Child's Play (D.I. Kim Stone #11)(87)

He looked down the corridor towards the fire exit door.

‘Starts just past that extinguisher on the wall and carries on out the door and to the edge of the scented garden.’

‘Got it,’ Kim said, hurrying away.

Sure enough the bars stopped dancing completely as she passed the fire extinguisher.

With no further rooms beyond this point she pushed open the fire exit door and headed outside.

Her nostrils were assaulted by a combination of summer blooms. A single ornamental lamp post cast light on to the bench beneath. A quick look around the area told Kim there was no one here.

But had she been? Kim wondered, standing beside the bench.

The end of the scented garden, the kitchen guy had said and the bench was just inside it.

She hurried to the end of the space along the path that led around to the front of the hotel. She checked her phone. Still no signal. She couldn’t even call Bryant to see if he was having any better luck than she was.

Damn, damn, damn, which way to go? she wondered turning to face each direction.

And then she remembered what she’d seen that hadn’t yet made it to her brain.

Searching all of the rooms for Jared.

Children sitting in a group.

All facing the same direction, waiting.

She’d lied when she’d told Stacey that everyone was accounted for.

Where the hell was the fucking clown?





One Hundred One





‘Anybody in here?’ Bryant shouted, knocking on doors in the male locker room.

So far, he’d ruled out the gym, the badminton court, the Pilates and Zumba room and all areas of the swimming pool. Only the sauna and the ladies rooms were left.

The last door swung open to reveal a pile of neatly folded clothes. He banged on the sauna door as it began to open out towards him.

‘What the?…’

‘Mr Welmsley, where the hell have you been?’ Bryant asked, averting his eyes from the nether regions of the naked male covered only by a very small towel.

‘Umm… in there,’ he said, nodding towards the steam wafting over his head.

Ask a stupid question, Bryant thought.

‘But the event, the quiz, your sister…’

‘Is perfectly capable of keeping things running until I get there, but what the hell do you want anyway?’ he asked, stepping into the cubicle and closing the door.

‘Have you seen Eleanor Lewis?’ he asked, as the man ducked down behind the door.

The crisp white towel appeared and Bryant didn’t want to picture what was behind.

‘Ellie, the tutor?’

‘Yes, have you?…’

‘You’re banging on doors like a madman to ask me if I’ve seen someone I’ve barely ever spoken to in my life?’

Bryant didn’t like the way this man was able to make everything he said sound ridiculous. He worked all day with someone like that.

‘Well, have you?’ he pushed.

Jared’s head appeared and shook as Bryant heard the buckle of his belt snap shut.

He began to walk away when a sudden thought occurred to him. ‘Everything okay with you and your sister?’

‘Excuse me?’ he said, pulling on his shirt.

‘I saw you earlier, having an argument, in the reception.’

Jared frowned and then relaxed when he seemed to recall the episode. ‘Oh that. It was nothing. If you’ve spoken to her you’ll know she’s a bit of a control freak. Sometimes gets a bit much. But that wasn’t even a disagreement,’ he said, disappearing from view once again. ‘You should see us…’

Bryant walked away, realising he was gaining nothing from this conversation.

His first instinct was to head away from the complex and go find the boss, but he hadn’t checked the whole area yet.

If he left prematurely and his instinct about this guy was wrong he might be leaving Ellie Lewis bleeding to death against a wall somewhere.

He thanked Jared for his help and headed towards the female changing rooms.

For now, the boss was on her own.





One Hundred Two





Think, think, think, she told herself as she left the scented garden.

What did she know so far? Board games, hopscotch and the swings at the park. The killer had to keep the pattern. They were in a hotel. Where the hell could he?…

Play area, she suddenly realised. He had to have taken her to the play area.

Every death had been symbolic of playing some kind of game. He made them play and then killed them, normally with a stab wound.

A knife.

Ellie and her previous attack.

Kim caught her breath. The woman would be terrified.

She sprinted around the building and headed along the gravel drive towards the play area she’d seen on their way in.

She swallowed her indecision. If she was wrong about the location there was a good chance Ellie was going to die. The killer would only play with them for so long.

A single light illuminated the area in the distance but she was approximately one hundred metres away and could see nothing beyond the framework of the wooden castle.

She continued heading towards it replaying everything that had happened during the week, searching for something that would give her a clue as to who and what she was dealing with. Any small point that had gone unnoticed.