She ran through the kitchen to the front of the house, almost tripping over a play mat littered with toys. She took the stairs two at a time, the blood surging through her ears. At the top of the stairs she was met with a closed door.
She burst through it and stopped dead, her mind taking a second to register the sight before her.
Jessica was dressed only in a towelling robe and stood looking down at the bed, a cushion dangling from her fingers.
The small, still form dressed in a dinosaur romper suit stared, unseeing, at the ceiling.
Jessica nodded and smiled at her calmly. ‘He’s safe now.’
Kim remembered another set of innocent eyes that had stared up to the ceiling, beautiful but lifeless, like a perfect doll. Back then she hadn’t known what to do when the last breath left her brother’s body. She could only sit and shake him, beg him to come back to her. She had tried everything, but it had done no good. As she’d felt the decreasing warmth of his body against her own, she had eventually closed his eyes and sent Mikey off to heaven.
Kim snapped herself back to life. She needed an ambulance but she didn’t have time to make the call and give the details.
She ran to the window, opened it and screamed as loudly as her lungs would allow. There were three people in the road who all turned and looked.
‘Call an ambulance, dead child.’ She quickly turned from the window and pushed Jessica forcefully out of the way. The woman stumbled backwards, as though in a trance.
Kim lost awareness of her surroundings as she stilled her trembling hands. She wiped the blood from her cut hand onto her jacket before placing two fingers on the baby’s neck to confirm what she already knew to be true. He was dead. But she couldn’t give up. She wouldn’t give up.
Kneeling beside the bed, she filled her cheeks with air, then covered the baby’s mouth and nose with her mouth and blew gently into his lungs. She watched as his chest rose artificially and waited until it fell before repeating the process four more times. She placed two fingers in the centre of his chest and pressed down sharply to around a third of the depth of his chest. She did this thirty times and placed her ear to his mouth. Nothing.
She stopped to give two rescue breaths, fighting the frustration of the pace. With an adult, she could have been more forceful.
‘Come on,’ she whispered on the second set of compressions.
Kim had no idea how long she’d been working, but a mixture of sirens squealed in the distance.
‘Come on, sweetheart, you can do it.’
Kim gave two more breaths and paused as her gaze rested on the tiny chest that was unmistakably rising and falling on its own. The life returned to his eyes and a small wail escaped his tiny lips. It was the sweetest sound Kim had ever heard.
The cry seemed to galvanise Jessica, who snapped from her trancelike state and moved towards the bed.
‘Get the fuck away from him,’ Kim growled as she formed a protective circle around his small body with her arms. The blood from her right hand transferred onto the bedcovers.
Jessica stopped dead and stared across at her child. Her face was filled with confusion. Kim didn’t know if this was due to her own actions of trying to kill her child or wondering how the baby was still alive.
Kim heard the crash of the front door being broken down, followed by the thunder of footsteps on the stairs. Relief flooded through her. She couldn’t bear to be in the same room as this woman for much longer.
A male paramedic and a police officer she didn’t recognise entered the room. The paramedic stepped around her and bent down to assess the child, who was still breathing.
‘The blood is from me,’ Kim said, moving out of his way.
The constable glanced towards Jessica, who clutched the pillow tightly to her chest. He then looked to Kim for confirmation of his worst fears. Kim nodded.
‘Detective Inspector?’
She waved away his questions. ‘I’ll do a full statement later, but for now you need to know that the mother is very sick and was holding the pillow above the child when I entered the room.’
‘We’ll get social services to meet us at the hospital. But why are you …’
‘Later, Constable,’ Kim said, as the fatigue hit her body and the adrenaline in her system reverted to normal levels.
The paramedic’s eyes met hers. ‘He’s weak but steady.’ His eyes went to the blood dripping from her hand. ‘Let me take a look …’
‘It’s fine,’ Kim snapped, thrusting the hand into her jacket pocket.
With one last glance towards the bed, Kim turned and left the house.
Finally, there was no doubt in her mind that Alex had manipulated Jessica into committing such an atrocious act just as she had with Ruth, Barry and even Shane.
Now she’d had enough. Alex had to be stopped. Whatever the cost.
SIXTY-THREE
‘Sir, will you just hear me out?’ Kim begged.
Woody banged his fist on the table. Kim would have liked the same outlet for her frustration but the fresh bandage prevented it.
‘No, Stone, I will not. This woman has taken enough of your time and you have not one ounce of proof that she’s even done anything wrong.’
‘I have the books. Dougie has recited every …’
‘And he’ll testify to that on the stand, will he?’ he stormed, glaring at her.
Kim’s phone sounded in her pocket. She ignored it and so did Woody.
‘Believe me, she is hurting people. Not directly, but she is manipulating people into doing things. Ruth Willis …’
‘Murdered Allan Harris out of revenge.’
‘But Jessica has been manipulated …’
‘You’re being ridiculous. Jessica Ross is severely ill. You can’t know this has anything to do with the psychiatrist.’
Kim wondered if he was ever going to let her finish a sentence.
