‘Shit, guys, we’ve just gotta trust her.’
Perhaps they were worrying for nothing. She was entitled to turn off her phone. Have some time to herself. It was a lovely thought but not one he could actually believe.
He just knew his friend was in trouble and there was nothing he could do to help.
SEVENTY-TWO
‘Don’t you fucking dare call me that,’ Kim screamed at her.
Alex offered a smile in response, finding this position far more comfortable. She preferred to be on top looking down.
Now she was going to have some fun.
‘Sorry, that’s a term used only by your mother.’
Alex was suitably rewarded by the utter hatred she saw reflected in her adversary’s eyes. Love, hate, so clearly entwined. She’d take it.
Kim bucked and thrashed against her, but she had the thigh muscles of a horse rider and held Kim firm. All the time Kim had been talking, Alex had known if she could just get on top, the game was hers for the taking.
Violence had never been her forte. And physical combat was not where Kim’s weaknesses lay. Alex had no wish to break Kim’s bones. Because eventually they would heal and she would remain unaffected by their game. No, the frailties of the woman beneath her were deliciously set in the past. Playing around with the mind was her art and it was time to break the detective in half.
‘You intrigue me, Kim. You’re highly intelligent but isolated within yourself. You constantly fight against the life that fate had mapped out for you.’
‘Fabulous insight but can we get to it? I have things to do.’
‘Sarcasm, Kim, your usual defence of choice. But don’t you think about that all the time? Every day you battle against what you should have been.’
‘And, what should I have been, Freud?’
‘An alcoholic, a drug addict. The fact that the only person you’ve ever truly loved died so horrendously right beside you should have produced a bitter, mean individual full of hate. Your early life experiences at the mercy of your own mother …’
‘Is this your idea of a pissing contest, Alex?’ Kim asked, turning her body to the side.
Alex readjusted her position. She leaned forward, pinning Kim to the floor by her forearms, forming the woman’s body into a cross.
Their faces were much closer now.
Alex paused to enjoy the hatred. She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘I’ve read the book and I understand the way you live. You will never trust another human being for as long as you live, and who could blame you? Your brother …’
‘Leave him out of this, you fu— ’
‘Mikey was the only person you’ve ever loved and he was taken from you by your mother. She abused and neglected you both until he could bear it no more. And yet you still call your mother once a month, don’t you, Kimmy?’
Alex allowed herself to enjoy the triumph that was sweeping through her. This woman was so badly scarred by the past that any trip back could break her forever.
‘Your hatred for her is what keeps you together. Every achievement, every victory is two fingers to her. You don’t even ask why she did the things she did. You can’t afford to. If you did, you might be forced to forgive. So she must be completely evil, right?’
‘You don’t know anything about …’
‘I know your mother has violent episodes right before every parole hearing. Yes, Kimmy, your mother keeps herself locked up for you. It is the only gift she can give her daughter. So, how does that compute with the image you’ve built?’
No response from the eyes. Not even a flicker or a blink.
Alex was thrilled that the bullets were hitting their target. Every single one of them.
‘The bruises and hospital visits are documented in the book. Your mother’s delusions persuaded her that Mikey was the devil and she constantly tried to kill him. You had to watch constantly just to keep him alive.’
Alex smiled to herself as the eyes so close to her own began to empty of emotion. Kim was travelling back to the past and Alex would happily take her there.
‘And yet in the end you could do nothing but watch him slip away. You lay beside him with a few crackers and a bit of Coke. You rationed those supplies; fed Mikey but took little for yourself, but it still wasn’t enough, was it? You told him it would be okay, that someone would come, but they didn’t, did they? And you lay there holding him as he quietly lost his fight for life.
‘How long did you lie beside his dead body before help came, Kim?’
Alex expected her adversary to buck but there was no movement from between her thighs. The gaze stared unseeing right past her. Alex knew that she had broken this woman. She had played on her weaknesses like a violin. Not a flicker of movement or emotion was present. She had taken Kim back to the past and left her there. Alex prayed that she never made it back.
Kim Stone would never be the same again.
SEVENTY-THREE
Kim kept her gaze on the street lamp as her index finger continued to move.
Just … one … more … there it was. The safety pin was dislodged from the bandage.
Kim refocused her eyes and smiled. ‘Was that really your best shot, Doc?’
She enjoyed the confusion on Alex’s face for just a second before she whipped the bandaged hand up from the ground.
Her palm met with Alex’s neck. Kim felt the pin enter the skin and she pushed her hand in closer, burrowing the point as far as she could.
Alex screamed out in pain and attempted to fall to the side, but Kim formed a grip around her neck and twisted herself out from beneath.
She raised herself to a standing position, dragging Alex up with her. Alex’s hand clawed at her fingers but Kim would not let go.
Her grip held the woman upright as she looked deeply into fearful eyes.
‘I expected so much more from you, Alex.’
Alex tried again to pry Kim’s hand away.
