Page 119 of Twisted Lies

‘Sorry, I’m just—’ She stopped speaking as her phone rang.

‘Okay, Stace, give us something,’ she said, putting the phone on speaker. Kim knew that mobile phone providers used approximately 23,000 base stations around the country which, with any luck, would narrow their search area considerably.

‘Right, that ping covers a three-mile radius from the base station. We don’t think he would have taken her too far. He’d have been eager to—’

‘Okay, got it. So where do we go?’

‘That’s the problem, boss. We think for this one he could have chosen to do it inside or out.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Kim asked.

‘We think he was replicating things that were done to Emily. Besides the rape, the only thing left is slicing skin from her—’

‘Okay, Stace,’ Kim said, feeling the hairs prickle on the back of her neck. Right now, she didn’t need to picture the horror Leanne had been through.

‘Okay, we’ve got Halfpenny Green.’

Kim knew the area well. A small airport and a village surrounded by green belt. She could see how the expanse of open space around the airport might be appealing; however, the place was in use and he would have risked being seen.

‘Next.’

‘We’ve got Seisdon Quarry, which was closed down a couple of years ago. It’s remote and deserted.’

‘Any more?’ Kim asked, waiting for something to strike her.

‘The last one is an abandoned private recycling plant in Wombourne, if he wanted to do it inside.’

‘Tell me more.’

‘It’s on Botterham Lane, off the Bridgnorth Road. There’s a fishery not too far and a trading estate just across the canal from—’

‘That’s the one,’ Kim said. ‘Get as many officers as you can to check the others and anything else you might find, but we’re gonna head to Wombourne.’

Bryant had already started the car before she’d finished speaking.

Kim knew they were searching for a needle in a haystack, but age-old processes had not let her down yet. The process of elimination followed by the application of logic were tools necessary for any police officer’s tool bag. Jacob had abducted Leanne during the day, so he needed somewhere he wouldn’t be seen; the industrial estate opposite would mask any sound.

Everything he’d done so far had a link back to his cousin, and she had to believe that the proximity to the canal was symbolic for him too.

She firmly believed they were heading in the right direction.

She was just terrified of what she would find when she got there.

One Hundred Two

‘Okay, teams dispatched to the other two locations,’ Stacey said, putting down the phone. She could feel her hand trembling slightly with the rush of adrenaline.

‘I’m gonna look at other possibilities a bit further out. In case she’s not there. What you doing?’

‘Plotting a route from Leanne’s house to the recycling centre. I’m hoping to catch the van on a traffic camera, to confirm we’ve sent the boss to the right place.’

‘Good idea,’ Stacey said.

She knew they could have torn off to the other locations, but their time was better spent here, lending operational support. And she wanted to cover both their arses in case they’d called it wrong on the proximity. If the boss turned up nothing at the recycling plant, she wanted to be able to offer other ideas.

‘Got him,’ Penn shouted, making Stacey jump, reigniting the adrenaline rush that had been calming down.

‘Jesus, Penn, calm—’