Kim was aware how hard she’d been working her team. ‘Once the Doc gets there, stand down for the day. There won’t be anything that we can’t get first thing in the morning.’

‘Guv, I’d rather stay, if that’s okay.’

Dawson not taking time off when offered was a first.

‘Kev, you okay?’

Attuned to his voice, she caught the sudden thickness.

‘Guv, I’ve watched the bodies of two young girls being removed from this ground so far and if it’s okay with you I’d prefer to see it through.’

And sometimes he just shocked her.

‘Okay, Kev. I’ll give you a call later.’

She hung up and shook her head.

‘Are you really that surprised?’ Bryan asked.

‘No. He’s a good kid, if lacking in judgement now and again.’

‘And I’d want him on my team any day of the week,’ Bryant concluded.

The two of them did not often sing from the same hymn sheet but Bryant could be objective when he needed to be.

Kim got out of the car and Bryant locked it.

‘Go check in with Stacey. Put those names on the board.’

She wanted their anonymity erased as soon as possible. ‘And then get yourself off home.’

Kim headed towards the bike and paused as she unlocked the helmet.

Something at Nicola’s had been wrong. There was something gnawing at her gut, something she should have picked up on.

It was as though her eyes had seen something that her brain hadn’t registered.

Fifty-Three

For the second time in one day Kim saw the main entrance of Russells Hall hospital. She pulled the bike onto the pavement area and took her chances on getting a ticket.

Entering the hospital, she walked through a mixed group of patients and visitors puffing away beneath the ‘No Smoking’ sign.

She approached the reception desk on her left. A woman, badged as Brenda, smiled up at her.

‘Lucy Payne, admitted earlier today?’

‘Are you a relative?’

Kim nodded. ‘Cousin.’

Brenda hit a few keys on the computer. ‘C5, Medical ward.’

Kim headed past the café and checked the directory board. She took a lift to the second floor and headed along the west wing, moving aside for a bed being wheeled back from the operating theatre.

Kim stepped into the ward behind the bed. The area had a gentle buzz of machines and low voices. The prescription trolley crossed from one six bay ward to another.

Kim could see she had just caught the back end of visiting time. Relatives sat in silence having said everything they could think of and now just waited for the clock to hit the hour.

She approached the nurse’s station. ‘Lucy Payne?’

‘Side ward, second door along.’

Kim passed the first door which was a tiny kitchen. She reached the second door and her hand was poised to knock. She caught it just before it made contact with the wood.

Lucy was sleeping peacefully in the huge bed, her head supported by five pillows. A monitor was clipped to her right index finger. A machine beeped rhythmically to her right.

Atop the tall beside cabinet sat a single ‘Get Well Soon’ card and a stuffed grey teddy bear.

Kim entered the room and stepped past William Payne who snored lightly from the easy chair in the corner.

She stood beside the bed and looked down at the sleeping figure. Lucy looked much younger than her fifteen years.

And yet she had suffered so much. This girl had not asked for this cruel disease that had slowly stolen her strength and mobility and she had not asked for a mother who would abandon her. And she certainly had not asked to be stuffed into a bin by three stupid girls.

Today Lucy had almost died. She had tried to scream and all that had emerged was silence.

Despite the life she led this brave, determined girl had fought back. She had clawed her way up from the brink because, quite simply, she wanted to live. That she had managed to press the emergency button on the pendant was a testament to the fact.

Kim also had not been given high survival odds when she was carried from the high-rise flat on Hollytree. Silent head shakes and deep sighs had accompanied her all the way to the hospital where she was intravenously fed with no real expectation of success. Her six-year-old body weighed a stone and a half. Her hair was falling out in clumps and she was unable to speak. But on day three, she'd sat up.

Kim took a tissue and wiped a thin line of drool from Lucy’s chin.

Finally, she understood her affinity with this young girl who she had known only for a few days. Lucy was a fighter. She would not give in to the cards that fate had dealt her. Every day she struggled to live against odds that were not in her favour.

Earlier that day she could have chosen not to press the emergency button. She could have submitted to her illness and chosen the path of eventual peace but she had not and only one thing had stopped her. Hope.

Could this young lady receive a better quality of life than she had now, Kim wondered. Could her existence be made safer and more enjoyable? Kim had no idea, but what she did know was that this tiny slip of a girl had a core of strength and determination that she herself was compelled to admire.

As Kim placed the tissue on the side cupboard she became attuned to a change behind her as the gentle snoring stopped.

She didn’t turn. ‘You know that we have to talk?’ she asked softly.

‘Yes, Detective, I know,’ William replied, thickly.

Kim nodded and left the room. It was time to go home.

She had work to do.

Fifty-Four

Beth leafed through a magazine. She had no idea what it was but she was making a point.

She could feel Nicola's anxiety. They had not spoken since Beth had returned. She knew her sister. Nicola wanted to ask her what was wrong but was scared of the answer. The truth was, she couldn't cope with the answer.

Nicola had always hated it when people were angry with her. She was a people pleaser. She wanted everyone to be happy. And that trait had cost her. It had cost them both.

And her eagerness to please was going to cost them again.

Beth was so angry she could not raise her head. She stared down at the page. Nicola would not be able to hold her tongue for much longer. Beth turned a page nonchalantly.

‘Myra spoke to me yesterday,’ Nicola offered. ‘She said you were very rude to her.’

‘I was,’ Beth said. If her sister chose to talk to her about inconsequential matters rather than address the real problems between them, that was fine with her. Nicola would break eventually.

‘Why do you have to be so mean? The woman has done nothing to you.’

Beth shrugged. ‘She's a nosey old cow who wants to ger in everybody's business. Why do yer care what she thinks?’

‘Because she's my neighbour and I have to live here.’ Nicola paused. ‘Did you tell her I was adding you to the lease?’

Beth smiled to herself. That little nugget must have kept the bitch awake for hours.

‘Yeah, that was me.’

‘Are you trying to make my life difficult while you're here?’

‘Yer know, Nic. I asked yer to do something and yer ignored me. Yer asked me to be nice to the old hag and I ignored yer. What's the difference?’

‘For goodness sake, Beth, I know you're angry with me. Will you just tell me why?’