Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone #10)(77)

Stacey couldn’t help the chuckle that broke free at Alison’s admission. It made her more human, somehow.

‘Well, the boss’ll be on her way back from Birmingham soon and I’m pretty sure she’s gonna expect a bit more than that.’





One Hundred





Alison waited for Penn to close the door as he left for a snack run. She counted to three and then went for it.

‘Stace, you got a minute?’

The constable turned to her. ‘Did I miss the memo on being assigned to?—’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, meaning it. After the call-out last night the woman was demonstrating great patience, but Alison knew she was out of her depth. Stacey had already told her that she’d passed the earring along to someone named Mitch to maintain the chain of evidence, and now she was asking for even more help.

Many times she’d considered asking Penn for help but she had no idea if he’d worked with Merton and therefore had a connection. If they were friends Penn might drop her in it.

‘I just don’t know what to do. I know that Merton won’t even take my call. I can’t pass all this on as the entire team at West Mercia thinks I’m useless.’

‘Is there no one involved in the investigation you can trust?’ Stacey asked, turning back to her computer.

She considered Jamie, but he was so far up Merton’s behind he’d probably drop her in it without even realising it.

She shook her head. ‘I just feel as though I should be doing something. I mean, what if he is still out there? What if they have got the wrong guy and the real killer is out there. He could be targeting somebody right this very—’

‘Sorry, but I need to—’

‘Will someone just bloody listen to me,’ Alison raged, banging her fist off the table. ‘My whole career has been trashed, my reputation all but destroyed. It’s unlikely I’ll ever be asked to consult again but, most importantly, they have the wrong man and I’m sick and fucking tired of—’

‘You’re shouting and swearing at me?’ Stacey asked, wide-eyed.

‘Put yourself in my position,’ she said, trying not to take out her frustration on the one person who had tried to help. ‘I’m about to lose everything and I know I’m right. An innocent man is going to prison for the rest of his life and the real killer is going to walk free. As a police officer that—’

‘Alison, are you trying to use your powers on me?’ Stacey asked.

‘I don’t have—’

‘Joking, Alison.’

Alison wondered how these people managed to keep their sanity. There was no way she could make jokes while both her stomach and her head were in turmoil and her nerves were shot to bits.

Lives were at risk and these people did this every day.

Stacey gave her a long look. ‘Okay, so what do you actually have? You’ve found an earring at the location that Beverly was taken from and you’ve got the barmaid now saying the singer was with her.’

‘And the fact I just know Curtis didn’t do it.’

‘Yeah, we’ll leave that aside for now,’ Stacey offered. ‘So, given that you have absolutely no access to any of the evidence—’

‘I have statements.’

‘CCTV?’

Alison shook her head. She’d never viewed the CCTV images.

‘Damn. We’re going to need more than that to divert this investigation. You don’t even know if that woman will repeat her confession officially, so if you can’t disprove Curtis, you’re going to have to try and establish the real killer.’

‘But how?’

‘Shush, I’m thinking,’ Stacey said, opening a new tab and Google Earth.

Alison watched as she enlarged, clicked and navigated with speed and accuracy.

‘Hang on one…’

‘What?’

‘Shush,’ Stacey snapped.

Alison realised that she really had to get a handle on when people were speaking to her and when they weren’t.

She watched as Stacey moved around the screen, putting the blue figure onto roads and looking around.

‘Just give me two…’

Alison said nothing.

‘Jackson Little,’ Stacey said, reaching for the phone.

‘Who’s?…’

Stacey held up her hand. Alison listened in awe as Stacey gave the nature of the call. She quoted dates and times and gave her email address.

‘I don’t understand,’ Alison said.

Stacey went back to the map. ‘Okay, you said that the club CCTV turned up nothing and the local council CCTV search was focussed on Curtis’s van, assuming they left the club together. We now know they didn’t, so did Beverly leave alone? Again, I’m sure all registration numbers of vehicles on the car park were checked, so we have nothing to gain there.’

‘Okay,’ Alison agreed.

‘So, what if she left on foot and the killer followed her. She was found less than a mile from the club, so it’s possible she never got into a car at all.’

Stacey put the map back onto the screen.

‘So, if you look at the route from the pub to the crime scene, Lissett Road runs for a quarter mile of it and the only industrial premises that takes up one side of the road is a fastener manufacturing company called Jackson Little who have an entrance gate for the delivery vehicles right about here.’ She switched to the satellite view. ‘See?’