‘The difference between dead and not.’
‘Exactly.’
Bryant issued the instruction over the radio to the officers at the cordon.
‘Freud over there has offered to go and speak to him. She knows him and his background.’
Bryant looked around. ‘Don’t see that we’ve really got all that much choice, Guv. The clock’s ticking.’
Kim did not find the prospect appealing, but she was running out of viable options.
‘Thorne isn’t even registered with us, Bryant. Can you imagine what …’
‘Right now I’m picturing you telling an inquest that you turned her away.’
Just now and again, Bryant was just what she needed.
Kim turned around. ‘Doctor, you’re going up and I’m coming with you.’
‘Detective Inspector, it would be better if …’
‘Not a hope in hell, now come on.’
Kim climbed over the railing and sped towards the column in the centre of the car park that held the lifts and stairs, Alex running alongside her. The power to the lifts had been switched off to prevent anyone accessing at the lower levels and getting to the top level. The PCSO stepped out of her way.
She headed for the stairs and took them two at a time. The doctor matched her easily.
‘What’s your strategy?’ Kim asked.
‘I don’t have one yet. I don’t even know what’s prompted this, so I’ll just have to see. Just don’t speak. Whatever I say, don’t speak.’
Kim gritted her teeth. She didn’t appreciate being told what to do at the best of times and accepting it from this woman was completely intolerable.
As they exited the lobby onto the open-air top level of the car park, Kim was hit by an icy wind that carried just a hint of sleet. She allowed the doctor to overtake her and head to where she could see the upper body of Barry Grant. He stood facing outwards from the car park, his feet on a ledge five inches wide with his arms behind him holding on to the louvre-designed metal. Kim realised that it was only the muscles in his boxing arms keeping him in place.
‘Hi Barry, how’re you doing?’ Alex asked, resting her arms on the fencing over which he’d climbed.
‘Don’t touch me.’
Alex held her hands up. ‘I promise. But, look, if you’d wanted some time alone with me that badly, you only had to say and I could have arranged something.’
Kim was surprised at the calm, sing-song quality of the doctor’s voice. There was no tremor, no hint that this man’s life could possibly be hanging, literally, within her control.
Kim took a moment to assess the physicality of the situation. The barrier over which he’d climbed reached up to his shoulder blades. Even if Kim tried to reach for him she wouldn’t be able to gather enough strength to haul him back over something that was nearly as tall as she was. The best she could do was grab him and hope that she could hold on, but gravity would not be on her side.
‘So, shall we talk about our day so far? I’d go first but it looks like yours has been more of a bitch than mine.’
Still, Barry said nothing but continued to stare forward.
‘Come on, Barry, don’t tell me I’ve run up those stairs for nothing. At least tell me all about it before you jump. If the last vision I’m going to have of you is in pieces down there I’d like to at least know what’s happened.’
No response.
‘I mean, look at me. Tatty old clothes, no make-up. I’ve never left the house for a man in this state before. Take a look.’
Barry did as she said and Kim noted that the doctor had established eye contact, removing his gaze from the hard ground below. Clever.
‘So, what’s happened since we last spoke?’
He didn’t answer but he didn’t look away.
‘Come on. Even in this situation I promise no shrink talk.’
Barry smiled weakly and Kim guessed that was a private joke.
‘I went to the house,’ he said, quietly, and Kim allowed herself to take a breath. At least he was speaking.
‘Did you see them?’
Barry nodded and returned his gaze to the ground. ‘It’s over.’
‘What did you see?’
‘I saw her. She was tidying the front garden, just pulling out weeds and stuff. She looked so good. And then Amelia came out all wrapped up. She’s such a beautiful child, so lovely. I watched from across the road for a while and there they were, my family. It was as though they were just waiting for me. I remembered what you said about …’
‘You didn’t do anything silly, did you, Barry?’
