Page 43 of Killing Mind

‘On what grounds?’

‘The shoe’

‘And?’

‘Just the shoe, sir.’

‘Oh, Stone, and here was me thinking you were making a serious request.’

This response was not good. Irritation, disbelief and scepticism she could work with, but instant dismissal of her request was a harder nut to crack.

‘It is.’

‘Rarely has my day ended positively because of you, Stone,’ he said, standing and reaching for his briefcase. ‘But today…’

‘We need to see if there’s another body in there,’ she said, continuing to plead her corner as he placed files into the case. If necessary she’d follow him down to the car, wittering in his ear until he drove away.

‘You have anything other than one rogue shoe buried in the mud? Other clothing?’

‘No.

‘A suspicion of a missing person who might be in there?’

‘No.’

He stopped packing his case. ‘Then you know my answer.’

Kim understood the massive considerations involved in dragging a lake. In addition, the lost revenue and inconvenience to the property owners were factors to be considered. She knew he had spent the afternoon in a budget meeting, but he was a police officer at heart not a paper pusher, which made him an exceptionally good boss. Except when he was saying no to her.

‘Sir, this case is…’

‘Stone, anything further on this subject is a waste of breath for you and a waste of time for me. The answer is no.’

Kim growled on the inside. It didn’t matter if she followed him all the way home and sat on his bedside table while he drank his cocoa. He wasn’t going to change his mind unless she could give him something more.

She just didn’t know what that something more was.

Thirty-Six

Bryant knew he was doing himself no favours but it was something he had to see for himself.

All day he’d waited for a text message or call to say they’d changed their mind, that they’d realised they’d made a huge mistake and that Peter Drake was not going to be released after all.

He’d fought through the evening traffic after dropping off the guv at the station and had made it with just minutes to spare. He wasn’t surprised to see Richard Harrison’s car already parked. He pulled up, leaving one space in between.

‘It’s really going to happen, isn’t it?’ Richard asked, leaning against Bryant’s rear door. ‘That bastard is going to be free any minute now?’

Bryant said nothing as he appraised the man who appeared even more gaunt than the day before. Yesterday his suit had been clean, his shirt pressed and his hair combed tidily. Today, the creased clothing, the greasy hair and black shadows beneath his eyes told Bryant Richard hadn’t had a moment of peace since the decision had been made. The man was in decline and there was nothing Bryant could do to stop it.

‘You know he’s going to do it again, don’t you?’ Richard asked.

Bryant heard the crack in the man’s voice and thought about what the guv had said aboutMinority Reportand not being able to predict future crimes, but damn it, his gut told him the same thing.

‘Another girl is going to suffer just like Wendy did,’ he said, as the doors began to open.

Richard straightened up and moved away from the car.

And then suddenly there he was.