‘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.