From the sketchy details she’d got from David, Kim was managing to keep up with the cast of characters, so she was guessing he’d gone to the house to try and win his family back. But nobody had mentioned a bloody child.
‘I couldn’t allow it to carry on, Alex. I’ve destroyed my family. Jesus, how could I have …’
Kim could hear the emotion in his voice as the rest of his words were carried away from her on the wind. Alex seemed to grip the railing harder. Kim sure hoped the doctor knew what she was doing. He looked far more precarious now than when they’d first arrived.
Kim heard movement behind her, knew without turning that it was uniformed officers arriving to offer back-up. Alex must have sensed it, as she turned and gave a slight shake of her head. Kim held out her hand to the approaching officers to tell them to stay crouched behind her.
The male was still on the ledge, so far it was okay.
Alex glanced in her direction. Kim tapped her lips, hoping that Alex would get that she needed to keep him talking.
‘Barry, there’s no need to feel guilty. Trying to take back your life is understandable.’
Barry shook his head. ‘No, you don’t understand. You don’t know what I’ve done. They’re gone.’
The finality in his tone struck a chord of fear into Kim’s bones. She quietly edged out of earshot and into the staircase lobby. She took out her mobile phone.
Bryant answered on the second ring. ‘Bryant, have you heard on the radio about any other incident going on close by?’
‘Yeah, officers deployed from the riot to a house fire in Sedgley. One dead, one almost.’
‘Only two occupants?’
‘Yeah, why?’
‘I’m pretty sure that’s going to be a murder and this is our guy. Check on the details and call me back. I’m guessing there should be a third.’
Kim placed herself back into the eyeline of Alex. The doctor turned her head slightly to the side so that Barry still had her attention but she had Kim in her peripheral view.
Kim made the only sign she felt Alex would understand: a finger across the throat to indicate death was involved. If the doctor understood, she made no sign, but turned her head fully back to Barry.
The phone in Kim’s pocket began to vibrate. She stepped back into the lobby.
‘Definitely two, Guv,’ Bryant confirmed.
‘Then where the hell is the child?’
THIRTY-SIX
‘What child?’ Bryant asked.
‘I’m in the top level lobby, come up.’
Kim could hear his keys and loose change jangling as he made light work of the stairs.
‘What’s this about a kid?’
‘Our guy out there went to see his ex-wife who is now married to his disabled brother to try and get her back. Didn’t work out that way – but there is also a daughter that is biologically his.’
‘Jesus …’
‘Get on to that David guy to see if he knows what type of car Barry’s driving and the age of the kid. I’m gonna do a quick sweep of this level to see if there’s anything obvious.’
‘You mean like a little girl sitting in a car on her own?’
Kim knew it was a long shot but she couldn’t stand and do nothing. ‘Hey, I’m the damn pessimist in this relationship.’
Kim exited the lobby and turned right, searching the area furthest away from the incident first.
From her position she couldn’t see a car matching the description in the area nearest to Barry. She had no wish to disturb the equilibrium between the doctor and the man on the ledge, but if she needed to get closer to search for a missing child, he could bloody jump.
She covered the entire right side in less than three minutes and reached the lobby. DI Evans stood beside Bryant who was talking on the phone.
‘Want me to conduct the search or take over here?’ Evans asked.
They were equal rank but she was here first. It was her scene.
‘You take over here. I’ll search.’
He pointed to the two officers crouched on the other side of the glass. ‘I’ll try and get Pinky and Perky closer under the cover of the wind. Two might have a chance of pulling him back over the railing. Think this doc is intelligent enough to understand some hand signals?’
‘Oh yes, she’s clever all right.’
Bryant ended the call. ‘We’re looking for a dark-coloured old Montego. Booted. Kid is four years old. Also, Guv, lady with the mobile phone almost had an accident as he was coming onto the car park. She says there was no kid in the car.’
‘Shit.’ Either the child was somewhere else or she was in the boot of the car, with a limited supply of oxygen. ‘Okay, pass the information down. They can take levels one and two, we’ll take level three.’
