Page 69 of Killing Mind

‘Hey, are you okay?’ asked a voice from above. Tiffany had been so lost in the memories she’d almost forgotten why she was here. And the reason was now right in front of her. Close up Tiff noticed a smattering of freckles that crossed the bridge of her nose beneath friendly green eyes filled with concern. She wore no make-up or jewellery except for a necklace with a butterfly resting in the hollow of her throat.

‘Yeah, I’m fine, thanks,’ she answered. ‘Just had a huge row with my mum this morning.’

Not strictly true. She had accepted the news as she always did, with silence.

‘Oh no,’ Britney said, sitting beside her. ‘Families can be so difficult, can’t they?’

Tiff nodded. ‘We both said some pretty nasty things.’

Britney nodded. ‘We all do when we’re angry.’

Tiff nodded and wiped at her dry eye.

‘I’m Britney, by the way,’ the girl said, offering her hand and a friendly smile.

‘Tiffany, Tiff,’ she responded as she always did.

‘So, what was it about, the argument?’

‘My brother,’ she answered, and gave a very brief summary.

‘Oh, that doesn’t seem very fair,’ Britney offered.

‘I’m sure it’ll all be fine. We just need a bit of cooling off time. I just don’t want to see her quite yet but I’ve got no money and no place to go,’ she said, shrugging.

Britney tapped her arm reassuringly.

‘Don’t worry. I know a place you can go.’

Fifty-Seven

It was almost four by the time Bryant pulled up at the Himley Park lake.

‘Shit,’ Kim said, as Bryant parked next to Keats’s van. He would have been Mitch’s second call.

She wasted no time in hurrying to the nucleus of the action.

She arrived and looked around.

‘Where is it, then?’ she asked, in the absence of a body.

‘Stuck,’ Keats said, as a head bobbed up out of the water, and he called out an instruction to his colleagues in the boat.

‘What do we know?’ Kim asked, turning to Mitch.

He shrugged. ‘That there’s an unidentified mass attached to some foliage in the water.’

‘But they’re sure it’s a body?’

Mitch raised an eyebrow. ‘Pretty sure they wouldn’t have told us to summon everyone if it was a discarded shopping trolley.’

‘Mitch, you have been spending way too much time with Keats,’ she said, as Inspector Plant approached.

‘Stone, the manager here is gonna pop a blood vessel if she doesn’t get some information soon. She’s seeing all kinds of vehicles arrive and her anxiety is going through the roof. She’s desperate to know when she’s going to get her site back.’

Kim opened her mouth to answer. She felt sorry for Plant having to try and keep the staff calm and, more importantly, out of the way.

She was prevented from answering by a shout from the boat on the lake.