Her phone dinged with the receipt of a voicemail.
Woody’s irritation moved up a gear.
‘I know that she is using her patients for some sick kind of research …’
‘That sounds ridiculous here in my office and would sound even more preposterous in a courtroom.’
Her phone tinged a text message and Woody’s face turned thunderous.
‘Stone, I’ve already sent your team home and I suggest you do the same. I will not discuss this matter with you any further.’
She stood as her phone began to ring again.
‘And for goodness’ sake, answer your damn phone.’
Any type of curse from her boss signalled he was only a few degrees short of boiling. The next sentence would signal the end of her career. She had to leave it. For now.
The call had cut off by the time she closed Woody’s office door behind her.
The two missed calls were from David Hardwick.
She went straight to the text message.
The first sentence her eyes skimmed over.
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU IF U R BUSY
But the second sentence jumped out at her.
BUT DOUGIE’S NOT BACK FROM HIS WALK
Kim hit the call button and headed down the stairs. David answered on the second ring.
‘Thanks for calling …’
‘How late is he?’ she asked, using her shoulder to push through the front door.
‘Twenty minutes, but he’s never late …’
‘You don’t think it’s Alex?’ she asked, swallowing the unease building in her chest.
‘After what we read? I just don’t know,’ he answered honestly.
‘But she doesn’t know about the books,’ Kim said. She hadn’t had the chance to confront her. She’d been too busy chasing Jessica Ross.
‘She might know,’ David admitted.
Kim’s head began to swim. Oh no.
‘After you left, I caught Malcolm listening behind the door.’
‘Oh shit,’ she said and ended the call.
SIXTY-FOUR
Kim fired up t
he bike and wrapped her hand around the accelerator. The pain shot through all five fingers and as far as her shoulder. She ignored it and adjusted the position of her palm so the safety pin didn’t dig into the area of the wound.
Once she’d collected her jacket and keys, a quick call to David had informed her that Dougie normally walked the canal from Netherton to Brierley Hill where he exited and walked home, passing a fish bar in Quarry Bank that gifted him a cone of chips.
They had agreed that David would start at Netherton, she would start at Brierley Hill and they would meet somewhere in the middle.
David’s words had said there was probably nothing to worry about. His tone said different.
They both knew if Alex had Dougie, there was something to worry about for sure. The doctor didn’t like loose ends, and Dougie was very loose indeed.
Kim pulled up at the lights at the top of Thorns Road and wiped moisture from her visor.
The winter had not seen the snowfall of the previous year but the early March rain held just a lacklustre effort at sleet.
She rode past the bright lights of the Merry Hill shopping centre. The bridge David had described sat at the front of a sprawling estate and the seven tower blocks that rose up from its belly.
She parked the bike on a patch of dirt. Her gloves were shoved inside her helmet, which was then secured to the seat.
She stepped around the bike to traverse the slope down onto the canal towpath. Discarded nappy bags and takeaway wrappers littered the route.
Each step took her further away from the illumination of the single street lamp. A deflated football caught her left foot unawares. She stumbled and reached out to steady herself, and a stinger bit at her skin.
Kim swore softly as she continued down into the darkness. The road noise was travelling eerily into the distance.
At most, she could make out twenty feet ahead before she entered total darkness. She had no idea how long that darkness lasted. She continued walking forward into the gaping black mass. It wouldn’t be long until she could no longer distinguish the path from the canal.
She moved slowly, occasionally startled by a movement from the water. Kim guessed it was probably rats.
She took out her mobile phone and pointed it to the ground. It could have been no darker around her if she’d chosen to close her eyes. The light from the Torch function enabled her to place one foot in front of the other.
Kim continued to move forward and felt the ground beneath her change. Putting out her left hand, she felt the dripping slime on brick. She’d made it to a tunnel. The smell of urine almost overpowered her, but there was a darker, fouler stench.
A single street lamp from the bridge illuminated the exit from the tunnel and there a white pedal-bin liner lay open, displaying rotten meat. Something small scurried away from her probing light. She covered her nose and moved quickly past it.
Once more she entered the darkness.
Alex had got her playing cat and mouse and right now, Kim felt like the mouse.
‘Come on, Dougie, where are you?’
SIXTY-FIVE
Dawson sighed deeply and rested his head against the wall.
Stacey carried on pacing. She’d read every poster on the noticeboard a dozen times and was now well versed on the symptoms of at least fifteen diseases.
The door opened to the side ward. Stacey halted and Dawson raised his head with hopeful expectation. They’d been waiting over four hours.
The nurse nodded. ‘You can see him now. He’s weak and fragile but alive. I can’t let you stay for very long.’
Stacey nodded her agreement as Dawson lifted himself from the chair.
‘Bloody hell, Charlie, you had us for a minute there,’ Dawson said as they entered the room.
Stacey was surprised by his appearance. Although grossly overweight, that was what had probably saved him. Death by aspirin was normally dictated by an ingredient to body weight ratio. And he carried a lot of weight.