‘David had Barry’s sister, Lynda, on record as next of kin. She’s here.’
‘Leave her where she is for now. We have nothing for her.’
Kim headed down the stairs to the level beneath. Bryant caught up with her after relaying the information downstairs.
‘I’ll take right, you take left,’ she instructed.
Kim raced along the aisles, passing hatchback after hatchback.
The eerie silence heightened her senses. The child was here somewhere. She knew it. In what state, she had no idea.
As she travelled along the rows she spotted a booted, dark-coloured vehicle in the corner. Her pace quickened. As she got closer she saw it was a Mondeo. But a new one. Shit, she thought she’d found it. There were few cars left on this level.
The car park doors burst open opened and four officers emerged. Two headed towards her and two went the other way.
‘Other levels are only half full, Guv. Nothing,’ Bryant said, appearing beside her.
Damn it, she had to be here somewhere.
‘Start at the lobby and check again,’ she instructed.
‘Marm, over here,’ Hammond shouted.
Kim sprinted to the far right corner of the car park, in the shadows of the ascent ramp.
He stood beside a navy Montego on an X plate. Bingo.
‘Hammond, give me options?’ The officer could get into anything.
He took a lock-picking case from his pocket but ignored it and produced a mini hammer from the other. ‘Accuracy or speed?’
She nodded towards the hammer. ‘Stand back, everybody.’
Two taps and the window smashed, raining crystal shards onto the driver’s seat. Hammond reached inside and opened the door. Within seconds he had ripped off the steering column cover and hotwired the vehicle into life.
He glanced back at her. Kim nodded, and he pressed the button.
The boot lid swung open.
Kim looked into the eyes of a terrified little girl. Her tiny body trembled with fear, curled amongst the debris of a filthy car boot.
Kim let out a long breath. Frightened but alive. She’d take that.
Bryant moved forward. The child let out a whimper. The terror in her eyes moved up a gear.
‘Back off, Bryant. I’ll do it.’
Kim stood over the boot, shielding the child’s view of anything else around. ‘Hi sweetheart. My name’s Kim, what’s yours?’
The child was looking around her, eyes darting, trying to find something safe or familiar on which to anchor herself. Her cheeks were streaked with tear trails.
Kim turned to the two officers and Bryant. She motioned for them to move away. She dropped to her haunches so that her face was level with the girl’s.
Kim smiled and softened her voice to a whisper. ‘Just look at me, sweetie. Everything is all right now. Nobody here is going to hurt you, okay?’
Kim kept eye contact with the child. Some terror left her eyes.
Reaching in, Kim removed a diesel-soaked rag from the child’s hair. The girl didn’t flinch but her eyes followed every movement.
‘Sweetheart, Aunty Lynda is on her way up to get you. Now, you need to tell me if you’re hurt.’ There were no visible signs of trauma but she had to be sure before she even thought about moving her.
There was a slight shake of the head; barely discernible from the trembling, but still communication.
‘Good girl. Can you move all your fingers and toes.? Can you wiggle them for me?’
Kim looked into the boot and saw all her extremities moving.
She resumed eye contact. The terror was fading. ‘Can you tell me your name, sweetie.’
‘Amelia,’ she breathed.
‘Well, Amelia, you are doing a great job. How old are you?’
‘Four and a half.’
At Amelia’s age, the half was crucial.
‘I thought you were at least six. Now, is it okay if I take you out of the car?’ The sight of her lying there amongst oily tools and dirty sponges was offensive to Kim.
Amelia nodded slowly.
Kim reached in and gently placed her hands under the child’s armpits and pulled the small body up and into her own. Amelia instinctively grasped her hands around the back of Kim’s head, her legs encircled around her waist. Her head buried itself in Kim’s neck.
‘It’s all right, Amelia. Everything is going to be okay,’ she soothed into the girl’s hair. And she hoped she was right.
