Page 5 of Twisted Lies

‘The wife of Nick Morley whose retrial starts next week?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘Why?’ Frost asked.

Kim squeezed the ball again.

‘Because we want to assure the family that we’re doing everything we can to secure a conviction for the murder of Trisha.’

‘Yeah, I get that given the press coverage. They must be expecting him to get a sainthood instead of a prison sentence, considering his propaganda campaign. But why you? It wasn’t your case.’

‘There are reasons,’ Kim said.

‘Which are?’ she pushed.

‘None of your business.’

‘Okay,’ Frost said as she started scribbling in her notebook.

The action made Kim nervous. They had given her nothing.

Kim turned in her chair and glared. ‘What are you writing?’

Frost met her gaze. ‘Look, by the end of the day I’m gonna be writing an article. Strangely, my editor expects it, and if you’re not going to share anything with me, I’m going to have to make shit up.’

Kim felt the growl begin to form in her throat, but she pushed it back down.

‘Okay, the family doesn’t have a great deal of faith in the Brierley Hill team, but you can’t use that.’

‘Why have they got no faith? Is it because, despite all the evidence, the team failed to get a conviction the first time?’

Kim stole a glance at Bryant. ‘You’d have to ask them that.’

Yes, that was exactly the reason, but Kim wasn’t going to confirm it. The whole case around Trisha Morley had been a fiasco from start to finish, and Kim was glad her team had played no part in it. Her attendance was a favour to Brierley Hill and the press comms team. Trisha’s sister had been vocal about their shortcomings.

Suddenly Frost laughed out loud. ‘Ha, Detective Inspector Stone being sent on a PR exercise. Jesus, I could run with that angle alone for at least a week.’

Kim watched her knuckles turn white around the stress ball, and a muscle was jumping in Bryant’s jawline.

He glanced her way and a silent conversation took place.

Kim:Have we got this all day?

Bryant:Pretty much.

Kim:Permission to kill her?

Bryant:Not yet but maybe later.

Kim stared forward and stifled her irritation at the woman’s presence and knew that her colleague was trying to do the same thing.

‘Okay, so what’s th—?’

‘Frost, shut the fuck up,’ the two of them said together.

Three

Bryant pulled up at the modest childhood home of Trisha Morley. Kim continued to consider the notion of herself being sent on a PR exercise; for once she was able to understand Frost’s mirth.