Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone #10)(103)

The guard gave her the nod.

She entered the visitor’s hall and spotted him straight away. The anxiety shone from his eyes.

‘Dale,’ she said, taking the seat opposite.

‘Inspector…’

‘Kim,’ she corrected.

For a few seconds their eyes held across the silence.

He rubbed at his forehead. ‘I don’t even know what to say to you. How can any kind of apology from me help what?…’

‘It can’t,’ Kim said, honestly. ‘But that doesn’t make it your fault.’

‘How could I not have known? She’s my mother.’

Kim could hear the bewilderment in his voice, and the last sentence was filled with so many emotions she couldn’t even begin to pick them apart.

‘She’s very much like your grandfather, Dale. There’s a ruthless streak that she got from him.’

‘And then passed on to Bart. So, how the hell did I get so lucky?’

Kim looked around. ‘Lucky?’

‘I’d rather this than live with so much hatred.’ He closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘How many deaths are my family going to be responsible for?’ he asked, not really seeking an answer. ‘And how many of them have tried to kill you?’

She smiled. ‘I attract it.’

He didn’t smile back. ‘All those poor people. They lost their lives because my—’

‘You can’t change it, Dale, and you can’t hold on to the guilt. That’s great advice coming from me but you weren’t the one to kill them. Your mother has to live with what she’s done.’

Kim knew her words were going nowhere. Dale Preece was the only decent human being to come out of that family and he would assume the guilt of his mother’s actions just as he had with his brother and grandfather, thinking it would help the victims or their families in some way.

‘I saw the news report. The roof of that building. Did you talk to her?’

The question she’d been waiting for.

She nodded.

‘And did she offer any explanation. Did she admit she’d done all this because she holds you responsible for the deaths of my brother and grandfather?’

No, Dale, she did it because of you. She killed all of those people because she didn’t have your full attention. She only ever loved you and got caught in some sick and twisted jealous rage because you looked my way. So, indirectly, the death of six innocent people really does come right back to you. Now, eat that guilt for your supper… is what she should have said if she was being truthful.

She raised her gaze and met his. ‘Yes, that’s exactly what she admitted to me,’ she lied easily. This man had saved her life, and she would not saddle him with even more guilt for his mother’s actions. That she had done it all for him.

‘I still can’t fathom…’

‘Why did you buy the book?’ she asked, crossing her arms.

‘Curious,’ he answered, honestly.

‘And?’ she asked, pushing out her chin.

‘I didn’t read it,’ he said. ‘Got to the end of page one and it felt too invasive. It’s not a book you wrote yourself. You had no control over the contents and I didn’t like that feeling.’

Kim appreciated his honesty.

‘So, your mum took it?’

He nodded and Kim could picture Mallory gobbling up every detail of the book imagining ways she could use the information to cause as much pain as possible.

And now for the last piece of the puzzle.

‘You were the mole in Symes’s hate club?’

All along they’d thought it was John Duggar.

He nodded. ‘Symes approached me within hours. Green as I was I mentioned it to Officer Gennard, who asked me about my acting skills, and I’ve been pretending to hate you ever since.’

‘And you probably should, you know: hate me.’

He shrugged. ‘But I don’t.’

‘So, what happens for you now?’ she asked. It hadn’t taken long for the prison grapevine to find out that it was Dale who had alerted Gennard to Symes’s plan. He had known that once beyond the confines of the prison walls Symes had many opportunities of reduced security to find a way to break free. And come looking for her.

Symes had still been transferred to the hospital but with double the security presence and two armed police officers.

‘I’m being transferred to Featherstone this afternoon. I’m not safe here now but you should know that Symes won’t stop trying to get you. If he ever does manage to get out of here he’s coming right for you. He uses every day to stroke his hatred of you. It’s all he talks about, all he thinks about.’

‘I know,’ she said as a shudder worked through her.

Silence fell and Kim realised there was nothing left for either of them to say.

She stood, unable to offer her hand across the table.

‘I’d shake your hand if I was allowed to,’ she said, honestly.

‘And I’d have been honoured to shake yours.’

‘Take care, Dale, and don’t feed the guilt.’

She turned and walked away, feeling his eyes on her back as she went.

She glanced at the clock on the wall as she left.

Now to her real reason for coming.