Page 26 of Stolen Ones

‘Nice night for a dog walk, eh, Inspector?’ she heard from the other side of the hedge.

Her heart jumped into her mouth, but she recovered quickly and spoke over her hammering heart.

‘Yeah, you should invite us in for a little meander around your gardens.’

‘I’d love to but my own dogs, Rocky and Tyson, are the gentlest Dobermans alive, unless they think someone is trying to encroach on their domain. Then they get a little testy.’

‘You do know that we’re going to nail you if you’ve hurt one hair on—’

‘Inspector, I would expect nothing less, but I came to see if there was anything I can get you before I go to bed. Coffee? A snack?’

‘I’m good, thanks,’ she said to the hedge as she moved back towards the gate.

‘Then I’ll bid you good night.’

Kim offered no response as she forced down her rage. More than anything she wanted to scale this wall and see what was on the other side. He was watching them just as closely as they were watching him.

Was Grace in there? Was she alive? Was she scared?

‘We’re here, Grace and we’re going to get you back,’ she whispered into the hedge and then stood back.

The fact that she couldn’t see a thing made her want to get over there all the more. But she couldn’t. She had to consider that the man was goading her into making a mistake. Taunting her into doing something that would destroy any case in court.

Much as she hated to admit it, right now this man had her over a barrel and there was nothing she could do about it.

‘Fuck you, Steven Harte,’ she said, getting back into the car.

Fifteen

Alex savoured the anticipation until Emma was sound asleep.

After so long sharing a cell, she had come to know the woman’s sleeping habits quite well.

The book she’d been reading had fallen from her hands and thudded to the floor. Next had come the light snoring which then changed to mumbling, signalling that she was in deep sleep.

She took out the phone and keyed in the number she knew by heart.

The woman answered on the second ring. ‘Stone.’

Alex felt her lips turn up at the sound of her voice. She could hear the anxiety and trepidation behind that one word. She was receiving a call from an unknown number at midnight. Unlikely to be good news but impossible to ignore.

‘Who is this?’

‘It’s your good friend, Alex.’

Silence.

Alex enjoyed the moment of confusion she knew the woman would be feeling after avoiding her calls.

‘I don’t have friends, and if I did you wouldn’t be one of them.’

Alex laughed out loud. Oh it was good to hear her voice again after all this time.

‘I’ve missed you, Kim.’

‘What do you want, Alex?’

Alex closed her eyes and tried to visualise what she was doing. Was she sitting on the sofa beside that ugly mutt she’d adopted? Was she in her garage tinkering with old bike parts? Whatever she was doing, Alex knew that her thoughts would be focused on whatever case she was working.