Page 28 of Stolen Ones

‘You didn’t leave, did you?’ Kim asked when she entered the squad room at 7a.m.

Stacey shook her head. ‘I’m fine, boss, honest. Got my head down in the canteen, took a quick shower and I’m ready to roll.’

Kim understood the detective constable’s guilt at not being able to take part in the informal surveillance of Steven Harte, but Kim hadn’t given it a thought. There were many things Stacey could do that none of them could. And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t made use of the canteen as a bedroom herself once or twice.

Kim was willing to bet Stacey had still caught more shut-eye than she had after the annoying call from Alexandra bloody Thorne. Despite her efforts to ignore the calls, the damned woman had managed to get her, and Kim didn’t even want to know how she’d obtained a mobile phone.

It was only after the third time of wondering about the information Alex had that Kim realised the insufferable woman was right. She did want to know.

She pushed the thoughts away and glanced at the whiteboards.

‘You’ve been busy,’ she said as Penn entered the room.

She’d told him to take an extra hour, but he’d ignored her instruction, and she couldn’t blame him. Whatever they did, wherever they went, Grace’s face would be in their minds until they returned her safely to her mother.

‘Okay, the family liaison officer assigned to the Lennards is Bernadette.’

‘Good one,’ Stacey said, nodding her approval.

‘Stace, keep in touch with her and be sure to let her know that if she needs us for anything at all, we’ll be there.’

‘Will do, boss,’ Stacey answered.

‘The ground search will resume in about fifteen minutes. The grid has been extended by a square mile, and we’re waiting on information about wind speeds before we get confirmation of the helicopter deployment. Inspector Plant is the man on the ground coordinating the efforts so…’

‘I’ll check in with him, boss,’ Penn offered.

She nodded her thanks.

Kim turned her full attention to some of Stacey’s efforts during the night. One of the wipe boards held a twenty-five-year-old photo of Melody Jones along with dates, times and names of family members.

The second board held a photo of Grace Lennard, taken just a few days ago. Again, Stacey had included all relevant information.

‘Anything from Wrigley?’ Stacey asked.

‘Who?’ Penn asked.

Kim forgot that Penn had already gone when they’d talked about the detective the night before.

Stacey took a moment to fill him in before she took over.

‘Yes, he is as grouchy as the rumours purport, and yes, he felt there was something off with the family. He didn’t care much for the older brother and felt the whole family were too eager to profit from the situation.’

She turned to Penn. ‘I want you checking background on anything to do with Grace Lennard. We have to make sure there’s no one in her family involved, and when you’ve got a minute, I want to know how much money the Joneses have made out of Melody’s disappearance.’

‘On it, boss.’

‘Stace, I want you to get me all you can on Steven Harte. I know his adult history, but I want his life before. I want to know how he did at school, any trouble he got into, what his relationship was like with his parents, his type of friends. Anything.’

If nothing else she wanted his vulnerabilities – something, anything she might be able to use when questioning him.

‘Already started, boss,’ Stacey said, pressing a few keys.

Kim poured a coffee from the pot Stacey had made.

‘Steven Harte was born in 1967 on Hollytree Estate.’

‘What?’