‘But I wanted you standing for this.’
Kim drew back her left hand and, using every ounce of strength she possessed, she launched it forward into Alex’s face.
The force of the punch pitched Alex backwards, forcing Kim’s right hand to jolt free.
Kim staggered forward and towered above her. Ready, just in case she got up.
A movement to her left caught her eye. A figure was running towards her.
‘Kim … Kim … what the hell …?’
David stopped short of the inert form lying on the ground.
Kim’s legs gave a wobble of fatigue and David reached out to steady her.
Kim shook her head. ‘Get Dougie, he’s on the ladder.’
David took one more look at her and then headed in the direction she’d pointed.
Kim knew that Dougie would have done exactly what she’d told him to do. Out of the water he’d have been vulnerable and Kim had needed all of Alex’s attention on her.
Dougie would be cold, wet, frightened and fatigued. But alive.
Kim sank to the floor beside Alex, watched as the blue eyes opened. A trickle of blood ran down her neck and into her hair.
The battle was over.
Kim stared into the darkness, relieved to see two figures emerge.
‘You know I’ll never let you go,’ Alex said, quietly.
Kim watched David guide Dougie onto solid ground as she spoke. ‘And that has been your undoing.’
The two figures appeared beside her.
‘Alexandra Thorne, I am arresting you on suspicion of the attempted murder of Douglas Parry. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
Kim pushed herself to her feet. The longer she stayed on the ground the harder it would be to get up.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
She looked at David. ‘You?’
He nodded.
Her own phone was somewhere at the bottom of
the canal.
She stepped forward and stood before Dougie. Kim placed her left hand against his cheek. He didn’t pull away.
‘Thank you for trusting that I would save you. I know how difficult that was.’
His eyes continued to stare up to the left but his right hand rose up and covered her own.
A surge of emotion flooded into her body. That was good enough for her.
The contact was broken as footsteps sounded from all directions. Beams of torchlight fell upon them. Kim shielded her eyes.
‘Marm …’
Kim was delighted to see her old friend Sergeant Jarvis. Their disagreement at the crime scene of a rapist seemed such a very long time ago.
Kim pointed to Alex. ‘She’s to be taken to the station. The charge is attempted murder and she’s been read her rights.’
He nodded as the two officers reached down and helped Alex to her feet.
‘And these two need to be taken home. Any questions can wait until morning.’
David stepped forward. ‘Kim … I don’t know …’
Kim held up her hand. ‘Just get Dougie home and get him dry.’
David nodded and then smiled.
‘That’s a powerful left hook you’ve got there.’
Kim shrugged and held up her hand. The knuckles were swollen and reddened from the blow.
She stared at her hand for a moment and a new sickness began to form.
‘Oh … shit,’ she said to no one in particular as the picture of the Dunn girls came into her mind.
Now she knew who had been in the room.
SEVENTY-FOUR
Kim dismounted the bike and groaned into the darkness. Today was turning into a day without end. She couldn’t even recall the last time she’d seen the station but right now it was a welcoming sight. As was the man that stood waiting at the entrance.
Sodden clothes still clung to her body, sending the occasional shiver right down to her bones.
Her body screamed with every forward movement. A pool of blood had surfaced on the fabric now wrapped loosely around her hand.
Kim dreamt of a long hot bath and a rest on the sofa with Barney, but for now it would just have to wait.
‘Jesus, Kim …’
She noticed the use of her name.
He looked her up and down with horror and opened his mouth to speak.
She held up her hand. ‘Really … no.’
He nodded his head and the hundred jokes about her appearance died in his mouth.
‘Are they here?’ she asked as he held the door open.
She had called him with instructions from David’s phone.
‘Yeah, but I still don’t understand what …’
‘You will,’ Kim offered. She was not going to explain herself twice.
Bryant followed her lead as she revisited a room she’d stood in before.
Again, she followed the maze, but unlike the last time, both constables were standing.
Both were dressed in sweatshirts and jeans.
‘Almost, boys. You almost had me stumped,’ she said, leaning against a locker. Her body was glad of the support.
‘But not quite.’
Jenks’s face turned crimson. The trembling in his legs was visible through his jeans. He lowered himself to the bench.
The older one, Whiley, stared past her. A slackness was pulling at his jaw.
‘Was that the intention, when you punched him? That his case would never get to court?’
Jenks hesitated for a second. ‘No … I just saw red … I thought about those little girls …’
‘Shut up, Jenks. I wasn’t talking to you.’ She turned to the constable who faced retirement.
‘Whiley, I’m talking to you.’
Every spot of colour drained from his face.
‘It wasn’t Jenks that punched him, but you let him take the fall. You hit him and then got your colleague to say he’d done it because of your retirement.’
She turned once again to Jenks. ‘Is that why he asked you to do it? Did he tell you he just couldn’t control himself because of those little girls?’
Jenks nodded, his eyebrows drawn together as he looked from her to Whiley.
