Page 60 of Little Children (Detective Kim Stone #22)
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.’
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.’