Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone #10)(25)

So, he thought, glancing across the desk at his colleague, Alison had moved office to work on something secret, the boss and Bryant had left the office to work on something else and he wondered if Stacey realised she’d been scowling the whole time.





Thirty-Four





‘You do know she knows you’re not being truthful?’ Bryant said once they were in the car.

Kim ignored him.

‘And you do know she’s pissed off?’

‘Really?’ she answered, sarcastically. ‘And here was me having worked with Stacey for three years and being totally clueless in reading her. So grateful to have you—’

‘Point taken, guv, but there are other considerations.’

‘Like what?’ she asked.

‘Division of labour, using appropriate resources for the—’

‘Hang on, you’re getting narked because you had to do a bit of data mining?’

It hadn’t been that difficult for him to find out what Nina Croft was up to these days.

‘You know me and the computer are not besties but my point is that things like that take either of them about a third of the time it takes me, or you for that matter. It’s not efficient.’

‘Neither is having this conversation time and time again. I’m not budging.’

She firmly believed they could solve this double murder without her having to give a personal history lesson.

‘So, what do we know about Nina Croft?’

‘Not a lot,’ he said, honestly. ‘In the time given I managed to establish she runs her own practice from an office in Cradley Heath High Street.’

‘Hmm…’

She probably could have found out that much herself. Like her, Bryant’s IT skills stretched to typing a name into Google and then scrolling to the most promising-looking hit. Given the same amount of time Stacey would probably have found the school her kids attended and if Nina had any contact with her husband in prison. She’d probably have been able to tell them what the woman had eaten for breakfast, but that was neither here nor there.

‘Wonder if she’s happier now?’ Kim said, as Bryant headed towards Colley Gate.

‘Yeah, I’m sure she is. Probably gonna give you a big bunch of flowers, invite you over for—’

‘Okay, enough,’ she said, as he headed across Lyde Green and into Cradley Heath. ‘Might not even remember me; I’m not even sure she should be on the list,’ she said as the car came to a stop outside a carpet shop that Kim remembered from her childhood.

‘What are we doing… ooh,’ she said when she saw the nameplate to the right of the carpet store entrance.

She got out of the car and followed Bryant up the narrow stairway to a closed, single door at the top.

‘You know, she might even thank me for uncovering exactly what her husband had been up to,’ she said as the door began to open.

The almost-smile dropped as the dark eyes filled with hate.

She looked Kim up and down with disbelief. When she spoke, venom dripped from every word.

‘What the fuck do you want?’





Thirty-Five





Alison knocked on the door and waited to be called in.

‘Take a seat,’ DCI Woodward said, pointing to the chair she had occupied for less than five minutes the day before.

‘Sorry we didn’t have chance for a proper discussion yesterday but thank you for assisting on short notice,’ he said.

She acknowledged his words choosing not to point out she was hardly rushed off her feet right now.

‘And how have the team reacted to your presence?’

‘Don’t you mean how did your DI react?’ she asked. ‘And I would think you had a better idea of that than me given that she’s already been banging your door down,’ she said.

‘Well, initially, I’d like to know about the whole team. They’ve been through a lot in the last few months.’

Yes, she had read about Dawson’s death in the newspaper and been saddened but not wholly surprised. When she’d worked with the team on the kidnapping case she had watched him closely, fascinated by his impetuous energy and the efforts he employed to stifle it.

‘The team is doing okay,’ she answered. ‘Penn is a pretty open book. Stacey is wary and suspicious and Bryant is fiercely protective.’

‘And Stone?’ he asked.

‘I’ve not seen that much of her,’ Alison admitted. ‘But seems to be handling it at the minute.’

Alison didn’t mention that she was still getting familiar with the DI’s body language and making notes. She’d been difficult to read three years ago and hadn’t improved since. Alison also chose not to reveal that she was looking forward to the challenge, but some people were much easier to read than others.

She remembered when she was nine years old and at gymnastics practice after school. As ever she had found herself people watching and looking round at the other girls. Naomi, a superb athlete a year younger than herself had been told she was focussing on the beam. She had nodded enthusiastically but Alison had noticed her toes curl underneath. She worked on the beam and fell off, constantly. A few weeks later the exact same thing happened. Toes curled, she fell off.