Play Dead (D.I. Kim Stone, #4)(100)

There could have been a small part of Kim that was tempted to feel sympathy for these two souls who had been damaged earlier in life, but there wasn’t. Both of them had suffered horrific ordeals at the hands of other people and had been powerless to defend themselves. But here was the issue for her. So had thousands of other people. She had come to learn over the years that very few childhoods were ideal. Most kids suffered some kind of emotional trauma, whether it be a simple lack of attention from a busy mother trying to do her best, to kids suffering all kinds of physical and emotional abuse. And yet they didn’t all allow the cold, sharp blade of revenge to carve away their hearts.

Kim’s own past was not from any storybook. She had lived with mental illness, loss, abuse and cruelty in all its forms and although the memories lived inside her, she had never succumbed to their power. Instead she used their presence as her driving force.

Kim had to wonder what would have happened if Catherine and Duncan had not been in Bromley at the exact same time. She couldn’t help but speculate if Jemima and Louise would still be alive. Had the prospect of getting even ruled Duncan out of accepting help? Would he have done so without the possibility of vengeance so prevalent in his mind? They would never know.

No, Kim’s sympathy did not stretch back to when the two of them were children. It was reserved for Jemima and Louise, who had lost their lives, and for Mandy, who might never recover hers.

She could not bring herself to lament the deaths of Ivor and Larry. Their crimes were horrific and not one cell of her being was sorry that they were dead. In truth she believed they deserved to die for what they had done to Catherine. But she would never believe their punishment to be the prerogative of anyone other than the justice system.

Yesterday she’d received a text message from her old mentor, Detective Inspector Dunn. She had opened it with one eye closed after having gone back on her word of leaving his case alone.

She need not have worried. The message had stated simply: ‘That’s my girl.’

Woody was content that the cases were solved and that there were two people to prosecute.

Westerley would continue its valuable work but with the help of another ‘maggot person’ and a better security provision. Curtis Grant had lost the contract at Westerley after Stacey had informed Professor Wright that Darren James should never have been working there in the first place. She had uncovered that Darren James had been removed from working the doors after the ejection of a male from a pub had turned into a vicious assault.

The incident should have been reported to the Security Industry Authority and Darren’s licence suspended. Instead, Curtis had risked his business by hiding him in the obscurity of Westerley. Both now faced investigation by the Security Industry Authority.

Kim couldn’t help but think that there would be some measure of relief for Darren James that he would never return to Westerley. The sight he’d stumbled upon when he found Mandy beaten and writhing on the ground had tortured him every waking minute since. His aggression at the hospital was a result of his desperation to see her. To put a different image in his head to the one he saw every time he closed his eyes. Kim doubted he would ever have been able to go back. Dawson had admitted that he had mentioned Isobel’s progress in conversation while on site at Westerley and had unwittingly given Darren all the information he needed to go and make a nuisance of himself.

Thoughts of Daniel were beginning to fade from her mind. There was still so much unsaid between them and yet, paradoxically, nothing now left to say. They both knew what the spark between them could have been, and it was that very thought that held her back. They would meet again, she felt sure, and perhaps by then she’d be whole and perhaps he’d be with someone else. But for her there was no choice, which meant there was no regret.

Kim knew she would do what she always did. Throw herself into the next case that landed on her desk.

She glanced again at the first piece of paper in her hand. It was the commendation she had received for her role in the case of two missing nine-year-old girls.

She lowered herself to the ground and placed the frame against the grave.

‘This is for you,’ she said as the tears thickened her voice. Had it not been for the time she had spent in their care Kim knew not what she might have become. That brief interlude in her childhood had been enough. Those three years had shown her the type of person she wanted to become. They had set her up for life.

They had shown her what it was like to be part of a family and had loved her unconditionally. And she had loved them in return.

Any award would always belong to them.

She took from her pocket the second piece of paper. The one Erica had placed in her bag on that last and fateful day.

To other people it might only have been a permission slip to attend a school trip to Dudley Zoo, but to her it was so much more.

She opened the well-worn sheet of typewritten paper that was separated in two by a dotted line across the middle.

The top half was the detail of the trip: date, day and requirements for a packed lunch. The second paragraph was a request for their ‘charge’ to attend.

But it was as her eyes continued down the sheet that her vision began to blur. It didn’t matter because emblazoned across her mind was where they had scribbled out the word ‘charge’ and inserted the word ‘daughter’.

For a moment she let the tears flow as she clutched the paper that was all she had left.