Page 63 of Twisted Lies

‘Bloody hell, guv, that’s gonna be tough,’ Bryant said.

‘It is, but we have no choice. The less people that know the better. They’ll follow the evidence, and we’ll be looking at the bigger picture.’

Kim knew that wouldn’t sit well with any of her team. They all had the ability to put themselves in the same position. If there was a way she could have let Lynes know, she would have done, but just one error could cost lives.

‘They’re definitely connected then?’ Stacey asked.

‘Manner of death was horrific, planned and executed with the same level of creativity and intelligence. We’ll have an identity tomorrow and then we’ll know for sure,’ Kim said, draining the last of her coffee.

The clock above the wipe board told her it was almost nine.

‘And that’s enough for tonight, so take yourselves home and be back bright and early.’

They all knew that was code for a 7a.m. start.

Her team grabbed their belongings and started to head towards the door.

‘Wanna lift, Stace?’ Penn asked as they left the office together.

Bryant hesitated at the door and turned. ‘So who exactly is this expert?’

She shrugged, but it was something she wanted to know too.

Fifty-Two

Frost was still smiling at the response of her boss towards the sneaky invitation offered by Morley’s solicitors when she got in the car. She wasn’t even sure that he held her same conviction in running the stories, but he was a man who didn’t appreciate being told what to do.

She considered taking a bit of a drive out, as she sometimes did, before going home. The journey from work to her home was barely four miles, and the distance did nothing to widen the gap between her working day and her free time. The mood she was in when she left was still upon her when she walked in her own front door.

But not tonight. Maybe a long soak in a red-hot bubble bath would ease the day out of her.

As she pulled up at the traffic lights at the bottom of Pedmore Road, she debated quickly nipping into Merry Hill Shopping Centre to grab a cheap bottle of wine to accompany the long soak she was already picturing. Nah, she was sure there was half a bottle of something in the fridge from a few nights ago.

The lights changed as she saw a black Transit van in her rear-view mirror, travelling towards her at speed.

‘Slow down, buddy,’ she said, reaching down to release the handbrake.

The force of the van hitting the back of her vehicle propelled her car forward into the intersection of the four roads. She felt her body try to lurch forward before the seat belt restrained her and threw her back. It took a few seconds of slow-motion surrealism before she realised what had happened. The nausea began to rise in her stomach as she vaguely noted a dark shadow pass on her right-hand side.

The trembling in her body began before the pain registered in her neck. For a moment, she couldn’t remember her own name, or where she was, or where she’d been going.

A knock on the window startled her as the world started up again.

‘Are you all right?’ asked a middle-aged woman right up against the glass.

‘I think so,’ Frost answered, trying to open the door.

Her shaking hands couldn’t grasp the handle.

The woman opened it for her.

‘Stay where you are, love,’ she said, pointing to her own car. ‘We were right there, waiting to cross after you. Eric’s ringing an ambulance. We saw the whole thing,’ she said as Frost tried to turn in her seat. Pain shot through every part of her body.

‘Stay still, love, help is coming. Now, does anything feel broken? I did a first aid course a few months back.’

‘I d-don’t th-think so,’ Frost said through chattering teeth. She felt as though her entire body was trying to close down on her.

‘It’s okay, love, it’s just the shock,’ the woman said, removing her jacket.