The girl’s tears were wet against her neck. She wondered how much the child had heard.
Kim heard the lobby door unlock. Two police officers, the male from the halfway house and a blonde female rushed towards her.
‘Amelia, I have to go now.’
Amelia held on with the muscles of a boa constrictor.
‘It’s all right, sweetie, Aunty Lynda is here.’
Kim used all her might to extract the sticky four-year-old from her torso and into the waiting arms of the relative.
Kim stroked the blonde hair once.
‘Detective Inspector, thank …’
Kim was already running across the car park. The entire search and rescue had taken less than eleven minutes but it felt like hours.
She took the stairs two at a time. DI Evans was crouched where she had been.
‘Kid okay?’ he whispered.
She nodded. ‘Lower level sorted?’
‘Looks like a fucking garden party. There’s about ten feet at one end not covered. My least useful officers are stood there. They should break his fall.’
‘What’s the doc holding?’
‘Business end of a safety harness. Nugent slid it up the doc’s leg while she was talking. Reckon she knows what to do with it and is either waiting for an opportunity to slap it on him or there’s nothing she can clip it to.’
‘What’s attached to the other end?’
‘Nugent’s belt.’ Evans shrugged. ‘Either he’ll stop the guy from falling or he’ll go over with him.’
‘Correct procedure?’ Kim questioned.
‘Fucking gazebos?’
‘Point taken.’
Sometimes you just had to work with what you’d got. If you got it wrong you faced a disciplinary hearing, and if you got it right you were a hero.
Kim checked her watch. By her reckoning he’d been on the ledge for forty five minutes. ‘He can’t last much longer.’
‘I’ll get back downstairs and serve tea and scones.’
He backed away and Kim took his position. The increase in wind speed meant that she could only make out parts of the conversation between them.
‘What good … jumpin
g … Amelia?’
Kim could no longer hear Barry’s response.
‘Once … explain … judge … understand.’
That would be a cold day in hell, Kim thought.
‘You … Amelia … life … together.’ Suddenly there was a lull in the wind. The silence was broken by the clasp slipping from Alex’s hand and landing on the ground.
Barry flinched, almost losing his grip on the railing. He tried to turn and look over the railing. ‘What was that? Who’s there?’
‘It’s nothing, Barry,’ Alex soothed calmly. ‘I just dropped my mobile phone.’
As Alex spoke she motioned for the two officers to retreat back to where Kim was crouched, holding her breath.
They looked to her for confirmation. She nodded. The sound had spooked Barry and he looked as though he could drop any second.
The two officers returned to their original position behind Kim.
Barry was still trying to negotiate his footing to turn on the ledge. Alex motioned for them to move back further.
Barry had now fully turned and faced Alex across the railing. If they hadn’t moved he would have easily seen the three of them crouched ten feet away.
Kim seriously hoped the doctor knew what she was doing. Her skills were about to be tested and for now, she was on her own.
THIRTY-SEVEN
And now they stood face to face. Alex’s second disappointment was up close and personal. Hardwick House really had turned into a pain in the ass. No sooner was Shane tucked up nicely in Featherstone, she now had another damn loser trying to get her attention.
Alex was aware that on three separate occasions she could have talked Barry back over the fence but she wasn’t finished yet. She wanted answers.
Kim’s position behind the wall was hidden from Barry, but Alex could still make eye contact with the detective if she needed to. Ultimately the woman was out of earshot and that’s what she wanted. She didn’t need any interference.
‘They’ve found Amelia,’ she said.
Barry appeared confused. ‘But why has it taken so long? I told you straight away where she was.’
Oh yes, he had, hadn’t he. It must have slipped her mind. Of course he’d told her immediately but Alex had quite enjoyed watching them all chase their tails trying to find the little girl. She’d had information that Detective Inspector Stone had needed and had chosen not to share. Alex had never shared all that well.