Page 19 of Killing Mind

She followed him to the door and offered him the reassurance they would be in touch.

She was prevented from commenting on the door being closed swiftly behind them by the ringing of her phone.

‘Hey, Keats,’ she said, walking back towards the car. Maybe he had found something in Samantha Brown’s post-mortem after all.

‘Himley Park, Inspector, and I suggest you get here now.’

Eighteen

It hadn’t taken a great deal of detecting skills to track down one of Samantha Brown’s closest friends, Stacey thought, as she entered the Next store at Merry Hill Shopping Centre.

But what did surprise her was that young women still lived their lives so openly on social media. This particular girl had no privacy settings and documented her every move on Instagram, which is how Stacey knew that she was already at work, what time her shift ended and what she intended to do with the rest of her day.

Perhaps it was the police officer in her that no longer saw young women just living their lives openly and without fear. She saw opportunity for predators looking to see when her home was unoccupied or when she was travelling alone. She feared for these young women who seemed to be oblivious to the dangers that lurked everywhere, even in cyberspace.

‘Where might I find Cassie Young?’ she asked a woman returning clothes to a jumper rack.

The woman quite rightly frowned. Good. She liked to see a bit of suspicion now and again. Stacey showed her ID.

The woman’s suspicion turned to alarm.

‘It’s okay. There’s nothing wrong. I just need a minute of her time.’

‘Homewares,’ she said, pointing to the other side of the store.

Stacey thanked her and headed in that direction.

She almost stumbled over the woman who was filling a lower shelf with candles.

‘Cassie Young?’ she asked, although the hundreds of photos she’d seen online told her that this was the woman she was after.

Cassie stood and nodded.

Stacey showed her ID which was still in her hand.

‘Is everything okay?’

‘You were friends with Samantha Brown?’

Tears filled her eyes as though they’d not been very far away.

She sniffed them back and nodded. ‘Not so much the last few years but we were close once. I can’t believe she killed herself.’

The news of the reclassification hadn’t reached the news yet, and Stacey was happy to leave it that way.

‘Can you spare me a few minutes to talk about her?’

‘Of course, but I’m not sure how much I can tell you. I didn’t even know she was back around.’

Yes, the boss had updated her on the runaway story.

‘What was she like?’ Stacey asked. The girl she’d seen on social media did not match the friendless girl who had died in a cold stark flat.

Cassie smiled. ‘Oh, my goodness, she was hilarious. She was confident and funny. She liked to laugh and enjoy herself, but never too much if you know what I mean.’

Stacey shook her head.

‘She was always considerate of other people. I remember once we went for a night out in town. Got the train back. Full of life we were, shouting and laughing on a half-empty train. Sammy spotted a woman with a young boy who was coughing and sneezing all over the place. She quietened us all down until we got off the train. She was thoughtful and considerate and always happy and positive.’ A slight frown furrowed her well-plucked eyebrows. ‘Well, until…’ Her words trailed off as she glanced over Stacey’s shoulder.