Page 5 of Little Children

He took the hint and focussed on driving them towards the motorway.

She stared at her phone without really seeing it while she composed herself. The damn reporter had just thrown a name at her that she’d hoped never to hear again. She just hoped he was going to break his shovel while digging for that one.

Her gaze focussed as her screen lit up with a text message. She couldn’t stop the groan that was in her head from coming out of her mouth as she read it.

Wanna grab a coffee after work?

‘What?’ Bryant asked.

‘Nothing,’ she answered, clicking out of the message.

Bryant glanced her way as he took the slip road onto the motorway. ‘More mysterious text messages you’re not gonna tell me about?’

‘Correct,’ she said, putting away her phone.

‘And Amber Rose?’

‘Never heard of her,’ she said before turning away.

Three

As arranged, Bryant pulled off the motorway at Charnock Richard services to meet up with the others. She wanted to do a quick briefing before they got to the station in Blackpool, where she intended to give them more information about the tasks at hand.

Since Bryant had made good time, she was surprised to see Penn’s car already there. Once they were inside the café, he waved them over to a window seat as Stacey placed four drinks on the table.

Kim waited for her to get rid of the tray and sit down before she started.

‘Okay, I gave you the bare bones back at the station. Two boys missing. One last weekend and one last night. We’ve been asked, unofficially, to assist with the cases as they’re a bit thin on the ground.’

‘No one closer?’ Penn asked.

‘Apparently they’re a bit busy dealing with the busiest week of the year.’

‘Still a few forces between us and them,’ he pushed.

And now for the bit she hadn’t told them, and the reason for this briefing.

‘The DCI there is an old friend of Woody’s. There have been murmurings of bad behaviour.’

‘What kind?’ Stacey asked. ‘Corruption, brutality, racism?’

Kim shrugged. ‘No specific details but possibly violence and corruption.’

‘So, we’re looking for bent coppers as well?’ Stacey asked with a worried frown, which Kim could understand.

Although the Blackpool team didn’t know all the reasons they would be there, poking your nose into the business of other forces was never going to make you popular. And it didn’t particularly warm the cockles of the heart having to check on the behaviour of your own.

‘We’re looking for any indication that the anonymous complaints have substance.’

‘More than one?’ Bryant asked.

Kim nodded and took a sip of her drink before answering. ‘It’s unclear if the calls were external or internal.’

‘Ooh, dodgy,’ Stacey said, making a face.

‘Exactly. It’s delicate, which is why the DCI can’t start asking questions and why she’s asked for the help of a force a safe distance away.’

‘So, we go straight to the DCI with any suspicions?’ Bryant asked.