Page 122 of Stolen Ones

Kim hated the pictures in her head but she had to keep at him. The whole idea of baiting him was to lead him to say something that would incriminate him. She had to take away his control.

‘Did you and Butler allow other men to come and rape her? Did you all do it together? Was Lexi passed around like a toy? Was that beautiful little girl raped by a bunch of your paedophile friends as well as—?’

‘I never fucking raped her. I loved her,’ he shouted in Kim’s face.

The room fell into silence as everyone realised what he’d just said.

Kate Swift looked about ready to explode.

It was enough.

That comment alone was enough to get her the twelve-hour extension she wanted and would give Woody the opportunity to begin the process for charging with the CPS.

Harte was still looking shell-shocked, and Swift’s expression was grim.

Kim pushed back her chair, ensuring that the relief she was feeling did not show on her face.

She stood and reached for the folder. ‘Well, after that little admission I would think maybe you two need to have a chat.’

Bryant formally ended the interview as she hurried out of the room.

Seventy-Four

Kim stepped back into the squad room with Bryant following closely behind.

‘Okay, guys, we need to—What the hell is that?’

‘We got her, boss,’ Penn said, handing her the phone.

Any thought of what had just occurred went straight out of her mind as her eyes rested on a small figure sitting on the edge of a bed, her legs together and her head bowed.

It was Grace Lennard, and she was alive.

‘Is this live?’

Penn nodded.

Kim felt a rush of mixed emotions gather in her throat.

There she was: the little girl abducted almost four days ago, looking so small and vulnerable. Kim wanted to reach in there and grab her, pull her out of the screen and tell her everything was going to be okay.

She looked to the detective sergeant responsible for giving them this link.

‘He sure does like his tea.’

‘Bloody good work, Penn,’ she said, still holding on to the phone. She raised an eyebrow at Stacey. ‘And who knew you could be that annoying?’

‘My mum.’

‘You primed him well, Stace. Well done.’

‘We saw, kind of,’ Penn said.

Kim understood. Their focus had been on Grace and looking for clues.

‘Anything?’ she asked, taking another look at the screen.

She took a good look around the room. Although she’d never seen it before, it appeared familiar to her. She knew she’d visited somewhere that looked similar. The daisy bedspread and matching curtains, the desk, the lamp, the positioning of the television on the wall. Only the desk she’d seen hadn’t been filled with crisps and biscuits, fruit and bottles of water.