Page 63 of Little Children

‘There’s no one else that could have handled it?’ she asked, thinking about the rest of her team left to the mercy of the Blackpool squad.

‘They sent me Waines,’ he offered by way of an explanation.

‘Competent,’ she said, although she’d never worked with him herself.

‘I want better than competent for this poor soul. I want dynamic, engaged, passionate and persistent. In the absence of those things, I’ll take you.’

‘Hang on,’ Kim said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Back up a minute. Is that some kind of compliment?’

‘If you’re that desperate for praise, take it how you will. In the meantime, follow me.’

Kim did as she was asked and followed the pathologist to the first metal table in the row of three. A sheet still covered the form.

‘Are you ready?’ he asked.

She nodded.

He peeled back the sheet to reveal sandy blonde hair, then a face, a young face, narrow shoulders, an emaciated frame, dirty boxer shorts, pronounced hip bones, thin legs and bony feet.

Kim remained silent for a minute as she took in the scene before her.

She guessed the boy to be no older than fifteen.

It wasn’t only his young age which saddened her, but as Keats had uncovered the body a bit at a time, he had revealed more and more areas of bruising. The skin was a canvas of yellow, purple and red bruises. This boy had been beaten relentlessly.

‘This is how he was found?’ she asked.

Keats nodded. ‘At the Dudley Canal basin. No other clothing was found, but he didn’t drown. I’d say this was the culprit,’ he said, pointing to a line of bruising that stretched all around the boy’s neck.

Kim frowned. The body looked barely touched by water. She’d seen plenty of drowned victims in her time.

‘Not very long, is the answer to your next question.’

Kim waited.

‘I’d say he’d been in the water barely longer than an hour,’ Keats answered. ‘I can’t tell you yet exactly how long before that he was murdered, but I’ll try and offer something a bit tighter once I’ve had a chance to chat with him further.’

Kim knew Keats’s ‘chat’ entailed the dissection of every major organ in the quest for answers. She also knew that every step of that process would be carried out with respect and sensitivity.

‘Anything else for now?’ she asked, taking one more look at the body.

‘Nothing, except for the fact that you have to find whoever did this.’

She left the morgue and headed into the anteroom with Penn two steps behind her.

Was it chance that she was helping to investigate the disappearance of two pre-teen boys and had been called back home to the body of what looked like a fifteen-year-old boy?

Yes, there was a few years’ difference between the boys, but she didn’t believe in this kind of coincidence.

Keats popped his head into the room as she removed the protective slippers.

‘Your case then?’

She nodded. ‘Yes, Keats, this time you were right to give me a call.’

Forty

It didn’t take long for Bryant to realise that Roy did everything as though he was the only person that existed.