Page 90 of Silent Scream

‘What did you say to him?’

She shrugged. ‘Many things,’ she answered, thinking Croft’s wife must love him very much after all.

‘Witness or suspect?’

She pulled a face. ‘Bit of both.’

‘Dammit, Stone. When will you learn that there is an element of politics when policing at this level?’

‘No, Sir, there is an element of politics in policing atyourlevel. Mine is still about uncovering the truth.’

Woody glowered at her. Kim hadn’t quite meant it the way it had sounded. She relied on the fact that he would know that and chose not to open her mouth to change feet.

She stuck out her chin. ‘So, are you gonna follow instructions and remove me?’

‘Stone, I do not need goading from you to make use of a perfectly healthy spine. They have already been advised that you will continue to head the case.’

Kim smiled. She should have known.

‘The councillor clearly has something to hide or he wouldn’t have set his guard dog loose.’

For the first time in days, he offered her the promise of a smile. ‘So, I guess I’d better unchain mine.’

‘Yes, Sir,’ Kim said, with a smile.

Forty-Five

Kim lookedfrom Bryant to Stacey. ‘Okay, new day. Dawson will be going straight to the site and he’ll call when there’s more to report.

‘So, to recap. Of the six staff members identified, only two remain; Richard Croft and William Payne. Richard Croft doesn’t like me very much so I don’t think we’ll be getting much more from him. But he’s hiding something.’

‘Guv, two of the objections to the professor’s project were filed by the law firm Travis, Dunne and Cohen.’

‘Croft’s wife?’

Stacey nodded. ‘She works under her maiden name of Cohen.’

‘So, whatever he’s hiding, she knows about.’

‘Worth a visit to her office, Guv?’ Bryant asked.

Kim shook her head. ‘She’s already tried to remove me from the case and I’m not giving her any further ammunition.’ She shrugged. ‘We're not gonna get any help from her. Whatever Croft’s hiding, his wife is party to it and will block us at every turn.’

‘How far do yer think she'd go?’ Stacey asked.

‘Depends on the level of potential damage,’ Kim answered, recalling the gated house, the cars, not to mention the career.

Kim stood at the board that had been divided into two. The first half had been further quartered. The details of Teresa Wyatt and Tom Curtis occupied the top two segments. The bottom quarters were occupied by Mary Andrews and Arthur Connop.

‘Anything back from forensics on Arthur?’ Kim asked.

‘Broken glass from a passenger-side headlight and some particles of white paint embedded in his trouser leg. They’re trying to match it now.’

Kim stared hard at the left hand side of the board. Despite her inability to prove the murder of Mary Andrews and Arthur Connop, she knew their deaths were linked to something sinister that occurred ten years earlier.

What did you do? she silently asked all of them.

The opposite side of the board was currently divided into two, representing the buried victims so far removed. Kim knew the board would be divided again before the end of the day.