Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone #10)(58)

‘Wh-what?’ Kim asked, as her blood turned to ice.

He repeated the words and slid into the car.

Kim all but fell back into the passenger seat of Bryant’s car.

‘Guv, what’s up?’ her partner asked, getting back into the car.

‘I-I’m not… I mean…’

‘Guv, talk to me,’ Bryant ordered.

She nodded and pulled herself together.

‘Bryant, follow those officers. Now.’





Seventy-Five





Linley Park was a much grander name than the place deserved.

It was a patch of land with a swing set, a see-saw and a space where a spider’s web roundabout once stood. Beyond the park was a playing field and at the far end was a clutch of trees about thirty metres square.

The entire space was nestled between two small housing estates of private terraced dwellings.

And one of those houses had belonged to foster family number five.

‘Why are we here, guv?’ Bryant asked quietly as he parked behind the squad car that was behind the ambulance.

Kim said nothing as she got out of the car.

‘Where is?…’

‘In the trees,’ Kim said, unable to look his way.

Her gaze was fixed on the direction of the officers running across the field. As they reached the treeline the two males slowed and allowed the WPC to enter first.

‘Guv…’

‘Bryant, please stop talking to me,’ she said, quietly.

Right now, she had nothing to give.

Her brain was a kaleidoscope of images. She saw herself sitting on the see-saw as dusk fell and the kids disappeared back into their homes, parents at the top of the park just shouting out their child’s name. Some shouting a five-minute warning as the light began to disappear.

Kim waited and waited hoping that it would be Mrs Lampitt that called her tonight. And not him.

She walked across the field focussing on putting one foot in front of the other. It was as though her brain had forgotten how to do it automatically.

She tried not to look around, at the two goalposts at either end of the field. Even the grass around her feet felt familiar. Only her feet had been smaller, encased in plain black plimsolls and he had been holding her hand.

She shuddered and tried to push the memories away. She couldn’t remember this right now. She couldn’t be back in that place. She couldn’t revisit the events that happened in the family she never spoke of. The family right after Keith and Erica.

She stepped past the PCs and into the woods. The aroma of lilac overwhelmed her. The smell travelled right to her memory bank, and she stumbled. Bryant was right beside her and put a steadying hand in the small of her back.

She moved forward to where the WPC was kneeling on the ground. A paramedic knelt either side.

‘It’s okay, sweetie, we’ve got you,’ said the WPC gently.

Kim couldn’t see the girl, and the WPC waved them back.

Kim understood and respected her call. No one knew exactly what she’d been through and the police officer was trying to establish trust. Too many faces and the girl wouldn’t know who to listen to.

Kim took a few steps to the right and saw a mound of blood-soaked tissue beside one of the paramedics. They were both focussed heavily on her mid area. Both were sweating profusely, and one was shaking his head.

Oh Jesus, what had the bastard done to her? she wondered, as her heart began to race.

Kim could see past one of them to bare feet with painted toenails. The slim legs were bare and as her gaze travelled up Kim could see lines of dried blood travelling down her thighs.

A second paramedic team rushed past her with a stretcher.

‘Thank God,’ said one of the guys on the ground. ‘Not sure how long she’s gonna last with this level of blood loss.’ He turned to the uniformed officer. ‘We gotta move her now. We can’t stop the bleeding.’

The WPC nodded. ‘I’m going in the ambulance with her.’

Even more bodies suddenly crowded around the girl, who, to Kim’s recollection, had not yet made a sound.

She wanted to step forward hold her hand, reassure her that everything was going to be okay, but she couldn’t, because somehow this was all her fault.

On the count of three the girl was hauled on to the stretcher, and Kim would swear she heard a groan. The WPC continued to whisper while holding her hand.

The team began moving towards the clearing to get out, and still Kim couldn’t see the girl.

‘Nature of the injury?’ Kim asked, as the paramedics passed her.

‘Pop bottle wedged right up inside her.’

Kim swallowed down the nausea, stepped aside and let them go. Any doubt she’d had about this assault being linked to their current case had been extinguished.

She followed the stretcher out although the sickly lilac smell seemed to have attached itself to her skin. Just as it had back then and no amount of showering had managed to remove it from her nostrils.

She walked between the two male police officers as one called out over her head.

‘Gives new meaning to being on the bottle, eh?’

Kim stopped moving, falling completely level with the constable. She turned her head. ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’

His face was bewildered. ‘Crime scene humour, Marm, we—’