Page 130 of Silent Scream

As the snapshots began to arrange in chronological order Kim recalled that she had returned to Crestwood to find the denture.

Through the haze, she remembered that she'd found it ? before the blackness descended.

She had no idea how long she had been unconscious but she knew she was in the manager’s office. Dust and soot were caked to her skin.

Her vision started to clear and her eyes adjusted to the light. The room was unchanged and the street lamp outside threw a hazy light into the room.

The silence was broken only by the sound of water dripping somewhere in the distance. The noise offered an eerie presence in its continuous regularity.

Kim pulled at the ties that bound her. They held fast but scored into her flesh. She tried again, ignoring the pain, but the rope burned into her broken skin.

She searched her memory for anything she may have seen in the room that might help her. Nothing came, but she knew she couldn't just lie still and wait.

Something scurried past her head, which galvanised her into action. She tried to inch forward, wriggling like a scorched worm. The effort brought fresh waves of pain emanating through her skull and bile burned the back of her throat. She prayed she would not throw up and choke.

Suddenly she heard a noise and stopped squirming, her senses alert and keen.

She craned her neck towards the doorway. A figure appeared. The form was familiar to her.

Kim blinked through the darkness as her attacker stepped into the shard of light illuminating the room.

Her gaze travelled from the feet, up the legs, torso and shoulders ? right into the eyes of William Payne.

Sixty-Nine

William Payne steppedtowards her slowly. His eyes held no expression and her head began to move involuntarily from side to side. No, this was not right. Her stomach muscles revolted at the scenario before her. This was not who she’d been expecting.

He leaned down beside her and started trying to undo the knots that bound her like a piece of cattle. His fingers worked quickly but clumsily.

She tried to speak but the fabric in her mouth made her question unintelligible.

He shook his head. ‘We don’t have much time,’ he whispered.

His mouth opened to say more but a low whistling sound came from the top of the corridor.

William put a finger to his lips and stepped back into the shadows of the room. As she couldn’t make a sound because of the gag, she guessed he was telling her not to disclose his position.

The humming continued and grew louder. The gait of the visitor was not similar to that of William Payne. These steps were definite, assured, purposeful.

Again, the doorway filled with a shadow, but this time Kim did not have to wait for the owner to step into the beam of light.

Thiswasthe one she'd been expecting.

Seventy

‘Bryant, you've gotta find the Guv,’ Stacey barked into the mouthpiece. ‘It's the Pastor. It's Wilks. He killed the girls and I can't get the Guv on the phone.’

‘Slow down, Stace,’ Bryant said. The sound of the television in the background was receding. She guessed he was taking the phone to another room. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Them emails I sent out just for a punt. There was a hoohar in Bristol twelve years ago when a family got a metal pin in the ashes of their relative. The crematorium was accused of mixing up funerals but after the incident Wilks left in haste.’

‘Stace, no offence but that doesn't mean he's guilty of ...’

Stacey held her frustration. She didn't have the time. ‘I've checked the archives and two weeks before a kid named Rebecca Shaw ran away from Clifton children's home ...’

‘Why would that make the papers?’ Bryant asked.

‘Because she'd already been in the news when she got run over. Really bad damage to her knees ...’