His complexion bore no correlation to his heartbeat. Not a smudge of colour graced his face. But he was younger than Stacey had thought initially. Now, she put his age at mid- to late thirties.
‘What’s going on, Charlie?’ Dawson asked, taking the seat beside the bed. Stacey perched herself on the windowsill.
‘I’ve just had enough.’
‘Is there something you want to tell us, mate?’ Kev asked.
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Come on, Charlie. There’s something going on here. There’s a reason you wanted to die. Just tell us and we can help you. It’ll feel better once you let it out.’
Stacey watched as he swallowed and shook his head.
‘Charlie, we know it was you, mate. You were in the basement with those girls, weren’t you? You watched while their father …’
‘No,’ he said, closing his eyes. ‘It wasn’t me. I swear it.’
Dawson moved closer and lowered his voice. ‘Oh Charlie, stop lying, eh? We know the book club’s a cover. You don’t even read the books.’
Finally a smudge of colour infused the bleached skin. ‘I don’t always have time …’
‘You’re hardly run off your feet at the shop. Charlie, trust me, you’ll feel better if you just admit it. We know you went to the youth club at the community centre the other night. It was the only event taking place. Why would you be with a group of twelve-year-old girls if you …’
‘I wasn’t at the youth club,’ he said, closing his eyes.
‘Charlie, we checked. There was nothing else …’
‘There are some events that don’t get advertised.’
Stacey got there first.
‘Alcoholics Anonymous,’ she said to herself.
Dawson turned back to Charlie. ‘You’re an alcoholic?’
There was the longest pause as a tear fell from the corner of his eye. He gently shook his head.
Dawson looked to her and she shrugged.
‘I tell them I am,’ he admitted.
Stacey moved closer. ‘Because they never turn anyone away.’
‘You go to AA meetings for company?’ Dawson asked incredulously.
Charlie offered a slight nod, filled with shame.
‘And the book club? The same? You just get to meet a few guys once a week for a chat?’
‘They come from all over the place, every profession. They’ve all got something to say. I just listen, mostly.’
Dawson deflated back into the chair. He’d really hoped they had him, but what they really had was a desperately shy and lonely man who had grabbed at any opportunity to make friends.
‘Why this, why now?’ Stacey found herself asking.
He shrugged. ‘The book club was bound to break up once you started asking them questions. It ain’t much but it’s a bit of company now and again.’
‘You need to get yourself a woman, mate,’ Dawson said, getting to his feet.
Charlie smiled, but it looked despairing. ‘Looking like this, eh?’
Stacey had reached the door. Their work here was done. Charlie Cook was not their man.
Dawson lagged behind. ‘Do you know Fitness Gym in Dudley?’
Charlie shook his head.
‘Just up the road from the indoor market. I’m there most Monday and Wednesday nights. Pop in and we’ll get something sorted.’
Stacey stepped outside and Dawson followed.
She turned to look at him and shook her head.
‘Why are you smiling at me, Stace?’
‘No reason, Kev. No reason at all.’
He shrugged and reached into his pocket.
‘Have you checked your phone?’
Stacey took it out and checked it, then frowned.
‘Anything from the boss?’
She shook her head.
Their eyes met and a message passed between them. It had been hours since they’d heard from the Guv. And that never, ever happened.
Without speaking, they turned and headed for the st
ation.
SIXTY-SIX
Alex smiled cheerfully at Dougie. He had not been difficult to find. David had told her about the simpleton’s walks many times. A creature of habit, he never varied his route.
The Delph Locks were a flight of eight locks linking the Dudley and Stourbridge canal route. Each lock was seventy feet long and eighty-five feet deep. Such a fitting place for Dougie to die, with the hours that he had spent here.
At first the phone call had stunned her, not least because she had no idea that Malcolm had her number. But now she was glad that he had. She’d had seven missed calls during her session with Jessica and out of curiosity had called the number back.
Initially she had not believed him. No way could such a bumbling oaf like Dougie be so clever, but as Malcolm had talked, she had listened.
The initial burst of anger had been at herself. She had foolishly written Dougie off, assuming his attention was because he had liked her. The rage had dulled to a mild irritation once she’d realised Dougie was a problem that was easily solved.
His initial surprise at seeing her had been quelled by her assurances that Kim wanted to talk to him. It was what kept him standing here now.
Alex was pleased to see him look furtively to the right and then to the left.
‘Oh, Dougie, did you believe me?’
She shone the torch in his face. A couple of spots of sleet dropped between them. He blinked and put his hand in front of his eyes.
She smiled. ‘You ridiculous, stupid man. Your life is about to change. There’s no need to be frightened. For the first time ever, you get the opportunity to be useful. You are pointless and worthless, but you are my way of sending a message to your precious Kim.’
She spat the name at him and shook her head.
‘And here was me thinking you were totally gormless, and you go and surprise me, Dougie. I don’t like surprises.’
She moved a step closer. Shining the torch between them. As the torch beam lowered down his body, she laughed out loud.
She held the shot of light on his groin. ‘Oh, Dougie, you’ve wet yourself. How humiliating is that?’