Page 4 of Little Children (Detective Kim Stone #22)

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.

‘Yep – and leave it to her to sort out.’

‘What about the IOPC?’ Penn asked.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct was a body separate from the police which investigated the most serious complaints and conduct matters.

Police forces were required to refer the most serious cases their way even if there was no complainant.

Normally such cases were incidents where any police action resulted in members of the public being badly injured or even dying in custody.

Police could also choose to refer cases themselves, and in the last year, seven thousand cases had been sent to the IOPC.

‘We don’t have a case yet. The chief has only anonymous tips. She needs more before referring it across,’ Kim answered.

‘Did Woody give no idea what we might be looking for?’ Stacey asked. ‘There’s a good distance to travel between one and three.’

Stacey was referring to the three distinct categories of allegations: police complaints made by the public; conduct matters raised internally; and ones where police actions appeared to have resulted in death or serious injury, assaults, sex offences or corruption.

‘There were over fifty thousand public complaints against the police last year,’ Penn offered.

‘Given there’s one hundred and seventy-one thousand police officers in the UK, that number ain’t so great,’ Bryant observed, adding a sachet of sugar to his cuppa.

Kim moved the container out of his reach.

‘So, almost a third of all police had a complaint made against them?’ Stacey asked, wide-eyed.

‘Or some officers had two,’ Bryant said.

‘Over a hundred cops were found guilty of criminal offences last year,’ Penn added.

‘Okay, guys, enough,’ Kim said, holding up her hand.

Unfortunately, police misconduct was a hot topic at the minute.

The public would never forget how police officer Wayne Couzens had kidnapped Sarah Everard and murdered her.

They were also unlikely to forget the damning report stating the Metropolitan Police Force was ‘institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic’.

Whether it was only the Met or not, most people tarred all police forces with the same brush, and much as it pained her to admit it, her profession did harbour its fair share of bad apples.

But were any of them working out of Blackpool station? And what was the best way of finding that out? she wondered.

‘We need a strategy,’ Kim said, finishing her coffee. ‘We’re gonna need to be approachable and non-threatening. We’ve got more chance of seeing something if we act it up a bit.’ She turned to Bryant. ‘You don’t like me very much.’

‘And here was me thinking I covered it up well,’ he quipped.

‘You’re a bit disillusioned, craving retirement and you don’t much like taking instruction from a woman. If there are any Neanderthals on the team, they’ll gravitate towards you.’

‘I’m basically a stereotype.’

‘Yes.’

‘Okay.’

She turned to the constable. ‘Stace, I want you to be na?ve and a bit overwhelmed. I want your innocence and vulnerability to elicit trust. People will assume you’re too scared to be any danger.’

‘Got it, boss,’ she said with a smile.

‘Penn, you’re the hardest, cos…’

‘Jeez, thanks, guv,’ Bryant interrupted.

She ignored him. ‘I need you to be a bit ruthless and pretty ambitious. Make people think you’ll do anything to climb that ladder. I know I’m asking you to play completely against type.’

He was smiling as though relishing the challenge. A previous team member could have pulled off that one with very little effort. Unfortunately, Kevin Dawson was no longer with them, but she still thought about him often.

‘Okay, new team dynamics sorted. We need?—’

Bryant sighed heavily and rolled his eyes.

‘Excuse me?’ Kim snapped.

‘Just practising, guv,’ he said with a smirk.

Penn and Stacey tried to hide their amusement and failed.

‘Right, about the case,’ Kim said, shaking her head.

‘The second disappearance has hit the wires,’ Stacey said. ‘And they’re already getting some heat from the press.’

‘Luckily not our problem,’ Kim said. She’d had enough press attention on the last case and was of course still getting it from one reporter in particular. She shook away all thoughts of him and the name he’d mentioned.

‘First boy is a local lad named Lewis Stevens, twelve years old. Last seen on Friday the eighteenth in Coral Island,’ Stacey said, reading from her phone.

‘Where?’ Kim asked. She was dismayed to see all three of her colleagues show surprise.

‘You don’t know?’ Penn asked.

‘Let’s assume that if it doesn’t sell dog food or motorcycle parts, I’m unlikely to know.’

‘It’s a massive arcade on the front on the Golden Mile.’

Kim waited. She had, at least, heard of that.

‘It’s more than an arcade though,’ Stacey offered. ‘Last time I went, there were two restaurants, a café, a chip shop, a train ride, games for kids, fruit machines and I think a casino.’

‘Kids can easily get lost round there, guv. I think it has four or five entrances,’ Bryant added.

‘Was he with parents?’ Kim asked.

‘They’re not mentioned in any of the news reports,’ Stacey said.

‘And yesterday?’ Kim asked.

‘Eleven-year-old Noah Reid went missing from South Pier, opposite the Pleasure Beach. Got nothing else yet other than description and clothing.’

‘Is he local too?’ Kim asked.

Stacey nodded.

‘Okay,’ she said, pushing back her chair. ‘Let’s get to it. Over to the station and we’ll do hotel check-in later.’

‘Just one question, boss,’ Stacey said, reaching for her satchel.

‘Yep.’

‘Are they gonna be pleased to see us?’

Kim gave thought to the question for a few seconds.

She put herself in their position and wondered how she’d feel having a team of strangers foisted upon them while trying to navigate a major investigation.

She was pretty sure it would prompt a heated debate in Woody’s office, but not every senior investigating officer reacted like her, and she didn’t want to put her team on the defensive before they’d even met the new squad.

‘Not sure, Stace, but I guess we’re about to find out.’