Page 33 of Silent Scream

Doctor Matthews and his assistant had retreated to the warmth of the car.

‘You gonna be okay with this, Guv?’ Bryant asked.

‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ she snapped.

‘Well, you know ...’

‘No, I don’t know and if you feel the need to question my capability, take it to my boss.’

‘Guv, I would never do that. It was a question asked out of concern.’

‘I’m fine, now leave it alone.’

She never talked about her past but Bryant knew she’d spent time in the care system. He didn’t know the things that had happened to her there. He knew she had a mother who was a paranoid schizophrenic. But he didn't know the repercussions of that. He knew she’d once had a twin brother but he didn’t know how he’d died. Only one person knew all the events of her past and she was damn sure it was going to stay that way.

The phone in her pocket rang. It was Woody.

‘Sir?’ she answered, expectantly.

‘Still waiting, Stone. I’m just checking that you remember what we talked about.’

‘Of course, Sir.’

‘Because if you act against my instructions ...’

‘Sir, please, you can trust me.’

Bryant shook his head.

‘If I don’t have the authorisation in the next couple of hours stand Professor Milton down and thank him for his time.’

‘Yes, Sir,’ she said. Thank God he didn’t know about Doctor Matthews.

‘I know it’s frustrating standing around doing nothing but processes have to be followed.’

‘I understand, Sir. I have Bryant here who would like to express his concern about something to do with the handling of the case.’

She held out the phone. Bryant shot her daggers before walking away.

‘Oh no, I appear to be mistaken.’

Woody tutted and ended the call. She keyed in Dawson’s number. He answered on the second ring.

‘What’ve you got?’

‘Not much at the moment, Guv.’

‘Got the names of other staff members?’

‘Not yet. The local authority isn’t quite as accommodating as Courtney. We’re trawling through any news reports where Crestwood is mentioned to see if we can come up with anything. The best we’ve got so far is a Pastor Wilks who did a sponsored walk of the Three Peaks to raise money for a day trip for the girls.’

‘Okay, Kev, pass me to Stacey.’

‘Morning, Guv.’

‘Stace, I need you to start putting together a list of the kids that were here when the place burned down.’

Even if there was nothing found, they would still need to speak to ex-residents of the facility to find a link between Teresa Wyatt and Tom Curtis.