a quick message.

He’s dead. You’re safe now.

Chapter Forty-Two

‘She actually punched him in the face?’ Stacey asked, shocked at the events at the morgue, but even more surprised that her new colleague had struck up a conversation with her of his own accord. ‘So, what did yer do?’

‘Not a lot I could do. It ain’t like she hurt him and I could charge her with a crime. Thing is, she burst into tears before she did it so I’ve got no clue what was going through her mind.’

Stacey realised this was turning into an actual conversation.

‘So, the boss send you back to help out?’ she asked, wondering if she was seeing a change in the man.

He nodded as he switched on his computer.

‘Okay, I’m expecting the phone records through for Luke Fenton any minute now and the boss wants me to do some digging on the guy found at Redland Hall.’

‘Not our case,’ he said, without interest.

‘Yeah, but I’ve still got to…’

‘Sorry, got my own stuff to do. Trying to track down this woman with a kid and a birthmark so…’

His words trailed away confirming he was going to be no help at all.

Chapter Forty-Three

Kim found herself back in Bilston for the second time in one day.

‘You really think she’s going to let us in after pulling that caper?’ Bryant asked, as they approached the entrance to the tower block.

‘Oh yeah, she’ll let us in,’ Kim said, running for the door as two teenage girls exited.

They made the journey to Lisa’s apartment in silence.