Page 93 of Little Children

‘Oh, he boxed all right. Did it for years, and he’s got the broken bones to prove it. But poor Josh, who had such a gift for it, sustained an injury that put him out of action, so they used him as a punching bag instead before strangling him and throwing his body in the canal.’

Warren turned and puked again, but Kim wasn’t prepared to go easy on him. He’d known something about Josh’s disappearance and had chosen to do nothing. Josh could have been home safe and sound if this man had spoken up about what he knew.

‘Imagine having to go and explain that to his family, Warren.’

Warren raised his head. There were tears streaming over his cheeks.

‘You mentioned your family, so I’m gonna take a wild guess that you’ve got kids. I’d like you, for the purpose of true empathy and understanding, to imagine one of your children being hung up like a dead animal: terrified, alone, starving, wondering why you haven’t rescued them from being punched repeatedly until their internal organs pop inside their?—’

‘Okay, I’ll tell you everything I know, I swear.’

Kim sat back and waited.

For the first time she actually believed him.

Fifty-Nine

The feeling of unease hadn’t left Bryant all night. Even the bacon he was putting on his plate held no appeal despite the fact he was able to enjoy it without Jenny’s gentle disapproval.

He took a seat opposite Stacey and buttered a slice of toast, but that held little appeal either. He was happy to put it back on the plate when his phone sounded receipt of a message.

‘Guess who?’ he asked, rolling his eyes.

‘What’s she say?’ Stacey asked before spooning more cereal into her mouth.

‘To stop dawdling over breakfast cos time’s a wasting.’

‘You think she’s taking this awful boss act a bit far?’ Stacey chuckled.

‘Oh yeah, she’s got into character, all right.’

Though he wanted to nail Roy Moss, there was a part of him that wished he’d retuned to the Black Country with the guv. After what Pippa had said to him, he wondered if he really had bitten off more than he could chew. He wished he had the boss to bounce off some of the stuff in his head.

Much as he hated to admit it, there were times when her objective, unapologetic opinion cleared the forest so that he could see the wood for the trees. Another part of him knew that the equilibrium of the team was severely damaged when they were separated and two entire skill sets were missing from the tool shed. He even missed Penn a little bit.

He took a bite of the cold toast and sat back in his chair.

‘Hey, Stace, don’t you just wish she was?—?’

‘Hey, team, did ya miss us?’

Bryant’s head snapped round as the guv and Penn headed their way.

He blinked to make sure his imagination hadn’t conjured up a mirage, but they were definitely real.

‘Why, you been somewhere?’ he asked with a smile. The relief that flooded through him was immense.

The guv nudged him as she took a seat and reached for a piece of toast.

Stacey looked as pleased to see them as he was and was quick to pour Penn a fresh cup of tea.

‘Case solved already?’ he asked. Even without knowing what the case was it would still have been some kind of record.

‘Not yet but getting closer. Pretty certain it’s linked to what’s going on up here.’

Stacey put down her fork. ‘We know Lewis and Noah were taken by the same people.’

The guv nodded. ‘Without a doubt. Our boy back home, Josh, was abducted four years ago from a local gym. He’d be fifteen now.’