Page 35 of Killing Mind

‘This,’ Keats said, motioning for him to look through the microscope.

‘Okay,’ Penn said, not really sure what he was looking at.

Keats pulled up a photo on his computer screen.

Penn rolled his eyes. ‘Why didn’t you just show me the bigger picture first? I still don’t know what I’m looking at but…’

‘What you’re looking at is the stomach contents of…’

‘Tyler Short. I know that,’ Penn said, pleased he’d had at least one chance to interrupt the pathologist.

Keats peered at him over the gold-rimmed glasses. ‘These are the stomach contents of Samantha Brown. Exactly the same.’

Penn looked into the microscope and back to the screen.

‘So, if your boss needs any further proof that these cases are linked you can tell her that Tyler Short’s last meal was also nothing more than rice and beans.’

Thirty-One

Callum Towney was not what Kim expected.

The photo Stacey had sent showed a reasonably good-looking lad with a healthy tan and a head full of untidy blonde hair. The boy collecting trolleys on Asda car park had shaved his head and collected a couple of piercings to his face.

‘Got a minute?’ she asked, showing her ID.

‘Sure,’ he said, without changing expression.

In Kim’s experience the majority of people underwent some kind of emotional change, however subtle, when approached by a police officer. Often she saw fear, anticipation, guilt, irritation, superiority but she rarely saw no change at all. For her that indicated a person who hadn’t ever done a thing wrong or someone who didn’t care if they got caught. It remained to be seen into which category Callum Towney fell.

‘We’d like to talk to you about Samantha Brown,’ she explained.

A knowing look flashed onto his face. ‘Yeah, thought you might.’

Samantha’s name had been plastered all over the press, so he knew the girl was dead. She detected no hint of sadness, regret, nothing.

‘Why’s that then?’

He opened his arms expansively as though it was obvious. ‘Cos I was the love of her life, innit?’

Oh, the innit. A phrase she despised.

‘Allegedly,’ Kim offered, wondering already what the hell Sammy had seen in this guy.

‘You dated at college?’

‘Dated?’ he guffawed, as though she’d used some ancient term.

‘We did a lot of f—’

‘I think the answer is yes,’ Bryant interrupted.

Callum nodded.

‘And you were studying what at Dudley College?’ Kim asked, pointedly looking at the trolleys as he pushed his line into a stray one beside a Ford Fiesta.

‘Not much,’ he said. ‘Only went so my parents wouldn’t throw me out. And this?’ he said, looking at his trolleys, ‘Just to get me by. I’m claiming Jobseeker’s at a different address so it’s decent until I can get investors for an idea I’ve got.’

Kim heard the pride in his voice that he was swindling the government. She idly wondered if she had actually shown him her ID.