Page 67 of Killing Mind

‘Hiya teeeeam,’ Tiffany called from the doorway.

‘Come on in, Tink,’ Kim said, from the top of the office.

Tiffany Moore was a bright and committed twenty-four-year-old police constable who looked much younger than her years. She’d been called in to assist Stacey with some of the desk work on their last major case due to Travis being seconded back to West Mercia.

Kim had nicknamed her Tinkerbell not only because she wore her blonde hair up in a bun at the back of her head but because she truly had walked off the pages of a fairy tale book. Kim would not have been surprised to see butterflies and rabbits entering the squad room behind her.

‘Close the door,’ Kim instructed.

The girl did so and then stood in front of it.

‘Sit down,’ Kim told her. ‘So, what has Wood… I mean DCI Woodward told you?’

She sat and shrugged. ‘He asked me if I’d like to book the afternoon as annual leave and pop up here to give you a hand with something.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I was like, err… yeah.’

Kim hid her smile. On paper this girl should have annoyed the hell out of her. She was bright, chirpy, cheerful, innocent and she whistled show tunes when she was concentrating. And yet Kim didn’t find her irritating because she had allowed neither life nor the police force to knock that joy of life out of her.

‘Okay, we need you to go undercover, which sounds a lot more exciting than it is.’

Tiff clapped her hands together. ‘Cool.’

Kim almost said it did not include going to Disneyland but held her tongue. It was that youthful innocence they were counting on.

When she’d shot upstairs to see Woody straight from the cafeteria, she had known immediately what his response would be.

Organising an official undercover operation took weeks, even months, of planning. Officers were vetted and analysed. Operational Orders and Risk Assessments were formulated by experts, checked and double-checked to cover everyone’s behind. It was a process they didn’t have time for. With two bodies in two days they had to be creative.

‘Okay, Tink, here’s the issue. There’s a place called Unity Farm that’s linked to two murders. Bryant and I have visited briefly and got the shortest of tours; the tourist view if you like. We need to get someone who is not a police officer in there for a few hours. Get a better look around, a feel for what’s really going on and if it’s as innocent as it seems. So far?’

She nodded, eyes wide.

‘They seem to favour young, vulnerable kids who are in a state of emotional turmoil, upset about something.’ Kim frowned. ‘I mean, you do get upset, don’t you?’ she asked, to be sure.

‘Well, not often but I’m sure I can if I try.’

‘Go on then,’ Kim said, folding her arms and praying Tiffany had been chosen as a kid for the school play.

Tiffany threw her head back and began wailing. Her eyes were tightly closed and her face scrunched into some kind of constipated grimace.

Kim’s jaw dropped to the ground. Bryant looked away. Penn covered his eyes and shook his head while Stacey groaned out loud.

Kim’s bewilderment was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. Mitch at the lake.

She watched as Tiffany’s performance reached the climax and realised they were in all kinds of trouble.

Fifty-Five

Kim checked her watch again as Bryant pulled up behind the college building.

‘You ready, Tink?’ she asked, turning around in her seat.

Tiff nodded.

She’d been fully briefed on the murders, the names, the layout of the site and had been given strict instructions about leaving.

‘So, there’ll be a car waiting on the main road at ten o’clock tonight. You call me the second you’re out, got it?’

‘Yep, got it, boss,’ Tiff said, getting out of the car.