Page 62 of Little Children (Detective Kim Stone #22)

Sixty-One

‘Would now be a good time for you to share anything you haven’t told me?’ Kim asked once she and Bryant were in the car.

‘Roy Moss is a bent bastard.’

‘Or something I didn’t already know? Roy doesn’t say anything for nothing, so why the quip about you getting enough sleep?’

He shrugged. She knew him well enough to know he’d never lie to her, but that was different to not telling her the whole truth.

‘Okay, let’s do this another way. I want a blow by blow account of your day with him yesterday.’

‘We attended the crime scene of Jasmine Swift, where he tried to take a photo of the body. I accidentally knocked the phone from his hand.’

Kim smiled. Of course he had.

‘Next, we went to see Jasmine’s ex-boyfriend before going back to the morgue because he wanted to check something.’

‘Okay,’ she said. She knew that and already knew what their next step was going to be on that matter, but there was clearly something her colleague hadn’t yet told her.

‘Next, we paid a visit to Pippa Jacobs for some stress relief.’

Kim rubbed at her forehead. This was new information and helped to explain why Bryant was coiled like a spring. He’d spent the day watching a man be everything he despised.

‘How did you manage to…?’

‘A timely call from Stacey got us out of there in time. Got back to the station, where Red ripped Roy a new one for getting involved in the Jasmine Swift case.’

But was he really that angry? Kim wondered. It was mightily convenient that someone with a potential complaint against him would now never get the chance to speak. Had Red found some way to silence her either himself or with help?

‘And that was the end of the day?’ she asked, pushing her suspicions to the side for now.

‘For me and Roy, yes.’

‘Jesus, Bryant, do I have to pry you open with a crowbar?’

‘I went back to see Pippa.’

Kim groaned. ‘Alone?’

Bryant nodded.

‘Please tell me you didn’t go inside.’

‘I did.’

‘Shit, Bryant, I know you know better than that. What the hell were you thinking? Have you completely lost your senses?’

The woman could level any accusation at him and he wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Having no witness to the conversation between the two of them left him open to all kinds of allegations.

‘I just wanted to reassure her that we weren’t all bad. Her only image of me was that I was waiting in line to abuse her just like Roy.’

‘And you couldn’t have given her that reassurance on the doorstep, or with Stacey as a witness?’ Kim asked, trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

‘I didn’t think.’

‘Jeez, Bryant, you’ve played right into Moss’s hands.’

Now Roy’s comment about a late night made sense. Obviously, Roy had seen him.

‘I know, but she did reveal something. She’s clean, and so is everyone else in that house. Eighteen months since she’s touched the stuff.’

Kim frowned, recalling her record. ‘But she recently did time for…’

‘Yeah because she said no to Roy. She found the strength to refuse him, and that night she was hauled in on possession charges. She’s bloody terrified, and she warned me to watch out. Pippa reckons he’s capable of just about anything.’

‘Jesus,’ she said, rubbing her forehead. The cesspool through which they were wading was now right up to her knees. ‘Even more reason why you should have made sure he had nothing to use against you.’

‘It’s not even that that’s bothering me. I know I’ve done nothing wrong, and I’ll fight that to the death. It’s the fact that I feel like I have all the pieces of the puzzle to nail him, and I just can’t get them in the right order.’

‘Stop beating yourself up about that. From what you’ve told me, you only have enough to get him suspended on full pay pending an enquiry.

That could take months, meaning anyone with the power to speak against him is in danger.

He has to believe he’s free and clear until we have what we need to bury him properly. ’

‘And how do you propose we’re going to do that?’ Bryant asked.

‘Let me think on it,’ she said as they pulled up outside the house of the Stevens family.

Kim allowed Bryant’s question to get in line with the others. She could only deal with so many problems at a time, and right now she had two missing boys who might still be alive.

The door opened to reveal Bobby Stevens, whose expression instantly darkened.

‘I thought we made it clear that you’re not welcome.’

‘I think you’ll change your mind when you hear what we have to say.’

‘There’s nothing you?—’

‘Let them in,’ Kevin said, appearing from nowhere.

Only now, seeing them side by side, did Kim realise how the teenager towered over his stepdad.

Before Bobby could stop him, Kevin had ripped the door from his grip and thrown it open.

Kim strode in and headed straight for the kitchen.

‘We have news,’ she said, hoping Shirley was going to want to hear what they had to say immediately.

‘One minute,’ she said, shepherding the last of her young brood across the hall into the lounge.

Kim didn’t know if she was genuinely trying to protect young ears or playing for time.

‘I’m staying,’ Kevin said, taking a seat at the table.

Shirley nodded her agreement as she dried her hands on a tea towel.

‘Lewis was definitely abducted,’ Kim stated, watching them closely.

They all looked to each other in surprise. Kim was unsure if they were surprised at the news or surprised that she had the news.

‘We have the video if you want to see it,’ Kim offered.

Shirley shook her head, Bobby looked to the ground and Kevin glowered at both of them.

The truth was staring her in the face.

‘You all knew,’ Kim said in disbelief.

No one argued with her.

‘It’ll do him good,’ Bobby said, folding his arms. ‘Little shit is always fighting anyway – might as well make a bit of money from it. When he comes back?—’

‘If he comes back,’ Kim snapped, unable to believe what she was hearing.

‘Wh…what?’ Shirley spluttered. ‘They said it would be a few months,’ she said, looking to Bobby for confirmation.

‘Well, give or take,’ Bobby said, looking uncomfortable for the first time since Kim had met him.

‘Are you lot actually serious? You knew all along that Lewis hadn’t run away and you’ve chosen to deliberately waste police time. What the hell kind of family is this?’

