Page 5 of Stolen Ones

She headed to the door, opened it and turned back.

‘The desk sergeant will show you out.’

She stormed back up the stairs, even more annoyed with this waster than the others. This one had wanted nothing more than to get the attention of the police and engage them in some sort of twisted game.

‘I swear, Bryant, you’re taking the next one,’ she growled, entering the squad room.

‘Sshh…’ Bryant said, turning up his police radio.

All three heads were turned towards it.

‘Another one gone, boss,’ Penn said.

‘Another…?’

‘Little girl, guv,’ Bryant answered. ‘Taken from a kiddie’s day centre in Netherton. Eight years old.’

Kim stopped dead. Every cell in her body turned to ice.

You’re about to be faced with a more urgent problem.

‘Oh, shit,’ she said, running out of the office.

Was that what Steven Harte had been talking about? And how the hell had he known?

‘Fuck,’ she cursed as she ran down the stairs as quickly as she could.

She key coded herself out of the corridor and fled past a surprised-looking Jack as she almost ran into the automatic doors instead of waiting for them to open.

He couldn’t have gone far. She’d left him only minutes ago.

She scanned the car park. There was no one getting into a car and no car waiting to exit.

Damn. She didn’t even know if he’d come on foot.

Right now, Kim didn’t know if she’d just been speaking with a killer or not, but she wanted to know how he’d foreseen the disappearance of another little girl, or what he’d meant by his prophetic comment.

She ran back inside.

‘Jack, did you see which way he went?’

‘Who?’

‘The guy you showed into the interview room earlier. Which way did he go?’

‘He didn’t.’

‘Didn’t what?’ she snapped.

‘Leave.’

‘Jack, you’re testing my…’

He nodded towards the corridor. ‘He’s still in there. He said you’d be back in a minute.’

Kim’s relief quickly turned to annoyance. What game was this guy playing? How the hell had he known?

She steadied her breathing before re-entering the interview room. Right now, her instinct was telling her to barge in there and pin him up against the wall. She took a moment to calm down. Before she set any wheels in motion, she had to get her thinking head on. Up to this point he had admitted nothing. His carefully worded statements were nowhere near a confession to any crime.