Child's Play (D.I. Kim Stone #11)(19)

‘Bugger off, I’m relaxing,’ she called back to her colleague.

‘Yeah, I heard.’

‘Come round,’ she called back getting to her feet, eager to be out of the garage.

Normally she loved her time in her favourite room of the house. She loved nothing more than to focus on the jigsaw of bike parts that would eventually make a whole, but only when she felt she’d earned it and deserved it.

She reached for the percolator jug as Bryant came in the front door.

Barney blocked further access with a resolute stance and a whooshing tail.

‘Here you go,’ Bryant said, paying the entry fee of one apple. The definite way to her dog’s heart.

‘Couldn’t sleep,’ he said, launching himself on to the bar stool on the other side of the breakfast bar.

‘Bryant, it’s not even nine o’clock,’ she said, smiling.

‘Ah, that’ll be why then.’

‘You gotta relax,’ she offered.

‘Tried it,’ he said, shrugging. ‘Got bored.’

‘How?’ she asked turning. ‘How exactly did you try and relax and why isn’t Jenny keeping you busy?’

Normally wives appreciated a bit of help from their husbands.

‘Started weeding the front garden. How desperate is that for something to do?’

Knowing how much he hated gardening that was pretty much rock bottom.

‘And?’

‘Apparently we pay a kid who’s putting himself through college to do that.’

She smiled. Yep that sounded like Jenny.

‘I put the washer on. Apparently it’s not the right day for that cos now she’s got washing hanging around until ironing day. I mean who knew washing machines and irons only worked on certain days of the week?’

‘Bryant, you’re giving these things way too much thought.’

‘Yeah, that’s what Jen said right before she sent me round here.’

Kim laughed out loud. If she was honest, she loved Jenny almost as much as Bryant did.

Never once had she been threatened by the friendship that had grown between them over the years. The long hours, the late nights, the focus that excluded all else when a heavy case came up. Jenny got it and was totally secure in her husband’s love.

‘She’s having trouble adjusting,’ he said, turning a drinks coaster onto its edge and trying to twirl it.

‘She is?’ Kim asked, pointedly.

He put it down and began tapping it.

‘You know, I’ve often heard folks talk about all the things they’ve done in that time between shifts. Visited parents, out with friends. Date night, whatever the hell that is, cleaning, cooking, playing with kids and I’ve thought how nice to be able to fit all that in. You know, actually have a life.’

‘Yeah, well now you’ve got the chance to…’

‘I don’t want it, guv… sorry, Kim,’ he said, remembering her ‘first name at home rule’.

‘And it’s not good for my marriage, either.’

Kim pushed his coffee towards him. ‘You’re joking?’

He shook his head. ‘We’ve never been that kind of couple. We don’t need to be with each other every minute. Jenny has her work mates, book club, a few old school friends and I have rugby and… well, work.’

‘Jesus, Bryant, seeing as you’re not doing much of the rugby thing right now that leaves you in a bit of a sorry state.’

‘Ain’t that the truth?’

‘You never did tell me why you’ve cooled the rugby thing. I mean I know you were getting beaten black and blue most games but that’s been going on for years.’

‘No particular reason,’ he said as a shadow crossed his face. If she recalled correctly it had happened during their last major case where the killer had been copycatting the traumatic events of her life.

She shuddered as she pushed the memories away.

‘Anyway the point is that some couples can have too much time together. It can be detrimental to their psychological and physical—’

‘Jenny hit you?’ she asked, stifling a smile.

‘Threw the remote at me when I switched off Emmerdale and asked if she wanted to go out for a walk.’

Kim laughed out loud. ‘Methinks you’re gonna have to find yourself some man friends.’

‘Or I could just do my job the way I’ve always…’

‘Sorry, but I’m under orders. You know Woody’s really getting his knickers in a twist over this burnout report.’ She hesitated. ‘I mean we both know you don’t do anything quick enough to even worry a friction burn but…’

‘Cheers, Kim,’ he said, running his hand through his hair.

‘Hands are tied.’

‘Woody doesn’t have to know. We could work out of here once the shift ends and…’

‘Not happening.’

She’d had the team working there for 24 hours during the last case and she wasn’t likely to invite that situation in again.

‘Thing is, I can’t get Belinda Evans out of my head. All I can see is her sitting on that swing with the barbed wire around her wrists, her foot turned at the ankle, slouched against the chain like a rag doll.’