Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone #10)(24)

She would never be able to say those words without thinking of Detective Sergeant Kevin Dawson.

‘Anyone?’ Alison asked, quietly.

‘During the investigation we uncovered a secret society with members in high and powerful places. They don’t like me very much but they’ve had a few months now to come get me and they haven’t, and the family most affected by that investigation hate each other more than they hate me.’

‘You must get great comfort from that,’ Alison said, drily.

‘And our last major investigation centred on one of the doctors linked to Heathcrest who I had tried to charge with carrying out illegal abortions.’

‘Family?’ Alison asked.

Kim shook her head after giving it some thought. ‘Luke was pretty hostile at the beginning but he’d warmed slightly by the time the case was over.’

‘How hostile?’ Alison asked.

Kim remembered him stepping towards her with both his face and fists filled with rage.

‘Substantially,’ Bryant said, obviously recalling the same memory.

‘On the list,’ all three of them said, together.

‘Anything current?’ Alison asked.

Kim shook her head.

‘So, we have Nina Croft, Symes, Alexandra Thorne, my list not yours, Dale Preece and Luke Cordell.’

‘Yep,’ Kim said.

‘And that covers the last three years only,’ Bryant said. ‘We’ve barely scratched the surface yet.’

Alison looked at the list. ‘I think we’ve found a pretty good place to start.’





Thirty-Three





Penn wondered if his colleague realised she was holding a permanent scowl on her face as she tapped away on her computer.

He had mixed feelings about her concerns regarding the boss’s secrecy.

He had come from a team where the head of the department had often shared stuff on a need-to-know basis so this wasn’t new for him, but his colleague was taking it seriously and definitely personally. If there was stuff that wasn’t for sharing he would respect that.

‘Got anything?’ the boss asked as she entered the squad room ahead of Bryant and Alison Lowe.

He removed his headphones. ‘Got all the footage from Asda. They were in there for almost an hour and for folks with no money that’s quite a long time, so I’m trying to trace their steps from when they entered to when they left.’

The boss nodded in his direction, which he had come to understand meant carry on.

‘Stace?’

‘Nothing on Harry Jenks yet, not a sniff of scandal and perfectly qualified for his job.’

Penn detected a note in Stacey’s voice indicating that she felt she wasn’t only barking up the wrong tree but that she was in a completely different forest.

If the boss noticed she didn’t show it.

Penn turned back to his screen.

‘Bryant and I will be out following fresh leads and—’

‘What fresh leads?’ Stacey asked, raising her head.

‘We’ll let you know if anything comes up, Stace.’

‘And I’m going to make a few calls to Drake Hall,’ Alison said.

‘In there,’ the boss said, nodding towards The Bowl.

Alison gathered up her belongings and moved to the office.

He saw Stacey watching proceedings with interest while saying nothing, but something on the screen had caught his attention. He went back and played it again.

‘One sec,’ he said, raising his hand.

‘Penn, you really don’t have to raise your hand.’

‘Sorry, boss,’ he said, bringing his hand back to his keyboard. It was force of habit. On a bigger team, it had been necessary so the guv could see who was speaking straight away.

‘What is it?’

‘Watch this,’ he said, pressing the play icon.

They both watched as Amy Wilde stopped walking around the vegetable section and reached into her back pocket.

Despite the poor image quality, it was clear she was putting her hand to her ear. Mark, who had continued walking, stepped back and stood beside her.

‘She had a phone,’ the boss said. ‘But not on her at the crime scene.’

‘Someone stole her phone?’ Bryant asked.

‘Either it was stolen between this Asda visit and the murder or the killer took it.’

‘And the killer would only do that if there was something on the phone to incriminate him,’ Penn observed.

‘Which means?’ the boss asked.

‘However loosely, Amy Wilde knew her killer,’ Bryant said.

Penn felt a tap on the shoulder.

‘Good work, Penn, but now I want more. I want to know their every movement around that shop from the minute they entered to the minute they left.’

Penn knew there was no point approaching the mobile networks. Without a current address or number they wouldn’t have a chance and it was unlikely the phone was contract, anyway.

‘Got it, boss,’ he said, assessing the job before him. With the volume of footage sent to him by the supermarket that was gonna be most of his day, but he got it. This was the only CCTV they had of the couple in the hours leading up to their deaths. If there were no further clues here, they were stuffed.