Page 64 of Little Children (Detective Kim Stone #22)

Sixty-Three

‘Anything of any use about the guys in the pub?’ Kim asked as she and Bryant got back into the car.

While Bryant had been chasing down Bobby Stevens, she’d been trying to pry any useful information from Shirley.

Sickeningly, all her information had come from her husband.

As she’d recounted the course of events in detail, Shirley had seemed bewildered by her own stupidity in what she’d believed was going to happen.

‘They’re not bringing him back, are they?’ she’d asked through the tears.

Kim had shaken her head. That was why they had to be found. These boys were far too dangerous to be left alive once they’d outlived their entertainment value or, like Josh, suffered a complicated injury.

Kim had listened for the next ten minutes as Shirley had recounted how happy they’d been before Bobby had come along. Other than her youngest children, he’d brought nothing positive to the marriage.

From the hatred in her eyes and the venom in her tone, Kim knew Bobby’s goose was well and truly cooked. He wouldn’t be setting foot in that house again. Kim was slightly unsure if Shirley’s threat of killing him was as idle as she hoped it was.

After checking on Kevin and assuring him they would do everything to bring Lewis home, Kim had left the house and met Bryant out on the pavement.

‘Nothing,’ he answered, putting on his seat belt. ‘One phone number to make final arrangements. Text only. Got the number, but the phone is no longer in service.’

Not for the first time Kim wished there was a law against burner phones.

‘Any description of them?’

‘Yeah, average everything, height, weight, both white, wore jeans, sweatshirts, no distinguishing features, scars or tattoos.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, anyone would think he doesn’t want us to track them down. Sure would have loved to slap some cuffs on him.’

‘Red’s call,’ Kim said, trying to remember they were here to assist. But she secretly hoped Red had the bollocks to haul him in.

‘Where to now, guv?’ Bryant asked, starting the engine.

‘Well, I’ve been thinking about that. Wanna pop by the morgue?’

‘For what?’ Bryant asked.

‘The only thing that could have prompted your man to be arrested so quickly for Jasmine’s murder would be some kind of forensic evidence or a full confession. Guessing it’s not the latter, so let’s go find out what Roy planted on the body.’

‘Okay, sounds good to me,’ he said, pulling away from the kerb. ‘We’re literally just a couple of miles away.’

Kim was still unable to imagine that Jasmine Swift was dead.

She didn’t like the fact that of all the women in Blackpool to turn up murdered, it was one they’d spoken to.

And the subject they’d spoken about was inappropriate behaviour of a police officer.

Had that police officer somehow found out that they’d spoken?

Had Red discovered that Jasmine had shared what he’d done and decided to silence her?

She needed a chance to speak to Red alone about Jasmine Swift and hoped she’d know if he was lying.

Bryant had told her about the dressing-down Roy had received from his boss for attending the crime scene, but what if Roy was doing his boss’s dirty work and it had all been a very convincing show for the crowd?

If Red did have his finger in all these pies, it would explain why he’d blocked her at every turn.

Just the thought that their conversation with Jasmine had somehow contributed to her rape and murder was too awful to contemplate.

Her thoughts and her guilt were interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

‘Go ahead, Stace,’ Kim said, putting her on speaker.

‘Noah’s family had a break-in too, boss, just a few weeks ago. Mainly electronics taken from Noah’s room and a bit of jewellery. TV was too big to bother with.’

‘Shit, so that’s the link between the two families. Don’t tell me – Red and Roy attended?’

‘No, boss. Adil and Dickinson.’

‘Okay, thanks, Stace,’ Kim said, ending the call.

‘Guv, this is turning into a bit of a fish market,’ Bryant observed.

‘What?’

‘The deeper you go, the more it stinks.’

Kim didn’t disagree. Red’s name was cropping up all over the place.

Even if the detective inspector hadn’t attended both incidents, he would have known about them as head of department.

The focus of the incident report must have been on the boy’s belongings, so his name would have come up a lot.

Another young boy in the right age range that had floated onto the radar.

With so much new information to make sense of, she remained silent until Bryant pulled up outside the morgue.

‘I’ll follow your lead,’ Kim said. Bryant had already met the pathologist twice.

Her colleague rang the bell, and a woman appeared wearing scrubs and a plastic apron.

Bryant showed his identification and introduced himself. ‘Any chance I could have a quick word with Mr Wade?’

She frowned. ‘He is rather busy. Would you like to…?’

‘Just a minute of his time would be helpful,’ he said assertively but maintaining his good manners. A skill that, despite all her time working with Bryant, she still hadn’t mastered. Instead, she was fighting the urge to physically remove this woman so Bryant could make a run for it.

The woman huffed but agreed to see if he was free.

They took the opportunity to inch further into the anteroom. Bryant took another step forward in time for the man in the next room to see him. The pathologist hesitated before nodding and removing his mask.

Richard Wade stepped into the room, removing his cap and making no effort to conceal his irritation.

‘Would someone like to tell me what’s going on over at that station? First, I’ve got Moss, then I get Crawford and now I get an officer that doesn’t even work here.’

‘Thanks for sparing me a minute,’ Bryant said, immediately taking the wind out of his sails. ‘This is my boss, DI Stone.’

The man nodded in her direction before turning his attention back to Bryant.

‘I know you’re not obliged to tell me, but was there some kind of major discovery during the post-mortem of Jasmine Swift?’

‘We did find something that we passed along.’

‘May I ask what it was?’

‘A hair. One single long blonde hair.’

‘And you passed this to?’

‘The person I thought was running the case at the time, Roy Moss, who seemed to know who it might belong to. I’m assuming he passed the information straight to Crawford.’

‘Okay, thanks for?—’

‘What’s that about?’ Kim asked, nodding towards the other room.

Bryant followed her gaze to two photos side by side on the wall. They were crime scene photos of Jasmine Swift and another woman.

From Bryant’s sickened expression, she guessed that the other victim had been the subject of the photo in Roy Moss’s hall of fame.

‘You think they’re connected?’ Bryant asked.

‘There are similarities, not least the positioning.’

From what her colleague had told her about Justin Holmes, the possibility of him murdering two women was growing more and more unlikely.

‘Obviously I can say no more,’ Wade said, reaching for his hat. It was a clear sign he was done.

Bryant thanked him as her phone rang.

She stepped outside and answered it. It was a short conversation which required very little response from her.

She strode towards the car.

‘Where now, guv?’ Bryant asked.

‘Back to the station. Chief wants to see us. Now.’