Page 16 of Stolen Ones

‘Look, Mr Harte, I am not going to be led a merry dance. If you have Grace Lennard, I will find her and—’

‘Your voice is rising, Inspector. You’re losing control. That won’t help anyone. Your stress level appears to be high. I think we should resume first thing in the morning.’

He pushed back his chair again, but this time he stood. Her hand itched to slap a pair of cuffs on his wrist and drop-kick him into a cell until he gave her a straight answer, but he had said nothing she could hang an arrest warrant on.

‘Thank you for the tea, and I look forward to speaking to you again at 9a.m. tomorrow.’

Kim replayed both conversations in her head, desperate for any reason to detain him.

He paused and regarded her for a minute.

‘I’m guessing you’re used to being the one in control, Inspector, but for now you’re going to have to accept that’s not the case. I have a great deal to share with you, but we’ll do this my way or not at all. I’ve proven my good faith and patience by staying here while you attend to other matters. I understand your focus is on Grace Lennard, and I’m sure we’ll talk about her at some stage.’

He paused at the door. ‘But tomorrow we’ll talk about the others.’

Eight

Kim tore back into the squad room.

‘Can someone find some charge in the damn PACE manual that I can throw at this bastard? I don’t care what it is. Go medieval if you need to. Tell me he walked his ducks through the village on the wrong day of the week or that he was once drunk in charge of cattle. I don’t fucking care, just get me something.’

‘Boss, he hasn’t admitted—’

‘I damned well know that, Stace, and I also know I’ve got to let him just walk out of here when my gut tells me he’s done something bloody wrong.’

The room was silent.

‘Sorry, Stace, but the man is infuriating.’

Bryant handed her a black coffee.

‘Keep it on tap,’ she said, taking a swig and a good deep breath.

‘Okay, guys, given that we couldn’t prevent him from walking out the door, we need to keep him under watch. If we ask for a surveillance operation, it’ll take days to arrange, as all available resources will be directed to the search for Grace. But we still need to follow him wherever he goes. He might just lead us to her.’

Penn stood. ‘I’ll take first shift. Jasper’s over at Billy’s.’

Kim knew that Penn’s teenage brother spent many nights over at his friend’s house. Billy’s mum was a registered carer and was well read on Down’s syndrome. ‘Okay, I’ll take the middle shift and relieve you at midnight.’

‘And I’ll be there at five,’ Bryant added.

‘You’ll be following him in when he returns at nine in the morning,’ Kim advised.

‘He’s coming back?’ Penn asked as he reached the door.

‘Oh yeah, now get after him. I don’t want him without cover for even a minute.’

Penn nodded and left. She’d check in with him later.

‘Boss, I could get someone to drop me—’

‘No, Stace, we need someone to be fully functional.’

As she had no car due to not having passed her driving test, Kim couldn’t consider her for a shift.

‘What was that about Melody’s family?’ Bryant asked, reminding her that the rest of the team had been watching and listening.

‘I don’t know but it’s hard to know what to take seriously and what to disregard, especially that last crack about “the others”.’