Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone #10)(8)

‘Phew,’ Bryant said, as they reached the doors. ‘I can see you’re relieved there’s no link, so no need to head back to the—’

‘Just one more thing, Inspector,’ Keats said.

Her stomach turned. Of course there was.

She turned to face him as the tension seeped into her jaw.

‘There were barely any stomach contents but he must have fancied some kind of snack not long before he died.’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, as her mouth began to dry.

‘I’m being facetious about the snack but there was a tiny bit of paper in his throat. Deep. I mean somehow it was wedged deep down in there; it looks like it’s from some kind of cracker.’

Kim turned to her colleague and held his questioning glance. ‘Take me back to the station. Now.’





Nine





‘Sir, we need to talk,’ Kim said, walking into Woody’s office.

His slight flare of the nostrils and tense jaw told her she’d forgotten to knock. Again.

He held up a hand as he continued listening to the voice on the other end of the phone.

‘Understood, sir. I agree. I’ll keep you updated,’ he said, ending the call.

He linked his fingers and placed them beneath his chin.

‘And what’s so urgent you barge into my office without knocking?’

‘A development,’ she said, taking a seat.

Woody’s frown deepened, not because he hadn’t invited her to sit but because she never did if she could help it. In fact, given the choice she communicated from the doorway.

‘What kind of development?’ he asked, before turning to his computer. ‘I understand it’s no longer the cut and dried drug overdose you thought it was, that it’s now a double murder. It’s barely 10 a.m. and you’re telling me there’s even more.’

She nodded. ‘Afraid so,’ she said, taking a deep breath. What she was about to say could change everything.

‘Sir, there might be a link.’

‘To what?’

‘Me,’ she answered. ‘Something was found in the throat of the male victim.’ Her voice lowered. ‘A portion of a cracker packet.’

‘Oh,’ he said, and then repeated as the finer detail of her personnel file made its way to the front of his mind.

He was silent for a full five seconds. ‘So, we…’

‘Sir, I don’t want you to take me off this case,’ she blurted out. ‘I understand your position, but if this case is linked to me I’m the best person to head the investigation and if it isn’t linked to me I’m still the best person.’

He offered her a brief smile. ‘And modest too.’

She knew what was coming. Given what she’d told him he had no choice but to pull her from the case, bring in a new DI or even pass it along to another team entirely.

‘Do you know the victims?’ he asked.

‘Both still unidentified but they are not familiar to me at all.’

‘So, we have two unknown heroin addicts murdered in a flat close to where you used to live and one had paper in his throat?’

‘Yes, sir, but it was—’

‘Stone,’ he snapped. ‘Have I yet said anything that is incorrect?’

She shook her head.

‘Then I suggest you shut up for a minute.’

‘But sir, I just think—’

‘That’s the problem, Stone. It matters not one iota what you think and the only important opinion in this instance is mine.’





Ten





‘Okay, guys, drop what you’re doing,’ Kim said, walking back into the squad room.

Everyone looked surprised but Penn looked positively crestfallen.

‘Really, boss?’

‘Well your case is hardly pressing, is it?’ she asked. She was sure the parents of the two teenage boys could wait just a few more hours to learn they’d been unable to make a case for prosecution.

‘Got a witness to the assault of the boys, boss,’ Penn said.

She frowned. ‘How?’

She’d only been gone a couple of hours.

‘Mrs Mowbray from number 9 Church Court. Outside her maisonette when three youths, all named and shamed, passed by laughing and bragging about what they’d done.’

Kim regarded him suspiciously. ‘How’d that happen?’

‘She’s moving out. Had enough. Going to live with her sister on Anglesey. She’s not frightened to speak out any more.’

Kim was impressed. ‘Stace, give Betty back to Penn.’

‘But boss…’

‘The man deserves his plant back,’ she instructed.

Stacey begrudgingly pushed it back across the desk, into Penn’s waiting hands.

‘Okay, guys, someone get the board.’

Bryant stood.

‘Okay, someone who isn’t Bryant get the board,’ she said. His handwriting was atrocious.

Stacey stood and grabbed the marker pen.

As ever it had taken her a few seconds to catch up to Woody’s thought process. He had encouraged her to stop speaking for a reason. It was his call whether or not she should be removed from a case, so it didn’t matter right now if she thought there was a link to her past. It mattered if he thought there was a link to her past. And right now he was calling the cracker wrapper coincidence.