‘It’s for his own good,’ Shirley said, her eyes reddening. ‘He’ll be back soon, and they said…’

‘Who’s they?’ Kim asked.

‘Some guys in the pub,’ Bobby answered. ‘They train young fighters, like a boot camp. Teach ’em some discipline and get ’em ready for professional fighting.’

‘This is what they told you?’ Kim asked.

Bobby’s nodding motion got more emphatic the longer he did it, making her think she still wasn’t getting the whole truth. There was something he was keeping to himself, and Kim had an idea what it might be.

‘How long until they bring him back?’ she asked.

He coloured. ‘Well they didn’t really say…’

‘You said six months,’ Shirley roared. ‘You said he’d be looked after and taught how to do it properly. You said that when he came back, he’d be like he was before.’

Bobby shrugged as though he had no more answers to give.

‘How much did they give you?’ Kim asked, remembering the shopping bags she’d seen from a supermarket this family looked like they couldn’t easily afford.

‘Five thousand,’ Bobby said as though he still couldn’t see what he’d done wrong.

‘You sold your son for five thousand quid?’ Kim growled. No monetary figure made their actions justifiable, but was that really all Lewis had been worth? Had all three of them been so happy to let him go?

Kim turned to Kevin, remembering the footage from the arcade café. ‘You tried to stop it?’

He nodded. ‘I knew what was going on, and he’d overheard something himself.

I tried to get him to ring Mum and apologise, tell her he’d try to do better.

I knew she’d call it off if he behaved himself, but he refused.

He never would while he was around,’ he said, pointing towards Bobby.

‘He fucking hated you, and you’d never give him a break.

Go on – tell them what you did. Tell them why he was so pissed off.

He wasn’t acting up. You deliberately got him angry. ’

Kevin allowed the hatred he truly felt to show in his eyes. Shirley frowned, unsure what Kevin was talking about.

Kim knew there had been an argument the day Lewis had been abducted, but she didn’t know why.

‘I was just clearing up,’ Bobby said in a voice that dripped of fake innocence.

‘He’d been saving those matches up for weeks. His teacher was gonna get the whole class to have a go, and you threw them all in the bin.’

Kim could see the rage building higher and higher in the teenager. If that had been a deliberate act on Bobby’s part, she could understand why Lewis had kicked off.

Kevin turned back to her. ‘I didn’t know it was going to be that night or I’d never have left him.’

Kim nodded that she believed him. The footage she’d seen in the café at the arcade completely matched his story.

She turned back to his parents. ‘So, you sold your son for five thousand pounds?’

Bobby guffawed. ‘Stop being so dramatic. Once he’s back?—’

‘What was it about these people that made you think they were good guys?’ Kim asked. ‘Some random men in a pub tell you they’re gonna make a man out of your son, teach him a sport, and give you five thousand pounds?’

Bobby looked genuinely befuddled. ‘No, it wasn’t like that. They knew what they were talking about. They made it sound like an opportunity that?—’

‘Of course they did. They wanted your co-operation to abduct your son, and you gave it to them. Do you know where he is? Did they give you an address? Can you call him, write to him?’

Bobby was shaking his head, but his pride refused to let go. ‘It’ll be good for him! You’re making it seem?—’

‘I’m telling you the truth. You sold your son into an illegal, underground fighting ring where young boys turn up dead.’

‘No,’ Shirley cried out, covering her mouth with her hand.

Kim turned towards her. She might not have had all the facts, but she’d still allowed her twelve-year-old son to be taken by strangers.

‘When he comes home, we’ll make it right,’ Shirley said.

Kim took out her phone and felt no guilt for what she was about to do.

‘Another one of the boys abducted by this gang went home yesterday. And this is what he looked like.’

She held up the photo of Josh’s bruised and battered body on the mortuary table.

‘Nooooo,’ Shirley screamed before tears began flowing over her cheeks.

‘Four years they had him against his will. Four years he suffered at the hands of these monsters, being held captive, starved, forced to fight?—’

‘Get out,’ Shirley said in a voice that had turned icily cold.

‘Mrs Stevens, we?—’

‘Not you. Him,’ she spat across the room.

‘Don’t be soft, Shirl,’ Bobby said. ‘He’ll be back.’

‘Get out of this house or I swear to God, I’ll stab you. Police or no police.’

‘Shirl.’

The woman launched herself from the chair with murder in her eyes. ‘So help me I’ll wring your bloody?—’

‘Easy,’ Bryant said, stepping between them.

Shirley’s arms flailed around Bryant, trying to make contact with her husband. Bryant held her still while Bobby tried to inch out of her way.

‘Just go,’ Kevin said, standing. ‘No one wants you here.’

Bobby Stevens looked around the room, and nothing but contempt met his gaze.

He grabbed his jacket from the back of the door and slammed his way out of the house.

Bryant didn’t need to be told to follow him. They needed to learn everything about the people who had approached him in the pub.

‘He is dead, isn’t he, that boy?’ Shirley asked with a face now devoid of all colour.

Kim put her phone away and nodded. ‘Unless we catch them, Lewis won’t be coming home,’ she said.

The pain ravaged Shirley’s face as her tears fell quicker. A low guttural moan came out of her mouth and began to fill the room.

Kevin looked at his mother with compassion if not understanding before heading across the hall to check on his younger siblings.

Kim waited while the woman came to terms with the consequences of her actions. There was no doubting the depth of her regret and pain. Kim was sure she was watching a heart break in two.

Shirley’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. ‘Whether I deserve it or not, you have to bring my son home.’

Kim had every intention of getting Lewis back. She just wasn’t sure that home was going to be the right place for him to go.