‘You’ve been had, mate,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘It’s got nothing to do with his retirement. It’s because he was in the room.’
Jenks’s mouth dropped open and he began to shake his head. Kim did not have the energy to convince him.
There was one thing she needed to know.
She dragged her body to the other side of the room and stood inches away from Whiley.
She stared right into his eyes. And there she saw the truth.
‘Did you touch them?’
‘I swear … it wasn’t me … I don’t know …’
‘Open your locker, Whiley.’
Realisation dawned in his eyes.
She held out her hand. ‘Either open it yourself or give me the key.’
His trembling hand snaked out of his pocket.
Kim took the key and turned it in the lock.
The cramped space held shirts and jumpers hanging from the bar. The floor of the locker was piled high with boots and high-visibility equipment. But it was the top shelf of the locker she reached for.
Her hand landed on a book. She took it out and showed it to Bryant.
‘The Longest Road,’ he said, shaking his head.
‘You already knew him,’ Jenks shouted. ‘He called you by your first name when we attended that call.’ The disbelief in his voice was clear. ‘I never clocked it, but you fucking well knew him.’
Jenks rose from the bench but Bryant was already beside him.
‘You fucking bastard,’ Jenks screamed, around Bryant.
Kim turned back to Whiley.
‘I ask once more. Did you ever touch them?’
Kim thought the emotion inside her was spent. But as her knee raised slowly to his groin, she knew there was always a little bit more.
‘Did you touch …’
‘No … no … no …’ he said, wiping the beads of sweat from his chin. ‘I just wanted to see. I was curious … I swear I didn’t …’
Kim stepped away, the nausea too high in her throat. One more word and that would be it.
‘Sergeant,’ she called to the doorway.
Again, Sergeant Travis appeared.
‘Busy night, Marm,’ he said, with a smile behind his eyes.
She offered him a cordial nod. Now they understood each other.
‘Please get this disgusting thing out of my sight.’
‘With pleasure, Marm.’
Kim collapsed onto the bench beside Jenks.
His hands still trembled with rage.
‘You’ll get a slap on the arse for your part in it, Jenks. But you will have a career after this.’
‘Thank you. But how did you know?’
‘Yeah, Guv, how did you know?’ Bryant repeated.
She took Jenks’s right hand and turned it over. ‘You were holding your head in your hands. No swelling, no marks when I came into the locker room just after it happened. Whiley kept his hands in his pockets.’
‘Is that all?’ Bryant asked, rubbing his chin.
‘Not quite. When you mentioned the name of that book, I knew I’d either heard it or seen it somewhere.’
Kim didn’t mention the reading glasses, or the fact that during the visit for the domestic incident Whiley had been quick to remove Dunn to the kitchen and that he’d taken the liberty of sending the girls to bed. No wonder Wendy Dunn had never clocked it. He was a bloody police officer.
She turned back to Jenks. ‘Whiley caught me up in the corridor after the assault, just to reinforce what you’d done. He also hinted to me that you knew where the property was. I knew it was someone the girls had already met, and once I realised that you didn’t hit him, there was only one person’s actions left to question. Whiley has never been violent in his career and Dunn is not the first abuser he’s met, so there
had to be more to it than that.’
‘Jeez, Guv, talk about a leap of …’
‘I’ll leave you to get all the details. You get to interview him.’
‘It will be my absolute pleasure.’
Kim pushed herself to a standing position. ‘But can you do me a huge favour first?’
‘Course.’
‘Grab your car and just take me home.’
SEVENTY-FIVE
Kim stood before Mikey’s grave, seeking answers to the questions still rattling around in her head.
Woody had insisted she take a week off. And for once she’d offered no argument.
The first couple of days had been spent sleeping and walking the dog. Eventually Barney had stopped responding to the jangle of the lead and had steadfastly refused to move from the sofa.
Initially, she had been unable to focus on the bike and had spent many hours staring at the manuals and diagrams, unable to decipher even the simplest instruction. Three days ago she had managed to fish the broken nut from the exhaust manifold.
The encounter on the canal side had left her with too many questions. Everything in her past was separated, boxed and labelled in her mind. It was a corner of her brain she did not visit, yet Alex had stormed in there and decimated the packaging, leaving memories and emotions strewn around.
For a moment there Kim had been tempted. Part of her had wanted to follow Alex into the darkness. To let it all go, to give up the fight. To dissolve into the memories of Mikey and the first six years of her life. But she hadn’t because then Alex would have got away.
It had taken a while to fold everything away and reapply the tape. In the days since, Kim had wondered how tenuous her grip on sanity really was. She guessed that the time was coming to make a decision. Either open the compartments of her mind completely and examine the contents, or close them even tighter. She knew the consequences of both actions. To let it all out would consume her. There might be no way back to life as she knew it.
If she nailed the boxes shut she would be safe from the darkness; she would maintain her sanity and be protected, but condemned to a life of loneliness and mistrust.