Page 64 of Little Children

They had barely travelled a mile before their car had been honked at and shown the finger more than once.

‘Bet you can’t believe the bitch has been called back, eh?’ Roy asked. ‘Sometimes you just gotta believe in God, eh?’

It was surreal to hear the man refer to God in any way. He had to be the least God-fearing man Bryant had ever met. But today he was better prepared to play along.

‘Oh, yeah, gives me the chance to do some real police work, and maybe have a bit of fun at the same time,’ he said, slipping into his despicable character. Although he had the guv’s permission to play this part, he still felt a stab of guilt every time he badmouthed her.

Roy laughed. ‘If it’s fun you’re after, I’ve got a doss house that needs raiding later. That’ll brighten your day.’

Bryant glanced out of the window to hide the tension that had shot into his face as a picture of Pippa Jacobs’s lifeless eyes, broken spirit and fearful demeanour came into his mind.

He was pretty sure she wasn’t having any fun.

‘Listen, we’re not gonna get a lot from these on-the-pier guys, so we’ll chat for half an hour then go find somewhere out of the way for a cuppa.’

‘You don’t think they can help find Noah?’

‘Nah.’

‘His parents must be going out of their minds,’ Bryant said – a not-so-subtle reminder of the job at hand.

‘Shoulda thought about that before they left the kid alone. Their negligence means a ball-ache for us. If the kid ends up dead, who do you think is gonna get the blame – us or the two grown adults that left him on his own? Seriously, it pisses me the fuck off when folks have kids and make ’em somebody else’s prob—’ He stopped speaking as his phone rang.

No surprise that he took it from his pocket, answered it and held it to his ear while driving with one hand.

He listened for a few seconds.

‘Where?’ he asked.

In response to the answer, he replied that they were on their way before ending the call.

‘Change of plan, my man,’ he said, pulling into a private drive to turn the car around.

Bryant held on to the side of his seat.

‘Boss said we might get a call, and this is a big one. Gonna show you folks how we do it up here.’

Yeah, please show me how you can investigate poorly in a haphazard manner, Bryant thought as he held on for dear life.

* * *

A sense of relief coursed through Bryant when Roy finally pulled the car to a screeching halt at the cordon tape serving as a barrier to an industrial estate.

Every head, from members of the public to police officers, turned. He was reminded of the opening credits to the old seventies cop shows where the main characters zoomed in to save the day.

Seeing who it was, the police officers quickly lost interest, but the public were still watching them closely as Roy barged his way through the crowd.

The officer keeping the log managed to nod at Roy without even looking up.

All activity was focussed on a small industrial unit which appeared to be unused.

Roy spoke to no one as he approached. A man whom Bryant assumed to be the pathologist appeared to curse under his breath.

This wasn’t his case, meaning he was free to observe the reactions of the people around him, and he’d yet to spot anyone pleased to see Roy Moss.

‘Step aside,’ Roy said to no one in particular.

They did so, and Bryant found himself frozen to the spot.