Page 83 of Silent Scream

He considered his meagre MP’s salary of £65,000. Even creative accounting with his expenses left daylight between him and a six-figure income. His monthly pay barely covered the house utility bills. The salary of his wife paid for the mortgage, the cars and the £5,000 pocket money that landed in his account on the first of each month.

Richard’s clenched hands fell to his sides. He turned and walked into the study, carrying his balls on a nine-carat-gold dinner plate.

Only when the door was closed behind him did he wipe at the bead of sweat behind his ear. His last remaining sliver of pride had prevented him doing so in front of his wife.

Teresa and Tom were dead and Arthur on his way. Richard wanted to believe that the deaths were coincidental. He had to believe it ... because not believing it could only mean one thing; that he was probably next.

Forty

Kim dialledStacey’s number as Bryant gave their order at the McDonalds drive-thru. It was answered on the second ring.

‘Stace, we’re going to need any addresses you’ve got for the ex-occupants of Crestwood ‘cos we are rapidly running out of staff members.’

‘Yeah, we heard about that here. Woody’s already been down here looking for yer.’

‘Woody’s after me,’ she whispered to Bryant as Stacey tapped her keyboard.

Bryant grimaced.

‘Okay, first one on the list is, oh actually, it’s two of 'em. Twin sisters named Bethany and Nicola Adamson. This address is for Nicola at Brindleyplace in Birmingham.’

Kim read out the address and Bryant jotted it down.

‘Okay, can you work on tracking down that pastor you mentioned before? His name came up again so I think he’s worth a visit. The girls may have talked to him.’

‘On it, Guv.’

‘Thanks, Stace. Anything from Dawson?’

‘Not to me.’

Kim ended the call.

‘We really should have gone back to the station after what happened earlier,’ Bryant said.

Kim knew full well they should have briefed Woody about the hit-and-run and followed the procedure that accompanies the witnessing of any 'traumatic incident' but on her team they'd never get out the station.

'I’ll do a report later and go talk to Woody but we’re running out of time. So far we’ve lost four people that worked at Crestwood at the time it closed.’

She took a bite of the chicken burger. It tasted like a wedge of cardboard placed between two slabs of MDF. She put it aside and took out her mobile phone.

Dawson answered immediately.

‘How’s things?’ she asked.

‘Moving along. Cerys is in the pit with her hand tools so we’re not far away from whatever’s down there.’

Kim could hear the fatigue in his voice. ‘Did you pay a visit to William Payne?’

‘Done, Guv. I placed a check call to ADT to make sure the alarm is working. I cleaned and tested the motion sensors front and back which work on a fifteen foot arc. I got him to move a couple of planters away from the fence and change the battery in Lucy’s emergency response pendant, just to be sure.

‘Oh, and I’ve briefed every patrolling officer to include Payne’s home in their perimeter checks.’

Kim smiled. And that was why he was on the team. There were times that managing Dawson was like mothering a toddler. Some days he tried her patience to the limit and others where he did his job; brilliantly.

‘Just so you know, Guv. It came over the radio. Arthur Connop died.’

Kim said nothing. She had known he wasn't going to make it.