Page 94 of Little Children

Bryant could feel the lines linking the dots. ‘Fighting?’

‘Yep, the bare-knuckle, no-rules kind.’

‘But they’re kids,’ Stacey said with a hint of doubt.

‘No, they’re entertainment and big business. The guy who vomited, literally, the information to us last night knew that Josh had been abducted for that purpose, but it’s his boss who arranged it. Our informant is now in custody being questioned more fully and unable to give his boss the heads-up that we’re on to them.’

‘And where’s his boss?’ Bryant asked.

‘Up north somewhere.’

Ah, now he understood the reason for the guv’s return.

‘We’re pretty sure there’s some kind of league which could include as many as a hundred boys nationwide.’

‘Bloody hell,’ Bryant said, blowing out air. The guv had barely got her legs under the breakfast table and they’d moved from two missing boys to possibly a hundred caught up in an illegal fighting racket.

‘So, what now?’ Stacey asked.

‘We talk to Red and see if we can get everyone moving in the same direction.’

‘Good luck with that,’ Stacey groaned. ‘It took some persuading that Noah and Lewis were taken by the same people, and that was with video evidence.’

‘You found something on CCTV?’ the guv asked.

‘Yep, got Lewis being forced into the back of a van and what looks like the same van in the area at the exact same time that Noah disappeared.’

‘Jesus, good work, Stace. What about you?’ she asked, turning Bryant’s way.

‘I just spent the day with the biggest piece of shit in the police force.’

‘Anything we can use?’ she said, getting straight to the point.

He shook his head. ‘Nothing that will guarantee his removal, but something you need to know. Jasmine Swift was found raped and murdered yesterday morning,’ he said and felt instant relief that the words were out of his mouth. In the hours since he’d visited the crime scene, he’d questioned his decision not to tell her, but ultimately there would have been little she could do from back home.

‘Jesus Christ,’ she said, taking a minute to digest the information.

No one spoke as they all finished their breakfast.

He understood the thoughts that would be going through her mind because they’d been with him ever since he’d turned up at the crime scene. Had they somehow precipitated her murder by speaking with her about Red?

Eventually the guv broke the silence. ‘So, not only do we think we might have stumbled upon a national illegal fighting ring with heavy ties to the north, but someone who could have made a complaint about corruption in the local force turns up raped and murdered?’

They all nodded.

‘That’s not all, guv,’ Bryant said before finishing his cuppa. ‘Pretty sure I watched Roy Moss frame Jasmine’s ex-boyfriend for the crime.’

‘Bloody hell, looks like I came back in the nick of time.’

Sixty

‘Not a chance,’ Red said, shaking his head. ‘Sounds a bit far-fetched, and I’m not throwing resources at it. A fighting ring, for God’s sake.’

Kim kept her temper in check. It was the response she’d expected, but she’d hoped she was wrong. Was this man ever going to stop blocking their progress?

‘If the owner of the gym is up here, then there’s a good chance there’s going to be some kind of fight. We have the opportunity to try and?—’

‘Inspector, how you choose to manage your own team is your own affair, but now we know our two boys are linked, we’re going to focus on widening our net on sex offenders.’